Fall is about on us, which means pilgrimage, Phatwater Kayak Race, balloon race, the American Queen will return and the Spirit will start arriving and the holidays will begin.

In other words, the tourists are on their way, so after a hot and slow summer it’s time to make this gem of a city sparkle. Instead of spring cleaning, it is fall shining time. Let’s get those yards looking sharp, those vacant lots cleaned up and get that strut in our walk that comes with pride.

It is time for Natchezians to get back the pride we had in Natchez and ourselves. Natchez Inc. has done a wonderful job bringing in new industry, but until they are up and hiring a local workforce, we still rely in tourism to help make our great city turn.

So if the gem sparkles brightly, the tourists will see the wonders of our town and want to come back to experience more, but if they see a dull tarnished gem that isn’t polished, we won’t be seeing them again. So we all need to pull together and give the tourists what they want, and that is that sparkling gem of an old Southern city in which we live.

So I am presenting a challenge going out to the oldest citizen we have down to the youngest. Let’s get busy polishing our gem we have, and when the tourists step foot in town this fall, they will experience a Natchez that hasn’t been seen in awhile. And that is a town bursting with pride which wants to show every visitor the time of his or her life while they are here.

We have many things to be excited about: a new city administration, a new chief of police, hospitals that are working on getting top-notch doctors to town and an effort is starting to build downtown to change it into something we can be proud of which will be of use in courting industries, businesses and members of the city.

So let’s all get our hosting hats on and greet and give directions and valuable information to all visitors and make this the best fall tourist season we have experienced in a very long time and keep it moving onto the spring season and knock this out of the park.

The challenge has been voiced, and let’s all answer in a way that shows what Natchez is truly made of.

 

Steve Davis

Natchez resident