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Donna and Jerome Bracken, owners of Antigone’s Downtown in Brewton were looking forward to celebrating 12 years in business this past Saturday, but mother nature had other plans.

“We went ahead with most of our plans for the day,” Donna said. “But we certainly didn’t have as many people as we had hoped due to the weather situation and other circumstances on Saturday.”

In addition to the tornado that swept through the area on Saturday, the annual Blueberry Festival held near the Antigone’s location, was also cancelled due to weather concerns.

“We do plan on celebrating again this weekend,” Donna said. “We may not have the same items available, but we will be celebrating again this weekend.”

The Brackens bought the Antigone’s business 12 years ago with plans to be in the furniture painting and refinishing business. But, those plans have expanded through the past dozen years, Donna said.

“We just naturally expanded things through the years,” Donna said. “We actually started expanding by adding Tyler candles to our shop. After The Hour Glass closed, they introduced us to the Tyler people and we began carrying their candles in 2009. Then, in 2011, Amanda (Chavers) encouraged us to carry some boutique items and we moved in that direction. We were already carrying some vintage clothes and vintage china items and it was just a natural way to expand. We’ve been expanding ever since and adding more and more lines to what we have in the shop.”

Donna said the support of the community has been what has kept them moving forward for all these years.

“The community has always supported us and what we do,” Donna said. “We are thankful for all of our customers through the years. We are so happy to be here.”

Antigone’s is located in historic downtown Brewton at 110 St. Joseph Street and they are open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays.