Issue: September 2009
Hancock officials expect 2010 to mark big return of small business
By JIMMIE BELL
Business and civic leaders in Hancock County are predicting that 2010 will be the year all businesses inundated or interrupted by Hurricane Katrina four years ago will be able to make a grand return.
Bay St. Louis Mayor Les Fillingame said that work now going on in his city will assure the return of Old Town. The famous shopping district was crippled by the hurricane but is about to resume its full status with the return of souvenir shops, art salons and restaurants.
Hancock Chamber director Tish Williams said a flurry of restaurants has opened throughout the county, and she released a census of businesses that have “made the grade and then some” during the hurricane recovery process.
Both officials confirmed news of the reopening of new in-ground facilities — from repaving streets to water and sewerage lines — to the addition of all public facilities designed to encourage visitors to visit Hancock and shop.
Hancock chamber officials are measuring their estimates of the future business growth in Hancock County against countywide plans of expanding the infrastructure now being funded under a portion of a $200 million federal/state hurricane recovery expansion.
Williams cited a bevy of businesses that have made their mark “in great style” since the hurricane recovery.
Three businesses have been named by the Chamber as “businesses of the year.” One — actually, a collection of two businesses owned and operated by Cyndi Mirambell and Nancy Moynan — is Maggie May’s and Lulu Eats & Entertains in Old Town Bay St. Louis. Other businesses that lease space from Mirambell and Moynan are Purple Snapper, Fashion Express and Labea Ann plus an art studio.
Moynan and Mirambell, see the future of the downtown district mushrooming in 2010.
The West End Restaurant also has been named as a Hancock business of the year. Kelyn and Mark Breland owned and operated DaddyO’s in Waveland from 1995 until the hurricane halted the business; now they have returned on the same site on U.S. 90 in Waveland.
With a new name, it features a French Quarter façade outside and a pictorial history of Waveland on the inside.
Bringing what the chamber officials describe as “fresh energy” to the county, a third restaurant honored by the chamber is Aloha Gallery and Frame Shop of Diamondhead. Katrina destroyed the original art shop founded in Diamondhead in 1999. Owners Art Brown, wife Donna and her sister Pat, kept building the frame shop “little by little,” they said, until its current 3,400 square feet.
Chamber officials say the location, next to Rouses on East Aloha Drive in the Diamondhead shopping Center, is “one of the most heavily trafficked in the county.”
Another restaurant, Jack’s Backyard, is regarded by customers as a new experience on Main Street. Jack’s has gone all-out with its bamboo walls and tropical environment.
The former Rooster’s on Kiln-DeLisle Road, changed its name on its return after Katrina to Banty’s, the associated with the term “banty rooster.” The theme of the restaurant features historic pictures of Kiln. It is owned by Dora Lott and Chuck Levenhouse.
