Fridamania hits the Mississippi Gulf Coast

Photos by Ellis Anderson, The Shoofly Magazine

Frida Kahlo, a magical realist Mexican painter whose vibrant artwork defined a nation, inspired women and influenced fashion, has become a role model for artists, political activists and just those wanting to dress up and have a good time. And Fridamania has spread to the Mississippi Gulf Coast where the annual Frida Fest happens every summer in Bay St. Louis.

The fourth annual Frida Fest coincides with the city’s Second Saturday ArtWalk from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, July 14, 2018, in Old Town Bay St. Louis. There will be a Frida-look-alike contest, a Mariachi photo booth, gallery openings, face painting, tapas, pinatas and more! Want to see last year’s fun? Click here.

Here are some of the highlights of this year’s Frida Fest:

11 a.m.-6 p.m.: Taco Extravaganza at the Starfish Café, 211 Main St. (run by the PNEUMA-Winds of Hope organization dedicated to training adults in the culinary arts and life skills)

2 p.m.: Connie Bourgeois will help participants get “Frida-fied” with braids, brows and Frida makeup in the grassy area across from Smith & Lens at 106 S 2nd St.

3 p.m.: Piñata contest at Century Hall, 112 S. Second St.

4-8 p.m.: Free wine tasting at Bodega Spirts Liquor/Parrot Head Grill, 111 Court St.

4:30 p.m. Salsa tasting contest at Century Hall, 112 S. Second St.

Make your own little Casa Azul or decorate maracas with The Arts, Hancock County. Create a Frida Kahlo inspired self-portrait at the Main Street Methodist Church on the corner of Main and 2nd Street.

5 p.m.: Blue Magnolia will perform at the Mockingbird Cafe, 110 S. 2nd St.

5-7 p.m. Frida photos with Glitter the Goat at Social Chair, 201 Main St.

The Mexican Consulate in New Orleans will offer free Spanish books and tourism information.

5:30 p.m.: Loteria with Lugo on the patio at Smith & Lens, 106 S. 2nd St.

5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. NOHA traditional dancers with Cesar & Julio Mariachi and Skinz n Bonez and Bay Ratz Marching Battery -- roaming and entertaining Old Town.

7:30: Frida Be You and Me look-alike contest with celebrity emcees Desiree Ontiveros and Kookie Baker and celebrity judges Lathsky Gitana and The Traveler Broads, Maloney and Fender. Registration for this event will be from 5 p.m. to 7p.m.

Don’t forget that this is the monthly ArtWalk so galleries and other businesses will be open and offering discounts, new artwork, refreshments and more. There’s also the 5th annual poker run benefiting CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) beginning at 10 a.m. 

Want to read more about Bay St. Louis, one of our favorite Southern towns? Click here.

Weird, Wacky and Wild South is written by travel and food writer Chere Dastugue Coen, who loves a creative Southern festival.

Visiting Angels on the Bluff in Natchez

Tickets go on sale every year on Aug. 1 for the annual Angels on the Bluff, the long-running candlelit tour of the Natchez City Cemetery. And folks in the know have this date circled on their calendar. Tickets sell out quickly and it’s easy to understand why. Local actors and musicians in period costumes channel historical figures from beyond the grave — and the town has its fair share of colorful people who have passed.  

Robert Stewart

I was honored to have been a part of this year’s celebration, held Nov. 9-11, 2017. There were 16 shuttles the evening I participated, meaning 16 busloads of ticket holders being shuttled from the Natchez Visitor’s Center to the cemetery on the north side of town. All proceeds benefit the cemetery.

We were the 6 p.m. group and we filled the school bus to capacity. Once at the cemetery, we followed our leader dressed in a jacket with reflector tape and holding a flashlight. The trails we were meant to follow were lighted by luminaries and several of the live oak trees were lighted from below, casting eerie shadows about. Some of the angels atop gravestones, including the famous “Turning Angel,” (more about her later), were also illuminated and stood out in the darkness as if serving as our protector.

Lilly Granderson

First up to tell her story was Katherine Grafton Miller, the founder of the Natchez Pilgrimage, who described how she saved the town with tourism in the 1930s. We then met cabinetmaker Robert Stewart who once also served as one of the city’s undertakers.

L.S. Cornwell, a local merchant and brief publisher of The Eagle newspaper in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, was played by an Angels veteran, a humorous actor accompanied by the dead man’s wife, who also gave a humorous tone to the storytelling.

Lilly Ann Eliza Granderson was an inspiring story, telling how she rose from house and field slave to a woman who operated a secret school where she taught other slaves to read and write.

Many people know of Florence Irene Ford because of her unusual grave. Florence’s mother comforted her in life when thunderstorms hit — she was deathly afraid of them — so when she died at the young age of 10, her mother built a stairway into the ground and a window next to her coffin so that she may visit Florence and comfort her when storms arrived.

The Turning Angel

Back to the Turning Angel. One of the night’s storyteller was John Carkeet, a plasterer and undertaker who was the 11th victim of the 1908 Natchez Drug Company Explosion. The downtown building exploded and burned due to a gas leak and five young women were among the casualties. Their bodies are buried beneath the Turning Angel and the angel watches over them. It’s said that when you walk near the statue, the angel’s eyes will turn and follow you.

Greg Iles, a New York Times bestselling author who lives in Natchez, once used her image on the cover of one of his books, appropriately titled "Turning Angels."

Other fun aspects of the night included a fiddler at a Civil War soldier gravesite, reliving the dancing life of Lillie Vidal Davis Boatner and a dance around a campfire by gypsies.

Sound interesting? Mark your calendar for Aug. 1 and nab those tickets fast. For more information on this historic and beautiful cemetery, visit https://www.natchez.ms.us/150/Cemetery.

Biscuits, pour-over coffee, poetry and love at Greenhouse on Porter in Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.

Carl Sandburg

When someone tells me there’s a new restaurant serving homemade biscuits and pour-over coffee, I don’t hesitate to haul my butt out of the chair. Couple that with the quaint Mississippi Gulf Coast town of Ocean Springs, and you’ve got a winning deal.

            Greenhouse on Porter only serves coffee, beer and delicious crispy homemade biscuits. The day I visited I sampled a savory cheddar and mushroom biscuit that was out-of-this-world good, followed by a sweet potato biscuit with honey butter. The insides were soft and chewy while the outer skin a nice brown crust. Perfection. They serve Reve coffee out of Lafayette, my town where said chair is located, so I was familiar with this craft coffee roaster and knew of their rich, smooth javas.

            The Ocean Springs restaurant is located in an actual greenhouse. Co-owner Kait Sukiennik said the greenhouse had existed on the spot for years, fallen into disrepair. She and partner Jessie Zenor lovingly renovated the greenhouse, although it still owns a rustic ambiance — no air conditioning but fans, plants everywhere, free books inside an old suitcase and poetry lining the walls and hanging from the ceiling.

Kait Sukiennik

            Sukiennik sold her biscuits at farmer’s markets and other places and when she decided to open a storefront did so with only $10,000 to her name. The front of the house (which is air conditioned by the way) contains a tiny kitchen and seating area for about six to eight people, plus a restroom. The seating was made by hand using bare particle boards (although you hardly notice) and the front of the counter is an old door, glass knob still attached. Sukiennik said they used lots of recycled architecturals in the design and enlisted the help of family and friends to help build the interiors.

            The walls are filled with local artwork, various works of poetry and posters by Amos Kennedy. Greenhouse also offers special events such as meditation classes, benefits, cat bingo and live music.

            If only I lived closer!!

Poetry lining the walls at Greenhouse on Porter.

The tiny kitchen with a door as the counter.