Construction is trucking along for the remodel and expansion of the Tupelo CVB at the corner of East Main and Elizabeth streets. And don’t be fooled by the two-story facade. The building will remain one story. Construction is supposed to wrap up in October.
The first picture is the view from the south side of Elizabeth facing the BancorpSouth Arena. The second picture is the view of the back of the CVB. The third is the view from the Hilton Garden Inn. Click on any picture for a bigger version.
Downtown Tupelo now has an online business directory, thanks to Tupelo High School student Katie Scarlett. Read the full story from today’s paper.
Check out the online directory yourself. Find anything you didn’t know about? I didn’t realize Nostalgia Alley and The Main Attraction were two different places. Anyone been to Nostalgia Alley? What’s it like?
After all the huffing and puffing caused from the dualing spring Tupelo Furniture Market and the state senior high Beta Club convention last month, the Tupelo CVB was able to convince the Beta Club to move its dates to the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday after market. The Beta Club signed up for three years and the CVB signed up for a $3,000 sponsorship for each year. Read the story in today’s paper.
Along with the CVB’s monthly board meeting Monday, Neal McCoy with the sports development side of the CVB held a press conference regarding the Grand Slam. You’ll find coverage of the conference in the sports pages, but my takeaway message was Neal’s comments about the “positive financial impact that sporting events bring to Tupelo.” In addition, Neal revealed that the mysterious red numbers that have been counting down in the Journal and at the digital billboard at Crosstown are for the Grand Slam. Check out today’s sports section for more.
Other interesting tidbits from the board meeting:
• The CVB has $2,281,864 in the bank.
• Sales tax revenues were $273,372 in December 2007 (the most recent reported period), up 0.55 percent from the prior year period.
• A Japanese writer/photographer has been in town working on a Memphis/Mississippi sales guide for the Japanese market.
• The Elvis Presley Birthplace has 2,324 visitors in February from 46 states and 21 countries. The buffalo park had 433 visitors and the auto museum had 718 (only January numbers available for the museum).
• Several film crews are scouting locations in Tupelo/NeMiss. One includes a team from Paramount pictures.
• The 5th Annual Tupelo Film Festival has received more than 100 entries. The deadline is Thursday.
• And, “Chasing the White Dragon,” the film that set up a meth lab in the furniture market, now has its trailer done.
The CDF is hosting its annual Business to Business Connection trade show Wednesday, and it’s giving young professionals in Tupelo a preview Tuesday night via the invitation-only Taste of Tupelo. About 80 booths will be set up in the BancorpSouth Arena and 23 restaurants will be serving free food from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
The event is free for Tupelo Young Professionals, but you need a ticket. You don’t have to call ahead to reserve a ticket, but you need to pick it up from the CDF office by 4 p.m. Tuesday. The CDF office at 300 West Main Street in downtown Tupelo. Call Jennie Bradford Curlee for more info: 842-4521.
The Tupelo Young Professionals program is open to NeMiss professionals ages 21 to 40. For everyone else, check out the Business to Business Connection on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s free and open to the public.
At its monthly meeting on Friday, the Tupelo Redevelopment Agency approved the sale of a residential lot in the Fairpark District.
Adam Morgan of Coldwell Banker Tommy Morgan sold lot 2-9 to Don and Barbara Taylor for the full residential price of $48,500. TRA waived the design fee. The lot is on the corner of Fairpark Drive and Midway Drive.
Other items from the meeting:
• TRA approved a bill for $24,849.41 to pay The McCarty Co. for its ongoing design services for the restroom pavilion for Fairpark. The agency has budgeted $50K for design, with the understanding that an anonymous donor said he/she will pay for the construction. A few comments were made about it being a “pretty expensive bathroom,” but there were assurances that it will be an “elaborate structure.”
• The trees in Fairpark are getting zapped by the drought. The group will spend $842 to replace 17 trees that have died and will spend another $1,000 to fertilize the remaining 100 trees. In addition, TRA approved a bill for $1,970 to landscape the turnaround at Troy Street.
• TRA was going to review bids to add steps to connect the BancorpSouth Conference Center and the BancorpSouth Arena. One bid came in at $2,250 and the other at $6,500. However, it turns out Slayten Concrete (the $2,250 bidder) already had put in the three sets of steps the previous day. There was a bit of confusion about who approved the project and where the bill was sent to, but in the end, TRA approved to pay its part of whatever the bill is.
Next meeting is set for Dec. 6.
Just back from a workshop from the Minority PUL Alliance. The event, “How to prepare your small business for success,” drew an impressive crowd of about 300, causing the organizers to open an extra conference room at the BancorpSouth Arena. All sorts of interesting info from tons of agencies and organizations. We’ll have a full report in tomorrow’s paper.
On a side note, the lunch networking event held afterward was as P.B. Loco in the Renasant Center for IDEAs. It’s interesting that the cafe that specializes in gourmet peanut butter has added two sandwiches sans PB:
• Southwestern smoked turkey on chipotle flatbread with chipotle mayo, pepperjack cheese and bacon
• Fairpark grilled chicken on Italian flatbread with cheese, lettuce, bacon and honey mustard.
The BancorpSouth Arena on Tuesday named Unicel its official wireless provider. With the partnership, event tickets can be purchased from any Unicel phone by making a free call to *TIX (*849).
Unicel’s local store is at 3952 B North Gloster St.
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