LAUREL — The Laurel Main Street has received a state award for its hosting of the city’s local Loblolly Festival.

The Mississippi Main Street Association Thursday celebrated achievements of Mississippi Main Street communities and member towns at the 2010 Annual Awards Luncheon held at the King Edward Hotel in downtown Jackson.

Wanda Benson with the City of Laurel’s Public Relations Office said Laurel Main Street was among the state winners.

Among those attending the state recognition were Laurel Main Street executive director Jacqueline Lee, Main Street president Eric Roberts, Patrick Little, Amy Gonzales, Larry Ronk, Linda Reinholtz and Benson.

Benson said Laurel Main Street received an award for the Best Special Event.

The award was for the group’s hosting of the 2009 Loblolly Festival.

The Loblolly Festival takes place throughout downtown Laurel on Central Avenue, Magnolia Street and 5th Avenue.

Once a year every fall, the streets of downtown Laurel fill with arts vendors, the sounds of music and thousands of people.

After 13 years, the City of Laurel announced in April 2008 that it was passing the reins of sponsorship of the Main Street Festival to Laurel Express, which was the name of the local Main Street Program at that time.

The local group then began coordinating the festival, which is held annually in Laurel’s historic downtown.

Lee said the goal of the group was to capture Laurel’s milling history through the renaming of the annual event formerly known as the City of Laurel’s Main Street Festival.

Although this was the group’s first time hosting the event, Lee said everything went smoothly and the group had a lot of help from volunteers.

The 14th annual Main Street festival was renamed last year to the Loblolly Festival, from the nickname for pine trees native to the Southeast.

“The Main Street Festival has been a staple among Laurel events for the past 13 years and has become the perfect opportunity to showcase downtown Laurel,” Lee said. “The Loblolly Festival will pay homage to Laurel’s history as a sawmill town.”

In 1893, a decade after the railroad opened the region for large-scale timber production, Eastman-Gardner & Company opened the first giant lumber mill. The Eastman-Gardner mill was soon followed by many others, developing Laurel into a large milling town.

By the early 1900’s, Laurel milled and shipped more yellow pine than anywhere else in the world. To commemorate Laurel’s lumber mill history, the Loblolly Festival featured the Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show.

Officials reported that the Loblolly Festival filled downtown Laurel with more than 8,000 festival-goers that day.

The event included a 5K run, more than 100 arts, crafts and food vendors, a Pooches on Parade Dog Contest, a beer garden featuring cheeses donated by Cabot Farms Creamery in Vermont, and live music played on two stages, featuring a diverse lineup of blues, Christian, bluegrass, jazz, country and rock music.

Jeannie Waller, Director of Communications for Mississippi Main Street, said the Best Special Event Award recognizes the downtown organization that has created a quality special event, generating traffic for the downtown.

Laurel Main Street Manager Jacqueline Lee accepted the state award along with others from Laurel attending the event.

MMSA Executive Director Bob Wilson and 2010 Board President Randy Burchfield presented Laurel Main Street and other groups their awards during the state event this week.

“This year’s award winners reflect the commitment of so many people who champion what Main Street is all about — making our communities better places to live, work and play,” Wilson said.

From records dating back to 1993, the Mississippi Main Street program, a program of the Mississippi Development Authority, has been responsible for more than $4 billion in combined public and private investment across the state.

MMSA currently has 49 active community programs throughout the state as well as more than 30 Downtown Network, Association and Charrette communities. In addition to the investment figures, MMSA has been responsible for more than 4,701 new businesses, 27,766 new jobs and 3,611 building improvements.

More than 1,800 Main Street programs participate in 50 other states as well as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. The Main Street program is an economic development program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Laurel Main Street in April officially kicked off its 2010 membership drive.

Laurel Main Street is the City of Laurel’s Mississippi Main Street program, that officially began about two years ago. Lee said the membership campaign is an effort to educate and involve the entire Laurel community in the revitalization of historic downtown Laurel.

Laurel Main Street is a non-profit organization associated with the Mississippi Main Street Association and the National Main Street Center.

Lee said Laurel Main Street is hoping to pave the path to a revitalized downtown with the help of a couple thousand members in the community.

Anyone needing more information about Laurel Main Street or its membership drive can call 601-433-3255 or visit the Laurel Main Street website: www.laurelmainstreet.com.