Here’s something I thought might be fun: a casual review of how I spent last Saturday (well, the Saturday before last, technically) afternoon in Natchez.
Despite sleeping in, I had a pretty full day, and I experienced it all without ever getting in a vehicle!
It was around 11 AM when I woke up. After taking my dog for a quick walk and dropping her off back by the apartment, I grabbed my fold-up chair I take to events, and headed toward downtown.
It’s about a 20 minute walk from my apartment on Cherry Street to The Malt Shop, a famous Natchez staple, and a restaurant I frequent for lunch.
The Malt Shop is a great place for lunch, or a malt or shake, but it’s also a great place to meet people! Every time I go, I run into a friend or colleague, or sometimes a group of tourists. I always find someone to exchange a few pleasant words with while I wait for my food.
Anyway, I had a club sandwich and it was great! After finishing up my meal, I grabbed a bottle of water and headed further into downtown. My destination was the bluff. Usually I’ll go down main street, but this time I took a bit of a detour and went down some of the adjacent residential streets, admiring the gardens and blooming flowers, a joint venture between mother-nature and hard-working homeowners.
For those of you that don’t know, the Natchez Powwow is an annual event that celebrates the culture and ceremony of the indigenous Native American people. Natchez got its name from the ‘Natchez’ people, so this seems only appropriate.
It was a fantastic experience, too! I plopped down my chair which, by now, I was getting pretty tired of lugging around, and just sat for a while taking it all in. Singing, dancing, drum-circles, there was a ton of positive energy emanating from the Natchez Bluff on this afternoon. I had the opportunity to pick up a couple of things from a craft vendor, namely a few pins for my hat, and a bumper sticker quoting one of my favorite musicians of all time, Frank Zappa, a cool thing to find at the Powwow of all places!
During the Powwow, I moseyed on over to Smoot’s Grocery for a bit, and had a drink and caught up with some friends who were sitting at the bar.
After I had gotten a good helping of the Powwow experience I pulled out my phone and did something I find myself doing more and more lately, checking my own website. I took a look at the events calendar on https://everythingnatchez.org and it reminded me that the Natchez Little Theater was having a showing tonight that I wanted to see. In case you didn’t know, the Natchez Little Theater is the oldest community theater in Mississippi, and I’m a huge fan of their work. I was only about a 12 minute walk away and the show didn’t start for another 30, so I decided to go for it. One problem though, the chair.
I cannot stress enough just how “over” I was hauling this chair around. I thought about it for a brief moment and decided that, A. This is Natchez and chances are good that I can leave the chair and nobody will mess with it. I also considered that, B. I’d honestly rather risk someone stealing it and being out $17 than hauling the wretched thing any further. So with no further hesitation, I elected to leave it where it sat, and walk down to the Little Theater.
It was a nice walk and I got to see some streets and houses I don’t typically encounter, Natchez really is beautiful in bloom.
I made it to the little theater about 20 minutes before showtime, and actually ran into some of the cast, most of them friends of mine, on the sidewalk before I turned the corner to the building’s entrance. I spoke to them for a moment and went and grabbed my ticket.
It was fantastic! I’ve never seen ‘The Odd Couple’ before, but it’s writing, combined with the cast’s performance, had me in stitches. I also have to give a big shout-out to the set design, which was great for a production of this scale, and an immediately noticeable step-up from recent productions, bravo on all counts.
After the play I shook hands with the cast and crew and gave them their due praise, and finally, after walking all day, got a friend to come give me a lift home. But not before tying up an important loose end.
“Let me go by the bluff and check on my chair” I told them, and so we did.
As we pulled up, the bluff has already emptied, and what was left of the Powwow event had made an impromptu migration to Smoot’s. My friend was sure the chair would be gone, I told them I really doubted it.
And…
Yep, there it is! Another instance of faith well-placed, gotta love Natchez!
