Biloxi to Re-Light Historic Lighthouse Friday
Event to Include Interior Tours

From: City of Biloxi    Vincent Creel   Filed 2/4/09
Updated 2/18/10

The Biloxi Lighthouse will have a two-day re-dedication ceremony this Friday and Saturday including a re-lighting and four hours of free public tours of the city's signature landmark.

The two-day affair will see the formal return of a landmark that has become emblematic of Coastwide efforts to recover and rebuild from Hurricane Katrina. The six-month, $400,000 restoration of the lighthouse was substantially completed in January.

The lighting ceremony will take place Friday, Feb. 19 at 5:45 p.m., and the free public tours will be available Saturday, Feb. 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Inside the lighthouse, visitors will see a display that will show waterlines from hurricanes that have struck Biloxi through the years. Each waterline will be marked with the name of the storm and the date.

The renovation, which involved the architectural firm Dale & Associates and contractor J.O. Collins, involved returning the lighthouse to its original grandeur. Initial phases of the work included removing the wrought iron fence at the base of the structure. While the fence was being restored, workers moved inside, restoring the bricks that lined the inside of the 64-foot tall cast-iron structure. Midway through the process, the lighthouse was enveloped by scaffolding and shrouded by a tarp while workers prepared its exterior for re-painting.

The project was significant because the storm-ravaged Biloxi Lighthouse -- erected in 1848 -- has come to symbolize the citys resilience, standing tall amid the debris in the days after Katrina. In 2007, two years after the storm, the likeness of the lighthouse was chosen for an award-winning Mississippi license tag, and in 2009, the U.S. Postal Service included a likeness of the lighthouse on a series of stamps about surviving lighthouses of the Gulf Coast.

Biloxi Lighthouse photos

New views: To see fresh photos of the Biloxi Lighthouse - - some taken last week under clear skies and others taken this morning under overcast skies and also from inside the structure -- click here.

Through the years: To see photos of the Biloxi Lighthouse through the years including images of the lighthouse in 1909, after the storm of 1919, in the 1930s, and as it appeared pre- and post-Katrina -- click here.

Program for ceremony

Friday, Feb. 19, beginning at 5:45 p.m.

Stage and seating will be set up in the parking area south of the highway and the lighthouse.

• 5:45 p.m. --  Call to order

• Ronny Broussard sings National Anthem.

• Bishop Roger Morin delivers opening prayer

• Comments from Mike Womack, executive director of MEMA.

• Comments from Baxter Mann, Deputy Environmental Liaison Officer, who works with Environmental and Historic Preservation section of FEMA.

• Comments from architect Leigh Jaunsen of Dale & Associates, the firm that oversaw restoration.

• Local singer-songwriter Steve Cason performs his original song “The Biloxi Lighthouse.”

• Comments from Mayor A.J. Holloway

• Mayor leads countdown. Lighthouse beacon comes on and structure itself is illuminated.

• Ceremony ends.

Saturday, Feb. 20, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Free public tours of the Biloxi Lighthouse.