From left, Ohr-O’Keefe museum director Kevin O’Brien congratulates visitors Tracey Lewis and Amy Somers, as Ohr assistant director Carol Messer looks on. The visiting duo helped the east Biloxi museum reach a major milestone .
Two special education school bus drivers from Georgia pushed the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art’s “Katrina +10” past the 10,000 mark this afternoon.
Tracey Lewis of Grayson, Ga., and Amy Somers of Loganville, Ga., were visitors No. 10,000 and 10,001 and were presented with Ohr-O’Keefe tote bags, posters, and copies of “Katrina +10: The Commemorative Photo Album and DVD” this afternoon at 1:30.
“It’s breathtaking, to see what I have seen in Biloxi and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” said Somers, a first-time visitor to the area. “I saw the news reports from 10 years ago and to remember what I saw then and what I see now is amazing.”
Lewis, meantime, made a brief stop in Biloxi a month ago and decided to return to see more of the area.
“I was with my daughter on the last trip, and we were very impressed to see how much had been done. We’re doing some more exploring on this trip and I can promise you we will be back.”
The duo heard about the Katrina +10 exhibit when they stopped at the Mississippi welcome center on I-10 in Jackson County.
“We love the Marlin Miller sculptures,” Lewis said, “and they told us they had some of his work on display here at the ‘Katrina +10’ exhibit. We love it.”
The “Katrina +10”: exhibit – featuring the prize-winning work of the Sun Herald, WLOX, Mississippi Department of Transportation, Mississippi Power and Hands On Mississippi – is open daily at the Ohr-O’Keefe through Sept. 12.
Details: 228-374-5547 or www.katrinaplus10.com
