Wrapping Up Spring Break 2017

As many of those spring breakers are headed home, they’ll be leaving behind a lot of their hard earned money at the hotels and restaurants on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but what else is hanging around after a weekend full of festivities?

Another spring break weekend has wrapped up in Biloxi, and this year tens of thousands packed into the area, reportedly filling up hotels from Pascagoula to Slidell.

“It’s great for the coast man, any kind of extra revenue, you know any time you got revenue coming into the city with this many people spending money it’s always good.. man we’re out having a good time with good people down here, this is what the south is all about.”
– Phil Wilson Visiting From Jackson, Mississippi

But while spring breakers are having a blast on our beaches, some locals are upset over the amount of trash being left behind by the large crowds. One family took it upon themselves to clean up in the midst of the weekend, to minimize the potential ramifications of widespread litter.

“My biggest pet peeve, whether its mardi gras, spring break, whatever, is when people disrespect our beaches.. If all this trash goes in the water it kills our wildlife.. If it kills our wildlife, the seafood industry suffers, everything suffers.. I believe that you treat someone else’s home like you treat your own home, and if you destroy my home, i wonder what your home looks like.”
– Lachriseja Elisaga Cleaning Up The Beaches During Spring Break

Visitors understand the concerns, but say more positive than negative comes from the annual event, and a few litterbugs shouldn’t spoil the fun for everyone else.

“They gonna pick it up, we gonna pick it up, somebody gonna pick it up.. It’s a job, I mean everybody gotta have a job, somebody gotta do it. Why would you stop money, stop fun, stop entertainment, just stop everything just for a little trash..?”
– Aaron Hickmon In Town For Spring Break

“Cruisin the coast brings a little trash, mardi gras brings a lot of trash, of course you got young people coming down having a little fun, you’re gonna have trash on the beach but it’s nothing the coast hasn’t seen before and I think the coast is well equipped to deal with it so, it may be a little different than what Biloxi normally sees but it brings money.”
– Johnnie Sims Moss Point Resident

In Biloxi, Hank Davis News 25.