Scranton's Restaurant - Mississippi Gulf Coast Updates - December 13, 2010

Susan LaBrecque visits Scranton's Restaurant in Pascagoula on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Located in a 1920's building that once housed the town hall and fire station, Scranton's gives visitors a taste of the town's history and some delicious food. Since 1982, Scranton's has been serving a long list of wonderful dishes with local flair, like Shrimp and Grits, Eggplant Lamberto, juicy steaks and unforgettable gumbo. It's a great place for lunch or dinner, and they offer catering! Discover our fabulous dining on the Mississippi Gulf Coast at www.visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!

Gulf Coast Groups Return Year After Year to the Sandy Shores

Gulf Coast Radio Row interview with Janice Jones

Gulf Coast Radio Row interview with Janice Jones, Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art - Mississippi Gulf Coast Updates - 11-8-10

Susan LaBrecque celebrating the innovative, the independent and the creative at the official and much anticipated opening of the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, on the beach, under the magnificent oaks in Biloxi.

Designed by internationally recognized architect Frank Gehry, this fabulous structure houses the unique works of George Edgar Ohr, the self-proclaimed "Mad Potter of Biloxi."

The Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art is an outstanding example of the rich history and culture of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and is one of many magnificent museums we have to offer. Find out more at www.visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!

Fresh oysters are heading to Mississippi docks

PASS CHRISTIAN, MS (WLOX) – This is the morning oyster lovers have been waiting for. It's the morning when fishermen head out to Mississippi oyster reefs, and start filling up their sacks with fresh oysters.

There's plenty of trepidation out on the Mississippi Sound this morning. Despite assurances from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources that this is the right time to begin tonging for oysters, fishermen don't know if the oysters they catch will be healthy.

Oyster reefs have been off limits since the BP oil spill last April. And fishermen say they worry that the combination of oil and dispersants may have damaged Mississippi oyster reefs.

In a normal year, fishermen could either tong or dredge for oysters. However, this season, only tonging is allowed. And fishermen must obey a DMR imposed 10 sack limit.

Meggan Gray went out with a group of fishermen this morning to see how the first day of oyster season is going. Look for her reporters later today on WLOX News and WLOX.com.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Updates - November 1, 2010

Susan LaBrecque shares with you two wonderful artistic events coming up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. November 6 and 7, the streets of Ocean Springs will be filled with wonderful arts and crafts, great food, music and people for the 32nd Annual Peter Anderson Festival. The same weekend, the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, designed by architect Frank Gehry, will celebrate its grand opening with a weekend full of family activities. Discover the amazing artists of the Mississippi Gulf Coast! Find it all at www.visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!

For more information go to:
http://visitmscoast.xanga.com/
or
www.visitmscoast.org

Mississippi Gulf Coast Updates - Ocotber 19, 2010

Mississippi Gulf Coast reporter Susan LaBrecque comes to you from Mary Mahoney's Old French House Restaurant in Biloxi. Family owned and operated since 1964, this Coast landmark serves fresh, succulent seafood, superb steaks and fabulous French cuisine for lunch and dinner. The house dates back to the 1700s and creates a unique, elegant atmosphere for an amazing Southern dining experience. Mary Mahoney's is among the many fabulous restaurants across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Find it all at www.visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!

For more information go to:
http://visitmscoast.xanga.com/
or
www.visitmscoast.org

Mississippi Gulf Coast Updates - Ocotber 10, 2010

Mississippi Gulf Coast reporter Susan LaBracque comes to you from the 17th Annual Fall-de-Rah, a magnificent autumn display spanning three blocks along Moss Point's riverside. This celebration is a community collaboration, which provides a stunning autumn show from the beginning of October through Thanksgiving when it gives way to a magical Christmas display. October and November are full of fabulous fall festivities for the entire family! Find it all at www.visitmscoast.org!

For more information go to:
www.visitmscoast.livejournal.com
or
www.visitmscoast.org

Cruisin' Central - Mississippi Gulf Coast Updates - September 29, 2010

Susan LaBrecque reports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast from Centennial Plaza in Gulfport, which will soon be transformed into Cruisin' Central for the 14th Annual Cruisin' the Coast. October 3rd through the 10th, thousands of classic and hot rod cars from across the country will cruise to the Coast for a weeklong car show and an unbelievable line-up of events. Find it all at www.visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!


For more information about the MS Gulf Coast go to:
http://visitmscoast.xanga.com/
or
www.visitmscoast.org

Mississippi Gulf Coast Updates - September 22, 2010

Susan LaBrecque reports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast from the Shed Barbeque and Blues Joint in Ocean Springs. The Shed has a very unique atmosphere, some of the best barbeque in the country and great blues music. This Saturday, September 25, the Shed will present the 7th Ever ShedHed Blues Festival with some amazing acts. Also this weekend is the 28th Annual Chefs of the Coast - all weekend long! Find it all at www.visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!





For more interesting stories and information about the MS Gulf Coast go to:
http://visitmscoast.xanga.com/
or
www.visitmscoast.org

MS Gulf Coast Updates - September 13, 2010

Susan LaBrecque reports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast from the Biloxi Schooners. Created by the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, these two beautiful boats are exact replicas of the oyster schooners that sailed our Coast from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The "Mike Sekul" and "Glenn L. Swetman" are available for charters, weddings, dockside parties and other events. Discover more historic adventures on the Mississippi Gulf Coast at www.visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!

For another MS Gulf Coast Update go to:
visitmscoast.xanga.com
or:
www.visitmscoast.org

It's good to be king: Biloxi Seafood Fest set for this weekend

There is no shortage of discussions right now regarding the safety of the Gulf Coast's seafood due to the summer's oil spill, but the organizers of this weekend's Biloxi Seafood Festival are confident that not only is the seafood good to eat, it's more than worthy of its own coastal event. "We really pride ourselves on letting people know that Biloxi is open for business, and seafood is king here," said Rachael Seymour, director of the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce. For the 29th year, the festival will try to drive those ideas home to tens of thousands of visitors Saturday and Sunday with a variety of draws that include live music, a gumbo cook-off, children's contests and events and $20,000 in door prizes drawn every hour throughout the event's two days. The festival is the primary fundraiser for the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce's program of work, and organizers hope it rebounds after last year's event, which was basically a rainout. "We have education programs, we do business grants, scholarships, and we have a junior leadership program," Seymour said. "The money does fund the chamber's entire program for the year, which, in turn, gets reinvested in the community." In 2009, that reinvestment included $15,000 in grants and $20,000 in scholarships, which included investments from the Chamber's business partners, she said. A majority of this year's festival was funded by a $95,000 grant the chamber received from the Harrison County Tourism Bureau, which was part of $3 million given to Gulf Coast tourism groups by BP PLC in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. "The importance of the seafood industry and the heritage of that industry in Biloxi is incredible," Seymour said. "It's made Biloxi what it is, and we don't want to forget that cultural part of our heritage." For the Biloxi Seafood Festival's complete entertainment schedule, visit www.biloxi.org. For more about the festival's musical acts, read Thursday's BW entertainment guide in The Mississippi Press.

For a story about the Mississippi Gulf Coast's Fall Festival that is in the works, go to: http://visitmscoast.xanga.com/

Birds Are Back on the Coast

Pelicans again play follow-the-leader down the beach, and gulls swoop in flocks above the sand.

The calendar, not the successful capping of the Deepwater Horizon oil well, has brought the birds back to South Mississippi, experts say.

The pelicans and gulls that left to go to their northern breeding grounds are returning with their young. Adding to that, migration is on, said Mark LaSalle, director of the Pascagoula River Audubon Center in Moss Point. “There are lots of birds around.”

He and Ron Blackwell, the Sun Herald’s birding columnist, say they can’t tell if there are fewer birds than in past years, or how many died while oil poured into the Gulf.

“We know that we lost pelicans during the oil spill,” Blackwell said.

“We lost a lot of birds,” LaSalle said, but maybe not as many as was expected.

What was unexpected is the way people started paying attention to the birds when they saw oiled pelicans and realized the danger to the wildlife.

“It’s engaging people,” said LaSalle, who created the Coastal Bird Survey and began training the scores of volunteers who called to help. He said 80 percent of the people they are training are new to birding.

They are learning how to identify oiled birds, although LaSalle said it is difficult to catch and treat even a heavily oiled bird.

“We have no idea of what their fate was,” he said of the birds seen covered in oil after the spill. “Is a little oil bad? We don’t know.”

Despite oil spilled from a barge near the islands where the birds roost two or three years ago, “the pelican population was still robust enough they were taken off the endangered species list,” LaSalle said.

Capping the oil well doesn’t mean the birds are out of danger.

“It’s really not over yet,” said Blackwell, who estimates it will take a couple of years to know the impact of the oil on the birds.

The songbirds are just starting to migrate through South Mississippi, and he said, “We don’t know what that dynamic will be.” There are songbirds that feed along the Coast and need a good habitat.

“Some birds probe the sand to get the organisms in there,” he said. With oil trapped under the sand, there may not be as many flying north come spring.

LaSalle said gulls and other birds that fly as far as the Arctic in the summer are returning to the Coast. “This is where they’re going to spend the winter,” he said, and when the volunteers provide numbers from December’s Christmas Bird Count and the Great Backyard Bird Count in February, it may tell how the birds are faring.

Tourists and residents may not have returned to the beaches in pre-spill numbers, but Blackwell said, “It’s great to see the birds.”

http://www.sunherald.com/2010/09/05/2453924/birds-are-back-on-the-coast.html



For another story from The Sun Herald about the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum go to:
http://visitmscoast.xanga.com/

MS Gulf Coast Updates - August 28, 2010

Susan LaBrecque reports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast from IP Casino Resort and Spa in Biloxi. The IP offers exciting gaming, luxurious rooms, a wide variety of dining options, a relaxing spa, great nightlife and top-name entertainment. Some of the acts coming to the IP include Foreigner, Wanda Sykes, George Jones and Sarah McLachlan. It's one of eleven first-class casino resorts on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Find it all at www.visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!

For an interesting story about the MS Gulf Coast shrimping go to:
http://visitmscoast.xanga.com/

MS Gulf Coast Updates - August 12, 2010

Mississippi Gulf Coast reporter Susan LaBrecque reports from The Bridges Golf Club, an amenity of the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis. The Arnold Palmer design is set among 600 acres of moss-draped live oaks, stately pines, magnolias and sweeping vistas of saltwater marsh, providing an extraordinary golf experience. Hollywood Casino is located adjacent to the course, offering luxury accommodations, exciting gaming and amazing dining. Great golf courses and exciting casinos are all across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Find it all at visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!

For another exciting MS Gulf Coast update go to http://visitmscoast.xanga.com/

Susan LaBrecque comes to you from the Mississippi Gulf Coast with good news - Mississippi waters north of the barrier islands are now open for commercial and recreational fishing and shrimping! Susan reports from the beachfront Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center. The arena plays host to superstar entertainers, sporting events, festivals, circuses, rodeos and more. And the newly remodeled convention center offers 400,000 square feet of state of the art meeting and exhibit space. Across the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we have great accommodations to make your event amazing... find it all at visitmscoast.org. Wish you were here!

To see another great video about Jay Leno coming to the Mississippi Gulf Coast visit:
http://visitmscoast.xanga.com/

For Updates on The Mississippi Gulf Coast Check out our YouTube Channel!

http://www.youtube.com/user/VisitMSCoast

Wish You Were Here!

Check out what's in the news about The Mississippi Gulf Coast...

http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=12786111

Wish You Were Here!

There are exciting things happening on The Mississippi Gulf Coast. July promises top-name entertainment, delicious dining, and family fun. Wish you were here!