As the community’s determination to bring the Mississippi School of the Arts here a decade ago and our continued ardent support for MSA profoundly illustrate, artistic endeavors are near and dear to the hearts of many, many Brookhaven residents.

That fervor for the arts also is vividly manifested along the walls of the Lincoln County Library’s meeting room this month. Thanks to the efforts of the Fine Arts Committee of the Brookhaven Trust, area artists were invited to participate in a competition for ribbons and prizes – and they responded with the beautiful display now exhibited at the library.

Attendance at the competition’s annual reception and awards presentation program also was up this year. “Every year has seen a larger and larger turnout,” said committee chair Nancy Hanks-Myers.

Although talent is, without a doubt, a primary factor involved, art also requires considerable creativity, inspiration and imagination.

These same three special ingredients also can be seen in various ways throughout our city – in our unique and colorfully painted shop fronts, in the ongoing renovations of historic buildings in the town center and in the fresh new paint at houses across town – to name just a few of the ways that we demonstrate this attention to the esthetic side of life.

Art is goes far beyond lovely masterpieces on a wall, it is a mindset and a way of life that transforms a town into a place of beauty and desirability.

Brookhaven has that mentality and spirit. Let it continue to flourish.