VIDEO: City of Oxford Benefits From Softball Regional

OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI News) – On the other side of the Oxford softball regional is the positive effect that is brought to the city of Oxford and its businesses.

Large weekend crowds are not an unfamiliar site for the city of Oxford.

However, this time of year made things different.

Since this was Ole Miss’s first time to ever host a softball regional, it added a nice twist for businesses to kick off the summer.

“Seeing everybody mix together is always nice,” said General Manager for The Grillehouse in Oxford, Evan Cartledge.

Considering that many of Ole Miss’s students have left for the summer, this came as a nice boost to business in Oxford.

Hundreds of fans were all in Oxford to support their team for the regional.

Of course fans need something to do outside of game-time during their stay, and Oxford businesses were happy to oblige.

“Seeing a lot of people from out of town is always nice, you know the historic square kind of coming together. You hear people from Arizona come in and are like, you know, ‘we’ve heard good things about your restaurant, and we want to try it out.’ I’m like wow! Arizona,” said Cartledge.

Many of these fans were visiting for the first time.

Business owners and employees wanted to make sure that a good first impression was made on these visitors.

“Well obviously it’s great for business, for us, for all the businesses around the square, gets some attention. A lot of people haven’t always heard of Oxford, except for maybe Faulkner is the reason to come down here and the university, so it’s nice to have another reason to get people in,” said Virginia Hendee, Operational Manager for the South Depot Taco Shop.

Again, big weekend crowds are not new to the square and the city as a whole. However, something like this tournament is.

With such a variety of different fans coming all at once, it adds a little more pride to owners and employees to have their business in Oxford during this time.

“You know, football you get one team but it’s not very often you get so many of them all together. It’s kind of like an SEC tournament thing, but it’s here in Oxford. It’s really nice to have, to be able to host a regional,” said Cartledge.

Looking ahead, this tournament could also set an impression on students who may be considering Ole Miss as a school and Oxford as a home.

“It also is good for the university, for students who maybe right now on a softball team but potentially going to college. They can check out the university while they’re here, check out the town, meet some of the locals, See everything that we do have to offer down here,” said Hendee.

It was a successful weekend for Ole Miss sports but also a successful weekend for the town where the game was played.