The president of Croatia will see Biloxi for the 1st time. Here’s the plan for his visit.

After the president of the Republic of Croatia appears at the United National General Assembly in New York City, his first stop will be in Biloxi.

This may be the first time an international president makes a trip to South Mississippi, said Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich, whose four grandparents came to Biloxi from Croatia in Eastern Europe.

Zoran Milanović will take part in the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on his official visit to the U.S.

He’ll then head to the Deep South, spending the day in Biloxi Sept. 22, before traveling on to Belle Chase, Louisiana for the opening of at that city’s Croatian lodge.

Biloxi hosted a visit in 2022 by Sanja Kakovit, Croatian Consulate General in Chicago, and they took a couple of buses of Croatian descendants from Biloxi to Belle Chase.

“We must have made an impression,” Gilich said.

About a month ago, Pjer Šimunović, the Croatian ambassador to the United States, contacted Gilich and said the president of Croatia wants to visit Biloxi and then Bell Chase for the opening of their new building.

Preparing for the visit

A delegation from Croatia will be in Biloxi this week finalizing the details for the president’s visit.

It will begin with a welcome to Biloxi City Hall, Gilich said.

Then like many visitors to Biloxi, he and his delegation will dine at Mary Mahoney’s Old French House Restaurant.

Mary Cvitanovich Mahoney, the daughter of Croatian immigrants who worked in Biloxi’s seafood business, founded the fine dining restaurant that’s hosted many celebrities and dignitaries, and her family continues to operate it.

The president will meet the community — many of whom are of Croatian descent — at a reception at the Croatian-American Cultural Center, more popularly known as the Slovonian Lodge, in East Biloxi.

Many elected officials are expected to be in Biloxi for the visit and Gilich said the community will be able to see him at the lodge.

Gilich said he doesn’t know if Milanović speaks English, and the mayor said the only Croatian he recalls are the “bad words” he and the kids growing up in Biloxi learned. He’s sure an interpreter will travel with the group.

The president’s visit coincides with one of the biggest events of the year for the Croatian community — the Slavic International Golf Tournament that attracts about 300 golfers. The members of the Croatian-American Cultural Society will prepare about 1,000 dinners for the golfers and their families that weekend at the Slvoanian Lodge in Biloxi.

Biloxi’s Croatian history

The history of Croatians in Biloxi is about a century longer than the history of the Republic of Croatia. The country was part of the former Yugoslavia until 1991, and became a member of the European Union in 2013.

The connections between the Croatians in Biloxi remain strong with the country their ancestors left in the early 1900s to come to America.

Gilich and his wife, Serena, traveled their to renew their vows on their 50th wedding anniversary, and many from South Mississippi have recently visited Croatia, which is an international tourism hot spot.

To preserve their customs and history in their new home, the Croatian-speaking immigrants founded the Slovonian Lodge in 1913 and their families will celebrate the 110th anniversary this year.

Their 1938 lodge was the first to get an air conditioned auditorium in the area in 1955.

“And it was for you know who? Elvis Presley!” Gilich said. A ticket to his concert sold for 50 cents and 600 tickets were sold, more than packing the lodge.

It was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and a new lodge was built in East Biloxi.

That’s one strong Croatian

The first Croatians arrived in Biloxi in the late 1890s and early 1900s, Gilich said, drawn by the jobs in the seafood industry.

One of those early immigrants did the work of 10 men, the story goes, and asked if he had any brothers and friends at home. They followed him to Biloxi.

When they arrived, nobody spoke English, Gilich said. “Nobody.” They populated the Point in Biloxi, where the men worked in the seafood industry and the women and children in the seafood factories.

“The Croatian Alliance was formed to help the living and bury the dead,” Gilich said. “And it’s still like that.”

By the 1920s, the Croatians dominated the shrimp and oyster industry in South Mississippi, he said. The next generation went on to become doctors, lawyer, pharmacists and other professionals. Gilich said his uncle was the chief of police, and his aunt Clare Sekul Hornsby, born in Biloxi to Croatian immigrant parents, was the first woman to graduate from University of Mississippi Law School and practice law in Mississippi.