Faces of Tupelo celebrates spirit of All America City and its residents

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – A Northeast Mississippi photographer has been capturing the spirit of the All America City with a special project featuring local residents.

As the city of Tupelo celebrated its sesquicentennial, a local photographer wanted to do something special to showcase the residents of the All America City. So throughout the year, 150 people who reflected the area’s qualities, will be showcased as part of the project called ‘Faces of Tupelo.’

On a recent sunny Friday afternoon, Jacqueline Savoy was taking photos of Tupelo native Spencer Kirpatrick, by the Elvis statue at Fairpark.

Spencer was part of Savoy’s “Faces of Tupelo” photography project. Spencer is well known for his outgoing personality. He recently graduated from MSU’s Access program, a four-year program for special needs students and he was named Mr. MSU this school year.

Savoy said the idea for Faces of Tupelo came to her not long after she moved to the All America city when her husband got a job at NMMC.

“I moved here two years ago and really fell in love with Tupelo, with the community and the people and I wanted to show the community to other people,” Savoy said.

She has been updating Faces of Tupelo’s Facebook page on a regular basis, with photos and stories about the people who embodied the Tupelo Spirit.

“I want to get a wide diversity, kind of showing everything that Tupelo encompasses, I’ve been trying to get people who cook, dance, people who have a passion for Tupelo, kind of showing everything, all the different things Tupelo has, that even I’ve learned since I started this project, like, we have a pickleball team, I knew nothing about until now,” Savoy said.

So far, Jacqueline Savoy has 121 names for Faces of Tupelo, and she wanted to get to 150, to coincide with the All America City’s sesquicentennial celebration this year. She welcomed any suggestions of people who have helped make Tupelo a better place to live, work and play.

You can submit suggestions to Savoy at the “Faces of Tupelo’ Facebook page.