If two heads are better than one, then with 40 or 50 heads working together, the possibilities — and the parties — become exponentially better.

At least that many heads came together on Monday to talk about something that could be a huge event for Natchez, an event that will last 365 days.

In 2016, Natchez turns 300 years old. For the oldest settlement on the Mississippi River, that’s huge news and worth having a big, long celebration.

The challenge, as Monday’s brainstorming group found out, is how to come up with ideas and themes that will ensure that everything great involving Natchez’s past and present is celebrated.

Ultimately, however, the celebration isn’t just about events that locals will enjoy, but hopefully events that can help entice others to come to Natchez for a visit. The potential economic and marketing impacts of the tricentennial celebration are enormous.

But the event planning isn’t just something that will be left up to a few people. For it to be successful, it must be a grass roots effort and one that can be planned, coordinated and supported by Natchezians of all walks of life.

As Natchez Mayor Butch Brown told the group, “We want this to be the event of our lifetime in this city.”

That’s a tall task, but we know with as many smart heads as we have in Natchez, it’s a task that’s well within the city’s reach.