It may be in the middle of the COVID pandemic, but the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Tourism Commission is still trying to promote the local area to potential tourists with the “Visit Clarksdale” slogan.
Several items were passed at the board meeting to help the commission’s efforts Wednesday, Feb. 10.
The annual Juke Joint Festival was virtual last year as it was just after the pandemic began. The 2021 JJF is scheduled for April 15 to 18 and will have more outdoor, limited indoor and socially-distanced activities with other precautions being taken.
The tourism board approved a $15,000 sponsorship request for the festival.
“The reason why that we want to have our name out in front of people is to let people know that we’re sponsoring these various festivals and these various events,” said executive director Bubba O’Keefe. “What’s important about Visit Clarksdale is when people contact us, we give them information about all places to stay, eat, drink, where music venues are, where to go, what to see, what to do. We represent everybody when we do a sponsor. If they call us, we’ll represent all these things in town that people want to engage in. That’s why it’s important Visit Clarksdale gets out there. We’re a one-stop shop for promoting all of retail, lodging, restaurants and events in Clarksdale.”
The board also approved $3,500 for the Shared Experiences organization to continue Live From Clarksdale live streaming in March.
“It keeps Clarksdale’s name in our live blues music and our musicians in the venues out in front of people all over the world,” O’Keefe said. “It keeps the name ongoing, engaging. People that have been here, they can tell that Clarksdale is still providing the music in the best way it can under the conditions that we’ve got. And, every night, there is a virtual music program going on. They can still enjoy what is going on in Clarksdale and not have to be there in person to enjoy it.
“The best thing it does for people that have never been to Clarksdale, it puts out a signal that, wow, Clarksdale’s got it going on. Some of the larger cities, are they putting out live virtual music every night? I don’t know any other destination that’s doing that now. I hadn’t searched for that, but I hadn’t heard about it. What we’re doing is getting calls from people saying, ‘We saw this, the live stream and when do you think you’ll be going back to full live blues music every night of the week? We can’t wait to get to Clarksdale.’”
The board also approved an allocation of $9,000 for eight points of interest signs and posts.
O’Keefe said the goal is to put signs in historically important places. Not all sites have been located yet.
As an example, he said there is a sign for the Crossroads at Highways 49 and 61, but nothing to tell the story. He said the point of interest sign should help people learn more about Clarksdale.
In Friars Point, O’Keefe said there are signs about musicians Conway Twitty and Robert Nighthawk, but nothing to tell about the historic significance of Friars Point.
“It was the county seat before Clarksdale. You had steamboats coming in there with passengers picking up cotton,” O’Keefe said.
He said cotton went from Friars Point to New Orleans to England.
“Also, with that sign, it will give a map over to the site at Gammel Park (Gary Gammel Memorial Park) to look at the river right over the levee,” O’Keefe said.
“Our goal is to be informative, educate and also to get visitors to explore sites that they didn’t even know about or would really like to learn about to keep them more interested and keep them in Clarksdale longer than just driving in, stopping at one site and driving on.”
The board approved a Sunflower River Walk sign for $2,000 where one board would be installed.
“We saw the potential in this and participated,” O’Keefe said. “What we plan on doing is adding not only a sign on the back side that shows Visit Clarksdale in the Sunflower River walk. But, on the east side of that sign, where that bulletin board is, we’ll have laminated sign like the points of interest sign. This will be attached to that bulletin board.”
A map on a laminated board will help people see what is in that area.
O’Keefe provided an update on CARES Act funding that was provided to promote tourism and safe protocol during the pandemic.
The CARES Act deadline was originally Dec. 30, 2020, but it was extended one year and the commission had approximately one percent left of the funds to spend.
The last part of the funds went toward things such as a kiosk that would help tourists get around, the sign at the Sunflower River Walk, ads, social media, a travel media press room on the Visit Clarksdale website, videos on YouTube, updated photo files and additional billboards. Content was also gathered for an African-American heritage map and points of interest maps.
“This money was used to put this together,” O’Keefe said. “When you see this stuff, you will be quite impressed. It was something that was done in a matter of weeks that it would have taken normally a year or longer to get produced. Because of the availability of these funds, we were able to get on the stick and get it done.
“Our tagline now is ‘Ready to road-trip?...Safely.’ We’re saying, when you feel comfortable, come to Clarksdale. We want you to feel comfortable and safe in Clarksdale when you come.”
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