Last week, Concordia Parish was the place to be.

Vidalia, Ferriday and all the country roads in between made the good headlines of the week, making the entire Miss-Lou look a little bit better.

4After years of planning, months of delays and weeks of anticipation the new Vidalia Gateway Center is on the verge of opening. Office furniture will find its new home in the coming weeks and the first convention will start on Aug. 7.

This $3.2 million facility will build upon our area’s market for conferences, conventions and meetings. The convention industry is a clean one with money there for the taking.

Marketing the two facilities together can only mean good things for the Miss-Lou.

4The little ones in Concordia Parish surpassed Dick and Jane long ago, and now their reading skills are earning national acclaim.

The Reading First program — a federal grant in place in the schools for several years now — emphasizes uninterrupted blocks of reading time, keying in on problem areas and keeping everyone on grade level.

The U.S. Department of Education says Concordia Parish schools have implemented the program well.

4Rand McNally map users dedicated to seeing the world’s best may soon find their way to the cotton fields of Ferriday.

Frogmore plantation was named one of the southeast’s Top 30 “can’t miss” sites.

In recent years tourists to Frogmore have been mostly from surrounding areas, but the national attention may mean more national tourists find their way to the Miss-Lou.

And when they get here, we know our community will be ready to welcome them with open arms and a yet-to-be-determined dose of good news.