I really like what Starkville is trying to do with University Dr. The "bar scene" needs to continue to be developed along University until one day, it is one continuous entertainment district from the Cotton District to Downtown. It is getting there. Just keep concentrating on that area. I was a little disappointed Walkons built out on the highway but they are a national brand and not local. So I don't know about the fit to university drive.
That is a long stretch. I'm not sure Starkville has the population to support an entertainment district that long. It would have been nice to have a walkons or BWW type set up on university, but I think the lack of parking would scare a lot of people off from investing in something like that. As I said, hard to fix now.
People mention THe LYric. I know yall will disagree here however......Rick's has much better musical acts than anyone in Oxford. I know of 3 girls that drove down from Oxford to go to Ricks for Bailey Zimmerman. Ricks has an awesome place for live music.
Haven't paid attention to Rick's in a long time, but they were a good bar for music when I was in school. Hated the feel of the place, but they brought in good bands and consistently showed up in best bars in america, best college bars, etc lists. Not sure how many of those were more or less paid advertisements, but Ricks was what a lot of people want in a college bar. Big venue to pack students in, good music, lots of drink specials, also had stuff like pool and darts. It just sucked because you had to drive to it and there is nothing nearby to walk to.
Seriously, a Target would help. But a town that small isn't getting a Target. However the biggest thing Starkville needs is positive talk from US. People are always talking up Oxford. Ive been there plenty. It is ok. But Starkville and Oxford are damn near the same town. Be proud of Starkville and take people with you to experience it.
Starkville's reputation was hurt because for so long the main access points went through the ****** parts of town. Coming into town on 12 isn't much different than coming into oxford down jackson. But coming in on old 82 versus coming into lamar was a major difference. The only big difference now is that Oxford's bar scene is centralized and ours is spread out. That's a big deal because people like walkability. But it's not that big of a deal. When I was in school, undergrads mostly paid cover to the library or the other big bar (I think it was called the Levee at the time?) and stayed there until close. Upperclassmen and grad/professional students would bar hop a scene that was functionally no different from the cotton district with a bunch of small bars.
