Welcome to episode 47 of From the Front Porch, a collection of conversations on books, small business, and life in the South.

I'm Annie Jones, owner of the bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia.

And today I'm joined by Laura Beggs, Main Street Coordinator for the City of Thomasville and my good friend.

We'll be chatting about life in Thomasville, our favorite go-to spots downtown, and why Thomasville has so many festivals.

Before we get started, I wanted to remind folks that you can find full episodes of the podcast at www.w.w.com.com.

You can also find a curated collection of seasonal books and gifts that we think are worth looking

into. You can find that on our website at the shop link. And you can also find out all about our staff.

You can find out bios of who you'll be shopping with this holiday season,

plus regular blog posts from our staff and our favorite customers.

And you can just find out all kinds of great information about the bookshelf,

even if you are a faraway listener or a supporter from a different city or state. So please visit us online at

www.w.com. All right, let's get started. Hi, Laura. Hey, Annie. Welcome to my living room. Thanks. I love it.

It's a little too rainy to be on my front porch today, so... It really is. It's been rainy for a couple of days, but I'm okay with it because now I get to turn my heat on. Yay, yeah. Just like us last night turning our heat on for the first time. Yes, it's only, what is it, November, when are we recording this? Ninth. We've waited a long time for this moment. So I'm okay with the rain.

Okay, I thought we'd just jump right in.

Let's jump.

All right.

So what brought you and your family to Thomasville?

Okay.

Well, I'm from White Cross, Georgia.

My husband, Jason, is from Moultry, just up the road.

Okay.

I went to Valdosta State, graduated in 2005.

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