Tupelo — Long before Tupelo residents were were asked to pit their favorite comfort foods against each other at Pizza Vs Tacos, a quiet civil war has been raging over the name of a local Thai restaurant: Sao. Or is it Nao? No one can really come to an agreement.
“It clearly says SAO on the sign,” says frequent patron Randy Wooten. “Anyone that calls it something different is an idiot.”
“Yeah I know Randy. The problem with people like Randy is that they call me an idiot, but they’re too ignorant to look at the sign on the actual building,” retorts Jeff Milner, another frequent customer.
“It says NAO in giant capital letters. Jeff and I used to be friends. We used to eat there together. But one day we got into a heated argument about the name. Some words were said, some curry was thrown. Long story short, we aren’t allowed in there together anymore.”
“He says I’m ignorant?!” replied a livid Wooten. “He’d better not ever show his face at Sao on my weekend or he’ll find out real quick that Spicy Old Man isn’t just an item on the menu!”
To both Wooten’s and Milner’s credit, the restaurant does have two signs with two different names. The discrepancy may be the reason some people have never patronized the establishment.
“I won’t eat there,” say Willa Mason. “I drive by there all the time. It’s got two names, but I don’t know how to pronounce either one of them, so I ain’t eating there. Ain’t nothing Christian about it. I’ll just keep going to New China Buffet for my Asian cuisine. I can pronounce the name and they got good Jell-o.”
“Tupelo has five Subways,” says Brad Locke. “We should be thankful we even have cultural options. We shouldn’t be arguing over semantics. It’s not the name of a place that makes it’s good. It’s the food. It’s the environment. It’s the people. Thai food should bring people together, not divide us. When we eat Thai we’re not republicans or democrats, rich or poor. We’re not Sao or Nao. We’re just hungry.”
Locke was asked if he has a solution to the name conflict.
Good morning Tupelo! Today is Friday, February 7, 2020. It is the 38th day of the year. There are 328 days left in the year and 47 days left of winter! Valentine’s Day is in 7 days, and Spring starts in 48 days.
HAPPENING TODAY
Today in Tupelo, here are the things going on around town:
The BancorpSouth Conference Center will be hosting the IF:Tupelo Women’s Conference 2020 today at 7 p.m. and tomorrow at 9 a.m.. The goal of IF:Tupelo is to gather women from different backgrounds, churches, ages, and denominations together to worship and grow together so as to better display the love of Christ to our community. IF:Tupelo will simulcast very close to the live event and feature a worship team made up of talented individuals from around North Mississippi. This gathering is for every woman around the Tupelo area 15 years old and up. They will be providing coffee, water, and snacks during the event.
If you have little ones, don’t miss Storytime at Reed’s Gumtree Bookstore at 10:30 a.m.
The Tupelo Flea Market is this weekend at the Tupelo Furniture Market, plus the Boat & RV Show! The Flea Market will be in Buildings 1 & 3, while the Boat & RV Show will be in Building 5. As always, there is free parking, and handicapped spaces are available. Admission is $1.00 per person. Children 5 and under are free.
Wet Paint will be hosting a Valentine’s After School Special at 4 p.m.: Painting your choice of either a darling small heart box or the very adorable small heart frame. Each piece is just $15.00+tax and includes a snack and a drink.
The Art Box Studio will be hosting a Paint Party Fundraiser for Beyond the Cover today at 6 p.m.. Beyond the Cover is a pageant for people with developmental disabilities. It is a yearly project of the SPOT Community Service Club.
Downtown Tupelo will be hosting Galentine’s Night Out this evening at 5 p.m.: Enjoy a night out with your gals! Main Street will have select stores open later for you to enjoy specials and sales. Don’t forget to grab a bite to eat or share a drink at one of the many restaurants in Downtown Tupelo. Check out the following shops to see what specials they will be having for you during this event:
-RAW Furniture -L.A. Green Tupelo -Anna Elizabeth -Swirlz -Blairhaus Interiors
Tupelo’s Regional Rehabilitation Center will also be hosting a Ladies’ Night Out this evening at 5:30 p.m. for an evening of social networking and creativity while you learn to make lighted ball wall decor for Valentine’s Day. You can learn this skill to appreciate yourself, to teach other, or to reproduce for craft fairs. The cost is $10.00 per student and they will supply everything you need to create your magical piece.
In neighboring communities, you might be interested in these events:
The Historic Elkin Theatrein Aberdeen invites you to this weekend’s show! Regular admission is $5 each, and all concessions are $1 each. Doors open at 6:30 pm, and the movie starts at 7 pm. Admissions and concessions are cash only. Showing this weekend: Cats (Rated PG)
Historic downtown Baldwyn will host its first ever First Friday Art Walk on Friday, February 7, 2020 from 4 PM – 7 PM. The event will feature guest artists, musicians, authors, candle makers, comic book illustrators, and much more. Guests at The Alley Cat Gallery can meet outstanding artist Rebecca Browning who creates beautiful watercolors and unique Lino prints, while also enjoying live music from talented local musicians. Next door to the gallery, Paper Moon Clothing will host Mississippi artist Rhonda Grammar, while Underground Comics will introduce their visitors to comic book illustrator Jonathan McDaniel. Katlyn Coker at The New Stitch will demonstrate personal engravings and artist Kelly Williams will be at Fill My Cup. Other participating merchants (including jewelry designer and artist April Bell of Little Little Light of Mine) will offer refreshments, music, extended hours, discounts, and door prizes – all while celebrating fine art. This monthly event kicks off in February and will return every first Friday thereafter, bringing artists, musicians, authors, singers, entertainers, and much, much more in celebration of Art in Baldwyn.
Good morning Tupelo! Today is Thursday, February 6, 2020. It is the 37th day of the year. There are 329 days left in the year and 48 days left of winter! Valentine’s Day is in 8 days, and Spring starts in 49 days.
HAPPENING TODAY
Today in Tupelo, here are the things going on around town:
Storyplay at the Lee County Library in Tupelo is today at 9:30 a.m.. Storyplay is a storytime program featuring songs, rhymes, activities, and books more suitable for the baby to toddler set. Play will be highlighted and embraced during this program and modifications will be presented to accommodate different abilities and age groups.
Tupelo’s Weight Loss Support Group will meet tonight at 6 p.m. This group meets on the first Thursday of each month from 6-7 p.m. at the NMMC Wellness Center, 1030 S. Madison, Tupelo, MS. Please call (662) 377- SLIM (7546) for further information. Weight Loss Support Group meetings are also available to watch online at www.nmhs.net/weight-loss-support-group.
The Oren Dunn City Museum presents Black History Month, honoring Frank Dowsing, a Tupelo Spirit awardee, this evening at 5:30 p.m.. Mr. Dowsing was a remarkable individual who helped ease racial tensions at Tupelo High School and Mississippi State University through his affable personality and his athletic prowess. There will be live music, exhibits, and refreshments.
It’s Board Game Night at Queen’s Reward Meadery! Games are FREE to play and their staff will be on hand to recommend and teach each one, OR you are welcome to bring your own! Event hours are 5 until 8 p.m.. Gypsy Roadside Mobile will be on hand, serving up their menu. Make sure to swing by for dinner, mead, and games!
Event Zona will be hosting ARC of Northeast Mississippi’s Bowling To Achieve Night, and invites you to join them for a great night of family fun. $5.00 includes everything you need for bowling. Disability accessible and adaptive equipment available as well.
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Want us to know about something coming up? Just tag our Facebook page, or you can even mark us co-host on an event you are having on your Facebook event listing. You can also send us a message on our Facebook page, or shoot us an email at submit@ourtupelo.com and we will help you share it.
Be sure to check out our extended calendar of events as well, for upcoming happenings in the area!
Have a great day and get out there and enjoy Our Tupelo!
* We update all listings periodically as new information becomes available.
If you’d like to become a sponsor of our daily Rundown, please contact joshua.ballard@ourtupelo.com or call 662-260-1498
Mississippi State University Director of Player Personnel Rockey Felker will attend and speak at the Black History Month celebration on Thursday, Feb. 6. The program begins at 5:30 p.m. at the museum.
“We are thrilled to have Mr. Felker come to this event,” said Leesha Faulkner, curator of the museum. “Many of us remember the veer option and his gift for running that offense, as well as those days he coached the Bulldogs. We appreciate his time and are grateful to the MSU Athletics Department for working with us to honor Frank Dowsing of Tupelo, another outstanding Bulldog.”
Sam Bell, the quarterback for the George Washington Carver Blue Devils in 1955, will also be honored for his community leadership. Mr. Bell led the team in 1955 that won the district championship.
African American leaders Frank Dowsing and Sam Bell will be among several locals who will be featured in the Oren Dunn City Museum;s Black History Exhibit from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
“Tupelo has a rich heritage. The African American community is a significant contributor to the Tupelo story,” said Oren Dunn City Museum curator Leesha Faulkner.
Frank Dowsing will be receiving the Spirit of Tupelo designation and will be featured in Tupelo’s Black History exhibit. He was one of the first African American students to integrate Tupelo High School and was one of two African American football players recruited by Mississippi State University, where he was an athletic and academic standout, Faulkner said. Mr. Dowsing was a remarkable individual who helped ease racial tensions at Tupelo High School and Mississippi State University through his affable personality and his athletic prowess.
via the Daily Journal, Bell, a Medallion Award recipient, was the quarterback of the 1955 George Washington Carver High School team, which won their district championship, and has been a leader in Tupelo in a variety of other ways. Bell was also a close friend of Elvis Presley.
“(African American contribution to Tupelo) is a thread that runs through the whole tapestry and binds us together, and I think that will be evidenced by the banners that are on our walls (and) our celebration of these and other African American folks who are here and who have passed us,” Faulkner said.
Mayor Jason Shelton and Tupelo City Council President Nettie Davis will attend. Local radio announcer Stan Allen of The Pulse 104.3 FM will be the masters of ceremonies. Allen was recently named one of the most influential African Americans by Our Mississippi. Zell Long will be singing. Refreshments will be served.
There will also be a special exhibit of African American soldiers in various wars at the Tupelo Veterans Museum. Thanks to the Tupelo School District, for the first time, there will be an exhibit on the early days of George Washington Carver High School prior to integration. It will feature composite photos and historical items, such as a copy of a PTA program from when key Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes gave a reading at Carver High School on Feb. 18, 1946. A Chicago Defender article confirmed George McLean sent a reporter to cover it.
“You can almost tell the shock in that reporter’s voice, because it was like, wow, there’s a white reporter here covering this, and this was still Jim Crow,” Faulkner said.
Faulkner has been planning the event since June, but said a committee formed in December. She also has plans for Women’s History Month. This year’s exhibit is funded through the CREATE Zeke and Karen Hodges Fund, which is a grant designated for Black History Month exhibits. This will be in memory of Ricky Mallory, Faulkner said.
The exhibit opens at the Oren Dunn Museum at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 6, and will have live music and refreshments.
Good morning Tupelo! Today is Wednesday, February 5, 2020. It is the 36th day of the year. There are 330 days left in the year and 49 days left of winter! Valentine’s Day is in 9 days, and Spring starts in 50 days.
HAPPENING TODAY
Today in Tupelo, here are the things going on around town:
The Tupelo Country Club invites you to join them to celebrate International Networking Week by networking with business professionals in your community.
Chik-Fil-A in Tupelo hosts Breakfast and BINGO every Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.. This event is free and open to the public, and kids are also welcomed guests. All first time bingo guests may receive a free coffee!
If we missed a listing you know of, please let us know!
Want us to know about something coming up? Just tag our Facebook page, or you can even mark us co-host on an event you are having on your Facebook event listing. You can also send us a message on our Facebook page, or shoot us an email at submit@ourtupelo.com and we will help you share it.
Be sure to check out our extended calendar of events as well, for upcoming happenings in the area!
Have a great day and get out there and enjoy Our Tupelo!
* We update all listings periodically as new information becomes available.
If you’d like to become a sponsor of our daily Rundown, please contact joshua.ballard@ourtupelo.com or call 662-260-1498
Oxford — January 25th at The Lyric Theater in iconic Oxford, Mississippi, history and music merged to perform an evening I will never forget. The Lyric Theater in Oxford is steeped with history and southern charm — you can feel it as soon as you step into the foyer.
The Lyric has been everything from originally a livery stable owned by William Faulkner’s family; a movie theater; a health center and a set of offices; and now in the present time, back to a Theater. It is an amazing venue for live music and it was here that I had the pleasure of attending the sold-out Billy Strings show.
Billy Strings is a 27-year-old American Guitar Picker and Bluegrass Musician from Lansing, Michigan. Rolling Stones named Strings one of the Top Ten New Country Artists to Know in 2017 and the International Bluegrass Music Association awarded him with the Momentum Award for Instrumentalist of the Year in 2016.
I discovered his music last year by a random YouTube Suggestion. When I found out that he was coming to my area I was ecstatic, but what I discovered while there was life-changing.
You see, Billy Strings is not someone you will ever hear on Top 40 radio, but that has not stopped this talented musician from touring all over the country and performing for sold-out shows as the headliner, without an opening act.
He is part of a minority of musicians that are amassing a wide and far-reaching fan group who follow him around the country without any radio play, without an overly produced music video, without any of the normal trappings of fame and celebrity — just talent and passion and an obvious love for being able to do what he shines at. And it shows, and people flock to it to experience a type of ecstasy that live music lovers can only achieve in the face of such raw real talent in a dynamic live show.
Billy Strings currently has four albums under his belt, three of which were self-published. The latest and best-selling “Home” was released in September of 2019 with his recently signed label, Rounder Records.
His band currently consists of Billy Failing (Banjo), Royal Masat (Upright Bass), and Jarrod Walker (Mandolin), with all three of them providing accompanying vocals and harmonies with Billy Strings.
During this Oxford show, he performed several of my favorites: “This Heart of Mine”, “Old Home Place,” and encored with an amazing performance of “Freedom” which is off of his new album.
Good morning Tupelo! Today is Tuesday, February 4, 2020. It is the 35th day of the year. There are 331 days left in the year and 50 days left of winter! Valentine’s Day is in 10 days, and Spring starts in 51 days.
If you’d like to become a sponsor of our daily Rundown, please contact joshua.ballard@ourtupelo.com or call 662-260-1498
HAPPENING TODAY
Today in Tupelo, here are the things going on around town:
The Itawamba Community College Belden Center will be offering a Composting Simplified and Demystified class at 4 p.m. with Instructor and Lee County Master Gardener, Dale Smith.
Outside of the Tupelo area, here are some other events you might want to check out:
In Fulton, check out STEM Story Time at the Itawamba County Pratt Memorial Library in Fulton, every Tuesday at 4:00 p.m..
If we missed a listing you know of, please let us know!
Want us to know about something coming up? Just tag our Facebook page, or you can even mark us co-host on an event you are having on your Facebook event listing. You can also send us a message on our Facebook page, or shoot us an email at submit@ourtupelo.com and we will help you share it.
Be sure to check out our extended calendar of events as well, for upcoming happenings in the area!
Have a great day and get out there and enjoy Our Tupelo!
* We update all listings periodically as new information becomes available.
