NATCHEZ &045;&045; Long-time Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler of Madison will be guest speaker at the annual Historic Natchez Foundation meeting Friday at the Natchez Convention Center.

Co-sponsored with the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce, the meeting is open to the public and will center on one of the Madison mayor’s most widely known talents, marketing her city.

A social hour begins at 5 p.m., with the meeting to get under way at 6 p.m.

Hawkins-Butler has taken a unique approach to economic development and will relate some of her experiences and techniques, illustrating her program, &uot;Marketing Your Hometown,&uot; with slides of some of Madison’s buildings.

&uot;The mayor of Madison has been able to make her town a place of choice for residents and a place where businesses want to locate,&uot; said Mimi Miller, director of preservation and education for the Historic Natchez Foundation.

Marketing includes more than simply sending out colorful brochures, Miller said. And Hawkins-Butler has proven that, building a reputation for setting tough design standards when dealing with even the giant businesses such as Wal-Mart and McDonald’s when they locate in her city.

&uot;Madison doesn’t have a lot of historical resources like Natchez has, but the mayor has proven that the way a town looks also is a way to market it,&uot; Miller said. &uot;She promotes the quality of construction, landscaping and signage. And it has worked.&uot;

Hawkins-Butler is serving her sixth four-year term as mayor and can point to successes in making Madison a desirable place to live.

Contacted by phone on Tuesday, Hawkins-Butler said her message to the Natchez audience on Friday will be &uot;from the heart.&uot;

&uot;Every community is unique and has something special that makes people want to call it home,&uot; she said. &uot;Too often a city loses its sense of community either through explosive growth or lack of growth.&uot;

No community can be everything to everyone, she said. &uot;But we all can find our niche, whether it’s dusting off what we have and marketing it or, as we’re doing in Madison, building it.&uot;

Hawkins-Butler said a city should not sell itself short. &uot;We’re trying to build a community for the future, formulating our vision and not selling our city short. If it’s worth having, it’s worth fighting for. After all, what’s more important than where you choose to live.&uot;

In 1988, the mayor was recognized by Sister Cities International as having the &uot;Best First Year Program Worldwide for Cities Less Than 100,000.&uot;

She was the first recipient of the Executive Women International Scholarship and was winner of Mississippi Jaycees Outstanding Mississippian Award.

Other honors and awards include being named the Madison County Chamber of Commerce Woman of the Year.

Miller said she hopes attendance at the meeting is high. It is free and open to anyone who is interested in coming. She said the program has important implications for Natchez.

&uot;Madison has proven that businesses are going to come and that you can make them play by your rules,&uot; Miller said. &uot;There’s an ambience we need to create in Natchez. She has obviously done it in Madison.&uot;