Logan Martin Lakefest and Boat Show

The most entertaining way to showcase watercraft and more

Story by Linda Long
Submitted photos

Brand new and tech ready. Tech ready? Yes, indeed. Seems boating has gone computer in a big way. From pontoons to fishing boats, today’s vessels are equipped, with everything from big screen monitors to stereo systems to USB charging ports and even cruise control.

In a word, boats today are just plain “smart.”

Boats showcased at this year’s Logan Martin LakeFest and Boat Show are no exception. The 14th annual, admission free event is set for May 10-12 at Lakeside Park.

Logan Martin is the perfect lake to host an on-water boat show

Though LakeFest features music, fireworks and a lot more, Eric Housh, event coordinator said, “the boat show, of course, is the centerpiece. Folks come out to see the boats because of the latest and greatest technology out there. Brand new boats do all sorts of stuff now.”

Lee Holmes, one of the LakeFest founders, and co-owner of Sylacauga Marina and ATV, agreed, saying he “never thought he’d see the day” when boats would be computerized. But, they have conquered it, and it seems to be working real well.”

Some boats today “basically have a touchscreen that, with the push of a button, controls everything on the boat. They’ve got new systems now and the water and fuel gauges are all digital.”

The hottest new thing in pleasure boats these days is the Wake Boat. “They create waves for people to ride wake boards. That’s where they can do flips and turns and all that kind of stuff. You can control the size of the wake. You can make it bigger or smaller,” Holmes said.

“It’s controlled through touchscreens, and if you’ve got four or five people in your family, you can set a profile for each. That profile gets copied every time so it can go 8 miles an hour or 18 miles an hour, whatever the speed that was copied. So, it automatically knows which guy is fixing to ride and at what speed to set. It repeats exactly what it has done before,” he explained.

Rodney Humphries, owner of Rodney’s Marine Center in Cropwell, cited “all the amenities” on pontoons and tri-toons these days, from Bluetooth stereo to LED lighting. “We sell one that even has USB chargers on all the seats. I guess that shows how dependent we all are on our phones these days,” he smiled.

Beachside view of the festival

But it’s in fishing boats where he sees, perhaps, the most innovative technology. “Most of them are equipped with a trolling motor which can actually hold its position and the electronics and depth finders are very advanced from just five years ago.”

Humphries, who has lived on Logan Martin “all my life,” marvels at some of today’s technical enhancements, particularly the depth finders that anglers are using. It’s so advanced it seems almost unfair to the fish.

 “A lot of them have three depth finders on the boat,” Humphries said. “The depth finders have 12- to 16-inch screens. This means they can see where the fish are, actually see them on the screen. People really seem to enjoy this technology.”

As well they should, but do the fish have even a fighting chance? “Yes,” laughed Humphries. “They’re still pretty hard to catch.”

It’s not all about technology, as Housh points out. “Every year, manufacturers are coming out with more and more things that are more comfortable and useful. For example, the pontoon boat seats don’t get hot anymore. They’re covered in a special fabric that’s easier to maintain. It doesn’t fade, and it’s more comfortable to sit on.”

 Among the pontoons featured at LakeFest, “we’re going to see these luxury brands, and they’re going to have state-of-the-art entertainment packages on them from speakers, GPS systems, cruise control, things of that nature. Every year, you’ll see a couple boats out there that are just decked out with the latest and greatest. It’s interesting to see how these manufacturers keep innovating to deliver just world-class products.”

How big of a dent will these “world class products” put in your pocketbook?

“Honestly, you can spend as much as you want to spend,” Humphries stated, from $20,000 to $200,000. “There are different price points for everybody.”

Holmes concurred. “We sell $100,000 boats. We sell $200,000 boats, and we sell $20,000 boats. We got fishing boats that start at $14,000 and we’ve got fishing boats at $110,000. There’s really a boat out there for everybody.”

And that’s where LakeFest comes in.

As a mega, in-water boat show, boat dealers will be on hand to demonstrate all the latest innovative technology. With over a dozen lines of watercraft and more than 80 models, there’s going to be plenty to see.

“The ability to put product in the water and to put somebody behind the wheel of a boat to test drive it is special,” Housh said. “You can’t do that in a dealer showroom. It’s a try it before you buy it sort of plan. It’s really a great opportunity to see how the boat feels while it’s actually on the lake.

Housh has been with LakeFest since its beginning. “I was volunteered by a friend,” he chuckled. That means he’s been planning, organizing, handling communications and coordinating it for over a decade. During that time, he has seen the event’s mushrooming popularity. This this year’s attendance could top 50,000.

 “I never thought I’d see the day that 40,000 people would show up. That first year, we sat down there on the lake in front of those condos (Horizons), it was just me and Jerry (the late Jerry Woods, Woods Surfside Marine) Maybe, we had two or three vendors. There was hardly anybody out there, but we had a good sale, and it just started growing and more and more people wanted to participate.

“It was all Jerry’s idea. All I did was answer the phone when he called to see if I wanted to participate.”

As he does on every LakeFest weekend, Housh is hoping for fair skies and good weather.

“Luckily, we’ve never had a bad thunderstorm. We’ve never had to shut the event down. But, he admits, he’s come mighty close.

“One year, I remember, we were watching the radar, and this real gnarly looking storm was bearing down on us. We were certain we were going to have to call the event – to shut it down. But, that that storm broke up and went right around us, on either side like you just parted the waves.”

“And, I remember another year on Saturday, we were watching the forecast for what was coming down on Sunday,” Housh said. “The team that puts LakeFest together, we are exhausted by this time. Now, the forecast called for 100% chance of rain. So, we made the call just to shut down a day early. We made the announcement and took all the precautions, and I want you to know it did not rain a drop.”

But, whatever the weather, Housh says “We’ll deal with it. We always do. It’s just the magic of that weekend.”

In addition to boats and financing on the spot by America’s First Federal Credit Union, other activities include dozens of vendors with food, arts and crafts, home goods, apparel, lake lifestyle items, home services and more. Other activities are a fireworks show, a salute to veterans, music all weekend, including a concert by the Velcro Pygmies on stage Saturday night. Mother’s Day is that weekend, so there are free Mimosas for Moms on Sunday.

“We’re trying to design it so it will be family friendly and offer a little bit of something for everybody. It’s also a pet friendly event. I know some of the vendors actually set up little pet friendly areas providing water bowls and a little shade so they can get out of the sunlight.”

While folks are encouraged to bring their pets, “we also encourage them to bring plastic bags to pick up after them and to keep them on a leash.”

Net Results

A trio of St. Clair anglers make a splash at Bassmaster Classic

Story by Paul South
Submitted, staff photos

The PGA Tour has its FedEx Cup. NASCAR drivers put the pedal to the metal and trade paint gunning for The Chase.

 And Matt Herren, Wes Logan and Joey Nania professional anglers with St. Clair County ties, hoped to make their mark at the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk, where the best bass fishermen in the world gathered in hopes of reeling in the sport’s most prestigious prize, fishing’s Super Bowl.

Nania finished 13th with winnings of $15,000; Logan finished 23rd with $13,000 in winnings; and Herren finished 32nd with $10,000 in winnings.

Wes Logan reels one in.

The 2022 classic came to Lake Hartwell, a man-made body of water near Greenville, S.C., in early March. While St. Clair County has made a mark in the NFL – with San Francisco defensive end Dee Ford (Odenville) and Major League Baseball with Springville native and Detroit Tiger hurler Casey Mize, the county’s biggest pro sports splash may be in professional fishing, thanks in large part to Herren, Logan and Nania. Seven anglers who have competed on the pro circuit call the county home.

It’s not unusual in sports to see large metropolitan areas produce world-class competitors. But for a largely rural county like St. Clair that’s peppered with small towns, three world-class competitors from the county in a sport’s marquee event is worth cheering, regardless of the end results.

“It’s kind of a cool thing to think about,” said Springville’s Logan. “With our county being so small and three of us competing in it. I think it just shows the caliber of fishing in Alabama and especially in Central Alabama where our county’s located. It gives a testament to the lakes and rivers in the surrounding area about how good they are and how diverse they are.”

Located near the South Carolina-Georgia border, the 87.5-square-mile Lake Hartwell reservoir is comprised by waters from the Savannah, Tugaloo and Seneca rivers and is one of the Southeast’s largest lakes.

Hartwell’s deep waters presented a trophy-sized challenge for Classic competitors. In fact, the 2022 Classic was Logan’s first-ever tournament on Hartwell. The lake is known for its deep waters, similar to Northwest Alabama’s Smith Lake. By contrast, the lakes of the Coosa are stained and shallow.

Anglers call Hartwell a Blueback Herring lake, named for the small migratory fish that’s a favorite bite for the big bass of Hartwell. Because the herring are on the move, it makes anglers’ quest for a catch a bigger challenge. Bluebacks can be in one patch of water in the morning, another by the afternoon, taking the famished bigger fish with them.

“(The herring) roam around a lot,” Logan said. “They’re nomadic. “If you find fish on Tuesday. They’re liable to be gone by Tuesday afternoon. The fish just follow the bait.”

The 50,000-acre lake’s deep waters – a maximum of 185 feet – offers another challenge for anglers.

“It’s going to set up a little bit different than I’m used to, being from around the Coosa River, where it’s shallow fishing mostly. The baitfish and the way the fish act is going to be really different,” Logan said.

“Hartwell is a really good lake, just in general,” he added. “I got to free practice over there for a couple of days, and it seemed to have a really good population of fish in it … I know from past Classics there, it’s a really good lake.”

Joey Nania celebrates win at Bassmaster Elite Series

Herren is an Ashville resident who grew up fishing with his dad, Butch, on Neely Henry Lake. At 59, he’s one of the senior competitors on the B.A.S.S. circuit who didn’t become a full pro angler until 2003. Before that, he worked in his dad’s Birmingham body shop. He married his wife, Candy, and the couple raised two sons, Josh and Jacob.

But this year’s Bassmaster Classic will mark his 17th major championship tournament since 2003.

“To me, the tournament fishing was kind of an afterthought; I just always loved to fish. I’ve been competitive my whole life. I mean, I played sports in school … One thing led to another.”

The pro fishing game has changed since Herren was in high school and college, when tournament fishing “just wasn’t that big a deal.” Now, it’s a big money game, with tournament cash, television, endorsement deals, even video games. Hank Cherry Jr. took home a $300,000 first-prize check after winning last year’s Classic.

“I think I was 39 when I went full time. The sport has kind of evolved into something the younger guys are getting into. It’s growing by leaps and bounds,” Herren said.

But one of pro fishing’s graybeards isn’t intimidated by the young bucks he faces on tour.

“I’m still highly competitive now,” Herren said. “These young whippersnappers, I can still run with ‘em.”

Herren breaks down Lake Hartwell, much like a football or basketball coach breaks down an opponent. In fishing, the seasons, weather patterns and more are taken into account.

“Every body of water we fish will offer an angler areas that he likes to fish, styles, certain techniques. That’s how I try to go about doing my job,” Herren said. “I try to fish the techniques and patterns that are my strong suit and just see what happens … I just try to be consistent and do what I do.”

A St. Clair County transplant – Joey Nania – moved with his wife and kids to Cropwell from Washington state. In 2009, he competed in the Bassmaster Classic on Lay Lake. He met Rick Hughes, a Cropwell evangelist and “a really good fisherman.” The two became friends, and Nania visited the following summer. The combination of faith, family values and fishing lured Nania to settle in the county. He now calls Pell City home.

Nania accepted Christ at 19 after meeting Hughes. Later, Nania met his future wife, Jessica, and his career took off. He calls it “a string of blessings.” His newfound faith – belief he shares on tour, played a role in his decision to move south.

Along with his pro career, he is a fishing guide on the Coosa River system, Smith Lake and Lake Martin.

“It’s just such a great location, and it’s just the fact about Alabama. If you can learn to fish in Alabama, you can fish anywhere in the country because we have such diversity, Nania said.

Nania has fished Hartwell before, beginning with an episode of a fishing show he hosted for seven years called, Sweetwater. Hartwell is comparable to Smith Lake in Alabama, Nania said.

“I really like the size of the lake. It’s a big body of water; but it didn’t seem like overwhelmingly big. Having the mixture of spotted bass and largemouth and having multiple options that aren’t far apart, is great … If you can catch spots and have a largemouth pattern going, it’s a good way to go. And Lake Hartwell fits that bill.”

Regardless of how St. Clair’s three Bassmaster Classic competitors fared, Logan, Herren and Nania are proud to represent their home county in pro bass fishing’s Super Bowl. The trio are good friends. And all take pride in representing St. Clair County.

“It really just goes to show that fishing is deeply rooted in the South, especially this area of Alabama.” Nania said. “There’s just so many different lakes, and fishing is just sort of a way of life around here. It’s faith, family and then fishing is kind of the motto for people around here. I know Wes Logan and Matt are like that, too

“It’s really a cool thing to see all of us succeeding and has been awesome and just a total blessing.”

Zeke Gossett Going Pro

Local fishing star has a ‘big string’ of blessings

Story by Paul South
Submitted photos

For most, in fishing terms, 2020 was an empty net, a snapped rod or a snarled line. But the past 12 months witnessed a string of blessings for Zeke Gossett.

 As a member of the Jacksonville State University Fishing Team, Gossett was one of the nation’s top collegiate anglers. Teamed with fellow Gamecock Lucas Smith, he was part of the Carhartt Bassmaster College Team of the Year. In December, he received his degree in Recreational Leadership with a minor in Coaching. He joined the B.A.S.S. Pro Tour. And best tidings of all, his parents, Curtis and Laura, are recovering from the coronavirus.

“It was terrible,” Zeke told bassmaster.com about his parents’ illness. Curtis Gossett, who suffers from asthma, wound up on a ventilator. “One day, they tried to take the tube out, and it didn’t work. The next day, by the grace of God, his numbers went up to where he was strong enough to get the tube out. I just want to thank everyone for the prayers. Him and Mom are on the uptrend and doing a lot better.”

‘Gone fishing’ a way of life

On a windless day in early December, Zeke was in a boat on Logan Martin, working his craft. Fishing was slow, perfect for a phone interview. He recounted his unusual, but magical year.

Zeke and Lucas, Bassmaster College Team of the Year

Like many youngsters, his fishing journey began with his father, who also competed on the tournament trail. He was his coach at Pell City High School and now coaches at Briarwood.

“He was always real patient with me,” Zeke said. “I loved spending time with him, of course. But fishing has always been a part of my life and our family’s life for sure.”

He added, “Just having a dad that spent the time with me – junior fishing and high school fishing were just starting to become popular. I grew up in it. Doing it from a young age, I love the competition. No drug can get you as high as winning a tournament, big or small.”

His parents have been with him on this journey to the professional ranks, particularly Curtis, who has spent “countless hours” and at every tournament, every weigh-in on the journey.

“They’ve always supported me in my dream to become a professional angler,” Zeke said. “They’ve always wanted me to do this ever since I said I wanted to. They are definitely my biggest supporters, bar none, to this day.”

He didn’t disappoint. Zeke captured 12 state titles between ages 11 and 18 on the way to becoming a high school All-American. In fact, he won the first two tournaments he ever fished as a junior angler (B.A.S.S. And FLW). As you can guess, he was hooked.

At the collegiate level, Jacksonville State competed against SEC schools. There are no divisions, so schools compete against each other, regardless of size.

“We fished against everybody. Auburn, Alabama, people like that,” he said.

Competing first at Jefferson State, then for Jacksonville, his teams were nationally ranked four times in five years. Jacksonville’s best finish was 16th nationally.

Zeke fished his first tournament as a pro in December 2020, finishing in the middle of the pack among some 170 anglers in the B.A.S.S. Open Series on Lay Lake. But he won’t officially join the tour until the 2021 season. He’s come up through the B.A.S.S. ranks, from juniors, to college and now to the pros, fishing lakes from Upstate New York to Florida.

He will compete on the B.A.S.S. Pro Tour, and he laid out his reasons for joining B.A.S.S. “The people that work there, I love them to death. B.A.S.S. offers steppingstones from juniors to high school – then the college experience. Taking part in all they offer really taught me a lot – especially the college experience – I believe this is best way for an angler to learn. If you want to do this as a profession one day, that is the way to go.”

He added, “I really feel like B.A.S.S. prepares you the best of any of the organizations, and I feel like sticking with them is the right choice. Their grassroots are here in Alabama.”

After only one tournament, Zeke sees a difference between college and the pros. There’s a similarity between pro fishing and pro football.

A quiet fishing spot along the shore

“It’s pretty much the same deal,” he explained. “Everybody’s bigger and faster. You can be pretty dominant in high school. In college, you’re fishing against your buddies. You get to kick around and stuff, and it’s a great time, and you don’t feel much pressure. When I sat down in the boat at the Open and I looked over, and Jason Christie is to my left, and he’s won about everything in the sport, and I look to my right, and there’s Scott Martin, who’s won about everything in the sport. The intensity level in a pro tournament is a lot higher than I expected it to be … The competitiveness of those tournaments is through the roof compared to where I’ve ever fished.”

Even as a rookie on tour, Zeke has landed endorsement deals from Xpress Boats®, Woods Surfside Marina, Daiwa rods and reels, Vicious Fishing®, Elite Tungsten and LakeLife 24/7®, the creators of Discover magazine.

Through it all, the Gossetts have been there. Professional fishing is a precision sport that in part requires competitors to consistently cast a lure in a spot the size of a paper cup and do it quietly without much splash. Zeke learned those techniques from his dad.

Experience on the water and not losing heart when that big bass gets away are critical. As a high school senior, he fished 43 of 52 weekends.

 And as for the mental side, “When you lose a big fish in a tournament, don’t get down on yourself, that’s one of the biggest things you have to do when it comes to tournament fishing,” Zeke said. “That’s all between the ears.”

That’s a lesson Zeke learned well. He knows vision and goals are critical to long-term success on the tour.

What’s his vision for life on tour after five years on the water? “I’d love to see myself fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series. You can’t go any higher. I’d like to have won a tournament by then.”

Even at 24, he knows how tough the waters of pro fishing can be. “They did a study and determined the odds of winning a B.A.S.S. tournament is .05 percent, once you hit the water,” Gossett said. “So, it’s really hard. But maybe I’ll have a couple of wins and maybe an Angler of the Year title. You got to shoot high for sure.”

Vegetables for Sale

Former Pell City Schools Superintendent Michael Barber pens uplifting book

Story by Scottie Vickery
Submitted photos

Michael Barber was 10 years old the day he took his daddy’s prized Pontiac Catalina for a joyride. After returning it safely to its covered parking spot, he thought he’d gotten away with his grave sin. But a twist of fate and a dog named Whiskers caused things to take a terrible turn. Let’s just say a dog mistakenly left overnight in a car is capable of causing a whole lot of damage. 

That’s not the only lesson young Michael learned that day. He realized his father loved him far more than his most prized possession. “My father never stood behind a pulpit and preached a sermon, but he taught me the most important spiritual lesson I carry in my heart to this day,” Barber recalled. “Total forgiveness is just that, it is total.”

A former teacher and retired superintendent of Pell City Schools, Barber has spent his adult life educating children, but the “eternal lessons” of his childhood were learned outside of a classroom. They often took place on front porches and came in the form of joyrides, dogs, shotguns and a cheap necklace.

Barber shares seven stories from his childhood – including the story of his father’s Catalina – in his new book, Vegetables for Sale: A Child’s Discovery of Redemption in the American South, published in November. “It’s a simple book for a complicated time,” Barber said. “These are stories of redemption, unconditional love, forgiveness and mercy.”

The title comes from a sign 5-year-old Michael helped his grandmother make, a testament of his grandmother’s wisdom. She was tired of him asking for candy money, so she set up a vegetable stand on the side of the highway and put young Michael in charge. “My grandfather had a third-grade education, and my grandmother only finished sixth grade, but they knew we needed to know the value of certain things, and one was the value of money,” he said.

“I didn’t make much money, but the lesson I learned was worth millions,” he wrote in the book’s introduction. “It is better to earn than to be given, with the exception of God’s love.” As a reminder, Barber framed the sign he made with his grandmother (“She wrote the letters and I painted it”) and hung it alongside his diplomas in every office he has ever had.

A preacher, public speaker, and bluegrass musician, Barber didn’t set out to write a great work of literature or theology. He intended the book to be a ministry tool, one he could leave behind when he spoke at prisons, jails, nursing homes or revivals. “These are stories I’ve used from the pulpit,” said Barber, the pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church. “I knew some had the ability to move people because I’d seen how God had used them during sermons.”

The book is a small one, measuring 5 inches by 7 inches with fewer than 100 pages, and that was Barber’s intention. “It’s designed to be a book you could put in a purse, in a glove box, in a tacklebox,” he said, adding that his hope was to make the book more inviting by writing something that could be read in one sitting. “It’s written by a preacher, but it’s not preaching. Whatever God wants to do with it, it’s out there. He’ll put it in the right hands.”

A special place

Barber, 55, grew up in Pell City with his brother and sister in a time when life was simpler. “The American South has changed in the past half century of my life, much for the good, but I admit sometimes I find myself missing a place I never left,” he wrote.

His days were filled with bike rides, fishing, baseball, watermelon, peach cobbler and lessons he didn’t realize he was learning. “I’ve always had people invest in the right things in my life – my parents, my grandparents, church folks,” Barber said. “They made sure we learned the right things. We were held accountable if we did something wrong, and they didn’t always come to our aid bailing us out.”

They also served as wonderful role models. His father, who was the first in his family to go to college, was a certified registered nurse anesthetist and owned an anesthesia corporation. “I think he put everyone in the county to sleep at some time,” Barber said. His mother was a registered nurse, and Barber thought he would follow in his parents’ footsteps and enter the medical field. His plans changed, though, when he got a feeling he just couldn’t shake. “The Lord kept leading me to education,” Barber said.

Mother Pearl, Cobbler Cook Extraordinaire

His Sunday school teacher, Andrew Wright, was the principal of Iola Roberts Elementary School at the time, and his pastors were teachers, as well. “To have three men in your life who were elementary school teachers and in ministry showed me how God could use you in education,” Barber said. “God has always put the right people around me.”

Although he retired from the school system in 2019, Barber performs contract work for the Alabama Association of School Boards. “I’ve had a great experience in public education,” he said. “To me, education is ministry,” he said.

Barber was an assistant principal in 1995 when God called him to preach, as well. He had a guitar and his Bible, and he traveled around ministering at nursing homes and “wherever God placed me.” He landed at Mt. Zion as a deacon and has been preaching for about 25 years.

One ministry he particularly enjoys is Cake Walk, the bluegrass band he helped form that earned its name from the early days of playing at cake walks and fall festivals. “Mt. Zion is a musically blessed haven,” he said. “Anyone you pick out of a pew can pick something, play something or sing something.”

Barber, who plays mandolin, guitar, banjo and bass, said the size of the group fluctuates and the members range from 8-year-olds to 90-year-olds. “We’re not the best musicians in the world, but for some reason when you put us all together, it sounds pretty good,” he said. “It’s a joyful noise, I know that.”

The group plays live every Sunday morning on WFHK 94.1 The River, and before the coronavirus pandemic, the members regularly shared their music at nursing homes and other places. “I’ve seen people who were really sick wiggle a toe under the cover when they hear the banjo,” Barber said. “It’s a wonderful ministry, and members of the band have said they had no idea that service could be so much fun. For me, that’s when you really hit the mark.”

A tool for ministry

Barber’s outreach ministry was the impetus for Vegetables for Sale, and the idea had been in the back of his mind for a while. “I had a bunch of stories I wrote years ago, and I’d always planned on doing something with them, but I didn’t know what that would look like,” he said. Once the pandemic hit last March, Barber finally had time, so “I went to the attic and started gathering stories I’d written in old spiral notebooks.”

Although he’d planned to leave them behind at speaking engagements, COVID-19 changed those plans, so Barber started to give them away. “My idea of promoting it is leaving a copy on the table at Starbucks,” he said with a laugh.

After his wife, Legay, posted about the book on social media, it started taking off. “We accidentally, I guess, launched it,” Barber said. “The potential to reach people through the internet is mind boggling.” The book, which features a childhood photo of his father on the cover, is available through Amazon, Walmart.com, Barnes & Noble and Kindle. It will soon be available on Audible, an audiobook book service from Amazon.

Barber said he read the book for the Audible recording because the subject was so close to his heart. “This is a book about my mom, my daddy, my sister and brother and my grandparents,” he said. “I sure didn’t want someone reading it and having it be just a book to them. Besides, I hate when people try to fake a Southern accent.”

Although he never expected to sell a single copy, Barber said he’s heard from people from all over the country who have shared how the book has touched them. A hospice nurse shared how a family read it together during the last hours of their mother’s life, and it gave them a chance to laugh and cry together. Another woman wrote to say the book helped her after receiving a cancer diagnosis.

“If God doesn’t use it for anything other than that, it was worth writing it and putting it out there,” Barber said. “I’m definitely not a writer, and I’ll never be a best-selling author, but this was a labor of love. Whatever voice we have, whether it’s a guitar or an ink pen, as long as we’re giving God the glory, He’ll use it.”

Mind, muscle and ‘angels’ power the Great Alabama 650

The world’s longest paddle race showcases the wonder of Alabama’s waterways

Story by Paul South
Submitted photos from Max Jolley, Great Alabama 650

Max Jolley was 7 when he picked up a paddle for the first time. And from that first pull of wood through water – a centuries-old skill he says takes the whole body, head to toe, mind and muscle – he’s been a recreational kayaker on the Coosa River and its companion lakes, Logan Martin and Neely Henry.

Needless to say, in 2019 – when the Alabama Scenic River Trail launched the maiden Great Alabama 650 – the world’s longest paddle race – he was intrigued. Fifty miles of the race traverses St. Clair County.

“Last year, I was interested in it,” he says. “This year, I was really looking forward to it.”

Jolley isn’t a competitor, but he and others like him play a valuable role in the 10-day race, He’s a “trail angel,” one of a small army of good Samaritans who do everything from providing meals and places to sleep to portage, helping weary paddlers portage their craft over land and in and out of the water at all hours of day and night.

The racecourse passes Jolley’s home. He helped competitors portage their craft out of the water at Logan Martin Dam. But the paddlers, not the paddling, draws Jolley to the competition, one of the least known events in American sports. For paddlers, it’s a magical mystery tour of Alabama rivers and lakes, featuring changing currents, landscapes, flora and fauna.

And for the trail angels like Jolley, friendships are forged. Competitors came from as far away as Hawaii.

“There are a lot of different-walks-of-life people that you meet,” Jolley says. “It’s just interesting talking to the paddlers and their ground crews, to see what they do and how they do it and why they do it.”

Alabama tourism officials, like Clarke County resident Linda Vice, president of the Alabama Scenic River Trail, hope the 650 puts the spotlight on Alabama waterways, the reason behind the race. Alabama has 5,300 miles of accessible waterways, stretching from the mountain streams of north Alabama southward to the salt and sand of the Gulf Coast. State tourism officials bill the trail as the “most experience-diverse river trail in America.”

“We started the Scenic River Trail as an environmental and tourism project, as well as a recreational thing,” Vice says. “What we wanted to do was get people out on the waterways so they could see the natural beauty and so that they could find a low-cost sport that anybody could participate in if they had a kayak or a canoe.”

The trail was the brainchild of Fred Couch, a veteran Alabama kayaker. It was decided that the trail needed a premiere event to draw attention to the river trail. After fact-finding trips to paddle races in Alaska, Colorado and around the country, Alabama organizers learned something.

A calm day and smoothe water as kayakers cross the lake to the stopping point

“We realized through them that we had the best race in the nation, because of the types of situations they would find themselves in as they traveled the trail,” Vice says. “It’s also the longest, with 632 miles. So, what we did was put together the race.”

While the inaugural race was open to all comers, qualifying was required to compete in 2020. COVID-19 sank qualifying this year, but 20 participants – tandem and individual racers, male and female – competed, and most finished the race.

“We started this race to draw attention to Alabama’s rivers as recreational waterways,” Vice says.

In a sports-crazy state that lives and dies each autumn Saturday with roaring football crowds, the Great Alabama 650 is different, the slap of wood on water, the silence of shifting currents, the quack of ducks and the splash of jumping fish.

“The diversity of landscape is a really big deal,” Vice says. “There are all kinds of fossils and plants. There are so many things.”

And then there are trail angels like Jolley, who do anything and everything to help the paddlers, from helping schlep wet, heavy kayaks, to cookouts featuring sizzling Conecuh County sausage.

“A lot of our angels will take them to their houses and cook ‘em a meal,” she said. “We have chapters of supporters and paddlers around the state.”

In its short history, the Great Alabama 650 is generating attention in the paddling community and beyond.

“The 650 is the most challenging race in the world according to the participants,” Vice said.

And the race is having an impact on tourism in St. Clair County, even with its short span in the county. Ecotourism is a growing sector of the local economy.

“We’re delighted that they’re here,” St. Clair County Tourism Director Blair Goodgame says. “Any economic, or any ecotourism is going to promote quality of life for the area here. It’s going to promote a healthy lifestyle, our connection to nature and wildlife and really push our citizens to be guardians of the resources that we have.”

Ironically, COVID-19 has led to an increase in outdoor activity, as residents look for socially distant activities to combat coronavirus cabin fever.

“COVID-19 has amplified things. But even before the pandemic, people were beginning to re-invest in the outdoors in their local communities. And luckily for St. Clair County, we have the natural assets here to be able to play on that. So, we have become just an outdoor recreational paradise because we do have so much potential to grow,” Goodgame says.

Don Smith, executive director of the St. Clair County Economic Development Council, says the 650 fits in the ecotourism sector of the county’s economic vision. Interestingly, Smith saw something similar, thanks to the trail angels who serve hikers along the Appalachian Trail. For hikers, those angels spark a fondness and an everlasting memory of those communities, and perhaps a desire to return.

“I think if we can continue to encourage those racers as they’re going through our community, the word about how we support those communities will get out and hopefully will get folks to come back and visit with us,” Smith says.

The kayakers in the Great Alabama 650 share the waters with ski boats, bass boats, sailboats and pontoons. And sometimes, hospitality comes in colorful – yet illegal ways.

“A guy in a boat offered one of the paddlers a beer …,” Jolley says with a laugh.

Not unexpectedly, the paddler refused the offer.

The paddlers, you see, have am abiding reverence for their sport. And like many of the residents on the Coosa, on Logan Martin and on Neely Henry, they have a reverence for the land and water. The attention wrought by the Great Alabama 650 may deepen that respect.

“It certainly won’t hurt,” Jolley says. “Boaters in general – kayakers, canoers, outdoor sports people in general – they respect the environment. They understand the water, and they know what happens on the water. And they want to keep the water clean.”

A Night at the Opera

Summer-ending concert may become
yearly event on Logan Martin Lake

Jason Rogoff and Jeff Thompson found the cure for the quarantined summer blues: an outdoor rock concert … during Labor Day weekend.

But it cannot be your normal concert.

This one has to be arranged in less than eight weeks; it has to feature a sought-after performer who just happens to be available because of pandemic cancellations; it has to provide seating that socially distances audience members attending by land and huge video screens visible to those attending by boat; it has to raise funds for two entities, and it has to be full of energy.

That concert – which was on Sept. 4 at Pell City Sports Complex on the shores of Logan Martin Lake – fulfilled all the requirements and quite possibly began an annual event.

For the concert, the Black Jacket Symphony performed the songs from the Queen album, A Night at the Opera, and featured the vocal talent of Marc Martel.

The stage lights up the night

Martel provided some vocals for Bohemian Rhapsody, the biopic about Queen’s late lead singer Freddie Mercury, said Rogoff, director and producer of the Black Jacket Symphony.

Thompson, who is director of the Center for Education and Performing Arts (CEPA) in Pell City, said Rogoff approached him about an outdoor concert patterned after others that the Black Jacket Symphony had held in Birmingham.

For the Black Jacket Symphony, this would be a return visit to Pell City.

In February 2020, the Black Jacket Symphony performed Fleetwood Mac’s album, Rumours, in concert at CEPA and had scheduled Led Zeppelin IV for May. But COVID containment measures canceled Led Zeppelin IV.

Visit the Black Jacket Symphony online
at blackjacketsymphony.com

Marc Martel once again playing guitar during a BJS Queen show