Starkville

[AttalaDawg72]

I think Starkville has vastly improved in the last 5 or so years and will continue to improve. However, what are we missing here? There are some obvious retail places that many wish were here. I think with the addition of many high paying jobs in Lowndes County around the new aluminum mill we will see substantial growth in the coming years. What are we missing? I think the continued development of the Cotton District, Downtown, and the area around the Mill should be the focus.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

If the city ever gets control of the abounded rail line between Blutos and Hwy 12, that would provide space for a lot of growth/development.

 

[dawgstudent]

Bridge downtown and the cotton district and make it one entertainment district. Have shuttles constantly running between the 2 from 5 PM to 2 AM.

 

[AttalaDawg72]

Bridge downtown and the cotton district and make it one entertainment district. Have shuttles constantly running between the 2 from 5 PM to 2 AM.

There is this massive space of land between Reeds and the Library that need to be completely demolished and redeveloped. We have to bridge the two for sure. It’s crazy how dead Downtown was on Saturday night after the ballgame.

 

[Bdog9090]

Bridge downtown and the cotton district and make it one entertainment district. Have shuttles constantly running between the 2 from 5 PM to 2 AM.

Are the Camps even doing anything with the Cotton District? I can't think of anything new or planned since Dan died.

 

[STATEgrad04]

A square***

 

[BIGDAWG44]

Take over the cemetery

 

[VegasDawg13]

I think Starkville has vastly improved in the last 5 or so years and will continue to improve. However, what are we missing here? There are some obvious retail places that many wish were here. I think with the addition of many high paying jobs in Lowndes County around the new aluminum mill we will see substantial growth in the coming years. What are we missing? I think the continued development of the Cotton District, Downtown, and the area around the Mill should be the focus.

I'm curious what you mean by "the continued development of downtown"

Downtown has been worse and worse for well over a decade imo

 

[tired]

I'm curious what you mean by "the continued development of downtown"

Downtown has been worse and worse for well over a decade imo

Worse and worse?

 

[8dog]

People are going to have to just start going up there. And spending money. And driving demand for more places. Thats what seemingly happened in Oxford. 25 years ago there wasn’t a ton going on outside of City Grocery. But people just kept showing up.

disadvantage- retail is downtown, disconnected from campus and CD

advantage- CD abuts campus.

 

[Maroon13]

"county schools". Then you would see new subdivisions pop up because people would want to be in the new school. Generic-a box stores would follow and all of a sudden you have growth.

 

[retire the banner]

People are going to have to just start going up there. And spending money. And driving demand for more places. Thats what seemingly happened in Oxford. 25 years ago there wasn’t a ton going on outside of City Grocery. But people just kept showing up.

Asking fans to show up to Starkville on gameday weekends and support their Alma mater has become a touchy subject for some reason.

 

[AttalaDawg72]

I'm curious what you mean by "the continued development of downtown"

Downtown has been worse and worse for well over a decade imo

There is a major redevelopment plan that is supposed to begin in January. They replaced all the water and electrical stuff this past year. It’s going to widen the sidewalks and eliminate a lane of traffic on Main Street.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

People are going to have to just start going up there. And spending money. And driving demand for more places. Thats what seemingly happened in Oxford. 25 years ago there wasn’t a ton going on outside of City Grocery.

Concur.

Disposable income has exploded since the 70s/80s, middle class folks are buying game day condos in Oxford even though they have no allegiance to the university. Public schools are the biggest difference between the two towns/universities. 40 years ago, it seemed OM fans were willing to more freely spend money than our fans, but we have closed the gap on that. We started from behind, but have greatly improved our town/university. Hell, every road around Oxford was 4 lane while two of the busiest highways in the state (82 and 25 - that just happened to lead to Starkville) where still two lane.

 

[Darryl Steight]

People are going to have to just start going up there. And spending money. And driving demand for more places. Thats what seemingly happened in Oxford. 25 years ago there wasn’t a ton going on outside of City Grocery. But people just kept showing up.

Agree totally. That's a huge difference between the two schools/alumni bases. They believe they're going to be national champs every year, no matter the history and evidence to the contrary. They either truly believe - or are skilled pretenders - that Oxford is everyone's favorite, most specialest place in the world... even though it's not. But yet it's all positive, fluff marketing for them and the town, always.

On the other end of the spectrum, as a whole, we always and forever think our team is going to suck, no matter what. We are negative on STK the town as much or more than anyone else. So we do the negative publicity work ourselves. That translates into fewer offseason visits by alumni and visitors, fewer people buying condos (so fewer are built), lower volume for restaurants and stores in the offseason (so fewer new restaurants want to come). So it feeds on itself in either direction, positive or negative.

No one is ever going to convince OM people to be pessimistic, so we just have to ignore them. We need to focus on what's great about STK and find ways to turn our own attitude around. That's the first step. Then what you said - going up there often, spending money, making it fun.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

I think Starkville has vastly improved in the last 5 or so years and will continue to improve. However, what are we missing here? There are some obvious retail places that many wish were here. I think with the addition of many high paying jobs in Lowndes County around the new aluminum mill we will see substantial growth in the coming years. What are we missing? I think the continued development of the Cotton District, Downtown, and the area around the Mill should be the focus.

There is cooperation between City of Oxford leadership, Lafayette County Leadership, Ole Miss and Oxford Business leaders that does not exist in Starkville.

 

[Mr. Cook]

Another “Target” discussion. Yay.

 

[CoastTrash]

A statue of Col. Stark and something that embraces his battle cry, “live free or die”

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

Still pay to park downtown?
Big negative.

 

[8dog]

Concur.

Disposable income has exploded since the 70s/80s, middle class folks are buying game day condos in Oxford even though they have no allegiance to the university. Public schools are the biggest difference between the two towns/universities. 40 years ago, it seemed OM fans were willing to more freely spend money than our fans, but we have closed the gap on that. We started from behind, but have greatly improved our town/university. Hell, every road around Oxford was 4 lane while two of the busiest highways in the state (82 and 25 - that just happened to lead to Starkville) where still two lane.

And the public school system isn’t the draw it once was. Lots of folks moving there and sending their kids to Regents now.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

There is cooperation between City of Oxford leadership, Lafayette County Leadership, Ole Miss and Oxford Business leaders that does not exist in Starkville.

Of course it doesn’t exist in Starkville and that’s because Starkville is Oktibbeha County (Lafayette County is also Oxford but the Oxonians love Excess)

Cue Mr. Cook:

Another “Target” discussion. Yay.

 

[WrightGuy821]

I think some form of entertainment would go a long way for the university. One of the biggest complaints people have about Starkville is that "there's nothing to do here"

 

[Maroon13]

Oxford is nice for a MS town but it isn't the be all end all.

Starkvilles problem is, one it is laid out weird. Downtown is tucked away from the main highways. 82 and 25 completely bypass town and people get this perception there is "nothing there". Two, it is a "geographical oddity, two hours from everywhere." Oh...and three Tuscaloosa is to damn close.

Oxford is one little main road. Granted they've had some growth on 7 and 6 but people drive through their Generica and people get this perception there is a decent size town there but it isn't. It's a tiny town. Oxford gets more traffic and word of mouth because it is an hour from Desoto /Memphis.

 

[retire the banner]

Agree totally. That's a huge difference between the two schools/alumni bases. They believe they're going to be national champs every year, no matter the history and evidence to the contrary. They either truly believe - or are skilled pretenders - that Oxford is everyone's favorite, most specialest place in the world... even though it's not. But yet it's all positive, fluff marketing for them and the town, always.

On the other end of the spectrum, as a whole, we always and forever think our team is going to suck, no matter what. We are negative on STK the town as much or more than anyone else. So we do the negative publicity work ourselves. That translates into fewer offseason visits by alumni and visitors, fewer people buying condos (so fewer are built), lower volume for restaurants and stores in the offseason (so fewer new restaurants want to come). So it feeds on itself in either direction, positive or negative.

No one is ever going to convince OM people to be pessimistic, so we just have to ignore them. We need to focus on what's great about STK and find ways to turn our own attitude around. That's the first step. Then what you said - going up there often, spending money, making it fun.

I agree with most of this. OM is very good at “faking it until you make it”. We are more realistic in most ways - sometimes this pays off for us, but lately it’s been rough.

I was very disappointed in the crowd Saturday. To say it was pathetic is an understatement. What happened to our fanbase? No one is going to mistake us for Nebraska in terms of fan support but we need to be better. Having 20k empty seats to open a new era of MSU football is just embarrassing.

When attendance is brought up, the usual suspects come out and say “well I live 5 hours away and have 3 small kids”. This message isn’t directed towards you, it’s towards the alumni that live with an hour or two (Tupelo, WP, Columbus, Grenada, Madison County) to Starkville and never make the trip.

I’ve said this a dozen times over the last several months, but we need this year’s team / offense to be exciting and give our fans some hope & optimism. It’s a crucial year. I think the casual fan doesn’t even realize how mediocre and painfully boring we have been as a football program since 2018. You would almost rather be strikingly bad for a few seasons and have a reset as a fanbase than go through what we did. Disinterest and apathy set it. Thankfully, I think we might’ve made the right hire to give people a kick in the *** to get back to Starkville on gamedays. We’ll know for sure over the next couple of weeks.

 

[dawgstudent]

People are going to have to just start going up there. And spending money. And driving demand for more places. Thats what seemingly happened in Oxford. 25 years ago there wasn’t a ton going on outside of City Grocery. But people just kept showing up.

disadvantage- retail is downtown, disconnected from campus and CD

advantage- CD abuts campus.

That might be the first time I've seen the word "abuts"on SixPackSpeak in its 21-year existence. Breaking barriers every day.

 

[Maroon13]

I will tell y'all this too..... knowing many college aged kids right now...... ABC is strict AF in Starkville. Whereas that isn't the case in Oxford.

Not that under age drinking should be allowed but....police flooding a place just to do checks tends to keep people away.

 

[Villagedawg]

"county schools". Then you would see new subdivisions pop up because people would want to be in the new school. Generic-a box stores would follow and all of a sudden you have growth.

Not being a smart ***, seriously asking what you mean about the county schools. Are you saying just create a new school district/have the current school district invest millions in a new school in the county that few to no students will attend for now in hopes of attracting students? Or are you saying something different? Generally population centers come before school come.

 

[Theconnormead]

People are going to have to just start going up there. And spending money. And driving demand for more places. Thats what seemingly happened in Oxford. 25 years ago there wasn’t a ton going on outside of City Grocery. But people just kept showing up.

disadvantage- retail is downtown, disconnected from campus and CD

advantage- CD abuts campus.

Unfortunately, Starkville has never been great at supporting Starkville. Local businesses must be supported before more / better retail will come. On the same note, alumni have to support local businesses during game weekends. Was in retail in Starkville for many years (both in college and out) and can't count the times someone would come in and ask for support for XYZ and say oh I bought one of those when I was in ______.....can you support little Johnnys baseball team.

 

[Maroon13]

Not being a smart ***, seriously asking what you mean about the county schools. Are you saying just create a new school district/have the current school district invest millions in a new school in the county that few to no students will attend for now in hopes of attracting students? Or are you saying something different? Generally population centers come before school come.

I'm referencing Desoto County and its growth with the new plants and industry coming into the GTR in mind.

How many kids at SHS? SA? Desoto built Lewisburg and Center Hill when it really didn't need to.

Columbus has Caledonia and New Hope. Are new employees with families and school aged kids going to buy a house in Caledonia or Starkville (choices are SHS and SA)? I'm really asking. I know if I had to move back with a family, I'd move to Caledonia.

 

[Darryl Steight]

I will tell y'all this too..... knowing many college aged kids right now...... ABC is strict AF in Starkville. Whereas that isn't the case in Oxford.

Not that under age drinking should be allowed but....police flooding a place just to do checks tends to keep people away.

Along these same lines, is it true that the school has told sororities and fraternities they can't allow freshmen to go out to bars? Someone told me that at the game and it sounds ridiculous. Are we only recruiting the amish now? Does anyone know if that's true, or what the actual story is? I find it hard to believe.

 

[Pilgrimdawg]

While there is definitely room for improvement, Starkville is incredible compared to what it was like when I was at State 72-76. Eating establishments were Burger Chef right off campus, Sarges, Cy Thompsons Beef House on old 82 east, Chinese in an old house on hwy 12, 2 or 3 small places in town, the Union, Perry Cafeteria, and places like Len Lews around the old crossroads. That’s about it. On hwy 12 there was nothing out past where the old army navy store is located. ( I think it is still there). We shot doves right off of 12 in a field that is so covered up now that I can’t even figure out exactly where it was. We only played 2-3 home games in Starkville, the rest were in Jackson and other than Vandy, I don’t remember any conference games in Starkville while I was at State. In earlier years we played the egg bowl in Starkville. We had the west side and the Johnny Rebs had the whole east side. It was not a pleasant experience most of the time. So yes, it can definitely improve but my goodness it has come further than most of you guys can imagine.

 

[Mr. Cook]

Still pay to park downtown?
Big negative.

Starkville still in rural East Central Mississippi?
Big negative. ************

 

[Mr. Cook]

That might be the first time I've seen the word "abuts"on SixPackSpeak in its 21-year existence. Breaking barriers every day.

“We like abuts and we cannot lie….”

 

[Xenomorph]

There is this massive space of land between Reeds and the Library that need to be completely demolished and redeveloped. We have to bridge the two for sure. It’s crazy how dead Downtown was on Saturday night after the ballgame.

AT&T would like to have a word regarding their switch.

 

[AttalaDawg72]

I'm referencing Desoto County and its growth with the new plants and industry coming into the GTR in mind.

How many kids at SHS? SA? Desoto built Lewisburg and Center Hill when it really didn't need to.

Columbus has Caledonia and New Hope. Are new employees with families and school aged kids going to buy a house in Caledonia or Starkville (choices are SHS and SA)? I'm really asking. I know if I had to move back with a family, I'd move to Caledonia.

I go to Caledonia frequently and I would much rather be in Starkville. I’ve talked to several parents who say the school district in Caledonia isn’t what it’s made out to be. Plus there’s absolutely nothing and you have to drive 20 minutes just to go to Columbus. Pass.

 

[aTotal360]

And the public school system isn’t the draw it once was. Lots of folks moving there and sending their kids to Regents now.

I wouldn't call it a draw, but I know several affluent families that are pulling their kids out of SA and sending them to SHS.

 

[L4Dawg]

Ah, the weekly let's bash Starkville thread. Y'all should have seen it in the early 80s.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Ah, the weekly let's bash Starkville thread. Y'all should have seen it in the early 80s.

And people bashed it then too.

With the exception of a one-week holiday when beer was made legal.

 

[Maroon13]

I go to Caledonia frequently and I would much rather be in Starkville. I’ve talked to several parents who say the school district in Caledonia isn’t what it’s made out to be.

According to US News.
Caledonia HS ranks 36th in MS
Starkville high 117.

 

[HotMop]

Take over the cemetery

“I tell ya, golf courses and cemeteries are the biggest wastes of prime real estate.”
- Al Chervik