Barfield zeroes in on marketing Vicksburg and Warren County

Vicksburg business owner and Warren County District 5  Supervisor Kelle Barfield addressed the Vicksburg Area Marketing Professionals during the group’s monthly meeting on Tuesday.

Barfield’s talk touched on a variety of topics such as non-profits, small businesses and infrastructure, but her main mission was to sell Vicksburg and Warren County.

“We want residents to stay here,” Barfield said. “We want workers to live here, and we want visitors to stop here. North, South, East, West—we want them to make Vicksburg a part of their destination.”

Barfield said her most asked question from residents now that she is one of five supervisors is, “What are you going to go after first, or what is your top priority?” 

“I realized quality of life is in the eye of the beholder, but you could always predictably bucket what people were looking for in a community … by six things,” Barfield said.

The top six qualities Barfield’s constituents look for include affordable homes and safe neighborhoods, jobs for those who are working, a qualified workforce for those who are hiring, solid schools, working infrastructure and budget for preventive maintenance, and recreational areas for all ages.  

“The golf course is a great example where there are a lot of issues there, and there’s a thought that the golf course has to pay for itself,” Barfield said. “It’s a very divisive issue because if you don’t play golf, you don’t understand why ‘my tax dollars’ have to support it.”

Barfield compared the golf course to the public library or city pool.

“I may never check out a book,” Barfield said. “My kids are grown, so I don’t take children or myself to the city pool, but you have to understand if we are going to be a retirement community, you have to have recreational options whether you use them or not.” 

She also mentioned the importance of Vicksburg’s and Warren County’s image to grow the area. She encouraged the group to visit the 2020 Best of Mississippi Reader Poll and browse the categories that mention Vicksburg or a Vicksburg/Warren County business.

Barfield went through the list with the group with pride, but she shocked the group when she went through the categories that did not have a Vicksburg choice. 

“The list is lengthy, but as I go through it, be thinking of where we might have been on the list,” Barfield challenged. “Vicksburg is not on the best place to live, vibrant downtown, signature hotel, museums, shopping destination, fairs/festivals, flea markets, music venues, kids attractions, best pizza, barbecue, sushi, corn bread, coffee house …” Her list went on. 

“I do believe as we look at that list, there is a commitment that we have to make to what I would call ‘pillars of progress’,” Barfield said.

As a county supervisor, Barfield said she hopes to better Warren County in three ways:

Integration: “Individuals want to get information from one source,” Barfield said. “Tourism, for example—you’ve got great things going on, but it could be made stronger by a great deal of integration. I’ve talked with Visit Vicksburg and Main Street and even the Convention Center to iron out some details about integration.”

Communication: “Along with integration, knowing what is going on, we must communicate better,” she said. “We must find a way to get the message out. Technology is wonderful in terms of the variety and tools we use to communicate,” although it can be an overwhelming double-edged sword.

Determination: “It can’t be a one and done,” Barfield said. “I don’t know how many of you saw the Mayor’s comments yesterday about Second Saturday, but individuals came together to create something free and cool downtown every second Saturday of the month.”

Second Saturday is a project of the Vicksburg Warren Chamber of Commerce and Barfield serves on its board of directors as the owner of Lorelei Books downtown. She mentioned the first month for the event was June and, despite unpleasant temperatures, the event received a resoundingly positive response from surveys. In July there was a hurricane warning. She also mentioned that the group questioned whether to continue in January, but it was the group’s determination and tenacity that kept them going to come up with creative ideas to revamp the event for 2020. 

“We are going to give this a second year,” Barfield said. “Sometimes, events take a while to catch on.”

She said she got the message when Flaggs said he would not be giving money to failing events. She understands how frustrating that can be. 

“You can do your very best to integrate, communicate and stay determined about it,” Barfield said. “Ultimately, we have to get people in Vicksburg and Warren County to take part.”

“We need to synergize with each other and our resources,” she said, “and make good things continue to happen.”