McComb Enterprise-Journal
Parker: 'We are Scenic Rivers'
By Matt Williamson
The local hospital is Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center. The local community college is Southwest Mississippi Community College. Numerous local businesses, nonprofits and government agencies have "Southwest Mississippi" in their names.
But this isn't Southwest Mississippi. This is Mississippi's Scenic Rivers region.
At least that's how the area should be referred to, according to Joseph Parker, director of the Scenic Rivers Alliance.
The agency formed about 10 years ago but this year took significant steps to define itself, becoming a subsidiary of state government and taking over the Bogue Chitto Water Park and Quail Hollow Golf Course - both government-run local attractions that had been facing the threat of closure. The alliance also hopes to acquire land near Lake Okhissa to encourage more development around that attraction.
Parker told the McComb Exchange Club on Thursday that part of the alliance's mission is to brand the area and encourage local officials to work together to foster economic development and tourism.
"You are Scenic Rivers, we are Scenic Rivers," he said. "When somebody comes to open a business here, you need to invite them to the Scenic Rivers region. When we say Scenic Rivers region, now, that's all of us."
Parker said other regions of the state - the Gulf Coast, Pine Belt, Golden Triangle and Delta - are more successful at attracting jobs and industry because they are branded and banded.
The state's mostly forgotten southwest corner, however, continues to be a conglomeration of counties that try to go it alone - and continues to be left out of significant developments.
"You look at places that don't have an alliance throughout the state, throughout the nation, you see those population trends going down," Parker said.
The agency works with officials in Pike, Amite, Walthall, Franklin and Wilkinson counties to promote the area's natural and economic resources.
Parker, a former recreation director and interim McComb city administrator, said facilities management is a relatively new role for the agency, but it falls in line with his prior work experience.
When the Pearl River Basin Development District folded this summer, its Bogue Chitto Water Park also faced closure. Through a series of dealings with the PRBBD and the Pike County Board of Supervisors, Scenic Rivers managed to take over the water park.
Quail Hollow Golf Course at Percy Quin State Park also was on the downturn - to the point that state officials were considering shuttering it and repurposing the land. Then Scenic Rivers managed to strike a deal and sell enough paid-in-advance memberships over the summer to keep it financially sustainable for the near future.
"All of those things were going to be closed permanently and repurposed," Parker said. "You start losing those quality-of-life components that we need to attract businesses and keep businesses here."
Quail Hollow had some hard times in recent years. Hurricane Isaac in 2012 damaged the dam at Lake Tangipahoa at Percy Quin State Park, forcing officials to drain the lake and rebuild the dam over the span of four years. The drained lake led to a drop-off in park visitors and the loss of a water supply to irrigate the golf course, which led to a nematode infestation on the golf greens.
After the problems were corrected, little was done to promote the park or the course, Parker said.
The state was "really upside down on their marketing ... They put zero dollars into the marketing of the course," he said.
Parker said he hopes to market local attractions to potential visitors in a 100-mile radius.
Scenic Rivers also is looking at acquiring land near Okhissa Lake, located in the Homochitto National Forest in Franklin County. The Bill Dance-designed lake was initially envisioned as a way to lure anglers and campers from all over, with hotel, campground and other amenities that never came to fruition.
"They put those requests for proposals out there and it wasn't successful, for whatever reason," Parker said, speculating that the bevy of regulations that come with building on national forest land likely warded off developers.
U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith inserted language in the recent Farm Bill to allow the sale of 150 acres on the lake's northwest corner to Scenic Rivers.
All of that is still in the works, Parker said.
He hopes to be able to pitch the area to tourists who are interested in exploring the area's outdoors attractions with the possibility of destination vacations that include stops at Percy Quin State Park and Quail Hollow, the Bogue Chitto River, Okhissa Lake and Clark Creek Natural Area.
Parker also introduced Ronny Ross, the new golf pro at Quail Hollow.
Ross said he's always admired the beauty of the course, and he has plans to improve it, starting with the return of seven-day-a-week golf.
"It's already in pretty good shape ... but now we've got to take it to that next level," Ross said. "I can see Quail Hollow being a destination spot for the whole Southern United States. We're going to make this a special place. Annandale doesn't touch it, Reunion doesn't touch it.
"That's the goal: Augusta National."
Parker added: "If that's not what we're aiming for, that won't cut it."
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