Gulfport jazz café survives through COVID-19 - WLOX

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GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - Longtime Gulfport residents remember the days when the Quarters used to be filled with businesses and music venues.

But take a trip to the corner of 19th Street and 30th Avenue and one establishment still bears that history, the Jazz Quarters Café’.

“Whatever my community needs, I try to be there over the years,” owner Stanley Moore said.

It has been his motto for the past decade, offering his space for live music, poetry sessions and parties. However, like most businesses owners, challenges came when COVID-19 hit Mississippi. But Moore thanks government assistance for keeping him afloat.

“Thanks to the SBA, the Biden administration, PPP. It helped me a great deal,” he said.

The event space was lucky not to meet the same fate as other minority-owned businesses.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports Black ownership dropped 41% last year during the height of the pandemic last year, the greatest decline among all racial groups.

Moore said the decrease has been a Gulfport issue made worse from the health crisis.

“I’m coming from an era that was striving with businesses within the Black community and being self sufficient. Just my 30 years in the Gulf Coast I’ve seen it decline,” he said.

He hopes to serve as a role model for the next generation of business leaders, just like those who helped him fulfill his dream.

“I hope I’m inspiring to young people of today,” Moore said.

From the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill and COVID-19, the lounge has had to manage with a lot on its plate and now it has to deal with the loss of one of its biggest supporters.

Moore’s fiancé, Mary Ballard, recently passed away, with her loved ones gathering at the jazz café for her repass. Now, Moore honors her by serving his community just as she would.

“Whatever a person’s goal may be, I just want to be a part of their ideas,” he said.

Through all the recent trials, the Jazz Quarter Café stands as one of only a handful of venue spaces and its owner hopes city leaders help rebuild the area’s music scene and its neighborhoods.

“We see what going on downtown and certain areas. People of the Gulf Coast are not blind but we are patient, patiently waiting,” he said.

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