Did You Know?

Ripley is a town that rewards curiosity. Here's what makes it unlike anywhere else in Mississippi:

• First Monday Trade Days was established in 1893 on the Ripley Court Square, making it one of the oldest and longest continually running outdoor markets in the United States.
• The market spans more than 50 acres and features hundreds of vendors every single month, drawing shoppers, pickers, and collectors from across the South.
• Ripley is named after General Eleazar Wheelock Ripley, a decorated hero of the War of 1812.
• The land that became Ripley sits within the ancestral territory of the Chickasaw Nation, one of the most powerful Indigenous peoples in the Southeast. Ripley honors this heritage through murals at The Cut-Off on Commerce Street.
• Ripley is the home of Blues Alley, a celebrated outdoor art space featuring large-scale murals of Hill Country blues legends Mississippi Fred McDowell, Otha Turner, and T-Model Ford, a sound born in these hills that is distinct from Delta blues and revered worldwide.
• Colonel William Clark Falkner, great-grandfather of Nobel Prize–winning author William Faulkner, made his name in Ripley: Civil War hero, railroad builder, duelist, and published novelist.
• Bestselling author John Grisham attended school in Ripley during his Mississippi childhood, making this town part of the broader North Mississippi landscape that helped shape his early life.
• The Ripley Main Street Association, established in 2001, has reinvested more than $3.5 million into downtown and completed 24 revitalization projects in fiscal year 2024 alone.
• Blues Alley, transformed from a long-forgotten alley into a vibrant cultural destination, now serves as the home venue for the annual Burnside Music Festival, complete with live music, a BBQ rib cookoff, and a show-n-shine car show.
• Ripley's public mural collection spans multiple blocks: Chickasaw heritage murals at The Cut-Off, a Faulkner tribute on Commerce and Jefferson Streets, Blues Alley portraits by Sam Ryan Ingram, a library mural, and an African American quilt trail painted by Ripley High School students.
• The Tippah County Veterans Memorial Park covers 185 acres and features a 20-foot aluminum soldier, a decommissioned Army tank, a memorial wall, and a pavilion, one of the most significant veterans memorials in northeast Mississippi.
• Ripley is a certified Mississippi Main Street city, reflecting its commitment to historic preservation, economic vitality, and community-centered downtown revitalization.