Divine Providence rings in Cropwell

A man, a parish, heavenly intervention, a community and a bell

Story Paul South
Photos by Sam Marston
and Graham Hadley

If Zuzu Bailey’s line in the 1946 holiday film classic, It’s A Wonderful Life is true – that “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings,” a small Catholic Church in Cropwell helps get a heavenly squadron cleared for takeoff every day.

Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church’s 750-pound bell has become not only part of a parish, but of a community. It’s much more than heavy metal.

It’s a ringing result of one man’s idea, the support of his priest and parish and a heaping helping of Divine Providence.

Just ask Sam Marston.

It may have been 2017 when Marston, a 76-year-old retired airport food service manager, got the idea for the bell at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church.

Sam Marston and the bell

“The church didn’t have a bell tower, and I like bell towers,” he says.

After meeting with the then-priest at Our Lady of the Lake, Marston pledged seed money from his 401k for the bell and its tower.

But until 2019, thoughts of the bell fell silent. The former priest retired. And what’s more, Marston’s wife, Glenda, was battling cancer.

In 2019, buoyed by an enthusiastic response from new OLL priest, the Rev. Bill Lucas, Marston began to reach out to churches in Philadelphia and Washington, looking for bells from closed parishes.

None were found. Then, he discovered Bell Castings, a firm in Loudon, Tenn., and its owner, Todd Lower.

The church found its bell – a 1934 model crafted by the Missouri-based McShane Company – in a roomful of ringers. Founded in 1856, McShane is America’s oldest church bell company.

 The parish began a fundraising effort. While Marston’s pledge, funded by a government required minimum distribution was financial, both Marston and Lucas believe a higher power was at work.

“It had to be something Divine,” Marston says. “I couldn’t have come up with this. It was just something that came together. My whole thought process was to do something really, really special with this donation.

Marston, a cradle Catholic, had always loved bells. “It makes the whole church experience rich. Ringing before Mass and after Mass is like a celebration.”

Initially, donations for the belltower project came at a trickle. Rev. Lucas was not optimistic.

“We set a budget that was much higher than what we had before … So I said, we’ll leave it to the parish and if people give enough money, we’ll build the bell. But I didn’t think there was any way we would ever get to the level we needed to get to build the belltower.”

Marston confessed to doubt as well. “When the money stopped coming in, yes I did have doubts,” he says. “I tried to put it out of my mind, but I’d go out and see the bell sitting on the ground.”

Then, after one Sunday Mass, came a miracle. A donor wishing anonymity quietly handed Lucas a check for the majority of the needed funds.

“All of a sudden, there we were,” Lucas says. “We had the money for the project. Some people would say we got lucky,” he adds. “But I prefer to say Divine Providence.”

 He adds, “If you believe in Divine Providence, the whole story of our parish is that way … You can see it at work. But it’s certainly true of the bell.”

Marston agrees. “I really do think it was Divine intervention, because there were so many things that could have stopped it.”

Through friend Carl Wallace, Marston connected with structural engineer Bob Barnett, and Barnett foundBirmingham architect TimLucy who had done work for other Catholic parishes in the past. It seemed a match made in heaven.

Upper framework

The link to Barnett came in true Logan Martin style, when Marston and Wallace discussed the bell project over glasses of wine during a sunset pontoon cruise.

“(Sam) was willing to make the financial commitment, but he just didn’t know how to take the next step,” Wallace, author of the popular Facebook blog, “Lake Ramblings”, says. “I’m an engineer, and I just happened to know Bob Barnett who lives on the lake … and has his own structural engineering company. My simple part was, ‘Sam, let me get you in contact with Bob Barnett and get y’all hooked up.’ And Bob jumped all over it. He hooked up Sam with the architect. He had worked with (architect Lucy) on Catholic projects before.”

Ground broke on the bell tower on Nov. 9, 2021. But it was not an easy rise to the heavens. Soft St. Clair County soil required digging deeper and reinforcing the foundation with concrete. The bell, gleaming gold against a bright blue winter sky, was raised on Jan 13, 2022.

“You talk about exciting,” Marston recalls.

The electronically programmed bell rings every hour on the hour between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., as well as five minutes before and at the end of each Mass and at funerals. The bell, Lucas says, has impacted the parish in a positive way.

“It’s made people more reverent,” Lucas says, “because when the bell rings, then you focus on the Mass. You focus on prayer and worship. Just like during the Consecration when we ring the bells, it’s a reminder to people where we are and what we’re doing.”

Lucas adds, “I didn’t really understand that when we were going through the project. But since we’ve had it, it’s opened my mind to the benefit of having the bell and helping people’s faith.

In a small way, Wallace says, the bell project has enriched life on the Cropwell end of the lake, especially as the tower was under construction.

“It’s almost the anticipation of it was greater than the final project,” Wallace says. “It’s not real loud. You can only hear it if you’re in the area. People see it when they drive by. It has become an instant landmark, maybe more so than the church itself.”

There’s something more at work here.

“The tradition of it, I think, is noteworthy,” Wallace says. “A church bell ringing is a great thing.”

The bell is a reminder of faith for people, regardless of their spiritual persuasion, Lucas says.

“Sometimes they’re Catholic, sometimes they’re just believers. They hear the bell, and it reminds them of that,” Lucas says. “This is a very religion-friendly area, and I think the bell speaks not just to Catholics, but to everyone of faith. It gives them a reminder that God is there and to take Him more seriously.”

While Marston was the driving human force, the community, priest and parish all played a part.

“It was a relay, and there were a lot of runners,” Wallace says. “It’s a  very interesting thing that just happened to happen to happen.”

While at this point, folks in Cropwell may be unsure about Hollywood’s Zuzu Bailey theory on angel wings and chiming bells, the feeling Sam Marston gets with every clang is crystal clear:

“Joy,” he says.

At the end of the day, the story of the Our Lady of the Lake belltower transcends one man’s dream, or money, a bell or bricks and mortar, Lucas says. “I think it does come back to that Divine Providence. If we’re open to that, and we’re willing to be molded by that, then God can use that for His glory and the building up of the Church and building up of faith, if we’re open to it.”

And in what some may see as another ring of Divine Providence, the bell chimed for the first time on Feb. 1, 2022.

It was Sam Marston’s 75th birthday.

Looking five years ahead

EDC develops road map to
St. Clair County’s future success

For some, talk of five-year plans conjures visions of a small gaggle of decision makers in a back room, setting a course for the masses.

But when St. Clair County’s Economic Development Council crafted the county’s growth blueprint for the next half decade, EDC Executive Director Don Smith made one thing plain: This is a countywide team effort. The council listened to hundreds of voices, folks from the incorporated areas to the farmlands, the lakefronts to the riverfront, corporations, small business owners and every entity in between.

“The EDC’s success is the result of the partnerships we create throughout the  county,” Smith says. “That’s really the secret to our success. It’s not what the EDC does. It’s what we’re able to do by working with others.”

Springville’s downtown drawing new businesses, visitors

The  recently approved new five-year plan was crafted after a series of public meetings across the county and input from hundreds of citizens.

“From that, we were able to create a vision of what we need to focus on achieving in the next five years,” Smith says, “The plan helps us to stay focused and to dedicate resources to make sure we achieve our goals.”

The wide-ranging  plan focuses on six key areas – infrastructure development, marketing and communication, recruitment and retention, community development, leadership and tourism.

 Some key areas include job creation, growing agritourism, including farm-to-table initiatives, and assisting municipalities in tapping into a deep pool of available state and federal grants through EDC’s Grant Resource Center.

“We had a lot of input from our smaller municipalities about the difficulty in knowing what grants are out there and being able to obtain those grants,” Smith says. “When you talk about a municipality that has a budget of $1 million, and they can get a grant for $200,000 for infrastructure or something else, that’s a major impact for them.”

The plan also envisions an industrial park to create more wealth along the county’s section of the burgeoning Interstate 59 corridor. Development along the vital transportation artery is a key component in the goal of creating 1,200 jobs over the life of the blueprint.

“That’s going to be a major priority for us over the next five years – to create more jobs along (I-59),” Smith says. “I think we identified 300 acres as being  part of our goals. Those goals are very important because over the last 15 years, since I’ve been head of the EDC, we’ve achieved all of our goals. We put all of our efforts  in making sure those things take place.”

The EDC is also looking at reinvigorating hands-on workforce development in partnership with local schools and Jefferson State Community College. The COVID-19 pandemic stalled those efforts.

Workforce Development

“There’s going to be a renewed focus on getting these programs – from K-12 to Jefferson State, to our employers – reconnected and utilized so that benefits our citizens, that benefits our employers, and it benefits our educators,” Smith says.

“We have a tremendous asset in Jefferson State Community College, and I don’t believe it’s being fully utilized by the citizens of St. Clair County,” Smith adds.

A heightened communications and marketing presence is also on the horizon. Competing counties, like Walker in northwest Alabama, have stepped up their advertising presence in the Birmingham TV market and beyond. Look for St. Clair County to do the same, along with a larger social media presence.

“One of the things we learned from the tourism initiative is there’s a desire to know what’s taking place in the community. So we’re going to take that focus and extend it on, not just tourism events, but all the successes and opportunities that a fast-growing community like St. Clair County offers to not only the citizens of the county, but outside of our county as well.”

Industrial and small business growth, combined with  an exodus from crowded big cities like Atlanta and Birmingham, fueled growth of nearly 10,000 residents between 2010 and 2022, according to the Census.

Here  is a brief snapshot of some other highlights of the five-year plan.

In infrastructure: As noted earlier, the development of the I-59 corridor is “absolutely a top priority,” Smith says. Obtaining more grants is near the top as well.

Marketing and communications: Greater use of the EDC website is expected to be a priority moving forward, Smith says.

Recruitment and retention has been the cornerstone of the EDC since 1999. A recent ribbon cutting for an industrial park in Moody illustrates that effort and will move the county toward such goals. “That’s going to continue, along with new manufacturing parks that are going to be identified and developed in the future,” Smith says.

In the area of leadership, the 17-year-old Leadership St. Clair County has been an incredible success, Smith says, connecting governmental and business leaders to develop relationships and to solve common problems and foster cooperation. The EDC hopes to conduct four Leadership  St. Clair County classes in the next five years.

Smith praised county commissioners for supporting the EDC tourism initiative, which began in 2019. The county’s lodging tax revenue has increased by 87 percent since the push for more visitors began, an estimated $200,000 in additional revenue.

“With that, comes the opportunity for more hotels and more opportunities for short term rentals. Ultimately, it means that more folks are coming to the festivals we’re having and visiting the resources we have here.”

The county also gets a tourism bounce from nearby marquee events at Talladega Superspeedway and Barber Motorsports Park.

Ecotourism is also blossoming, as fly fishing, sailing, kayaking and other water sports grow on the Coosa River and Neely Henry and Logan Martin lakes and their accompanying tributaries.

A byproduct of the EDC roadmap to the future?

EDC staff, from left: Executive Director Don Smith, Tourism Coordinator Blair Goodgame, Retail and Marketing Specialist Candice Hill and Director of Industry and Workforce Development Jason Roberts

“Ultimately, as this county continues to grow, having cooperation between the County Commission and the municipalities is going to be paramount,” Smith says. “Otherwise, we’ll become fragmented and dysfunctional like many counties are in Alabama.”

Endeavors like the five-year plan help to build county unity, something much needed in a fractious national political and social climate.

“The EDC has trained specialists in different fields,” Smith says. “But we never want to be in a bubble, because then we’re not going to be focused on what’s important to the citizens and elected officials of St. Clair County.”

He adds, “The only way that we can know what’s important to people is to get them to tell us – to listen, to document it and then to publicize it and to hold ourselves accountable for meeting those goals.”

And those goals are crucial to  St. Clair County’s success, keeping the main thing the main thing

“Just like any business, or any successful organization, when you write down your goals and you look at them every day, it helps keep you focused,” Smith says. “It helps best utilize your funds and ultimately, it helps bring you success in ways you don’t even dream of.”

Upcoming Ribbon Cuttings

Courtesy of EDC Director Don Smith

Note: These are projected dates and may changes

Ross Dress For Less: September 11

T.J. Maxx: August 6

Old Navy: August 16

ULTA: August 13

Five Below: July 28

Rack Room: September 29

Americas Best: September 1

PetSmart : September 5

Hobby Lobby: September 28

Weddings: The proposal

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Mackenzie Free

After dating a year and a half, Caroline Williams and Mark Anderson knew they were going to get engaged to be married. But when and where were simply question marks. That is, until Mark devised a plan that would not only include his bride-to-be, but their families and friends, too.

Making all of it a surprise was just another hurdle to be cleared.

Of course, he had to have help to pull it off, so “a quick call to Aunt Laurie and Uncle Jim” was the logical, first step. The fun-loving couple seemed ideal for the job. After all, Aunt Laurie and Uncle Jim are Laurie and Jim Regan, owners of Pirate Island on Logan Martin Lake and have certainly earned the reputation of perfect hosts, opening their island up to just about every boater on the lake.

“We knew we would get engaged eventually,” Mark said. “It was important to me that the engagement be what we really wanted and really loved. I knew she had always dreamed of friends and family being able to share it, too.”

So, Mark went to work scheming and planning with the Regans, their families and their friends. He had looked at special places to pop the question, but they just weren’t “the right place.” He knew it had to be at his aunt and uncle’s – under the willow tree that drapes over the water’s edge.

“The lake had always been an important place in my childhood and growing up. It was a really special place to do it.”

Water had been central in both their lives. Caroline was a Division I swimmer in college. He grew up on Alabama’s coast in Mobile. They met at a friend’s birthday party in Atlanta where they both worked. “We hit right off,” Caroline recalled, “and the rest is history.” They have been together ever since.

“Water was important in both our lives,” he said. “She had been with my family at the lake several times and really enjoyed it,” so he thought, ‘What better place?’  “It’s close. We can have friends. So that’s what we did. I knew Aunt Laurie and Uncle Jim could handle it.”

Mark and Caroline live in Atlanta, so he had to devise a way to get Caroline to come to Pell City and not suspect anything. His story was that they had been so busy, they needed a laid back weekend out of Atlanta. “Why not go hang out with Aunt Laurie and Uncle Jim at the lake?,” he asked. And they did.

They went out to dinner Friday night and spent a leisurely Saturday morning with Caroline not suspecting a thing. Then, he had another idea, he told her. “It would be fun to go cruise on the pontoon and check out the island.”

Aunt Laurie made an excuse not to go, and she stayed behind to orchestrate what would come next.

They loaded up on the boat, Jim turned the key, and “it wouldn’t turn on. We (Mark and Jim) were making eye contact with each other like, Oh my God!” Meanwhile, “a train of cars were lined up on Blackberry Lane waiting to turn into the house.”

Jim was texting Laurie to let her know what happened, and he insisted he could get the boat going with jumper cables.

“I felt bad,” an unsuspecting Caroline said. “I kept saying we don’t have to go. It’s OK. It’s not a big deal, we can hang out on the dock.”

“No, we’re going on the boat,” Jim insisted. A supportive Mark said, “You know how Uncle Jim is when he sets his mind to something.”

The boat started, and they cruised on the pontoon boat as planned and then headed back to pick up Aunt Laurie, or so Caroline thought. There was a cooler sitting under the willow tree, and Jim asked Caroline and Mark to grab it for him because it was too heavy.

As they started walking over, Mark started his proposal speech. It was at that moment the dots began to connect, Caroline said, and she thought, “Oh, my God, it’s happening! I started sobbing. The ring was in the cooler, he reached in and grabbed the ring and got down on one knee.”

“The first voice I heard was my dad. Then I heard the others, and I saw a huge group of our friends – from Charlotte, DC, Atlanta – extended family who came for that moment. It was all the people we love running toward us. It was great.”

“I was very anxious” in the days leading up to the proposal party, Mark said. He thought about all the people involved and all the moving parts. “But at the end of the day, the most important thing is, I’m getting engaged to the girl I love,” he said, remembering how that thought made him calm.

“It was going to work out perfect. I’m not looking at weather and knew we were the first domino to fall. I was going to be engaged to her. However it happened, it was going to work out perfectly,” he said. “It was still different than I envisioned. It was much better than anything I ever dreamed up.”

“I was so surprised,” Caroline said. “I had no idea it was going to be that weekend, and with our family and friends there, it was a whole other level.” Just like Mark, it was well beyond her expectations.

“Girls always imagine their own picture of perfection – the nails, the dress,” she said. “I was wearing a bathing suit cover up left over from high school! It was so perfect – getting engaged to the love of my life with people I love.”

Weddings: Tips and tricks for the big day

Story by Eryn Ellard

May a little girl dreams of what her big day will look like – the dress, the knight in shining armor, the flowers, the cake, the tears streaming down her father’s face as he revels in the beauty of the little girl he raised into a successful woman.

All these precious moments are no doubt magical indeed, but they do not always happen on their own. Sometimes the bride-to-be needs a little help. And that’s where Angel Phillips comes in.

Phillips, a native of Ragland, and self-taught in the floral business many years ago, she eventually decided to try her hand at wedding planning, and she took to it quite naturally.

She has now been planning weddings for 12 years and stresses to newly engaged couples the importance of hiring a wedding planner. “I don’t care what you cut out, but your wedding planner is the most important,” Phillips stressed. “We think of things you don’t think of on the days leading up to the wedding and on the wedding day.”

Proposals have also changed dramatically especially since COVID. Phillips said that similar to a gender reveal for an expecting couple, entire families are now being included in the proposal. “Any reason to get together with family and friends to celebrate a momentous occasion is what we are seeing now,” Phillips said.

Buffet-style dining is popular right now

Phillips averages 30-40 weddings per year and takes care of booking vendors, decorations, floral arrangements and music. “I handle all the details, “ Phillips said. “I do like for brides to be involved in invitations and music, they need to know what song they want for their first dance and what song they want to dance with their daddies to.”

She also serves as a liaison for all the vendors and anyone else involved by providing a detailed timeline and making it clear that they are not to contact the bride two weeks before the wedding. This way everyone knows their places, and it cuts down on stress, especially for the bride.

Phillips noted that wedding trends tend to change around every five years or so, and many older traditions are coming back – some with more modern twists. Brides are now wanting bright pretty colors and greenery in their bouquets. They also prefer a cascading hand-tied bouquet with lots of colors and textures.

Couples are also opting for a buffet style reception with grazing boards and charcuteries, rather than comfort foods like chicken fingers. Brisket is a very popular item on a reception menu, as well as a mashed potato bar. Carving stations are also being seen more and more.

As for the rehearsal, the most popular items for rehearsal dinners are tacos and margarita stations. As far as wedding cakes go, bigger is not always better anymore. Brides are now opting for a two to three-tier cake, each tier boasting a different flavor, with cupcakes all around. However, the most popular sweets can be found at the groom’s table. Grooms are moving away from traditional groom’s cakes and moving more toward things like banana pudding, fried pies and anything that guests can “grab and go.”

Venues are also changing drastically. Classic whites, with lots of light, complete with long farmhouse tables are a trend. Candles are also very popular in wedding venues now. Phillips also noted that church weddings aren’t the only venue of choice as they once were.

Photography is always a huge part of a wedding, and brides want more outside photography, first looks with the dad and groom, clean photos, romantic looks with ambience, and candid shots. Phillips also noted that a videographer is just as important as a photographer for brides and grooms these days.

Old traditional ways of paying for weddings have also changed drastically, Phillips noted. “There is no etiquette anymore, it’s all about the bride and groom. It takes a village. Weddings are certainly more hands on with all members of the family.”

Phillips said the most rewarding part of her job is “at the end of the day when you see them dancing and loving each other, you know you have given them the best day ever” Phillips said.

What comes next? As far as honeymoons go these days, couples are opting for all inclusive tropical destinations where they can partake in excursions, surfing, fishing and sailing.

Traditional wedding rings have also evolved over the last several years. Smaller, solitaire rings set in gold are coming back in style but tend to be more expensive.

Another new tradition during the wedding ceremony are live painters. These painters set up and paint while the ceremony or reception is going on and paints the bride and groom. This gives the newlyweds a keepsake of their perfect day forever.

Klarissa’s Cakery

From camper to storefront, cake creator cooks up success story

Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Mackenzie Free

For lots of folks, the idea of graduating from high school a year early and building your own business from scratch at 18 would be a tad daunting. For Klarissa Hendrix, it was a piece of cake.

Her mobile bakery business was such a hit, in fact, that three years later she decided to mix things up and make it permanent. This past December, she opened Klarissa’s Cakery in an Odenville storefront and has enjoyed sweet success ever since. It turns out that her ability to dream big and willingness to take some risks, coupled with a lot of hard work and creativity, were the perfect ingredients for a booming business.

Custom Hot Wheels cake

“From sunup to sundown, I’m going all day,” she said, adding that she starts baking around 5 each morning. “Most Saturdays, we have a line outside waiting on us to open. It’s been crazy.”

Customers can’t get enough of the mouth-watering treats, which include an ever-changing assortment of cupcakes, brownies, cookies and cakes that are sold whole or by the slice.

Her cake decorating skills help set her apart, and she’s created everything from beautiful tiered wedding cakes to cakes featuring superheroes, lobsters, unicorns, footballs and mermaids – all handmade from fondant icing. “Sometimes people will bring in pictures of what they want, but I love when they tell me I have free rein,” Klarissa said.

Her cakes come in all shapes and sizes, as well. She’s crafted cakes shaped like baseballs, whiskey barrels, pineapples and an RV. Her most popular cake is a Highland cow.

Cupcakes flavors range from strawberry, wedding cake, watermelon and orange Dreamsicle to pina colada, red velvet, lemonade, pistachio, banana pudding and key lime pie.

She’s pretty much done it all – well, almost. “I still really want to do a pickle cupcake,” Klarissa said with a grin.

Although lots of her customers are new fans, many were familiar with her cakes and cupcakes from her first business, Klarissa’s Cakes and Cupcake Camper. In addition to making custom cakes and filling cupcake orders, she hosted birthday parties and sold cupcakes at pop-up events – all from her refurbished 1970s camper.

“I went to Tennessee with it and took it to all kinds of events,” she said. “I’d do birthday parties and let the kids decorate cupcakes, and I even took it to schools so teachers could decorate them. It was a cute party idea, and people loved it.”

At the time, it was a great way for Klarissa, who had always planned on being a cosmetologist, to explore a new dream that was just beginning to take shape.

Cooking up a career

Klarissa, who lives in Springville, first began baking as a child. “My mom started letting me use the oven when I was about 9 years old, and I loved watching Cupcake Wars,” a televised cupcake-baking competition on Food Network, she said.

Her grandmother, Vicki Smith (also known as Gammy) has always baked for the family’s holidays and provided additional inspiration. Once they started baking together and exchanging ideas, Klarissa’s excitement grew. “Gammy really helped me,” she said. “We teach each other.”

When Klarissa turned 16, her grandmother made her a cake that featured a sculpted purse with makeup brushes, powders and lipsticks she made out of fondant, an icing that can be molded, shaped and rolled. “I saw her making all these amazing things, and they looked so real,” Klarissa said. “I got really excited about it, and I’d go to her house, and we’d try out all these new flavors and decorations.”

About the same time, Klarissa was working part-time at a bakery in Trussville and began to have second thoughts about cosmetology school. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she said. “I took a tour of the cosmetology school, and it didn’t really feel right, so I started praying about it.”

Humble beginnings in a trailer

Although Klarissa didn’t know what her future held, she knew she wanted it to come quickly. “I was the type who was ready to be done with high school and wanted to start working,” she said. Klarissa, who was homeschooled through Faith Community Christian School, worked hard so she could graduate a year early.

By then, friends were asking her to fill cupcake orders. She got a request for her first wedding cake and began thinking she might be able to turn the hobby she’d fallen in love with into a career. “I knew I couldn’t open a storefront at 17, and I began thinking about a food truck,” she said. “The next day, a friend posted a camper for sale.”

Her parents, Leslie and Bridgett Lupton, renovated the camper while Klarissa focused on baking at home and getting the necessary licenses and permits. Soon, she was able to take her business on the road – literally – and she hasn’t looked back since.

“It’s been working out so far,” she said, adding that after running the Cupcake Camper business for several years, she was ready to find something permanent. After finding the perfect storefront in Odenville, her family, which now included her husband Kody, helped get it ready for the opening in December – just months before her 22nd birthday.

Forecasting success

Opening day was a busy one. “We sold out in the first hour,” Klarissa said. “My grandmother and I were trying to throw cupcakes and cookies in the oven, so we’d have enough to sell. December was a crazy month. We had 27 cakes go out in one day alone, and it really hasn’t slowed down at all.”

Although she’s got lots of repeat customers and is busier than she ever dreamed, Klarissa said she got one review that was extra-special. James Spann, the chief meteorologist for ABC 33/40, declared a creation she made to be “one of the greatest cakes ever.” Spann posts photos on social media of the hundreds and hundreds of decorated cakes and cookies he gets when visiting schools to present weather programs. 

“I’ve always wanted to do a James Spann cake,” Klarissa said. She got her wish a few months ago when Leeds Primary School placed an order. “I immediately called Gammy and said, ‘We’re doing a James Spann cake.’”

Although the planning took a while, the pair spent about a week making the different pieces of the creation. It featured a house with an overturned car, a swaying tree, and a tornado with a trampoline in it since Spann often refers to trampolines that go airborne during storms as the “state bird.” The cake, which was completely edible, also showed a family wearing appropriate safety gear in front of a television in the basement.

“One of the greatest cakes ever,” Spann posted. “It even features someone wearing a helmet watching our live coverage in an underground basement. Amazing!”

Not just desserts

Not long after opening her bakery, Klarissa began getting requests for breakfast, so she now offers sausage balls and a variety of muffins. “I want to say I have the best sausage ball recipe,” she said. “I know that’s a bold statement, but I stand by it,” she said.

Breakfast has been such a hit, she hopes to one day be able to offer lunch as well. For now, though, she’s going to enjoy her success and the fact that her family has been a part of it all. Her grandmother does some of the baking, her mother helps at the counter a few days a week, and her 16-year-old sister, Chloe, has started working there, too.

Although Klarissa wasn’t sure she could make a bakery business work, her mom said she and her husband knew it would be a success. “We knew she was too young at 17 to enter into a legal contract, but the camper was a great way for her to start,” Bridgett said. “She took it and ran with it. She’s always been so mature for her age, so we didn’t doubt she could make it.”

The rise of retail

Pell City Square, including Hobby Lobby, to open in September

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by staff

In the midst of handling the city’s burgeoning responsibilities on the massive development of Pell City Square Shopping Center, an April 2017 memory popped up on Pell City Manager Brian Muenger’s cell phone screen.

It was a photo he had taken from atop the old St. Clair Regional Hospital building. The focal point? Construction of McSweeney Automotive. Except for the spot cleared for McSweeney, nothing else was there, only woods.

What a difference six years later. Not only is McSweeney Chevrolet Dodge Jeep Ram commanding a presence over I-20 and U.S. 231, Starbuck’s, Jersey Mike’s, The St. Clair and Tavern at The St. Clair usher in crowds daily at their thriving nearby businesses to the west.

To the east, the hospital is no longer there. Instead, a 147,000 square foot retail center is taking shape.

Different construction but part of the main project, the piers have been poured for Hobby Lobby

A year to the month that dirt was hoisted from ceremonial shovels to begin the construction of Pell City Square, officials are expected to check off the longtime dream from its wish list.

The ribbon is expected to be cut in September on the center fronting I-20 just off U.S. 231 South on John Haynes Drive. An exact date has not been set. That announcement should come about five to six weeks out from opening, Muenger said.

The project partnering Noon Real Estate, City of Pell City, St. Clair County Commission and St. Clair Economic Development Council represents a major breakthrough in retail development for the city and county, adding familiar names like Hobby Lobby, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, Pet Smart, Five Below, Rack Room Shoes, Ross Dress for Less and Ulta Beauty.

The development’s early vision is credited to Bill Ellison, who introduced developers to the property and its prospects. Ellison developed the center and surrounding businesses that Walmart now anchors, and the U.S. 231 bridge connecting the two developments now bears his name in recognition of his work in developing the areas.

But that’s not the end of this story. More development is expected at the nearly 18-acre site. It’s just too soon to announce anything official, said Muenger.

He did give a hint at what’s expected, though. The user agreement for the city’s part of the development specifies what should be located there – a “national, sit-down restaurant” like Outback and Olive Garden. While no agreement has been reached, the city and its development team have been working with prospective businesses “in that genre,” Muenger said.

He added that the original plat has been revised to accommodate specific additional businesses, and one, or both, of the outparcels on the western end closest to the interstate may have announcements by the time of the opening of the center in September.

In the meantime, transportation crews have been busily preparing for increased traffic likely coming its way. The widening of John Haynes Drive has been completed. So has a retaining wall built near U.S. 231 South to give the outlet enough width for a fifth lane, enabling a new outbound turn lane. That will give drivers access to three turn lanes.

Restaurants line another big project just down the road

Traffic light signalization is being improved at Jeanne Pruett Drive and U.S. 231 to help with the flow of traffic.

What all that means is by September, the city will enter a new era of economic development with the opening of the center and the array of retail it offers to citizens plus the benefits coming to city coffers. First year sales projections are $25 million. At an effective tax rate of 5 percent, that’s an additional $1,250,000 per year. “It’s very material to our local budgets,” Muenger said.

It opens up another corridor for retail growth and other commercial developments are expected to follow. “It closes the gap in retail shopping needs,” Muenger said. And those shoppers “can stay here to find what they need rather than travel outside the city.”

When he thinks back to that photo on his phone – merely a clearing in the woods taken from the rooftop of an abandoned hospital – Muenger can’t help but see how quickly that entire area of the city has transformed.

“It’s extremely exciting for the city,” Muenger said. “We’ve worked for a very long time. It’s very gratifying. It’s what people told us they wanted to see here.”

Come September, it will all be open for business.