The City of Hernando recently received two grants from the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area Alliance’s Board of Directors, one to help support components of one of the city’s most popular tourist events, and the other helps enhance the direction to that event, and others.
The grants to Hernando total more than $9,000, part of about $460,000 allocated by the local coordinating entity for the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area, a federally designated National Heritage Area in northeastern Mississippi that also covers Hernando and a part of DeSoto County.
The mission of the Mississippi Hills Heritage Area Alliance is to preserve, enhance, interpret, and promote the cultural and heritage assets of the Hills region.
In Hernando’s case, a $5,000 grant will support cultural and heritage components of its annual “Dickens of a Christmas” Victorian-Era holiday event.
A total of $4,113 is going for additions/enhancements to its event mobile app, which highlights local cultural sites and helps promote the Dickens program.
Gia Matheny, Community Development Director for the city of Hernando, pointed out that the app, focusing on arts and culture, has been busy pointing residents and visitors to locations and events in the DeSoto County city.
Photos: Screenshots from the City of Hernando mobile app, available at Google Play and the Apple App Store.
“In 2024, we had just at 100,000 views with 9.36 screen views per session, meaning they’re looking at that many screens each time they are on the app,” Matheny said. “They’re looking at the app for an average of 3.5 minutes per session.”
The app promotes local events, including the Water Tower 10K race, which includes a half marathon for the first time this year. The app also includes a section for community events and sponsorship opportunities.
Matheny said the app will feature walking or driving tours people may take to learn more about the city’s arts and cultural offerings, but event promotion is huge for the city.
“What the community loves about it is that it promotes all of the events that are happening in Hernando, which again goes to our arts and culture,” Matheny explained. “We’re very fortunate and proud to be part of the Heritage area and receive this grant.”
The grant award of $5,000 to Hernando will help continue the cultural part of the Dickens of a Christmas event each November.
“Our holiday festival has a heavy focus on culture in Hernando during the Victorian era,” said Matheny, pointing out that Hernando was first settled in 1832 and incorporated as a city in 1837, the beginning of the Victorian era.
The $360,000 in grant awards was the second-highest amount ever given in community matching grants. MHNHA is also funding $100,000 in Special Projects in FY25: two regional initiatives in conjunction with the Mississippi Main Street Association, and emergency repairs on the Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center in Columbus. This brings the total invested in the area this year to over $460,000.In total, 34 grants impacting 13 counties within the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area (MHNHA) were approved as part of the FY25 Community Grant Program. The awards were announced at a public ceremony following the board meeting last month.
“This year we received a lot of strong proposals, and were glad to be able to fund many of them,” said Mary Cates Williams, executive director of the Alliance. “We look forward to working with grantees on their exciting projects.”
