‘Our Finest Hour’ captured in Katrina +10 exhibit

“Katrina +10,” a six-month retrospective exhibit about Hurricane Katrina opens to the public Friday, March 20 at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi.

Mississippi Power, along with the Sun Herald, WLOX-TV, the Mississippi Department of Transportation and Hands On Mississippi, each share their interactive stories through their respective displays at the museum.

Mississippi Power’s exhibit will cover how its 1,200 employees led 12,000 workers from across the country to restore electricity to all of its customers who could receive it within 12 days after the storm.

“Our story is one to be proud of,” said Vice President of Corporate Services and Community Relations Johnny Atherton, who was among a group that previewed the exhibit. “This captures not only the 12 days after Katrina, but how efforts were impacted through our experience with prior storms. It also is a reflective reminder of the value our company and employees deliver, not only following natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, but through contributions of time, money and efforts we make on a daily basis to the communities where we serve and live.”

The “Our Finest Hour” display features four concave panels with photos and videos depicting the Mississippi Power story. The panels create an almost complete circle with an aerial image of Hurricane Katrina covering the floor in the center.

“Katrina +10″ has been months in the making, and will encompass all five acres of the east Biloxi waterfront Ohr campus.

Nearly 50 special events are planned around the exhibit, including luncheons with community leaders from across south Mississippi and community projects. Evening conversations will be held with such key figures as former Gov. Haley Barbour, former Sen. Trent Lott, and award-winning journalist Kathleen Koch, a Bay St. Louis native and former CNN correspondent.

Each Friday, the museum will present community speakers in a luncheon forum for $10, which includes entrance to the exhibits. The museum hopes between 50,000 and 100,000 visitors see the exhibit and special events.

“This is a milestone exhibition on many levels,” said Ohr-O’Keefe director Kevin O’Brien. “For us at the Ohr, it’s the largest exhibit in our history and the first since we moved past being a construction site. For the public, it’s going to be emotional, thought-provoking and moving. More importantly, we will advance the story and remind ourselves how far we’ve come.”