Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday encouraged children to set goals, work hard, and participate in her Summer Reading Challenge while visiting the summer program at the Coleman-Robertson Center in Andalusia on Wednesday.
The program, started in about 1973 by Coach Richard Robertson, provides meals and organized activities during the summer months. Current program director Rose White-Parker invited Gov. Ivey to speak as part of her Community Connections program, which invites members of the community from all walks of life to share career stories and ideas with students.
Gov. Ivey told the students that she once was also a small-town girl who “sat at a small desk with big dreams.”
She said as a youngster, she had decided to work one summer on her father’s cattle farm. When she became frustrated with the challenges of the work and was considering quitting, her father gave her some advice.
“He said, ‘Kay, anything worth doing is worth doing well,’ ” she recalled. “I marched back to the barn and got to work.”
She also encouraged children to set goals.
Growing up, she said, she had a horse named Lightning.
“He was fast, too,” she said.
She later got a dog, whom she named Thunder.
“I trained Thunder to ride Lightning,” she said. “If you set goals – even unusual ones involving a dog and a horse, you can accomplish great things.”
Governor Ivey said, “Strong students will lead to a stronger Alabama.”
She also encouraged them to complete her Summer Reading Challenge, which challenges students to read a book and write a letter to Governor Ivey about their book.
“I’ll be checking the mailbox, and I look forward to hearing from you.”
All letters to Governor Ivey should be addressed and mailed to:
Governor Kay Ivey
Attn: Governor Ivey’s Summer Reading Challenge
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36130
Parents and educators also are encouraged to show Gov. Ivey what students are reading by using the hashtag #GKIsSummerReadingChallenge.
Alabamians are taking advantage of the savings associated with the state’s back-to-school sales tax holiday.
Alabama’s 19th annual back-to-school sales tax holiday is July 19-21. This marks the eighth time the annual tax holiday will take place during the third weekend of July.
From 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 19, until midnight, Sunday, July 21, the state waives its 4 percent sales tax on school-related supplies and clothing. More than 300 cities and counties throughout Alabama also waive their local taxes. In some areas, including Covington County, the savings reach 10 percent.
Exempt items include:
• Clothing priced at $100 or less per article;
• School supplies valued at $50 or less per item;
• Books that cost $30 or less per book; and
• Tablets, laptops, computers and printers with a selling price of $750 or less.
LEARN MORE AT
There will be 22 participating teams when Andalusia hosts the Cal Ripken 10U State Baseball Tournament this weekend, June 28-30.
“This is one of the biggest tournaments I’ve seen since I started working with Babe Ruth,” Willie Edwards, director of parks and recreation for the City of Andalusia, said. “We’re excited to have this turnout, and look forward to a great weekend of baseball.”
There will be two tournaments within the tournament, Edwards explained. Teams from small parks will participate in one division, and teams from large parks in a separate division.
Andalusia, Covington County, Saraland, Westside, Spanish Fort and Florence Navy will participate in the large park division.
Participating teams in the small park division include Opp, Evergreen, Brewton, East Brewton, Flomaton, Northwest Escambia, Decatur American, Decatur Nationals, Florence Red, Monrovia, Sweetwater, Millry, Roanoke, Grand Bay, Robertsdale and Bay Minette.
Opening ceremonies begin at 9 a.m. Friday, June 28, in Johnson Park. There is no admission charge for this tournament.
The large park division will play pool play Friday and enter bracket play Saturday morning with the finals slated for 10 a.m. on Sunday, June 30.
The small park division will play pool play Friday and Saturday, and being bracket play at 10 a.m. Sunday. Finals are set for 12:15 a.m. Sunday.
This marks the second consecutive year Andalusia has hosted a Cal Ripken state tournament. Last year, Andalusia played host to the state 8U baseball tournament.
“We work hard year-round to make Andalusia a destination location,” Mayor Earl Johnson said. “We know that events like Candyland, JulyJamz, and ball tournaments bring people to our city. While they’re here, they eat in local restaurants, and many sleep in local hotels.
“Early reports are that the hotels are all booked this weekend,” Johnson said. “We look forward to welcoming our guests to Andalusia.”
For brackets and updates, please visit the Andalusia Department of Leisure Services' Facebook Page.
Andalusia will again mark the Fourth of July holiday with a parade and a fireworks show on Thursday, July 4.
The Old Three Notch Chapter of the DAR will hold its annual Fourth of July Parade Thursday morning.
Everyone is welcome to don their red, white and blue and join the fun. There will be floats, golf carts, bicycles and walkers.
There is no fee to enter, and no pre-registration is required. Line-up is in the parking lot of First Baptist Church beginning at 9 a.m.
The parade will roll at 10 a.m., and will travel from First Baptist down East Three Notch and turn at Pirate Graphics to circle back to the church.
That evening, FiftyFive South will return to the stage at the Kiwanis Fairgrounds for the City of Andalusia’s Fourth of July celebration.
There will be bouncy houses and a water slide for the kids, as well as free watermelon. There also will be concessions on site.
The gates open at 5:30 p.m. and live music begins at 6 p.m. The fireworks show begins at dusk.
Grit + Grind owners Eric and Destiny Rowell plan to build a flagship in Andalusia for their growing coffee company, and also will develop housing here.
The Andalusia City Council on Tuesday took several steps to finalize a public-private partnership between the City, the city’s Capital Improvement Cooperative District, and the Rowells.
Rowell said the couple now has 10 locations for Grit + Grind, including the ones they own outright and their franchises. They started the coffee business with a coffee truck in Opp while they reworked a brick-and-mortar building for their first permanent Grit + Grind home.
Eric Rowell said it was when the couple heard Mayor Earl Johnson speak to the Opp Rotary Club three years ago about the city’s ongoing projects and long-term plans that they started looking to expand here.
“We left the meeting, and literally did a U-turn to go back and start the conversation with Mayor Johnson,” he said. “We wanted to be a part of something as progressive as you all have going on in Andalusia.”
Since then, the Rowells have acquired property at the intersection of Church Street and River Falls Street where they vend coffee from one of their food trucks and lease space to other food truck operations. They also opened a kiosk location on campus at LBW.
Soon, they’ll break ground on a new facility at the intersection of Coleman Avenue and Henderson Street near the bypass entrance to Andalusia High School.
The new facility will serve both as a coffee shop and as Grit + Grind’s headquarters, where new franchisees will be required to spend time training. The design includes a drive-through window, as well as small private rooms for work-from-home locals or travelers who need a change of scene or a quiet space. One of the rooms is designed to serve as a podcast studio. There also will be some outdoor green space where children can play while their moms enjoy a cup of coffee.
The couple also plan to move to Andalusia, and to develop workforce housing here.
“We are super excited about what you’re doing here,” Eric Rowell said. “We have 13 other rental properties, so we are not new to real estate.
The houses will be approximately 1,200 square feet, but Destiny Rowell said they are designed with outdoor living spaces that make them feel more spacious. The couple will sell or rent the houses, they said.
The first house, which will be the Rowells’ personal home, will be located at the corner of Church Street and Railroad Avenue. It will serve as a “show house” for the next three to be constructed.
The next three, currently planned to be two bedroom and two bath homes, will be at the intersection of Walker Avenue and Madison Avenue, or the back side of the Church Street Cultural Arts Centre/Robinson Park properties.
“Housing is one of our biggest challenges as we grow our city,” Mayor Johnson said. “With the Rowells’ development, and the others we have worked on, this will mean a total of eight new homes in the Church Street area. We hope other developers will be inspired by this work and also invest in local housing.”
City Administrator John Thompson said the projects are “much more private than public.”
Amendment 725 of the Constitution of Alabama allows municipalities in Covington County to participate in economic development partnerships. The City of Andalusia has successfully used the provisions of the Amendment to spur economic development, primarily in the downtown area.
At the recommendation of the mayor, the council took several steps to bring the projects to fruition.
First, it declared property it has owned for decades, commonly known as the “Snead-Kennedy Property,” surplus. Secondly, it traded that property to local developer Robert Bishop for property at Henderson and Coleman. The property at Henderson and Coleman was then declared surplus.
The City of Andalusia will sell the Henderson/Coleman property to Grit + Grind for $250,000, and will hold a mortgage on the property. The City will donate the properties for the new housing. In the event the houses are not built in a specified amount of time, ownership of the property will revert back to the City.
The city’s Capital Improvement Cooperative District is loaning the Rowells $50,000 for site prep and parking on the Walker/Madison projects. The loan is to be amortized over 15 years at 5 percent interest.
The terms of the agreement also call for the Rowells to join its Development District, which has special taxing authority.
Eric Rowell said construction should begin on the first two houses in four to six weeks, and construction on the new coffee facility should follow in approximately six months. That facility should open in 12 to 14 months, the Rowells said.