Talk of the municipal budget dominated the City Council meetings yesterday, but amidst the long discussions, Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich welcomed new royalty to Biloxi City Hall.
Gilich introduced 2016 Shrimp Bowl Queen Savannah Goolsby Belcher, who dropped by City Hall to promote plans for this week’s high school football classic at Biloxi High School.
Festivities begin with the annual Shrimp Bowl Rally, which takes Thursday at 6 p.m. at Indian Stadium on the Biloxi campus. The Indian band will perform, cheerleaders and dancers will entertain, and Biloxi coaches and players will be introduced. Meantime, boosters will also be on hand selling merchandise and athletic passes and season tickets.
Then, says Queen Belcher, it’s the big event: The Shrimp Bowl doubleheader. Â Play begins Friday at 5 p.m. when Long Beach takes on Gulfport. Biloxi faces St. Stanislaus at 8 p.m.
The new queen, by the way, is the daughter of Ashlee and Alan Belcher. She is at the top of her senior class academically with an eye toward pursuing her academic career. She currently serves as Student Body vice president, and is a dance captain and choreographer for the award-winning BHS Sound Surge Show Choir. She also serves as vice president of Key Club, secretary of Campus Security Council, and is in many other school organizations.
Outside of school, besides donning a crown this week, she participates in and leads various service projects, as well as assists with kindergarten Sunday school at First Baptist Church Gulfport.
Said Mayor Gilich: “All hail, Queen Savannah.”
See council meeting photos
News and notes
Camille, the original monster storm: It was Aug. 16, 1969, 47 years ago today, when Hurricane Camille, then the most powerful storm in history, decimated the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Hundreds perished in the storm, whose 190 mph sustained winds and 22.6-foot tidal surge shattered all records. Some say the community didn’t recover economically until “dockside gaming” was legalized more than two decades later. Â You can read up on Camille and its devastation on Wikipedia by clicking here. Or you can watch a government-produced 27-minute re-telling of the experience, “A Lady Called Camille,” on YouTube. To go there now, click here.
Planning: The Biloxi Planning Commission meets Thursday at 2 p.m. Â at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Municipal Building. To see the agenda for the public meeting, click here.
