Blues Over Biloxi considered a success by city officials: ‘Can’t thank the public enough’

Thousands of people crowded into Biloxi over the weekend to watch the U.S. Navy Blue Angels perform in the Blues Over Biloxi airshow, and even with the large crowds, officials cited very few issues with the event overall.

“This event did everything Mayor (Andrew “Fofo”) Gilich wanted it to,” said Vincent Creel, the city’s public affairs manager. “It attracted people to Biloxi, brought excitement to the waterfront and did everything he envisioned when he said he wanted to do this. This showed we can handle big events if they are well organized.”

The free event was headquartered at The Great Lawn at Harrah’s Gulf Coast, though the show taking place over the Mississippi Sound offered unobstructed views for spectators for miles along the beach.

Creel said the conservative estimate for the number of people who attended the air show Saturday was 85,000, with 700 to 1,000 boats on the water as well. Sunday’s airshow crowd estimate was somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 with 500 to 700 boats on the water.

“Hotel occupancy was the highest we’ve seen in awhile,” Creel said. “It was nearly impossible to find a hotel for a Friday and Saturday two-night stay. All the hotels were near capacity.”

Biloxi Police Maj. Chris De Back said there were very few crime incidents for the weekend, and the biggest issue of the air show, as predicted, was traffic.

“Everyone showed up early and kind of trickled in throughout the day before the show, so it wasn’t as bad in the morning,” De Back said. “It wasn’t until after the show we saw some issues. Everyone leaving all at once at the end of the show put a lot of cars on the road.”

Traffic remained heavy two hours after Saturday’s air show ended.

“Traffic was moving, just moving slowly,” De Back said.

While the heavy rain from early in the week stayed away, heat advisories were issued for all of South Mississippi over the weekend. The Biloxi Fire Department responded to nearly three dozen medical emergencies at Blues Over Biloxi on Saturday, and most of them were for heat-related issues.

“We anticipated the heat. We have a couple ATVs to get in the crowds and get patients out quickly,” said Fire Chief Joe Boney. “The ones most affected were young children and the elderly, who are the most vulnerable to the heat.”

While Creel said the event was a success, a lot of factors will need to be looked at before another air show comes to Biloxi.

“There is going to be a review of the entire event to see what went well and what we can improve on, not only for another air show, but other events in Biloxi as well,” Creel said. “We will need to look at the cost of putting this on. There was a tremendous amount of overtime put in by police and the fire department. There was a lot of work on the front end with public works putting barricades up. Those will need to be taken down after the event as well. Harrah’s and The Blind Tiger really stepped up to help make this show possible this year, so we’ll need to look at other opportunities with private sponsors for any future events like this.”

However, Creel did say one of the highlights of the entire event was the cooperation from spectators.

“We really can’t thank the public enough.”

This story was originally published July 22, 2018 at 2:58 PM.