Pictured: The team at Mademoiselle Paris preparing to open its doors after Hurricane Milton. Photo courtesy of Myriam Dandonneau.

Taking strides back toward normalcy after Hurricanes Milton and Helene, businesses in Anna Maria Island are coming back, anxious and ready to serve their customers. Jean and Myriam Dandonneau, owners of Mademoiselle Paris, experienced 15 inches of flooding from Helene and were unable to open for several days after Milton due to debris and power outages. Last month, they opened their doors to begin serving beautiful and delicious French cuisine to their customers once again. Like Mademoiselle Paris, businesses all over the community are continuing to work toward welcoming back their patrons and keeping their supporters updated on their progress.

Mademoiselle Paris, with three locations in UTC, Anna Maria Island and Downtown Sarasota boarded up their establishments on October 9 and waited for the Hurricane to pass. After getting the green light from law enforcement to leave their home after the storm, they went directly to check on their businesses. Driving onto Anna Maria Island, seeing the aftermath of the hurricane and questioning if the vibrancy of Anna Maria Island was still there, the Dandonneaus were met with a wave of emotions. Myriam remembers getting to their business and going straight to work. "We started picking up the debris, cleaning, and checking for damages. What truly stood out to us that day was the positivity on the streets. Businesses around us would stop in to check on us, strangers would come in and start helping us pick up. It was a connecting experience.”

One way that makes a community so special is found in the way it recovers after the tremendous effects of a storm. Anna Maria has proven to bring light even after the windiest and cloudiest of days and create a new definition of resilience in the face of hardships. After their cleanup, Mademoiselle Paris provided hot meals for first responders in the area as a way of giving back the help they received. The Dandonneaus noticed the need within the community to destress. After hosting a wine-tasting event, the owners saw this firsthand, Jean recalls “We had almost 70 people which was great. I am unsure if people needed to drink because of the stress, but seeing the community come together at Mademoiselle Paris was amazing.”

Mademoiselle Paris is back and the owners want everyone to know it. After Hurricane Milton, they believe that tourists are being deterred because of false claims online. Today, more than ever, local business support is crucial to the community after enduring Hurricane Milton. 

Pictured: The team at Mademoiselle Paris preparing to open its doors after Hurricane Milton. Photo courtesy of Myriam Dandonneau.