Bridge Named for Buffett in Pascagoula

Jimmy Buffett was in Pascagoula, Mississippi on Saturday as the city renamed a bridge after the native son.

Buffett played a concert for the first time on the sands of Pascagoula after the city dedicated the bridge over Baptiste Bayou in his honor.

“I was thinking earlier about how I’ve never actually played here,” he said. “I figure today is a great day to start.”

Buffett played his celebratory concert along with seven-time CMA Musician of the Year Mac McAnally.

His fans erupted as their homegrown star began the concert with the chords to his song “The Pascagoula Run,” which he originally released in 1989.

“I always return to Pascagoula in song and in thought,” he said. “Most of my songs were inspired by my younger years along the Gulf Coast.”

Before the concert, Mayor Jim Blevins presented Buffett with a key to the city and officially renamed the little bridge the Jimmy Buffett Bridge.

“We know that bridge will lead Jimmy around the world,” he said. “But it will also lead him back home.”

Blevins said Buffett used to go crabbing in Baptiste Bayou when he was a child and is more than welcome to go crabbing there again.

“What Jimmy doesn’t know is I’ve got some chicken meat in my car ready to go after the concert,” the mayor said. “The invite is always extended.”

The state legislature also proclaimed May 6 as Jimmy Buffett Day in honor of Buffett’s parents’ wedding anniversary.

Councilman Freddy Jackson said signs will be erected at Pascagoula’s three entrances touting it as Buffett’s birthplace.

“As people go through Pascagoula, they will know it’s capable of producing great people like Jimmy,” he said. “It’s time people know Pascagoula was the birthplace of a worldwide superstar.”

Read more at The Sun Herald.