(L-R: Lucy Sanguinetti, Marlo Dorsey, Lynn Walton)
Many thanks to VisitHATTIESBURG Exec. Dir., Marlo Dorsey, for providing our program Tuesday!
Lynn Walton presided over the meeting. Mark Killingsworth provided the opening prayer and Ryan Kelly led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Lynn led the club in the Four Way Test. The meeting was held at the Holiday Inn in Hattiesburg and via Zoom.
Lynn reminded members of the February 3, 2022, wine tasting. She reminded members to pick their tickets up today and encouraged members to continue to collect auction items. If you need additional tickets, they can be purchased on the Clubrunner site. Ten more items are needed. The auction is now live. Four volunteers are needed the night of the wine tasting. They will pour the wine. She also encouraged members to share the wine tasting event via their social networks.
Lucy Sanguinetti then introduced today’s guest speaker, Marlo Dorsey. She is the Executive Director of VisitHATTIESBURG.
The mission of VisitHATTIESBURG is to actively position Hattiesburg as a year-round premier leisure and business destination in the Gulf South. The target markets used in their marking campaign are Baton Rouge, Northshore New Orleans, Mobile, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Memphis, and the Florida Panhandle. According to Marlo, the operation is funded by a 2% hotel tax. The organization also receives grants from various government and private sources.
Before the pandemic, Hattiesburg had more than two million visitors in 2019. COVID changed the way the operation worked. They developed the HATTIES[BURGER] Trail. The Trail encourages visitors to hop on the trail and take a bite out of classics, gourmet, specialty burgers, and everything in between. They also developed the HBURG PUBLIC ART Trail. This Trail has official stops where visitors can see a variety of murals and sculptures throughout the city. Both trails were developed to keep visitors entertained but safe from COVID. The trails worked because more than 600,000 visitors took advantage of them. The Travel/Tourism publication rated Hattiesburg as one of the best places in the world to visit.
Most Hattiesburg visitors go to the Turtle Creek Mall, Tatum Park, Downtown, The Zoo, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the Longleaf Trace.
Artists were invited to paint utility boxes throughout the city. A total of 35 were completed last year and another 20 are expected to be completed in 2022. Seventy-eight artists have submitted proposals for the 20 boxes. Twelve mural projects were completed in 2021. The Mayor has a goal for the organization to have 100 murals in place throughout the city.
The American Rescue Plan provides funding for tourism recovery. It will be available through 2026 and Marlo says VisitHATTIESBURG plans to take full advantage of that funding source. You can get more information by visiting www.visithburg.org.
Lynn thanked Marlo for her presentation. There being no further business to come before the club, she adjourned the meeting with our motto: “Service Above Self.”