BRANDON, Miss. (WJTV) – The City of Brandon was incorporated on December 19, 1831. The city serves as the county seat of Rankin County.

One of the main attractions in city is the Brandon Amphitheater. Thousands of people come out to see the concerts.

“What we’re trying to do is create a quality place to enjoy quality music. There’s not a bad seat in the house. You would have a blast in this place,” said Brandon Mayor Butch Lee.

He said the amphitheater is booming with success in its sixth year, with many talented singers and musicians performing at the location.

The Brandon Amphitheater started with the desire to make people want to return to the area after growing up and heading off to college.

“We focused early on in Brandon on youth sports, and that’s still growing and expanding, and we’re improving that. And we were contacted by somebody in Birmingham, Red Mountain Entertainment, said, ‘We understand y’all might be considering building an amphitheater and we’d like to talk,'” explained Lee. “We listened to them and studied and studied and studied and studied, and about 90% of their recommendations, we enacted here in our own way. So when they come over here for a show, they’re just astounded.”

Some of the shows you can expect in 2023 include Parker McCollum, Sam Hunt, Luke Bryan, The Doobie Brothers, Train and 3-Doors Down. The amphitheater will also host Hardy and the Outlaw Music Festival in October 2023.

There are plenty of places in Brandon that you can visit, but the city is also a wonderful place to live with the unique history of the Crossgates neighborhood.

Crossgates started with 1,000 acres, former used as one of Mississippi’s largest dairy farms.

“My dad bought that property in 1965-1966. And not knowing what he really was going to do with it, but being a developer, he had an idea,” said Tom Underwood, president of Underwood Companies.

His father, J.W. Underwood, and a few other executives traveled from Maine to California to look at other cities. They sought inspiration that they would eventually use at Crossgates.

“The first family that moved in Crossgates was in 1969, and since then, we have a total of 1,750 acres developed and with about 3,500 families, and we sold our last lot in 2002,” said Underwood.

J.W. spearheaded the building of the first 14 homes in Crossgates. After that, word began to spread and more home buyers began moving in, prompting the neighborhood to grow into what we know today.

Underwood said Crossgates is still one of the best places to live. 

“It’s continued to be a viable place to live in Brandon and in metro Jackson. Crossgates in 1969, this probably was certainly the largest one of the very first master planned communities in Mississippi. But this was the first of its size for sure, and since then, there’s been, you know, quite a bit of other subdivisions develop master planned in Brandon,” he explained.

In Brandon, there are around 85 neighborhoods with four currently under construction.

Edwin Sallis, with the Heartland Development Company, said the best is yet to come.

“We’ve developed over 1,000 residential lots across eight neighborhoods here in Brandon. One of those neighborhoods is Stonebridge Development, which we’re kicking off our second phase. We’ve got 100 lots that are in place now, 30 houses going up right as we speak with 70 more over the next 12 to 18 months. Following on the heels of that, we just broke ground on a new development known as Hyde Park,” he explained.

Hyde Park will be located across from the Rosemont Subdivision near Brandon High School. It will contain 114 homes and will be one of the first traditional neighborhood developments within the city.

“Hyde Park will offer a multitude of different housing options, everything from single family, residential cottages, patio homes, estate, lots to town homes. We want to cater to no matter what stage of life you’re in, whether you’re a single professional young adult, starting a family, building your dream home or retiree or empty nester. The decision to develop in Brandon was a no brainer,” Sallis said.

There are also plenty of businesses in Brandon. Brown Bottling Group has been distributing beverages to hundreds of different locations in Mississippi for years.

In 1971, Kenneth Brown came to Mississippi and purchased the Pepsi Cola franchise. He went on to create what eventually evolved into what is known today as the Brown Bottling Group. They have headquarters in Brandon, Hattiesburg, Meridian, McComb and Natchez.

Brown’s granddaughter, Shelley Brown Floyd, serves as executive vice president of the company.

“We sell, distribute, load everything you know and love in the grocery stores, gas stations, anywhere, your schools, your churches. We’ve got Aquafina water. We’ve got Gatorade. We’ve got Pepsi. We’ve got Mountain Dew. We’ve got Dr. Pepper. We’ve got Sunkist. We have so many choices out there. And that is what our team does,” she said.

Brown Bottling Groups distributes millions upon millions of bottles and cans across the state every week. Brown Floyd said Brandon is a great place for business due to the location and the people.

“Brandon is such a great location. We are centrally located here. You don’t think of Brandon being centrally located, but you are. You have quick access to all the different interstates to get you to all the areas that we serve, especially in this metro area. We can quickly hit Jackson. We can quickly hit Vicksburg. We hit Madison. We even go to Yazoo City from Brandon, and we even go south to Brookhaven. We’ve got this is a great location to quickly get where we need to get to service our customers,” she stated.

Brown Bottling Group employs many people who hold different positions.

Speaking of workers, neighbors in Brandon may have heard of one woman at Ramey’s Marketplace, whose cakes have taken Facebook by storm.

Becca Roberson is a cake decorator at Ramey’s. She’s made a name for herself on social media.

“When I came here, one of my coworkers posted on Real Talk a picture of the Waffle House cake. And from there, I mean, it just it went wild. I’ve always had, like, an inkling for art. I’ve always wanted to be some sort of artist such as this. Hard to make a living from that. You know, it’s like you have to figure out a way to apply that in a way to make, you know, a living, and cake decorating did that for me,” she said.

For weddings, birthdays or any other special occasions, creating these pieces of art is her passion. If you can imagine it, Roberson can turn it into a beautiful and delicious cake.

“Well with any cake, I always tell them just bring me any idea you have. I mean, I’ve done a 3D armadillo. I’ve done dog heads. I just get really attached to them because I work so hard on them and so much time. I don’t really want to give them away because it’s like my art piece, ut all cakes aren’t the same, whatever they bring me, you know?”

Roberson said her customers have touched her, and she truly loves what she does.

“I think I’m just overwhelmed with how much adoration I’ve been shown of just by doing cakes. You never think that you know people are going to recognize what you do, but then it feels very special that they do. And I don’t know, I’m really bad at taking compliments, but I’ve learned how,” she said.

Roberson has been at the Brandon Ramey’s for nearly two years. She said she’s happy she’s successful and happy to be able to work in a city like Brandon.

“I feel a sense of strong community in Brandon. I really do. Everybody knows everybody, and if they don’t know you, they go out of their way to meet you,” she said.

To place an order with Roberson, head over to the Ramey’s in Brandon. You can order your customer cake from her and then take care of your groceries in one fell swoop.