Senatobia hosted two modest economic development events this past weekend and several more are on the way.
The Northwest Mississippi football team played East Central on Thursday and Senatobia High School hosted New Albany on Friday. Both were played at Bobby Franklin Field on the campus of NMCC.
Yes, it was an economic development event as people from our community, New Albany and from across the state came to town to watch the game. They probably got something to eat, filled up their car with gasoline and maybe shopped at the Big Box store across the street.
And each one of those sales benefitted the economy of Senatobia.
We would love to see local restaurants offer a something extra on Friday nights during football season. Your Tate Record would also like to see local families visit those restaurants before or after the game.
It will be the home crowd that fuels this week’s economic development event as Senatobia hosts Independence. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. tonight.
Your Tate Record will run photos and a story of these games, and that is nice, but it’s the dollars that these games bring to town that are even nicer.
Let’s face it – Senatobia is not a tourist destination. We need to learn how to capitalize on every event that brings people to town.
Diversity is at the foundation of a strong local economy.
And we hope local restaurants, hotels and businesses will have the vision to glimpse what these events mean to our economy and do more to cash in on sports events. Maybe they want to stay open a little later on game night.
We also hope our community recognizes sports events include summer little league tournaments, basketball tournaments this winter and both softball and baseball next spring.
And let’s not forget the entertainment events at the Heindl Center. The Motown sensation The Spinners were also in town last week.
Our community needs to put its best foot forward anytime company comes to town. A unified, concerted effort involving, city fathers, county elected officials, economic development organizations, local media and education leaders who see the benefit of attracting out-of-town dollars will benefit us all.
Let’s show a little teamwork and play ball.
-30-
