More details have been released for this year’s Midnight on Front Street event, the City of Hattiesburg’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration, which is returning after a hiatus in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Toby Barker and several other city officials gathered Dec. 8 at Fire Station No. 1 in downtown Hattiesburg to discuss the festivities, which will begin at 7 p.m. Dec. 31 in downtown along Front and Pine streets.
“We’re just glad to be back in person,” Barker said. “We didn’t know what to expect the first year in (2018), but we had a few thousand people show up.
“Then we really promoted it for 2019 and had seven or eight thousand people there, and I’ve never seen that many people crowd into downtown. It’s going to be great to have everybody back in person. I think that having the (COVID-19) vaccine available has certainly changed the game and has allowed us to get back together, and we’ve seen that with other events this year.”
During the announcement, Barker unveiled artwork by 11-year-old Gretchen McClure, which will be featured on the event’s promotional poster. The artwork, titled “New Year’s in Hattiesburg,” was inspired by Hattiesburg’s Hub Sign and the city’s railroads.
McClure is a Hattiesburg native who has participated in several art programs. A limited number of her posters will be printed, numbered and distributed as promotional items for the event.
“I chose to incorporate the train cars, and the sign is one of the train wheels,” McClure said.
Vendors will be ready by 7 p.m., followed by live music at 8 p.m. At 10 seconds to midnight, a replica of the Hub Sign will be dropped from a Hattiesburg Fire Department Truck at the intersection of Front and Main streets to ring in the New Year.
The Hub Sign dates back to Thanksgiving Day 1912, when a large crowd assembled at the Commercial Club meeting room for the unveiling and illumination of the “Slogan Sign.” The sign, manufactured and donated to the Commercial Club for the benefit of the city by the Henry L. Doherty Company, measured 42 feet in diameter, and featured 1,142 lights.
It displays the words “Hattiesburg, The Hub” in the center, with arrows pointing to the surrounding cities: Jackson; Meridian; Mobile, Alabama; Gulfport; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Natchez.
The sign was erected 50 feet above the Ross Building – now the America Building – on Front Street, 140 feet from the sidewalk. For several years, the sign stayed lit from 6 p.m.-1 a.m. each night, but during World War II, it was sold off in the scrap metal drives to support the war effort.
In 2018, Barker – who had been elected mayor the year before – gathered a team to discuss bringing the sign back.
“It’s certainly a nod to our past, as the hub of all these towns that intersect at our town,” Barker said. “But it’s also a calling to us going forward, that we were to be that premier city in the Gulf South, that we were to be that shining star, that we were to be the progressive town that is forward-thinking.”
In addition to the Hub Sign drop, the event will also feature a dual fireworks show, open downtown restaurants, food trucks, live music and a kids zone area fit with movies, cotton candy, popcorn and more. DJ Kujho will be the special guest at the event.
“This event is akin to other large-scale events in downtown Hattiesburg and it has a vibrant environment for everyone, including families,” said Andrea Saffle, executive director of the Downtown Hattiesburg Association. “Whether someone wants to be in the thick of live music and celebrations or immersed in a seasonal family-friendly movie complete with a stroll through the (Hattiesburg) Pocket Museum, the options are there.”
Traffic plans and parking details will be shared closer to the date of the event at www.hburgnye.com.
On that site, visitors also will find a listing of available hotel packages for out-of-town guests, transportation and additional event features.
“We want to be the state’s New Year’s Eve destination; we want to be the Gulf South’s New Year’s Eve destination,” Barker said. “Hopefully that’s going to happen again this year, and hopefully we’ll look forward to all that 2022 will bring.
“We’ve got a lot of momentum going into next year, and we hope this serves as a kickoff to see some of those things happen.”
