The Fourth of July will be celebrated in Covington County with a bang, with firework shows scheduled in Andalusia and Opp.
Andalusia’s tourism and relocation committee will host a community-wide celebration at the Kiwanis fairgrounds, with musical entertainment by Michael Kelley and Kat Dean, Christian Wossilek and the Ric McNaughton Band.
Gates open at 4:30 p.m. Music begins at 5 p.m.. and fireworks will begin at 8:30 p.m.
Concessions will be available; however, free watermelon slices will begin at 5 p.m. until the last slice is gone.
Bring a lawn chair and blanket, arrive early and enjoy an afternoon of fun, city officials said Friday.
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You might be a fan of ‘Swamp People’ if you take your own stuffed alligator at the Covington Sportsman Expo.
Because that’s exactly what six-year-old Connor McCollough did Friday when the doors to the Kiwanis Center opened for the second annual event that is headlined by personalities from the popular History Channel show.
On Friday, famous alligator hunter Bruce Mitchell and his dog, Tyler, were in the spotlight. Today, it is Troy Landry and his son, Jacob.
And Mitchell and his four-legged friend brought out the crowd, with people from as far away as East Tennessee and Florida driving in for the event.
McCollough only had to ride about a mile from his PawPaw’s shop, Roger’s Refrigeration, though. He came decked out in overalls and a “Gator Man” do-rag.
He said he loves the show so much, he wanted to be a “gator hunter.”
“I could get ‘em,” he said.
Opp’s 9-year-old Tony Boutwell had his parents drive from Opp so he could give Mitchell a special gift – a one-of-kind “gator killin’ knife” made by Lockhart’s Johnny Harbuck.
“My favorite is Troy, but second behind that is Bruce,” Boutwell said. “I like the way they catch the gators. That’s why... READ MORE>
Eight local residents listened to an hour-long recap of the 2013 legislative session in a town hall meeting Tuesday night, and had only two questions when the recap was done.
State Sen. Jimmy Holley (R-Elba) and Rep. Mike Jones (R-Andalusia), held the town hall meeting in Andalusia, had answers to neither question.
The first was why concealed weapons permits expire on a specific date, when there are grace periods for renewing a driver’s license, car tags and other state permits.
Both Holley and Jones said... READ MORE>
Andalusia is prominently featured in the State of Alabama’s Internet publication “Made in Alabama,” targeting the Paris Air Show.
Some 2,100 global exhibitors are on display and 151,000 trade visitors are in attendance at the 2013 Paris Air Show that ends June 23. Alabama has a full delegation, including Gov. Robert Bentley and commerce chief Greg Canfield, and Covington County and Andalusia are represented as well.
Made in Alabama reported that Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson and other Andalusia officials plan to use their time at the Paris Air Show to meet with a number of aerospace and aviation companies the city already is pursuing, or those companies officials would like to pursue.
Johnson said Monday that this kind of publicity could prove extremely valuable.
“And it didn’t cost the city a dime,” he said.
The publication also reported that more than $50 million has been invested in the South Alabama Regional Airport and adjacent industrial park over the past 20 years, and that the airport sells about a million gallons of... READ MORE>
Via: Andalusia Star News
Work will soon get under way on Andalusia’s sixth mural, and by January, visitors will be able to listen to a narrative about each mural with a simple cell phone call.
Murals committee chairwoman Pat Palmore shared that news with the Andalusia City Council Tuesday night, which voted to fund the prep work for the newest mural.
Palmore said the next mural will be located adjacent to the recently restored Alatex building, which is now home to the Chamber of Commerce and serves as a welcome center. Many photographs from the Alatex era are displayed there.
“There is a wall there built for this purpose that also serves as a retaining wall,” she said. “The surface has to be sealed so that no water, moisture, or anything can get through to the mural.
“The artist doesn’t think it would be a problem, but there is a possibility there could be some cracks in the wall that would allow seepage at some point,” she said.
The mural artist, Wes Hardin, has designed a background for the mural to be painted on the retaining wall. The new mural will actually be a series of panels attached to the wall, but not positioned flat against it.
“One advantage is that if we don’t have the money raised, we can just do the first three panels until we raise the rest of the money,” she said.
The murals will tell the story of a shirt, Palmore said.
“It touches on steps in the manufacturing of a shirt, and what’s involved,” she said. “But it also shows how Covington County was involved in so many different areas.”
The panels will depict cotton being grown; the ginning process; producing fabric in a mill; following the steps in the sewing process from the cutting to the finished shirt, she said.
While Alatex didn’t use locally-grown cotton and locally-made fabric as it became one of the largest producers of men’s dress shirts, those processes were done here by other companies.
“We always have a narrative, and in our narrative, we will tell how other things were manufactured in Andalusia,” Palmore said.... READ MORE>