Seafood Festival returns to Town Green

The Biloxi Seafood Festival – two days of entertainment, food, and arts and crafts – returns to the Town Green this weekend. 

The Biloxi Chamber of Commerce is moving the award-winning festival back the Beach Boulevard location, across from the Hard Rock and near the Beau Rivage, after three years at Point Cadet Plaza.

The festival, which begins on Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m., is expected to attract a crowd of 25,000 and offers more than 80 food and craft vendors.

With seafood as the focal point of the event, a number of businesses will serve an array of fresh seafood dishes and local chefs will compete in the annual Sun Herald Gumbo Championship. Event goers can participate, for an additional fee, by tasting the gumbo from professional and amateur teams who will be competing for the titles of the Peoples’ Choice and Best of Show. 

“We will also have the return of the 200-foot poboy built by Justin Kennedy on Saturday at 2 p.m.,” Biloxi Chamber of Commerce Director Rachel Seymour said. “Our entertainment lineup is exciting. We’ll even have a Prince Tribute Band.”

The live entertainment will begin on Saturday at noon with Back Alley, followed by Ty Taylor & The Kin Folk at 2 p.m., Miles Flatt at 4 p.m. and the Prince Tribute Band: Purple Masquerade at 6 p.m.  Then on Sunday, Black Water Brass will kick off the entertainment at noon, followed by Gumbo Championships at 1 p.m. and the Gumbo awards at 3 p.m. 

Admission to the festival is $15 for a two-day access wristband, $5 daily access and $10 for Saturday from 4 to 9 p.m.

Elsewhere this weekend:  On Saturday, the City of Biloxi Parks & Recreation Department will host Hoops and Hearts, a fundraiser for the American Heart Association, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Point Cadet Pavilion, and Gallery 782 will hold a Wire Wrap Jewelry Workshop at the gallery from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Over at the casinos, both Sebastian Maniscalco and the Little River Band will perform at the Beau Rivage, and Sinbad and Clint Black will both be at the IP Casino Resort.
See more about the Biloxi Seafood Festival
See the overall weekend lineup
See the Biloxi Community Calendar

 

Irma jogs westward slightly, still no threat locally

Hurricane Irma, still a Category 4 storm with near-150 mph sustained winds, has shifted slightly westward, and although the track and intensity may change slightly over the next few days, forecasters say the storm poses no threat to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Forecasters made the announcement during this morning’s local briefing, released by the National Weather Service office.

Irma is forecast to move generally west-northwest through early Saturday and maintain its intensity, though small changes in intensity are possible over the next several days. A landfall in Florida is expected with potential additional direct impacts in parts of Georgia, south Carolina, and North Carolina.

Said the forecasters: “We are confident this turn will occur based on the upper level steering pattern. Two areas of strong high pressure are located over Texas and the western Atlantic.  A trough of low pressure over the east coast of the United States will create a path between these two highs for Irma to follow.”

Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose is also now a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 150 mph. It is forecast to move toward the west-northwest for the next couple days.  It is then expected to turn northwest over the weekend and northeast early next week and remain over the Atlantic Ocean.

Hurricane Katia remains at Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph and is expected to continue drifting slowly southwestward toward Mexico
See this morning’s local briefing
See the local extended forecast

 

Will Biloxi host playoff games this weekend? We’ll know today

Whether a playoff game is played at MGM Park this weekend will be decided this afternoon in Pensacola, when Jacksonville and Pensacola play Game 3 of a best-of-five series. First pitch is at 1:05 p.m.

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos has already won the first two games of the series and with a win todau would clinch the division title and be co-champions of the Southern League.

If Jacksonville wins today, the fourth, and, if needed, fifth games of the best-of-five series will be played at MGM Park. Games would begin at 1:05 p.m., and proceeds from the $10 ticket would benefit hurricane victims. 

The Southern League on Wednesday announced the possible MGM Park games, as the threat of Hurricane Irma intensified. At the same time, the league announced that it would not have a Southern League championship series because of Irma, and that the winners of the Southern and Northern divisions would share the league title.
See playoffs stats on Southern League website
See Biloxi Shuckers website

 

News and notes:

Esters Boulevard water loss:  Biloxi Public Works staff  is working this morning to determine how many city water customers lost service Thursday after an unmarked 12-inch water main was broken on Esters Boulevard Thursday. For details, click here.

Council meetings:  The Biloxi City Council has called a special meeting for Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. at Biloxi City Hall for the general public to comment on the Fiscal Year 2018 municipal budget.  To see the agenda, click here

Happy birthday, Hank:  Biloxi will mark the 94th anniversary of the birth of Hank Williams Sr. with a fundraiser at the Saenger Theater on Sunday, Sept. 17 at 1:30 p.m. The gathering will include a Hank Sr. birthday cake and the showing of the film “The Last Ride” and a 10-minute documentary about Hank Sr.’s love affair with 1950s Biloxi. Tickets are available now for $8 at the Biloxi Visitors Center, 1050 Beach Blvd., and the Donal M. Sndyer Sr. Community Center, 2520 Pass Road. For a video to whet your appetite, click here.  To see the poster, click here