When Annette Mitchell moved to Orange Beach in 2000, the city didn’t know the gift it was about to receive.

Mitchell, who spent years in automotive sales in Chicago, moved to Orange Beach with her husband Henry because they wanted a change of pace — 80-hour work weeks were getting old, she said. But Mitchell couldn’t retire her skills in good conscience.

“I couldn’t just sit on the beach. I had to be part of where I lived,” She said. “So I started attending meetings and volunteering my time, and pretty soon I was in charge of ways and means for the Garden Club, and I was president of the Mardi Gras krewe, and I started getting appointed to city committees.”

Jan. 7, the Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce presented Mitchell with the Island Spirit Award to recognize her for her year-round community service.

“I was totally shocked. I was totally surprised,” she said. “I truly volunteer my time and talent to make life better here, and to get that little bit of lagniappe back was just so sweet. I was very honored.”

Mitchell serves on several municipal committees, including the finance committee, the planning commission and the business advisory committee.

Mayor Tony Kennon said he admires Mitchell for her straightforward leadership.

“Annette Mitchell is the sweetest, prettiest, nicest pit bull I’ve ever seen,” he said. “She gets it done. When she sees an issue, she attacks it. She’s not scared to ask hard questions of anybody, and she’s a tremendous asset because of the vast amount of past business experience she brings to the table.”

Mitchell said she loves using the skills she learned in sales and retail to bring people together about ideas and projects.

“I am a salesperson first and foremost, and you don’t get the sale by alienating the customer,” she said. “So I am very good at getting people to form a consensus, come together for good and get inspired and interested in project we have at hand.”

She’s also involved in philanthropy, particularly through the Sirens of the Sea Mardi Gras krewe, the Orange Beach Garden Club and her church, St. Thomas by the Sea.

“After I experienced my first Mardi Gras, I said, look, if I’m going to live down here, I’m going to do Mardi Gras,” she said. “And within two years, I was queen.”

Sirens of the Sea is a 70-member all female krewe, and it owns two floats. The krewe is participating in four parades this year.

But Sirens of the Sea’s main goal is to raise money for scholarships and donations to local nonprofits, she said.

“Mardi Gras krewes are very philanthropic down here, so a large part of proceeds is put right back in the community,” she said. “Because we are all female, we tend to sponsor female related causes.”

Sirens of the Sea gives a scholarship to a female senior at Gulf Shores High School every year, and it has donated money to special education, the Lighthouse (Baldwin County’s domestic violence prevention organization) and Mary’s Shelter.

Mitchell is passionate about all of the organizations she volunteers with, but the club that spurned all of her involvement was the Orange Beach Garden Club, she said.

“I went to a meeting because gardening here is like gardening nowhere else, and I wanted to hear how you would garden here,” she said. “I worked 70-to 80-hour weeks, so I didn’t have time to garden in the Midwest. Here, I had time, but it’s an atmosphere I had never dealt with.”

But Mitchell soon learned that the club did a lot more than gardening.

“The garden club is to me the epitome of small town life,” Mitchell said. “It is a 26-year service club comprised of local residents, and every year, we hold a fundraiser. Every penny that is raised goes right back into the city.”

Mitchell and the other members of the Garden Club’s ways and means committee have been working hard to plan the 26^th annual fundraising event, the Game Day and Salad Luncheon, which will be held Feb. 20 at the Orange Beach Community Center, Mitchell said. Attendees bring themselves and their favorite game, and the Garden Club supplies the food.

Tickets are $20 and available at the Emporium in the Winn-Dixie shopping center in Orange Beach.

Proceeds benefit the Gulf Shores High School scholarship fund, Yard of the Month Awards, Orange Beach Elementary Junior Gardeners program, Light Up Orange Beach Christmas Awards, Community Arbor Day events and local school and city funding efforts. 

Mitchell encourages anyone who has a desire to get involved to do so as soon as possible — it’s extremely rewarding, she said.

“Follow your passions,” Mitchell said. “Seek out public opportunities to learn more and be present. Opportunities will come your way if you seek them out."