What started as a tiny window display in an alley behind Hattiesburg’s Saenger Theater has grown into a major draw for locals and tourists.
Vicki Taylor and her husband, Rick, opened the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum, also known as “Mississippi’s Tiniest Museum,” in 2020 during the COVID-19 shutdown. They hoped it would bring joy and traffic to downtown Hattiesburg.
In the backroom of the theater, Taylor builds miniature scenes with figurines that peer over electrical boxes, canoe down drainage pipes and hide in small corners for visitors to find.
The free museum has expanded from that first window display to include a tiny art gallery, a movie theater, colorful murals, a keychain and DVD exchange, a rainbow bridge for the collars of departed pets, and a motion-activated dance spot with music and disco lighting.
“It is the average alley that is in everyone’s town,” Taylor said. “It just took, like, looking at it in a different way to envision what it could be.”
The alley’s makeover has helped turn what was once a gray, smelly space into a community hub and tourist destination.
“You may come feeling down, but you’re going to leave excited,” said Brianna Moore, a Hattiesburg resident who regularly brings her two sons to the museum. “My boys love it.”
Rick Taylor is the executive director of the Hattiesburg Convention Commission, which runs both the museum and the theater.
The commission estimates more than 300,000 people have visited since the museum opened. That period has also matched a more than 40 percent increase in Hattiesburg’s tourism economy, according to Visit Hattiesburg CEO Marlo Dorsey.
Dorsey said that growth came from a broader push by city leaders to develop and promote Hattiesburg’s culture, recreational activities and art scene, including an effort to paint 100 murals across the city.
She said attractions such as the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum and the nearby Lucky Rabbit, a large vintage store known for its creative displays, also bring in visitors.
Tony Lymon, who has lived in Hattiesburg since 1990, said he has seen a “monumental rebirth” in downtown over the past decade.
Lymon recently opened eYrthBeat Coffee Company a short walk from the museum, and said the downtown attractions help bring customers into his shop.
The alley has also become a place for local artists to build their careers. Gabby Smith, who has painted several murals there, said the museum helped her gain confidence as she shifted to pursuing art full time.
She now watches her children run through the alley and point to the murals, asking, “Mommy, did you paint that one too?”
“This is a city that believes in art and believes in artists,” said Shaw Ingram, who opened Wax Fantastic Records downtown in November. “There’s nowhere else I would want to open this business.”
Taylor said she expected interest in the museum to fade after the pandemic, but it did not. She now spends much of her time curating its changing exhibits.
“Hattiesburg is not a beach town, and it doesn’t have mountains,” Taylor said. “There’s got to be something to get people to come off the highway.”
Read more from ABC News.