EDITORIAL/Wonderful for our city

The Dolly Party at the Ellis Saturday was a great night for our town and Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music.

“There is only one DOLLY! She shined like a sparkling diamond!” Sharon  Deweese, executive director of the Philadelphia-Neshoba County Arts Council, wrote on Facebook. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime event for our town! Thank you, Marty, for bringing her to Philly! Awesome show! 

“Dolly told her life story coming from very humble beginnings and has the sweetest smile, heart & angelic voice! You are a beautiful soul! Dolly, we will “ Always love you”

As the sun faded into night on Saturday, the glow in the eyes of thousands remained. From young to old, stories of this unforgettable night will be told for years to come about when Dolly Parton came to town. 

There will be a lot of “remember when’s” and “you should’ve been there’s.”

The impact on our town from the Dolly shows has yet to truly unfold. Hopefully, this event only marks the beginning of what’s to come for ourcommunity and the city of Philadelphia as a whole.

“I think the event will have a pretty good economic impact, not only for the day, but just the fact that there were so many different people from all over the United States,”said Mayor James A. Young. “They had the opportunity to see Philadelphia, hopefully they mingled around for a little while and come back again. I take it as a success, but also something that builds for the future.”

“I was so overwhelmed by the number of people from all states that were here in Philadelphia, Mississippi, with one of the best country entertainers in the nation. It’s just unheard of for a city of our size to have that type of impact.”

“This event was huge. It has really helped us to see what capacity we could have in both areas, outside and inside at the same time. It was a new experience for us as a city, but I think it was a great experience.”

“We are moving in a good direction, and there are other events coming down the road. We hope to be doing something of significance as often as possible. We want people to want to come to Philadelphia. This event was a great door opening to what we want to do in this community with the Congress of Country Music.”

“It’s not just one venue. It’s blues, gospel, bluegrass, country, it’s Marty Stuart. We are glad that he’s a resident of our county and he loves this place. Without his connection and contacts this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Thank God for the police, Sheriff’s Department, Highway Department, Street Department, and everybody that had a hand in making sure the venue was as safe as possible, and from cleaning up after. It was a group effort that really paid off.”

Community Development Partnership President David Vowell was beaming with pride and told WTOK: 

“We were told by the Resort that their hotels were at capacity on Saturday night. The night of the concert. I know from talking to some of our city hotels that at least three of them were at 100 percent capacity. The others were really in good shape. One thing that was mentioned during the concert was that the ticket sales were between 1.4 to 1.6 million. That’s gross sales, you know, we got to take a lot of our expenses out and everything. It’s going to be a good day for the Marty Stuart Congress and financially it’s a blessing.”

Thank you, Dolly, (and Marty) for an amazing evening!