Beloved Ocean Springs bar Kwitzkyâs Dugout closing after 16 years
Beloved Ocean Springs bar Kwitzkyâs Dugout closing after 16 years By Tristan Ruppert | May 15, 2021 at 7:04 AM CDT - Updated May 15 at 7:32 AM
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (WLOX) - A staple of the South Mississippi bar scene will soon close its doors.
Kwitzkyâs Dugout opened back in 2005, and in the sixteen years since has become a beloved bar in the City of Discovery. The good times will roll until the end of May for the regulars of Kwitzkyâs dugout.
âItâs heartbreaking because this is where we go, this is where we meet, and these are the faces we see every time we show up,â said loyal patron and fellow business owner Gayle Jones.
Popular Ocean Springs pub to bid farewell after 15 years
Updated 1:42 PM;
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. It was 2005.
Kris Kwitzky was managing the SportsZone barge at the Palace Casino Resort. But when Hurricane Katrina hit in August of that year, the barge was washed away and Kwitzky’s job along with it.
Unexpectedly unemployed, Kwitzky returned to a long-held idea: owning a bar.
“I had been wanting to do a bar for years and years,” he said. “I started looking around at places in Ocean Springs, but nothing really jumped out at me.”
One afternoon, after having lunch with his sister, Karen Kwitzky, he passed by the building at 1025 Government St., where a “For Rent” sign had just gone up in the window.
Analysis: Ocean Springs mayor’s runoff a battle of contrasting campaigns
Updated 2:21 PM;
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. Come Tuesday night, either Melanie Allen or Kenny Holloway will become the mayor-elect of Ocean Springs, but the two Republicans arrived at this point by very different paths.
The two topped a field of five candidates in the April 6 Republican primary, with Allen leading the field with 1,150 votes (35%), with Holloway garnering 901 votes (28%). With neither earning the requisite 50 percent plus one needed to win outright, they headed for a runoff.
While both candidates may be Republicans, that’s about where the similarities end.
Allen, 68, is a retired businesswoman who relocated to Ocean Springs about 25 years ago after learning about the coastal city through her business dealings. Over the years, she’s been heavily involved in the community, volunteering for a number of different civic and governmental organizations.
Gulf Coast bars expected to be busy for New Yearâs Eve
Gulf Coast bars expected to be busy for New Years Eve By Tristan Ruppert | December 31, 2020 at 6:55 PM CST - Updated December 31 at 7:28 PM
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (WLOX) - Many are set to celebrate not only the beginning of 2021, but the end of 2020. True to the rest of the year, nothing will be normal on the final day of 2020. This could be perhaps the most a unique night for bars in South Mississippi history.
New Years is usually one of the busiest days of the year for bars, but will that change with the COVID-19 cases continuing to climb? Many donât expect the rising numbers to limit turnout at all.