The Durant Area Chamber of Commerce Leadership Durant class hosted its annual Taste of Durant at the Choctaw Event Center March 7, and the event gave many opportunities for people to sample the eateries in Durant.
Chloe Hughes is the director of membership and marketing at the Durant Area Chamber of Commerce. She is also in the 2025-26 Leadership Durant class.
“The Leadership Class is a personal and professional development class dedicated to supporting our future and current leaders in Durant,” Hughes said. “Helping grow them in development and give them the skills that they need to do really great work in our community.”
The class is for nine months and there are many subjects covered.
“We learn more about our city, our manufacturers,” Hughes said. “A wide variety of topics and we also plan this big event called Taste of Durant which gives us a lot of experience working in a team and planning large-scale productions and just learning to coordinate things in a limited amount of time.
Hughes said there are 19 members of the class who come from a large variety of backgrounds that include the Choctaw Nation, CMC, several of the local banks and many other companies in Durant.
Taste of Durant is an opportunity to show off local cuisines, including wineries, fast food and sit-down restaurants and all kinds of different flavors from Asian, barbecue and Italian, according to Hughes. The evening’s attire was Kentucky Derby style.
“Anything that you could really want, you can try a little bit of,” Hughes said.
Hughes said the event helps fund Leadership Durant’s professional development that includes a trip to Washington D.C.
“We’re just so happy to be here and we’re happy to be able to have this opportunity to show off all of our local establishments and show off Durant and just give these local businesses a chance to have their moment and their spotlight to show off their food and their talent and their art that they put into it,” Hughes said.
