Cover photo: Stephanie and Hattiesburg Stuckey’s brother and sister team Russ and Candy Whiteside

Fans of college baseball are sure to be headed towards Hattiesburg, Mississippi, this weekend as hometown heroes, the Golden Eagles from the University of Southern Mississippi, host the University of Tennessee’s Volunteers at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field for the 2023 NCAA Super Regionals – a three game series that starts Saturday, June 10, at 2 p.m. Central.

Games 2 and 3 will follow on Sunday and Monday, respectively, with the times still to be determined.

The Golden Eagles are 45 -19 for the season and go up against the Tennessee Volunteers’ 41-19 record.  The winner of the best-of-three-game series will go on to secure one of eight spots at the 2023 College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

And whether you’re going to or coming from the ballgame this weekend, be sure to grab some of your favorite road trip snacks (and game time treats) from Stuckey’s of Hattiesburg – located just 10 minutes away from the ballpark.

While you’re in the area, check out these other things to see and do in Hattiesburg in-between games:

The Hattiesburg Pocket Museum

When downtown Hattiesburg’s historic Saenger Theater was forced to close its doors in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the theater’s staff wouldn’t let the lockdown stop them from creating a little “surprise and delight” for the public to enjoy. So, with a budget of only $800 the theater’s staff got together with their managing agency, the Hattiesburg Convention Commission, and transformed a long boarded-up storage room window in back of the theater into a small museum they called the “Hattiesburg Pocket Museum”.

Replacing the window with security glass and a display cabinet built by Convention Commission chef Michael Gillespie that features lighting and a single speaker, the museum was opened to the public the second week of August, 2020. Since then, over 300,000 visitors have visited the museum since.

Actor and Hattiesburgian Gary Grubbs cut the film strip in May 2021 for the opening of the Hattiesburg Pocket Theater and the tiniest art gallery in Mississippi opened later that September in the alley. Along with the Pocket Art Gallery that’s located in a renovated newspaper stand, there are numerous outdoor art installations like the “Let’s Connect SkyBridge” which connects to a colorful and awesome LEGO structure.

Along with these works of art, you’ll also find constantly changing miniature model dioramas can be found on a variety of utility boxes in the alley which means that you’ll always find something you’ve never seen before on every visit.

Come see for yourself how delightful and whimsical this one of a kind museum really is. Gaze into Hattiesburg’s Pocket Museum’s window, watch a short film at the Hattiesburg Pocket Theater, and take a piece of art or leave a piece of art at the Hattiesburg Art Gallery today.

The museum is open 24 hours a day every day of the week and admission is always free. For more information, visit their website here.

Shipley’s Do-Nuts

If your betting dollars to donuts on the game, be sure those are Shipley’s Do-Nuts that you’re betting with.

Shipley’s Do-Nuts got its start in 1936 when Lawrence Shipley began selling his original recipe do-nuts wholesale for 5₵ a dozen.

By the mid-1940s, Shipley’s Do-Nuts were becoming so popular that Lawrence decided to open up his first Shipley’s Do-Nuts in Houston, Texas. Shipley like to sell his heavenly glazed donuts hot, just the way he liked them. In fact, he said, “When they bite into that hot do-nut, it will bring them back every time.”

And, well, they do keep coming back for more and more at over 330 locations throughout the American South, even expanding the menu over the years to include over 60 varieties of do-nuts and Shipley’s delicious kolaches.

The people of Hattiesburg love them so much, however, that there are two locations in the city – one at 2011 Hardy Street and the other over at 5263 Old Highway 11.

Stop in and get a dozen for yourself and see why they say “Shipley Do-Nuts are Shipley Delicious!”

Footprints of John Wesley “Wes” Fairley

In 1903, nine mysterious bare right brass footprints suddenly appeared up and down Hattiesburg’s Main Street leaving locals wondering where exactly they came from. The footprints led one way to a shoe store while in the other direction they led to a clothing store with each of the stores’ proprietors telling their fellow Hattiesburgians that there was nothing to fear. The footprints were actually owned by a giant who had come downtown to buy a new suit and a new pair of shoes.  In actuality, however, the metal tootsies were cast from the right foot of “the Paul Bunyan of Stone County” – a man known by the name of Wes Fairley.

Born a slave in slave in Wiggins, Mississippi, John Wesley “Wes” Fairley would grow up to serve in the 74th U.S. Colored Troops during the Civil War. One day, Wes was on Ship Island guarding some prisoners of war when he recognized one of them as someone he knew from back home. His name was Lorenzo N. Dantzler and Wes would protect him for the rest of the war. Dantzler would be released after the war and would return home to Moss Point and build a large sawmill. One of the first people he hired was Wes Fairley who worked as a log drive foreman for Dantzler and would become pretty wealth as a result.

However, we’re not really sure how wealthy because it seems by 1903, Fairley was part of an advertising ploy by two Hattiesburg shopkeepers who would cast Fairley’s right footprint and embed it into the sidewalk from the curb to their respective shops.

In 1983 the City of Hattiesburg decided to tear up the sidewalk and build a new one, leaving the brass footprints in place. However, by that time, most people forgot who they belong too. So, after careful research they discovered it was Wes Fairley’s happy foot, and he apparently made them to make a little money.

They would even put a plaque up to honor the man. Not in Hattiesburg, mind you, but some 35 miles away in Wiggins, Mississippi. —

Whether it’s a college baseball game in Mississippi or the World Series in Baltimore, wherever you’re headed this year to watch the boys of summer play, remember to take some Stuckey’s along for the ride.

From our iconic Stuckey’s Pecan Log Rolls to our classic Pecan Pralines, Stuckey’s has all of your favorite road trip snacks to get you where you’re going.

And forget “peanuts and cracker jacks” out at the old ballgame. This year, why not take some pecans and Hunkey Dorey to the game with you for an extra–special treat?

If you’re kind of neutral about who you want see win on game day, you can bet by sporting a Stuckey’s baseball cap and t-shirt will make you look like a winner.

Get all of this and more delivered to your door before you leave on your next road trip or while you’re waiting to see whose going to win the big game.

And don’t forget that Dad’s big day is coming up on June 18, so go to stuckeys.com and order yours and dear ol’ dad’s favorite Stuckey’s candy and merchandise today to get it just in time for Father’s Day!

Stuckey’s – We’re Making Road Trips fun Again.