NATCHEZ — You look good.

It’s the final thought as you pass by the bathroom mirror on your way to a long-awaited first date.

But it’s not your opinion that matters in this case.

You’re about to have your chance — your chance to make that first impression.

Click here for a pdf of the Natchez First Impressions report produced by Mississippi State University.

“It’s crucial,” said Virgil Culver of Mississippi State University. “When we meet someone for the first time, we know what we think of that person.

“It’s then a matter of building on that first impression or finding something else that can make up for it.”

Culver is no dating expert, but he does claim extensive knowledge on first impressions of a different kind.

Culver, director of the Mississippi State Community Action Team, has led studies on the first impressions given off by nearly 60 Mississippi towns and cities.

“We come in and are able to tell someone, ‘Here’s what visitors see. Now, what do you want to do about it?’”

Culver and a team of 10 other people toured Natchez in May, at the prompting of Natchez Downtown Development Association Director Carrie Lambert.

The group’s members presented their first impressions at a community meeting in October.

The rest is up to the community.

“If we could push, we’d say, ‘What are the top one or two issues you think the community really wants to work on?” Culver said.

The issues

Miss-Lou residents don’t hesitate long when you ask them what Natchez needs to do to improve.

Top hits on nearly every list are growth, jobs and entertainment for young people.

The area doesn’t have activities for children, resident Antoinette Rankin said. And it doesn’t have jobs for those children when they grow up, resident Wesley Snell said.

“This is a retirement town,” Snell said. “There are no factory jobs, or jobs for young people.”

Without those jobs, money isn’t turning over like it should, and bigger developments won’t come, Vidalia resident Louise Hester said.

“Natchez is not updated,” she said. “It needs more big stores and restaurants.”

Those concerns aren’t new ones to Mayor Jake Middleton. He knows they are problems that need solutions, but he believes change begins one person at a time.

For example, to recruit major industry, we simply need to clean up our image, Middleton said.

“We have many entrances into Natchez,” he said. “A little effort just by individual store owners could improve looks.

“(Appearance) is very important to someone who is coming to visit and looking to see about the possibility of moving an industry here. You don’t get but one chance to make a first impression.”

The report

Culver’s group — which calls itself First Impressions — gave comments on community entrances, downtown, retail shopping, industry, housing, schools, churches, tourism and civic groups.

The First Impressions group that visited Natchez included residents from Jackson, Starkville and Brookhaven.

Some team members spent one day in town, others spent two.

They spent some time with tour guides and city officials and some time on their own.

Each team member writes his or her own report and later submits it to Culver’s office, where everything is compiled into one report.

Their comments include positives and negatives.

What they liked

The First Impressions report on Natchez comments repeatedly on the beauty of the town and the friendliness of its people.

It highlights the importance of tourism and commends the city for preserving so many historical sites.

“Natchez has so much to offer as a tourism destination,” Culver said recently. “People still think of Natchez as one of the places to visit in the United States. It still has that charm.”

And improvements downtown over the years are definitely noticeable, team member Cliff Brumfield said.

“What impressed me the most was the developments in the downtown area,” said Brumfield, who is the director of the Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce.

“Improvements are being made to hold on to the best of Natchez’s past while preparing for the 21st century.”

Other positives the team included in their report were the river, historic houses, the Natchez City Cemetery, trees and gardens.

Constructive criticism

Natchez has too many areas in need of repair, the report says.

From dilapidated houses to broken sidewalks and cluttered entryways, parts of town just need a good cleaning, team members said.

A lack of industry is hurting locals and the economy, and tourism is great but solely focused on history, the report says.

“The (tourism) challenge is managing it and preventing it from becoming cheesy and overly nostalgic, like Gatlinburg,” the report says.

Downtown is one of the best parts of town but also holds great opportunity for improvement, Culver said.

Better signage, clear crosswalks and smooth sidewalks are listed as ideas.

And finally, several portions of the report point to the need for an attitude adjustment. From the “garden club mentality” to lingering racial tension, some of the area’s biggest challenges may be mental, the group said.

The first step

The work of Culver and his team ends when the report is presented to the town. And though the Mississippi State Community Action Team is happy to help once goals are identified, the group does nothing to poke or prod a city into movement, Culver said.

The study is the spark for the fire the community must burn.

Middleton said having outsiders look in could provide a great starting point for the community.

“Sometimes we ride up and down the street and don’t pay any attention,” he said. “It takes someone coming from outside looking to offer some constructive criticism.”

The city hasn’t yet made a plan for the next step, but Middleton and Lambert said they intend to take that step.

“We talked about getting some people together and trying to focus some of the committees and city departments on what we needed to do,” Middleton said. “We thought about going out to property owners and asking if they’d pick up litter. Asking, ‘What could you do as an individual?’”

Lambert said she has been in touch with a group from the Mississippi Development Authority about having a January community meeting. MDA acts as a counselor for the city, she said, offering advice and guidance.

Lambert envisions getting civic groups, city committees and local boards all on board, divvying up responsibility and making change.

“Everyone needs to take a little bit out,” she said.