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Have you ever wondered if the sun shines brighter right after the storm is over?

It certainly seems that way in Natchez.

If COVID-19 is a storm, then the sudden wave of new businesses, tourists and job openings flooding into the community must be the sun.

In the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed like all you could hear from residents was negative grumbling and complaining about there being no jobs or opportunities in Natchez.

Now there seems to be more jobs available than people to fill those positions, including jobs in industry, retail, drivers, managers and servers.

Additionally, variety of new businesses have popped up around the city during the year of the pandemic such as Olivina, Skysetter Designs Mobiles and Art, Kate Lee Laird and Taylor Cooley’s photography and art studio, Butter Cakery, the EPYK event venue, and many, many more.

Let us not forget the much-anticipated The Little Easy restaurant on High Street, which opened last month, and The Castle restaurant at Dunleith, which owners say is coming back soon and will be better than it was before it closed two years ago.

Now that the City of Natchez has closed on a lease agreement with the historic train depot and former Cock of the Walk restaurant on Broadway Street, we can expect to see more activity there in the months to come as The Little Easy owners Tate Taylor and John Norris prepare to open another new restaurant this fall.

Not to mention iconic actor Morgan Freeman’s production company, Revelations Entertainment, has partnered with Crooked Letter Pictures to film a new History Channel series about famous prison escapes here in Natchez.

With all that is happening in Natchez, things are looking brighter indeed.