A commemorative set of postcards depicting the heyday of Biloxi’s seafood industry and Blessing of the Fleet, along with a special cancellation showing the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum and a Biloxi schooner, will be available at a one-day postal station on Friday at the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum.
The station will open shortly after 9 a.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and will be open through 5 p.m. Friday. Residents will be able to purchase the postcard collection and a commemorative envelope featuring a Joe Moran drawing of a shrimp boat for $20. Other, less-expensive packages also will be available.
The postcards show a seafood cannery with boiler stacks jutting toward the sky and schooners moored at its piers; “The Start,” Biloxi schooners sailing down the channel at a Fourth of July regatta; “The Beach, Biloxi, Miss.,” showing oyster houses and vessels along an early 20th century shoreline; and a colorfully decorated Biloxi lugger, the “Joyce Marie,” at a Blessing of the Fleet ceremony in the 1980s.
Moran’s daughter, Mary Moran, also a well-known Biloxi artist, has handpainted 100 envelopes, which also will be available at the museum Friday.
The special cancellation will be available May 3 at the museum and by special request for 60 days at the main post office at 135 Main Street.
This project is sponsored by the Biloxi Bay Chamber of Commerce, the City of Biloxi, the Gulf Coast Postal Customer Council, the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum and Moran’s Art Studio.
For more information on this weekend’s Blessing of the Fleet, click here.
