Community leaders provided inspirational words to go along with the fireworks and music as the McComb counted down to 2023 during the city’s New Year’s Eve celebration at the Bo Diddley Pavilion on Railroad Boulevard.
DJ Swayway, Israel Coleman and the Dukes along with the Trailblazers African Dance Studio performed before the fireworks shot into the sky above downtown as the clock struck midnight.
Around the corner at the Palace Theater, McComb native and Grammy-nominated bluesman Vasti Jackson headlined the Pike School-Mississippi’s New Year’s celebration, a Walk Down Main, which began at 207 Bistro & Blues with food and more live music.
Clinnesha Sibley, the fine arts coordinator for the McComb School District, emceed the city’s celebration.
“One thing McComb, Mississippi, has is remarkable talent, everybody, remarkable talent of all kinds,” she said. “I want us to consider that we are all artists standing in front of a blank canvas and we have one year to create a unique work of art.
“We have the tools from 2022, and it’s up to us to sharpen those tools to imagine, dream and set our minds free for the thrills, opportunities, challenges and triumphs of 2023. It’s time to paint, explore new horizons. The sky is no limit. Leave your footprints on the moon.”
Mayor Quordiniah Lockley organized the event.
“The most important thing that we need to remember is that it’s all about love,” he said. “It’s all about love. Without love, there is nothing.”
Lockley said the city’s first New Year’s celebration went well.
“I didn’t know what this would be like tonight,” he said. “Never done it. Didn’t know what to expect, but McComb you have come out and made this event something you can be proud of and something you can look forward to next. Let’s make it bigger and better next year.”
Pastor Chris Huffman from The Well gave a religious perspective for inspiration for the new year.
“Whenever we have an attitude of expectancy, God does some amazing things and it’s really great to see tonight,” he said. “We’re celebrating with one another and we’re coming with the spirit of unity.”
Huffman said in the Bible, John 17 discusses unity.
“It’s a great thing whenever we operate in that anointing,” he said.
Shaunta McDowell, the founder of the nonprofit Finding Your Way out of Poverty, talked about being “unstoppable.”
“Right now, we’re moving in the right direction and we have the momentum so guess what we have to be? We have to be unstoppable,” she said. “That means we can’t let anybody deter us from the way that we are going. We are moving in the right direction.”
McComb Ward 3 Selectwoman Terri Waterman-Baylor and Rep. Daryl Porter, D-Summit, encouraged everyone to have a good time.
“I want you to enjoy the wonderful fireworks in McComb,” Waterman-Baylor said. “This is a celebration, so let’s rock on.”
Porter asked everyone how they were doing and encouraged them to cheer loudly.
“Thank you guys for inviting me to be a part of the welcome and a part of the show,” he said. “You all enjoy yourselves. Enjoy the City of McComb. Enjoy District 98. I want to wish you an extremely happy New Year.”
Jay Wilson, a former candidate for Ward 1 selectman, thanked the city for putting the celebration together.
“This has been a wonderful night and it’s really only possible because of all you guys that have shown up and let’s keep that in mind in 2023,” he said. “If we all show up together, we can make things happen in this town. But we all have to be here and we all have to want to be here.”
