Talk of the Town: Petal Area Chamber of Commerce

On their first date, Annah Johnson's husband told her they'd own a Chick-fil-A one day. She laughed it off — she didn't even cook at home. Years later, sitting in a Chick-fil-A interview meant for the two of them, the rules changed everything: franchises only go to one person, and the recruiter pointed at Annah, not Justin. In this episode of Talk of the Town, "Chicken Annah" walks through the rea...

Mayor Tony Ducker of Petal, Mississippi has been in office long enough to remember borrowing half a million dollars just to make payroll. That was 2009. He is still there. In this episode of Talk of the Town, Tony Ducker sits down for a conversation that is part financial history, part infrastructure briefing, and part quiet philosophy about what it means to govern a place you genuinely love. He d...

What does it take to build a community where every child starts school ready to succeed? For Nadine Coleman Gay, the answer is 30 years of work — and the story of how Petal, Mississippi became the state's first Excel by Five certified community. Nadine moved to Petal in the early 1990s as one of Mississippi's very first public kindergarten teachers. What followed was a career devoted to connecting...

What happens when a small town's favorite flower shop goes up for sale — and the right person almost can't stop herself from buying it? In this episode of Talk of the Town, Elizabeth Porter sits down with Kyndal Hrapmann , the new owner of Sweet Blossom in Petal, Mississippi, to talk about accidental entrepreneurship, the weight of carrying a career that was never really yours, and what it actuall...

Millie Swan joins us to talk about her career, how she got started in healthcare, raising children, and the legacy she hopes to leave behind at Forrest Health.