Ohr festival bows Saturday; other news and notes

The 15th Annual George Ohr Fall Festival of Arts — offering plenty of arts and crafts vendors, food and entertainment — takes place Saturday and Sunday on the Biloxi Town Green.

The festival is open Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission: $2 for adults, free for children.

To read more about the festival and see a schedule of festival events for both days, click here.

City Council meets Tuesday afternoon

Six zoning issues – including variances for two restaurants – and funding of more than $150,000 for social-service groups are among the measures before the City Council when it meets Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.

The Snapper Seafood Restaurant, known pre-Katrina as Wet and Wild, is seeking a parking variance at its west beach location, while the Fillin’ Station, a restaurant and nightclub, is seeking parking and distance waivers for its site, which was once a service station at Howard Avenue and Main Street.

To see the complete agenda and available resolutions, click here.

Cruisin’ the Coast motorists arriving this weekend

The first wave of Cruisin’ the Coast visitors are expected to be tooling on area streets this weekend in anticipation of Sunday’s kickoff of the 10-day extravaganza.

Nearly 3,500 vehicles from across the country have registered, and more are expected, according to organizers.

Biloxi Police Chief Bruce Dunagan, meantime, is advising motorists to avoid U.S. 90 if possible because of the expected increase in traffic. “We’re asking people to consider using Pass Road, Irish Hill or even I-10 unless they want to be a part of the Cruisin’ procession,” said Dunagan, a car aficionado himself. “We’re asking people to have fun, but be patient and obey traffic ordinances.”

The Cruisers, incidentally, will be in downtown Biloxi on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. To see more about that event, click here.

To see the complete Cruisin’ schedule and find other Cruisin’ news, click here.

Howard Avenue: The tip of the iceberg

Motorists in east Biloxi near Howard Avenue are getting a glimpse of the city’s upcoming $355 million in infrastructure work.

The Howard Avenue reconstruction, a $2.8 million project that is expected to be completed in May, is a pre-cursor to an overall project that will see the repair or replacement of about 100 miles of streets, the replacement and repair of about 170 miles of sewer and water lines, 60 miles of storm drains, and dozens of water wells and lift stations.

For a status report on the Howard Avenue project and the overall infrastructure work, click here.


News and notes

Weekend preview: To see a weekend entertainment listing, courtesy of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, click here.

School newsletter: Biloxi residents will receive information about Biloxi Public Schools next week when the inaugural issue of The Arrow, an eight-page newsletter, begins arriving in mailboxes throughout the city. To see an online preview, click here.