New Plans For Tupelo Birthplace.
Elvis Birthplace plans grow as state bond money is secured.
An official with the Elvis Birthplace and Museum expects little trouble in coming up with a 20 percent local match to garner $2.8 million from the state to enhance the Tupelo tourist destination.
"We don't see a problem raising our share," said Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation Executive Director thingy Guyton.
The funds to improve the Tupelo birthplace of the King of Rock 'n' Roll is part of a $400 million bond package signed into law earlier this month by Gov. Haley Barbour.
Many Tupelo businesses, said Guyton, would probably see the local matching funds as an opportunity to make improvements that would attract more visitors to the Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum and longer stays.
That will help those businesses and all of the local economy, agreed Tupelo Mayor Jack Reed Jr.
The first-term mayor said he supports the idea of making the birthplace a destination that would entice tourists to stay overnight instead of half a day, as many do now when they visit Tupelo as a side trip to Graceland in Memphis.
The bond package includes funds primarily for repair and renovations at the eight public universities, 15 community colleges, other state-owned buildings and for other tourism-related sites.
More than $150 million of the package is for loan programs, such as infrastructure repairs to local governments, or have provisions that prevent the state from issuing the bonds and incurring debt unless conditions are met, such as matching funds being provided.
The bond package, along with another $300 million transportation bill signed earlier this year by Barbour, combine to make one of the largest bond packages passed by the Legislature in recent years.
Two reasons existed for the size of the package - the repair and renovation needs that have been neglected in recent years and the record-low interest rates to repay the bonds.
Some of the construction called for in the bonds, legislative leaders said, could create jobs and help boost the still struggling Mississippi economy.
Guyton said the next step will be to hire an architect to put together the plans for the birthplace.
"We can't do that until the bonds are sold. We don't know when that will be," he said.
The bonds most likely will be sold this year, but an exact date is not known.
The primary planned improvements would be a theater connected to the museum and gift shop and a Elvis Childhood trail leading to an amphitheater.
The theater would include a state-of-the-art sound system and screen for various programs. For instance, Elvis Presley movies could be played on the large screen as could interviews of people who grew up with him.
Plus, the theater would be available for other events, such as wedding receptions.
But the plan would call for programs ongoing and scheduled 18 months in advance for the many foreign Elvis fans who schedule their travel early.
"We would do anything and everything we can think of to extend the stay in Tupelo," Henry Dodge, chair of the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation, said in an earlier interview when he visited the Legislature to advocate for the project.
While the project had wide support among Northeast Mississippi legislators, Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, who began working on the project in the 2009 session, played a key role in its passage.
"This is already a top tourism attraction, and we are going to make it better," Holland said.
2010/04/29 by Bobby Harrison-NEMS Daily Journal - Brian Quinn / www.epgold.com
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Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:33 pm