NOXUBEE COUNTY – Area officials are making headway on plans to revitalize downtown Macon, Brooksville and Shuqualak in an effort to bring in more foot traffic and boost the local economy.
Developed through an Environmental Protection Agency program aimed at promoting economic growth in rural areas, plans include everything from painting downtown buildings to creating new events to pull people into town.
Katherine Mickens, Macon native and member of the Noxubee Economic and Community Development Alliance, said she hopes a fresh coat of paint will draw a new crowd that would otherwise pass right by.
“Instead of just going straight through on Highway 45, maybe they’ll (come) downtown and stop in and look at what Macon has to offer,” Mickens said.
In the fall of 2024, Amanda McBride threw Noxubee County in the hat for the EPA’s Recreation Economy for Rural Communities Program. McBride is the community facilitator for Communities Unlimited, a nonprofit based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that supports economic development in rural areas.
McBride knew the competition would be stiff, as the program is highly competitive, but in July 2025 she was notified that Noxubee County had been selected as one of only 25 counties nationwide to participate.
McBride led area leaders, mayors and RERC consultants on a tour through the county last month, illustrating the best parts of Noxubee County and encouraging leaders to brainstorm ideas to be included in a comprehensive action plan to inform future investments in the community.
“We got people from each one of the communities in Noxubee County to come together and work together including the mayors and the aldermen,” McBride told The Dispatch.
Organizers and community members piled into the Noxubee County Civic Center on May 4 to discuss how they could capitalize on assets they already had at their fingertips.
McBride said that the main outcomes of the meeting were identifying clear goals that fit the community and discussing how to unite the county under one branding, both factors that will contribute to the written action plan.
Next steps include creating social media and calendars for each city to keep community members informed, starting a bike race that runs from Brooksville to the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, upgrading walking tracks and playgrounds and cataloging businesses in each downtown area to identify what new businesses could be brought in, McBride said.
“A lot of cyclists… travel from the refuge to Brooksville, usually to the bakery and back, so (we want) to capitalize on the tourism that’s already there,” McBride said.
Mickens said she’s excited to see Macon get a face lift that will hopefully bring more money into the town.
“(We want) to let people know we’re here,” Mickens said. “We’re a small town but we do care about our appearance and we care about our community.”
Officials plan to have a meeting sometime in June to further develop ideas that were discussed at the May meeting, Shuqualak Alderwoman Gabrielle Cotton-Hill told The Dispatch.
“(We’ll) come up with an action plan for each town, including the development strategies and how to connect the resources we have to make a positive impact,” Cotton-Hill said.
While the RERC program will end in September, McBride said the action plans will serve as living documents that local leaders can modify and use as a reference to guide continued growth.
“This (program) will give us some more traction with federal partners that hopefully will result in more projects and funding in the future,” McBride said.
Cotton-Hill said the vision is more clear now that organizers have an idea of what needs to be done, and she’s excited about the possibilities and the potential the area has.
“This program will allow us to think outside the box strategically about what we want our community to be and how we can work together to get there,” Cotton-Hill said. “We have the space, we just have to put the plan in action.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
