Tunica – The South’s Casino Capital – To Celebrate 10 Years of the Tunica Miracle on Oct. 17. 2002 (archived)

TUNICA, Miss.-  Tunica, “The South’s Casino Capital” and now America’s third largest gaming destination, will host a 10^th anniversary celebration on Oct. 17 with a series of public groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies for major new development projects.

The events conclude a year-long celebration of Tunica’s 10^th Anniversary of Gaming and Tourism, when Tunica observes the 10^th anniversary of the opening of Splash, its first casino, which quickly led to the development of Tunica as a world-class casino resort destination.  The 10-year period of Tunica’s growth is known as “The Tunica Miracle.”  A countywide public reception will be held at the Tunica Arena & Exposition Center following four ceremonies for the new developments.

“This is a significant and exciting time for Tunica because of the new course of activities we are embarking on,” said Webster Franklin, executive director of the Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau.  “We will be giving our visitors several major new tourist attractions in the near future, which makes the Tunica vacation experience bigger and better.  With our casino resorts, nonstop gaming, headline entertainment, fine dining, and much more, Tunica is, without a doubt, a must-see, must-do experience for travelers.”

Here is the schedule of events for the Tunica Miracle Celebration:

            12 Noon – Luncheon at the Tunica County Museum for state, county and city officials

            2 p.m. – Tunica Airport, Terminal Building Groundbreaking Ceremony

            3 p.m. – Tunica National Golf & Tennis Club, Clubhouse Groundbreaking Ceremony

            4 p.m. – Tunica RiverPark, Interpretive Center Groundbreaking Ceremony

            6:30 p.m. – Tunica Arena & Exposition Center, Expansion Project Ribbon-cutting Ceremony

            7-8:30 p.m. – Community Celebration Party at Tunica Arena

"These events represent the start of the next decade of Tunica County's development, a decade in which more and more people will see that Tunica is clearly one of the best tourist destinations in the nation, an extraordinary accomplishment given that the county was considered one of the poorest in America before the gaming and tourism industries arrived 10 years ago,” said Ken Murphree, Tunica County administrator.
(Special thanks to Tunica County's Jeff Piselli for information provided)