Stone County Celebrates Tourism Week

The Dizzy Dean Welcome Center off Highway 49 in Wiggins was the spot to be today in Stone County.

Members of the Stone County Economic Development Partnership were celebrating the county’s centennial birthday in conjunction with National Tourism Week. Food, music, and a history lesson were at the fingertips of anyone coming to the celebration or just stopping through while traveling through South Mississippi.  Partnership members were also on hand to present an over $12 million check to county officials. The check isn’t real, but it’s meant to signify the economic impact tourism has on the county. Executive Director of Stone County Economic Development Partnership Betsy Rowell said, “That’s $2.2 million above the previous year. And those numbers come to us from the Mississippi Development Authority Division of Tourism. So, they’re numbers qualified by the state’s lead economic development organization and not numbers that we’re generating locally.”

Economic development partnership members tell News 25 the county’s great camping is one of its best draws for tourists.