The return of cruises aboard the American Queen to the Mississippi River is music to our ears, calliope music at that.

Today the American Queen will be making her inaugural stop at the Natchez landing and her passengers will begin to de-board at 8 a.m. They will be greeted by a jazz ensemble and a myriad of volunteers donning period costumes. Mayor Jake Middleton will issue an official welcome as well as issue a proclamation, touting April 16 as American Queen Day, and he will present the captain with a framed Natchez flag to be on permanent display aboard the vessel.

The cruise line has hired several buses to take passengers around the city to tour specific homes and sites, and they will have a window of time to do some shopping around downtown as well. The Natchez public is invited, and encouraged to attend the welcome ceremonies, and shuttles will be provided to take onlookers down Silver Street. Shuttles will be located at the top of Silver Street on Broadway, or you can catch a shuttle at the north end of the Isle of Capri’s maintenance facility parking lot on Canal Street.

The American Queen is the largest steamboat ever built and it has been nearly four years since we bade her farewell from the landing at Natchez Under-the-Hill. According to Greg Brown, executive vice president of operations for the Great American Steamboat Company, the American Queen took another step closer to reality as the steamer had a successful trial cruise on March 29.

The red paddlewheel achieved a comfortable, and reassuring, 17 revolutions per minute while running along the river near New Orleans. We have learned from other company sources that the crew members, many of whom worked aboard the boat prior to its leaving the Mississippi River, are just as excited about her returning to the river as the people in the ports of call she will be visiting in the future.

She departed New Orleans Friday and is expected to arrive in Natchez in the early morning hours today. Silver Street will be closed to through traffic around 7 a.m. so that preparations to welcome the passengers can be made prior to the scheduled 8 a.m. debarking. Once the welcoming events have concluded, the street will re-open to traffic; approximately 8:45 a.m. Passengers will begin re-boarding for departure around 4 p.m. and she is scheduled to pull away from the landing at 5 p.m.

We are also encouraging all Natchez citizens to make an effort to line the fences along the bluff between Silver Street and Madison Street to the north, and wave goodbye to the American Queen and her passengers to let them know how much we appreciate their return to the river.

 

Connie Taunton is the director of tourism for the City of Natchez.