Amite City Emergency Walk-In Cooler, Commercial Refrigeration Trailer and Cold Storage for Lease or Rent

Roofing Smoke Prompts a January Evacuation at Tangipahoa Parish Jail

Smoke inside Tangipahoa Parish Jail interrupted operations on January 16, 2025, prompting officials to move most inmates and affected staff to other parts of the grounds. The sheriff's office said most inmates and affected staff were moved to other parts of the grounds while responders investigated.

Officials linked the smoke to roofing work. The building was ventilated, and several agencies carried out inspections before normal operations resumed. In a facility responsible for daily meals, emergency planning also has to account for access to food preparation areas and cold storage if a section of the building becomes unavailable.

The evacuation also brought disturbances among some inmates waiting in a yard. Deputies used pepper spray to break them up, and anyone reporting effects received medical attention, according to the sheriff's office. By the following day's update, the jail reported that its operations had returned to normal.

Pearls & Provisions Adds a Lunch Service at Amite's Fitz House

A new lunch business took shape at The Fitz House in Amite during 2026. LaShay Bankston opened Pearls & Provisions in early June, then celebrated with an Amite City Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting on September 23. The restaurant occupies 114 West Mulberry Street.

WBRZ described a menu built around sandwiches and Southern specials. The restaurant's ordering menu also lists dishes such as chicken salad, pimento cheese and charcuterie cups. With prepared salads, meats and cheeses moving through lunch service, dependable cold storage is part of organizing the kitchen's daily supply.

The September opening celebration gave the business a public introduction several months after service began. At that time, its published lunch hours were 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., giving downtown customers another weekday option.

Mulberry House Renovation Adapts a 1912 Property for Dining and Events

A building dating to 1912 gained a new hospitality role when Mulberry House opened in Amite in 2010. Owners Debbie and Mike Relle renovated the property at 411 East Mulberry Street for restaurant service, catering, weddings and private gatherings.

A January 2011 announcement described a full renovation completed during the previous year. The business offered indoor and outdoor seating, a bar and both on-site and off-site catering. A kitchen moving between restaurant lunches and catered functions also needs cold storage organized around the quantities and timing of each menu.

Chef Mike Liuzza, a Louisiana Culinary Institute graduate, was named in the opening account. At the time, the business scheduled weekday lunch and dinner service while reserving weekends for special events. The renovation made an older Amite property usable for several kinds of food and hospitality work within one venue.

Amite Oyster Festival Marks 50 Years with a Downtown Food and Music Weekend

Oysters gave Amite a reason to celebrate for three days in March 2026. The festival's 50th-anniversary program put the main activities on the downtown streets from March 20 through March 22, with a chili cook-off, parade, oyster-eating contest and a full music schedule. Louisiana lawmakers also recognized March 16 as Amite Oyster Festival Day.

Friday's program began with the chili competition and ribbon-cutting. Saturday paired the morning parade with an afternoon oyster-eating contest, making seafood preparation and cold storage part of the practical planning behind the festivities. The music lineup included Hunter Courville & Cajun Fever, Lindsey Cardinale Band and PaperChase.

The celebration grew from Oyster Day at the Tangipahoa Parish Fair Grounds on March 20, 1976. For its anniversary year, the published Sunday schedule added an early 5K, a church service and afternoon performances by Tyler Kinchen & the Right Pieces and The Phunky Monkeys.

A Historic Amite Building Becomes The Boston Restaurant

The Boston Restaurant opened in Amite on July 8, 2012, after a historic building was restored and renovated for dining. The Wong family's project at 100 Northeast Central Avenue paired an American-Asian menu with a setting finished in warm lighting and rustic furnishings.

The restaurant's own history describes the renovation as a complete restoration of the building. Its kitchen serves hand-cut steaks, sushi and seafood, a mix that makes cold storage as much a part of opening preparations as the dining-room fit-out. Head chef Jason Wong leads the culinary team described in that account.

Amite Sets Up Food Distribution as Hurricane Ida Recovery Begins

Fallen trees and tangled power lines complicated travel through Amite after Hurricane Ida in August 2021. Local resident Candice Morgan told FOX 8 that Duncan Avenue and several smaller streets were impassable as the town began assessing the damage.

The recovery included an announced supply-distribution site at Walmart, 1200 West Oak Street, offering ice, water, ready-to-eat meals and tarps. The Salvation Army also listed a hot-meal location at 204 Northeast Central Avenue, opposite the parish library headquarters. For kitchens relying on perishable ingredients during an extended outage, independently powered refrigerated trailers can become part of the temporary operating plan.

By September 11, Entergy reported that power had been restored to Memorial Hospital in Amite and the Amite Lift Station. The utility also scheduled a customer information center at the mayor's complex, giving residents a local place to ask about the continuing restoration work.

The Pink Agave's Expansion Brings a Mexican Restaurant to West Oak Street

Amite became one of The Pink Agave's early expansion markets after the restaurant brand began in Ponchatoula in 2022. By January 2024, reporting on the company's next move into Baton Rouge identified Amite and Covington as locations already in operation.

The Amite restaurant is listed at 122 West Oak Street. Its arrival extended the group's Mexican restaurant concept into another Tangipahoa Parish downtown, adding a local dining operation before the company entered the larger Baton Rouge market. For a restaurant opening, stocking cold storage and coordinating the first perishable deliveries are part of making the kitchen ready for customers.

Construction Fire Triggers Another Evacuation at the Amite Jail Campus

A construction-related fire brought another emergency response to Tangipahoa Parish Jail on March 13, 2025. Officials said work on one of the campus buildings caused the fire, and affected areas were evacuated while crews assessed the building and cleared the air.

The State Fire Marshal's office reported that the jail's life-safety systems operated as intended. Smoke-reduction equipment helped limit conditions in the affected wings. If an incident like this interrupts kitchen access, a temporary meal-service arrangement must also account for perishable deliveries and cold storage.

No injuries were reported in the March incident, and inmates had returned to the facility by 1 p.m. Deputies described the additional law-enforcement presence around the campus as a precaution. The interruption followed a separate evacuation in January, when smoke associated with roofing work had required inspections and ventilation before normal operations could resume.