Tuesday, December 2, 2008 3:04 PM
CST
Larry Liddell
I trust your Thanksgiving was a happy occasion
surrounded by family and turkey (not necessarily
in that order).
As usual, we as Americans have more to be
thankful for than people from other countries
around the world. We have no war being fought
on our soil, nor on our continent or any continent
close to us. We are the land of plenty and
we should be grateful for that.
We should be thankful that we live in Mississippi,
which has the beach at the southern tip where
we can sunbathe for free in warm weather and
fish to our heart’s content in any kind
of weather. And, when the weather is too bad
for both, we can visit the casinos until the
good weather returns.
We should be thankful that Mississippi has
a river separating us from Arkansas and hills
to the east to warn us that we are approaching
Alabama. We should be thankful that to our
North is the rest of the nation with its breathtaking
beauty and bountiful history.
We should be thankful that we live in the
Delta region, where the land provides ample
opportunities for us to grow crops that provide
food for our table and crops that can be manufactured
into clothes and other necessities of life.
Finally, we should be thankful for The Blues,
a standard of music that provides the Delta
with just about the only reason for tourists
to come visit, thus providing us with a large
economic opportunity. Yes, there is the Viking
Range Company in Greenwood, Baxter in Cleveland,
Delta Wire in Clarksdale and various other
manufacturing companies located in the Delta,
but basically, tourism is the largest revenue-producing
industry we have in the Delta.
Clarksdale has done a pretty good job of capitalizing
on The Blues as a tourist draw. The Delta Blues
Museum brings people from all over the world
to the city, although I dare say that there
are local citizens who have never been inside,
which is sad as it is, indeed, the crown jewel
of Clarksdale. Also bringing tourists to the
city, of course, is Ground Zero, the Blues
club that is owned by Academy Award winner
Morgan Freeman and attorney Bill Luckett.
Ground Zero has really put Clarksdale on the
world map, having been featured many times
on various television programs broadcast worldwide.
Its location adjacent to the Delta Blues Museum
has no doubt helped fuel the population of
both.
And we shouldn’t forget Delta Amusement
and Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Arts, both
located just a stone’s throw from both
the Delta Blues Museum and Ground Zero. Both
play a large part in the big picture of the
blues business in Clarksdale. I can see someone
coming in and creating a Branson-like community
in Clarksdale, Greenwood or maybe even Cleveland
in the near future. The Blues is a very popular
phenomenon and some entrepreneur might be lured
to the Mississippi Delta to invest in something
like that. After all, Dockery Farms, located
between Cleveland and Ruleville, is said to
have been a big factor in the birth of the
Blues.
Both Clarksdale and Cleveland have a claim
to W.C. Handy, the musical genius who made
the Delta his home for awhile. Even Tutwiler
claims a connection to Handy and his development
of the Blues. I used to believe that a big
manufacturing company, like Toyota, Nissan
or Honda would located a plant somewhere in
the Delta. The Mississippi Legislature finally
realized the Delta was a part of the state
and persuaded the Mississippi Department of
Transportation to four lane some highways and
overlay others to provide better means of getting
people and products in and out of the region.
One thing that hurt, however, was the removal
of the railroads in the Delta. But, the fact
that we now have four-laned U.S. 61 makes the
Memphis airport an easy shot should have helped
draw a big company to the area.
But, I guess the absence of a large-enough
work force offset the transportation issue.
But, the future looks bright ahead as with
the economy of today hopefully at rock bottom,
the only way to go is up.
We should be thankful for that, too!
