The skies and the hearts of the Miss-Lou were filled once again with brilliant colors and warm feelings Wednesday night on the bluff. Several thousand people of all ages lined the bluff from Rosalie to Madison Street and even further north all along Clifton Avenue to experience and share the Fourth of July fireworks.

The bluff is the heart and soul of Natchez, the Central Park of the Miss-Lou. Throughout the year, day and night, rain or shine, hot or cold, special event or routine day, people are drawn to the bluff.

Locals and tourists (and pets) gather on the bluff to participate in weddings, noon-day meals, short-wave radio communication, jogging and cycling and walking, parades, festivals, concerts, hot-air balloons, contemplation and meditation, reading, Christmas décor, romance, photography and much more. There is no place in Natchez except the bluff that attracts such multitudes throughout the year.

Congratulations to Natchez city government for voting to return part of the bluff into the public domain.

No part of the bluff, from Rosalie to Madison Street west of Broadway, should belong in private hands or be developed for commercial purposes. The bluff belongs to the people.

 

Neil Varnell

Natchez resident