A HUB FOR SHARED EXPERIENCES
Our new HQ at 1st & Delta is a hub for travelers & locals..
We've been building a Delta Hub for ALL the communities we're proud to bring together here: musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, explorers, nonprofits, businesses, and other leaders & locals with big hearts and endless stories.
121 Delta Avenue is fittingly at the corner of 1st and Delta. It was a Chrysler dealership in 1927 -- and still has the original tin ceilings to prove it! ...15ft above those popcorn ceilings the Mad Men era wrought upon our town :) Locals knew it as a Chevy dealership (psst: press Play on the video below and jump 2mins to see Vic Barbieri giving the inside scoop on his Crossroads marker design, and showing off the Chevy truck he drove off this lot 400,000 miles ago), then the Mississippi Valley Gas Company, then Atmos.
It sat empty and unused for years.
All 10,000+ square feet of it.
Delta blues fan and Healdsburg architect Alan Cohen bought the building with his wife (and artist!) Manok as an investment in downtown Clarksdale, protected it with a new roof -- and has kindly supported us in giving it new life.
Local friends+biz owners said we're crazy to build something a whole block away from the current tourism traffic at 2nd Street... But this is now our investment, in expanding our downtown's revitalization.
We signed in April and opened our second Airbnb. Then in May 2022, held our first Women in Blues festival -- right on the corner of 1st and Delta.
With thanks to Heartland Forward, we 'experimented' Silicon Valley-style through the Builders & Backers accelerator.
After 2yrs+ of building outdoor Experiences and streaming 400+ shows Live From Clarksdale at over 24 venues and partner businesses around town, we know it's important to have this flexible outdoor space for the community, with large indoor backup if/when Delta weather turns quickly.
What we tested is the notion our town needs an indoor/outdoor "third place" where community can gather, coffee shop-like, after 2pm... at happy hours... on Sunday afternoons... and more. We tested whether if something, anything!, is open on non-festival weekends, tourists or locals would come.
And they did! We hosted wonderful people from across the globe, across town, and across the street at open houses, a Family Jam, even Christmas in Clarksdale...
So now we're training a team & making BIG plans in 2023 -- starting with hosting the whole Clarksdale Film Festival in January.
Then our first Artist in Residence, Jimbo Mathus in March.
Then the Juke Joint Experience in April.
Then the Women in Blues festival in May.
Then...
What do you want to see next? What do you think the Delta needs? Come build with us.
THANKS to all who share our vision and are helping make it happen...together!
