About the Ferriday Chamber of Commerce

For over 30 years, the Ferriday Chamber of Commerce has been the leading organization representing the interests of businesses, both large and small, in our area. Today, the Chamber provides leadership opportunities, volunteer programs and business-building initiatives that focus on the critical priorities of this community, including all matters touching the general welfare of the Town of Ferriday.

As businesses and communities are more dependent on each other for their success, the Ferriday Chamber encourages its membership to be goal-oriented and involved in business, civic and social priorities by providing a unique network which focuses on opportunities for individuals and businesses to make a difference.

The Chamber annually sponsors several community projects, including the Christmas Parade and the Concordia Christmas Charity Drive, which provides toys and clothing to needy children in the area. Fund-raising activities are also held throughout the year, raising seed money for various civic, social and community programs.

The Delta Music Museum was born from a vision of the Chamber in the late 1990's. Its predecessor, the Delta Folklife Festival, had been sponsored annually by the Chamber for several years. The Chamber's president during this time was Mr. Sam Hanna and, together, he and Mrs. Amanda Tuminello, formed a museum committee to create a medium by which the "famous six" citizens of Ferriday could be honored. The Ferriday Museum officially opened in 1995 in a small building owned by Concordia Bank & Trust Company.

2001 brought a new name and a new location for the museum. The Ferriday Museum would now be named The Delta Music Museum, and its mission would be to preserve, collect and exhibit the history of music along the Mississippi River Delta Region from Memphis, TN to New Orleans, LA. Its new location is 218 Louisiana Avenue in Downtown Ferriday and is administered under the auspices of the LA Secretary of State Museum Division.

The Delta Music Museum is presently the home of exhibitions and Hall of Fame for fifteen Delta musicians and two non-musical celebrities born in Ferriday, news commentator Howard K. Smith and Hollywood's legendary hostess Ann Boyer Warner. Celebrity musicians include Ferriday native cousins Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley and Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, along with Conway Twitty, Percy Sledge, Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, Gov. Jimmie Davis, Pee Wee Whittaker, Clarence "Frogman Henry," Johnny Horton, Al Harris, Dale Houston with Grace Broussard, John Fred Gourrier & The Playboys, and Fats Domino. For more information, the website for The Delta Music Museum is http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/delta.