As most pivotal moments in history have their roots, this one began with a ‘what if?’ What if a group of business and civic leaders formed an organization that would work as a team to serve their community?
The notion that these men could work together to give back to the community that had served them so well individually sparked the founding of Pell City Rotary Club, a story of service that has unfolded over the past 50 years.
Just take a look around, and Rotary’s good works are easy to spot. The new park benches throughout historic downtown are courtesy of Rotary. So is the cutting-edge recording studio for Museum of Pell City’s Living History program.
Dozens of students have furthered their education with college scholarship awarded by the club, and the Sheriffs Boys Ranch has a new home and more because of Rotary’s efforts. The Love Pantry’s shelves are stocked for feeding those in need, and the Children’s Place Child Advocacy Center comforts children at their most vulnerable moments in life.
Jingle Bell 5K Run at Lakeside Park
Those in need of health care but unable to afford it, find it at St. Clair Community Clinic, yet another entity supported by Rotary.
The list is seemingly endless. Good causes – large and small – have Rotary’s helping hand behind them. Echoing through the heart of it all is the club’s motto, “Service Above Self.”
“That’s why we do what we do,” said President Kelly Furgerson, who represents a continuation of a part of the club’s history herself. Rotary was once a ‘men only’ club. June Brascho broke the gender barrier as the first woman member and later president in the 1990s, and Furgerson follows in her footsteps as the sixth.
“It is an honor to serve in the community in which we live,” said Furgerson. “Each day, we have an opportunity to do good individually and together as a club. The Pell City Rotary Club is made up of people of action who want to make our amazing community better one project at a time.”
How do they do what they do?
Rotary works beyond its own boundaries, bringing the community together to further its good causes. The money raised through these events provides the foundation for so many worthwhile projects throughout the community.
The Father-Daughter Dance is one of the most anticipated events of the year with daddies and daughters making lifetime memories on their special ‘date night.’ Led by Rotarians Blair Goodgame and Meg Clements, the dance venue is magically transformed into its colorful, imaginative theme, whether it be Candyland, fairy tales or lighting up the festivities with Glow Crazy.
The club’s tennis tournament in October each year could be called ‘spooktacular.’ Just in time for Halloween volunteers and competitors dress up for the occasion, making it a fun time for all. Meg Clements leads the effort.
Rotary’s Ray Cox Memorial Golf Tournament brings golfers, sponsors and volunteers together in a fun, sporting event at Pell City Country Club that continues a longstanding tradition of 42 years of service. Joe Paul Abbott heads this major fundraiser that has made so many charitable projects possible.
New to Rotary is the Jingle Bell 5K Run and 1-Mile Fun Run/Walk. Led by Rotarian Bill Ellison, this event raised $65,000 in 2023 to help build a new home at St. Clair Sheriffs Boys Ranch. Set for Dec. 14, the run is through Pell City Lakeside Park and this year, it will set its sights on raising funds for Boys Ranch and a number of other charities throughout the community.
Why join?
Rotary continues to grow its membership roll, seeking business, government and civic representatives to join their movement to make their community a better place.
It’s all about community service – seeing a need, rolling up your sleeves and working to fill it. That’s Pell City Rotary Club, Where Leaders Meet. l
Editor’s Note: If you’re interested in learning more about Rotary or applying for membership, go to: pellcityrotary.org.
The WellHouse expands facilities to help rebuild lives torn apart by human trafficking.
Story by Roxann Edsall Photos by Mandy Baughn
There’s a harvest housed in a brand-new barn in Odenville. It’s hardly the typical crop; this one is life changing. From seeds of love and stability are grown a harvest of hope. Simply called “the barn,” the 3,600-square-foot facility is part of The WellHouse, a safe-house campus in St. Clair County for female survivors of human trafficking.
The barn is the new home for ShopWell, the work therapy program run by residents of The WellHouse. The ShopWell program, which provides job training in a safe environment as the survivors work to create and sell hand-crafted items, had outgrown their small working space in the administration building. As part of the year-long program offered at The WellHouse, residents are employed to make jewelry, clay dishes, candles, wood products, leatherwork and quilts.
The WellHouse Chapel
The new space offers room to create items and provides a small shop where volunteers and invited supporters can purchase items. ShopWell items can also be purchased through their online store. Within a year, they hope to have an off-campus brick and mortar store.
As ShopWell associates, these survivors, many of whom have never held a job for which they received compensation, learn about work culture by submitting employment applications, following work schedules and functioning as part of a work team.
The opportunity to create is also a part of the recovery process. “I love working with my hands to create something that is beautiful,” says Ava, a graduate of The WellHouse program, now serving as coordinator of the ShopWell program. “Working on beautiful things here is where my creativity came back to life.”
Ava smiles as she talks about the program that has changed her life. Despite having endured the horrors of human trafficking for more than 30 years, she is healing and has a new vision for her life. She has chosen the name Ava over her given name as a symbol of the beginning of her life in freedom.
For Ava, the nightmare began as one of her earliest memories at the age of three. Over the next 30 years, the trafficking continued. She was able to escape twice but was re-exploited both times by people in agencies she thought would protect her. “I went to them for help, but they were not who they said they were,” she recalls.
Eventually, she escaped again and fled to another country and looked for ways to help others still stuck in human trafficking situations. As part of her effort to help others, she returned to the U.S. to participate in an anti-trafficking conference.
It was in her efforts to help others that she realized how much healing she still had to do. After a month in a safe house in Ohio, she entered the program at The WellHouse. “I knew I needed to find healing myself in order to be able to help other survivors,” recounts Ava.
Her story of healing is still being written. She has since graduated from the year-long program and has moved into the Next Steps to Independence apartments on the 63-acre WellHouse campus. She has a car and is working on a degree in Psychology, something she hopes to use to help others. “At this point, I feel like I can start planning a future,” says Ava, beaming. “I have a broad vision but taking baby steps right now.”
For now, Ava is happy in her role as ShopWell coordinator. “Working with the ladies in ShopWell is healing for them and just as much for me,” she adds. “The biggest thing I’ve learned is how to walk in gratitude and not be offended at what life has been like. For me, that’s the key to learning to trust and to hope for the future.”
Learning to trust again is a mountain that survivors don’t conquer easily. Trauma-therapy is a big part of that recovery, and new individual therapy offices are now open on the second floor of the Barn, along with group therapy space and exercise options for residents. There are four therapists and four case managers on staff at The WellHouse to help them through the journey to healing and restoration.
“Through each one of these committed staffers, our residents have opportunities for healing,” says Carolyn Potter, CEO of The WellHouse. “These ladies who come to us seem to have an extra measure of resilience in them.
“We know from doing trainings that there is still a mindset that people who are prostituting want to do it for the money or for drugs,” continues Potter. “What we say is that if you look deeper, you will likely find there was childhood sexual abuse. That was the beginning of her trauma, her vulnerability to the tragedies of her life. The deeper we get into her therapy, we find there was someone who controlled her.”
Ava has worked hard to regain control of her own life. That resilience is what helped her work through the desperate isolation and hopelessness that characterized her life as a victim of human trafficking, a terrible journey that began as a small girl trafficked by a family member.
A 2020 report from Polaris Project, a nonprofit that works to combat sex and labor trafficking in North America, shows that victims usually know and trust their traffickers. Forty two percent of human trafficking victims are brought into trafficking by a member of their own family.
The WellHouse facility has been open for seven years and is currently working with 34 survivors. The 501c3 organization partners with many other agencies to provide information and advocacy for survivors.
Handcrafted items for sale
They are a provider partner for the Alabama Anti Human Trafficking Alliance, a statewide initiative funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. In that role, they serve as a frontline resource for survivors identified by the Alliance, offering crisis services, stabilization, restoration and support toward independent living.
Some of The Wellhouse partner agencies are Safe House Project, Rescue America, Homeland Security, UAB, Trafficking Hope, End It Alabama and Children’s Hospital.
These national and state agencies recognize that while the numbers of cases of human trafficking are lower in Alabama than in many states, Alabama is not immune to this epidemic. According to the FBI crimes database, National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), there were 36 human trafficking offenses reported in Alabama in 2022, the latest year reported in the system. That’s up from 21 cases in 2021. In over half of those cases, the victims were under the age of 18.
The WellHouse saw the growing need and, three years ago, opened a building with a program to serve minor girls, ages 11 to 18. The facility is currently serving six youths with a waiting list of others needing placement.
This past May, 47 people were arrested in connection with human trafficking cases in Tuscaloosa and Shelby counties. Though there have been no reported cases in St. Clair County, those who work in rescue organizations acknowledge that some cases go unreported or are classified as prostitution or drug-related crimes.
Gov. Kay Ivey signed new legislation called the Sound of Freedom Act in April, which she said positioned Alabama as the state with the “toughest punishment for anyone who is found guilty of first-degree human trafficking of a minor.” Effective Oct. 1, anyone convicted of trafficking a minor in Alabama will face a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.
Human trafficking is the second most profitable illegal industry in the world, according to the International Labour Organization, second only to the drug trade, but is the fastest growing.
Citizens can help. A survivor’s rescue story often involves another person reporting to police something that just doesn’t seem right. “Don’t assume someone else will see what you see,” Ava says. “Be willing to take a risk to help.”
St. Clair County is home to a place that is helping these survivors reclaim their lives and their futures. Supported by contributions from individuals, civic and religious organizations, non-profits, foundations and government programs for crime victims, The WellHouse is an organization which provides a peaceful residential therapy program that is making a difference one shattered life at a time.
“The best thing about the program at The WellHouse? Being loved unconditionally,” says Ava. “You finally have someone in your life who is a constant, who stays with you the whole time and loves you. Then you can begin to see the worth they see in you.” That’s a bountiful harvest … a harvest of hope, putting together the pieces of a life torn apart by human trafficking.
Editor’s Note:To report suspected human trafficking, contact toll-free (24/7) the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text HELP to BeFree (233733). Additional resources are at: www.enditalabama.org for information on human trafficking;www.the-wellhouse.org to learn more about or to volunteer at The WellHouse; and www.shopwell-wellhouse.org to purchase from ShopWell.
Once historic enemies join forces to keep a proposed dam project off the mountain
Story by Paul South Photos by Mackenzie Free and Leo Galleo
When Seth C. Penn ponders Chandler Mountain, he thinks of the Indigenous peoples who walked the mountaintop 6,000 years before Christ trod the earth.
Darrell Hyatt thinks of generations of his family, who yanked a living from the mountain’s rich soil. The Hyatts came to the area when the only way to navigate the mountain was by wagon, horseback or on foot.
And Joe Whitten, an amateur historian and retired educator who came to St. Clair County in 1961, hiked from the base to the top of the mountain at age 80 and plans to do so again, even at 85.
Their backgrounds are different, but the three men share a love for the mountain and an understanding of the importance of the successful battle to fend off an Alabama Power proposal to build dams there. It was a plan that would have flooded the valley, displaced families and damaged sacred sites and archaeological treasures.
Community comes together for common cause
While bluegrass music at Horse Pens 40 and tomatoes – the area’s iconic signature crop – sprout in the minds of most Alabamians when the name, Chandler Mountain, is mentioned, make no mistake, it is holy ground.
According to Penn, Southeastern Region coordinator for the Indian Nations Conservation Alliance and a citizen of the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama, all land is sacred for Indigenous peoples, regardless of location. But the mountain is unique.
“Chandler Mountain is an area where tribal territories met,” Penn said. “This was a place inhabited by several different tribes, Cherokee people and Muskogean people as well. This is an area where you could see different looking people, different looking tribes, different languages. That makes the mountain unique unto itself.”
There are archaeological and ecological features on the mountain sacred to the tribes.
“How the water flows, the hydrologic buildup, makeup and processes are important ecologically and also sacred, considering the values of water, plant life and animals,” he said.
Prayers and other ceremonies were conducted on the mountain. And while the story may be apocryphal, it is said that Chandler Mountain is the only place where a peace treaty was signed between the Cherokee and Creek tribes.
“I have never seen that document,” Penn said. “So as far as the credibility of that, it’s very debatable and very questionable. So, my response to that would be, I’d like to see that happen in present time, so that an actual treaty exists.”
One piece of ancient history that does exist are the rock formations, stone structures and Cherokee pictographs, rock art that native peoples may have painted with their fingertips, according to a report by Dr. Harry Holstein, a professor of Chemistry and Geosciences at Jacksonville State University.
These drawings and structures, as well as the stars, all play into the ceremonial and governmental history of the mountain and its ancient inhabitants, Penn said.
“This is a place where we might go to higher ground in search of a spiritual connection. It’s a place where territories met. So, at times we might meet in council-like setting, where topics might be discussed among our tribe or with other tribes even. Trades could also take place,” Penn said.
From a spiritual perspective, he added, “The whole sacred, ceremonial prayer aspect of events that took place – with certain rock features facing certain directions, certain astrological features in line with certain features, that all plays into the ceremonial aspect of it.”
A Family’s Story
With all their earthly belongings, John Hyatt and his wife arrived on horseback from Hurt County, Ga., and settled near the Horse Pens area in 1875, where they homesteaded 120 acres.
“There have been Hyatts on that end of Chandler Mountain ever since,” said John Hyatt’s great-grandson, Darrell.
He lives near the base of the mountain. He can recite his family’s history like a precocious schoolboy. John Hyatt’s brother, Otis, was the first person to farm the tasty Chandler Mountain tomatoes.
But the mountain is about more than tomatoes. Darrell has lived in the Chandler Mountain Valley since 1969, and at his current homestead since 1981. There, he reared his children.
At one time, he pondered moving his family out west. But the tug of home was too strong, the ties too deep. In his family, Darrell has always been known as “the man who came back to the mountain.”
Artifacts found tell story of Native-Americans living on land
“I always knew this mountain was different,” he said. “We could never pull ourselves away. It’s not just the family history. It goes back thousands of years.”
He found paleo-points on the mountain, and he and his wife found the pictographs. In turn, they brought Holstein as well as a rock expert from the University of Tennessee.
“Dr. Holstein said this was the most significant archaeological find on the upper Coosa River drainage area,” Hyatt said.
That archaeological find played a significant role in the defeat of the Alabama Power project.
What would have been the impact of the project if it had moved forward? Often, before Alabama Power shelved the plan, Darrell imagined his last day in his beloved valley, where his kids grew up and where he walked the mountain, climbed its rocks and contemplated the world in solitude.
One of the dams would have been built within 1,000 feet of his home. Rocky Hollow, the Mount Lebanon Cemetery, a number of archeological treasures and dozens of families would have been washed away.
The Hiker
Darrell remembers the first time he and Joe Whitten hiked the mountain, following Steele Gap Road. Whitten was 80.
“Joe, are you ready to stop?,” he would ask.
“Where’s the top?,” Whitten replied. Hyatt pointed upward.
“Let’s go,” Whitten said. And they did. “I think I can do it again,” he added.
Whitten talks of the importance of Chandler Mountain to the quality of life of St. Clair County and to its economy.
“It was in a remote section of the county that the pioneers made a beautiful place of,” Whitten said. “As time progressed, they tried various fruits. They grew peaches there for a time, but the tomatoes made the mountain famous.”
The Alliance
Two groups that history saw often at odds, the Indigenous tribes and new settlers of the 19th century, joined with the City of Steele and Montgomery politicians to fight the utility. The fight continues because the utility still owns significant acreage there.
In the face of opposition from locals, as well as Public Service Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh, Alabama Power Company scrapped its plans to build a hydroelectric storage project and remove homeowners from Chandler Mountain in August 2023. The utility withdrew its efforts to seek a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
In these politically fractured times, is there a lesson to be learned from the alliance that fought it?
Flat top of mountain a distinctive characteristic
“Absolutely,” Darrell said. “This community in my eyes was starting to lose itself. (The dam project) pulled everybody together.”
In local folklore, it’s told that John Hyatt built the market road down the backside of the mountain near what’s now U.S. 231, in an area known as Hyatt’s Gap. And the mountain can be seen from Alabama’s highest peak, Mount Cheaha.
“It’s very distinct,” he said. “And I think the Native Americans saw that, too. It’s sacred. Very sacred to them.”
Whitten said that even in these difficult days, the successful effort to block the project, “shows there can be unity. Peoples can come together and work together on projects that are needful to the community and the county and the state.”
He added, “What is there is important to the state as well, because it’s part of our Indigenous history.”
Penn agreed. “Obviously, it’s an ancestral holy place for an Indigenous person,” he said. “But because of those thousands of years of prayers building a foundation for a sacred setting, it’s just as much a sacred place for that farmer who says a prayer while he’s out there planting or harvesting. It’s a sacred place to that family who comes together and prays before a meal every time they eat dinner. It’s a sacred place and a significant place to many people.
“While our significance to the mountain and the sacredness of the mountain predates the settlers, I don’t want to discredit that it’s important to many of them as well in present time.”
Of the alliance, Penn said, “We’re a whole lot better when we can put differences aside and find common ground and work together regardless of backgrounds, faiths or political affiliations.
“Chandler Mountain is a unique situation in that we can come together. We have done that, and I’d like to see this initiative grow. I’d like to see Alabama Power realize, ‘Look, we had wrong intentions here. This isn’t where we need to do this. We just need to pull out and let go and give this mountain back to the people who truly care about it. And that is the Indigenous people and that is the local Chandler Mountain Community. That is our mountain and should be our mountain. That’s how I feel about it.”
“Alabama Power does not have any plans for the Chandler Mountain property,” said Alabama Power spokesperson Joey Blackwell in an email response in April.
When Alabama Power announced it had scuttled its proposal, there were celebrations on Chandler Mountain. Hyatt and his family celebrated with dinner at an area Mexican restaurant.
There was joy. “And there were tears,” he said. “More than a few tears.”
New community center in Springville on track to fulfill vision, needs
Story by Carol Pappas Submitted photos
Serving an entire community is a pretty tall order but when visionaries saw an opportunity to build a community center in Springville, it seems no detail of service was omitted.
The 38,000 square foot facility just off of U.S. 11 houses a church, a school, a fitness center, a health and wellness center, indoor playground, a massive common area, a chef’s operation and a coffee shop. And that’s just the first phase.
Mike Ennis, pastor of Faith Community Fellowship Church, Springville campus, says the center’s “whole goal is to serve the community.”
When the project began, Ennis explained, “We felt like rather than building a church, we’d rather build a community center – something the entire community could use, something that would hopefully improve both the economics and health of our community and provide athletic opportunities.”
It has not wavered from its original vision. At the time, Ennis described it as a center “not just for young people and not just people who are a part of our church, we really wanted to build something that would serve the community at large. That’s been the driving factor behind it from the beginning.”
To accomplish that, the church partnered with a nonprofit property management group, Surgance Inc. They wanted to create something fresh and alive with activity that would be used every day and geared toward bolstering the economy and health. “Every tenant is focused on that mission,” says Ennis.
Hayden Hornsby is the facility coordinator, and his ever-present smile as he outlines the tenant roster hints at the success story all around him.
Kind Kups
Kind Kups serves great coffee drinks and is a hub of activity and a gathering spot
Kind Kups is an anchor with wide-open space in an inviting atmosphere that has become a central gathering place for meetings, conversations, Bible studies and of course, a cup of specialty coffee and dessert.
Bring your laptop, bring a friend, meet new people – all are welcome at Kind Kups.
The Depot is actually the second location for owners Kevin and April Browning, who live in Cleveland, Alabama. It began from their leadership in their church’s small group and grew into a community outreach.
Its mission is to “provide a life-giving atmosphere for community building and fellowship. To encourage our customers through acts of service and words of kindness. To impact our community by empowering self-worth and inspiring kindness, ultimately motivating them to give back.”
Springville Christian Academy
An infant through 8th grade school has a significant presence. It has grown so much that enrollment is expected to be 160 in the fall, and officials are considering adding 9th grade.
While it occupies part of the building, the school is actually separate and secure. The school keeps class sizes small so that each student feels like they have one-on-one learning opportunities. The fully staffed faculty headed by Tyra Jordan provides students with an education based on academic excellence and biblical values.
It features state-of-the-art classrooms, library, sports opportunities, music, art, Spanish and weekly chapel.
“SCA is honored to have Lacy Trull bring hot lunches into the school each day, something that most schools of this size do not have the opportunity to have,” Hornsby said.
Euvista
Euvista is a health and wellness center, offering weight loss and nutrition coaching, prescription weight loss medications, hormone testing, low-tox lifestyle coaching, Long Haul COVID treatment, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and lipo/B12 injections.
The center focuses on the root of weight management, offering programs for nutrition, mindset and overall body transformation.
This is Euvista’s second location. The first was in Cullman. The Springville location is already busy with bookings for appointments weeks in advance.
Performfit Studios
A gym and physical fitness center, Performfit offers a fully equipped workout studio with classes available. It also offers speed and agility training.
President Chris Lynch holds a master’s degree in Occupational Therapy and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.
Chef Margaret’s
Chef Margaret Vincent, also known as “The Chef Next Door,” offers Delicious Delivery services. She prepares gourmet, homemade meals once a week and delivers to clients on Wednesdays.
She also caters bridal and baby showers, in-home parties and open houses – events traditionally thought of as too small for a caterer. She creates charcuterie grazing boards and tables, holds cooking classes and demonstrations and does food styling for publicity shoots.
She also sells Chef Margaret’s No-Mento Cheese, described as “hand-crafted, chef-made, perfectly-southern, totally addicting creamy goodness.”
Faith Community Fellowship Church
While the church was the catalyst for the center, it, too, is a tenant like the others. The growing congregation is now 350 and growing.
Grand Central and Rental Spaces
Grand Central is as the name implies – a bustle of activity
The centerpiece of the building is an expansive lobby area with high ceilings and plenty of room for all kinds of events.
Aptly named Grand Central, the entire area is a bustle of activity – the comings and goings of all the services found there in addition to the activities it provides space for. You might quote the old cliché, and say it’s a bit like Grand Central Station, and you’d be right.
The auditorium is available for rental, and it has exceeded its annual goal already. Hornsby pointed out that the auditorium hosted a theater group with a 55-member cast, a political reception and a variety of other parties and events.
An indoor playground is tucked into space at the front of the building just off Grand Central, and it is being done in a railroad motif. The windows will have locomotive faces peering out – a welcoming attraction for children.
A community Easter Egg hunt with a live band drew 1,200 people. Depot Days and Sip and Shop provide brick and mortar-type opportunities for local artisans to set up booths and sell their wares.
It’s all a part of the effort to serve all aspects of the community. Ennis motions all around him, adding, “There’s nowhere else in this end of the county that provides all this. We love this community!”
The sign above the coffee pot reads, “Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.” That quote by author and playwright Victor Hugo is as much a part of the blueprint of Ashville’s newest business as is the smell of coffee that wafts through the cozy space. The story belongs to Holli Smith and Heather Warren, the sisters who own Lala’s. It’s a story of family, of love and loss, but it doesn’t end there.
The sign outside the building reads “Lala’s,” and a hot cup of coffee is just the beginning of their offerings. This place, located in the Ashville Historic District on the city’s courthouse square, is a bookstore with a bar where one can order hot and cold beverages, including various beers and wines. They also offer hot food options, with their stone-hearth oven pizza being a crowd favorite.
They just opened in December, but the owners’ plans include trivia nights, wine and beer tastings and live music. Heather and Holli’s grandmother’s piano sits against the wall just waiting to be played. The promise of a song is echoed by a nearby guitar.
The music stopped for the Smith and Warren families just over five years ago when Warren’s 19-year-old daughter, Haleigh, died from a pulmonary embolism. Haleigh’s nickname was Lala, a name given to her by her cousin, Smith’s son, Zander. “She loved reading, trivia, music and food, all the things we’ve decided to do here,” says Smith. “That quote over the bar is symbolic of our journey, coming out of that darkness.”
The bar itself is the handiwork of Smith’s husband, Merrell. It is crafted from red oak plywood and whiskey barrels. Tin tiles from the building’s former ceiling add character to the bar’s front wall.
More of the building’s history is evident throughout the business. The restroom door, a remnant from the days the space was used during the 2014 renovation of the courthouse across the street, reads, “Office of the Tax Collector.”
A large group table in the back is a refinished glass cutting table from the time when the space was used as storage for the adjacent Teague Mercantile business.
“During the renovation, we kept as much of the original structure as we could,” adds Smith. It was important to them to preserve the historical integrity of the building as much as possible. Smith’s son, Zander, is currently researching the building’s history for his fourth-grade history fair project.
The sisters both graduated from Ashville High School and now teach at that same school. Holli teaches Honors and AP English, while Heather teaches Honors and AP Science. Their love of travel is evidenced in the décor, maps, and pictures of many different countries hanging on the walls of Lala’s. “We’ve always talked about doing something like this,” says Smith. “We’d be traveling and visit a place like this and talk about how we could have our own coffee shop and bookstore.”
Their biggest blessing so far, the sisters say, has been the support of community. “We have been overwhelmed by the support of business neighbors and city leaders as well,” says Smith. “The soft openings were crazy! We weren’t prepared for the number of people who came out to support us.”
Reawakening ‘the square’
Just across the street, business neighbors Chad and Esther Smith agree that the community has been amazingly supportive of their clothing and gift store. They’ve just celebrated their first anniversary of business for Farm Wife and Company. Their hope is that more businesses will join them and create more foot traffic in the downtown square.
Chad calls it a “wild dream,” that plan that he and his wife, Esther, began to talk about a few short years ago. The couple, steeped in the farming community in St. Clair County, had talked about one day opening a small retail shop of some sort in Ashville.
Ice cream at Farm Wife & Co.
They were already woven into the community as owners, with his brother and sister of nearby Smith Tomato LLC. The tomato farm, located in Steele, has a retail side where customers can visit the farm to purchase fresh produce and farm-branded products.
The two were busy helping to run the farm and the retail side of that business, but Esther and Chad Smith kept dreaming of opening their own retail shop. “Chad said I have that special touch for fashion and design,” says Esther. “We wanted to open a shop, but we didn’t want it to be a boutique. We wanted to be able to offer something for all ages.”
Their 1,800-square-foot storefront, Farm Wife and Company, is in court square in the heart of Ashville and is packed with a variety of unique giftware for all occasions and clothing for all ages. From wedding and baby gifts to special small-batch lotions made in Mooresville, Alabama, the inventory is unique and tasteful. There is even a men’s clothing and giftware section specifically designed by Chad.
He and Esther bought the old storefront before Thanksgiving in 2021 and began renovating it themselves, while also working on the farm. It was a labor of love that spanned a full year, before the store opened in December of 2022, just a month after Ashville’s bicentennial celebration.
The farm motif is interwoven throughout the store, from the farmer-specific quote behind the checkout desk to the barn façade that leads into the ice cream shop in the back of the store. “We see couples or people with kids come in and one person shops and the other comes to the back and sits down for ice cream or a cup of coffee,” says Chad.
The name Farm Wife and Company tells the story of their lives. Even her license plate says, “farm wife.” “We’ve always been in farming,” explains Esther. “We met on the farmland we now live on. My mother and both of my grandmothers were farmer’s wives, and Chad’s mother, too.
“We could have gone to a larger city, but we didn’t want to,” adds Esther. “Ashville needed it, and we wanted to open our store here.” They’ve just celebrated their first anniversary as a business. After initially intending to rent the space, they had the opportunity to buy it and jumped on it. “I think it was just God’s plan for us,” Esther says. “Everything just kind of fell into place. We had wanted to be on the square because it’s so visible and because the courthouse is so beautiful!”
Ashville Mayor Derrick Mostella is grateful for this small business and others who have brought the downtown area back to life.
“It’s those family businesses, like Farm Wife and Company, Lala’s, GNX and Little Art Tree, that represent us so well,” says Mostella. “They are the ones that set the tone for shopping local and keeping people invested in our town.”
Meanwhile, the city is doing its part, working on several projects to improve sidewalks, adding to the functionality of the downtown area. “We’ve got several projects in the works,” says Mostella. “We’re really sprucing up our park and recreation department and would love to be able to build a recreation center. We’re also looking at developing our land out near the interstate.”
Mostella campaigned prior to his election in 2016 on a promise to promote a downtown renaissance. “Business in downtown had gotten pretty bleak for a while,” he admits. “We always had those anchor businesses like Kell Realty, Charlie Robinson Law Offices, Sew Nice and Teague Mercantile. Then Dr. Labbe with Ashville Dental Center renovated the old pharmacy and relocated his business to the downtown. He was the first to realize the value of these old buildings.” Others soon followed.
GNX Gun Exchange opened in September of 2021 in an old bank building on the square. “It’s not your typical gun shop,” says co-owner Misty Thomas. “Since it was an old bank, we still have the vaults.” When she and her husband, Shane, went looking for a place to open their store, the bank building became available.
GNX Gun Exchange
“We love being downtown,” adds Thomas. “It’s not a huge town, but they’re amazingly supportive. Events downtown are great. We always have a great turnout.” Events are held in the square for July 4th, Halloween, and Christmas, which promote foot traffic around the square, which encourages shopping at local merchants.
For Esther at Farm Wife and Company, being in the heart of downtown is part of the dream. She hopes that the growth of her store and others will help to make Ashville a place where people will want to come to spend time. “That would also allow us to do more and give back to the community,” she says. “We want to continue to serve others.”
Keeping the family atmosphere of a small town while promoting business development is a tricky balance for city leaders. Mayor Mostella says Ashville is handling that growth by simply remembering who they are.
“We are looking for growth, not for the sake of growth, but for growth that works with who we want to be,” he says. “We want to be able to offer different amenities, while still not outgrowing our small-town feel. It’s a balance.”
No matter its size, a city’s growth is always measured in new jobs, new rooftops, new businesses and new people.
But in Springville – at least for its Parks and Recreation Department – growth is also calculated in miles and smiles.
Consider Springville’s Run 4 the Parks.
In its brief existence – the inaugural event took place last year – the city has raised some $23,000. According to the parks and rec website, proceeds from the 5k race and other run-related events will offset the cost of improvements at the Springville Sports Complex, specifically a stone entrance gate, new signage and lighting.
Rick Hopkins, the city’s director of Parks and Recreation, says the idea for the run sprouted from an effort to bring more events into the community.
Riley Robertson and passenger
Years ago, the city hosted a successful 5k run. But Springville’s park board envisioned something bigger and better.
“We talked about how we wanted it to be something more than a 5K so that it would be something for the entire family, not just for people who specialized in long distance running. That was the real genesis of it.” SpringFest and a previous 5K run – which helped fund Big Springs Park and the city’s popular Splash Pad – provided a template for the Run 4 The Parks.
“We just built off SpringFest,” Hopkins says. “But we wanted something that was focused on the entire family. We tried to bring back something similar to SpringFest. That was really our goal.”
In the 5K, 108 runners competed this year. Some 100 runners participated in the other classifications last year, which included runners across the spectrum in terms of age. The event also attracted a large number of spectators.
The sports complex improvements are aimed at raising the facility’s public profile.
“One of the big issues we have at the sports complex is a lot of the people don’t know we’re here, because we don’t have signage; we don’t have an entrance,” Hopkins says.
Run 4 the Parks is just a slice of what Springville Parks and Recreation offers. “We like to have something for everyone,” Hopkins says.
And it seems the city does – youth baseball, flag football, tackle football, cheerleading, basketball, soccer and softball, as well as adult co-ed softball. Disc golf and pickleball are also on the horizon.
The city has four parks – the youth baseball and sports complexes, Big Springs Park and Woody Park – six tennis courts, the Big Springs Splash Pad and Big Springs Dog Park.
The department also manages the Springville Senior Center, which according to Mayor Dave Thomas, is “bursting at the seams” and the Farmer’s Market site downtown. The city hopes to reopen the market by June 2024 as a state-certified Farmers Market, joining markets in Moody and Pell City as state-certified.
By the end of September, the city was expecting a $50,000 grant from T-Mobile to help fund improvements at the facility, and the city plans to match the grant.
A major municipal undertaking is underway, construction of the Big Canoe Creek Preserve. Paving work is moving ahead. And Schoel Engineering is providing a master plan for the project at no cost to the city. Some trails, including horseback, are expected to open in October.
Rubber Ducky Launch
Looking to future progress, at press time, Springville was awaiting the green light from the Forever Wild Land Trust to begin construction on a four-mile biking and hiking trail. Since 1992, Forever Wild has secured more than 284,000 acres of Alabama land for public use, and Big Canoe is part of that trust.
Big Canoe Creek Preserve will also be home to environmental education, celebrating the land’s broad biodiversity. “I think the future is so bright for outdoor education for the nature preserve,” Hopkins predicts.
“The nature preserve is going to be a feature for the entire county,” he adds. “It’s really a feather in the cap for this community because it’s going to draw people to St. Clair County from all over the state and outside the state.”
The preserve continues to be a community effort with in-kind contributions spurring the progress. It’s important to note the city has received some $30,000 in free excavation work from a local firm, Norris Paving.
Parks and Rec Administrative Clerk Lucy Cleaver, along with preserve manager Doug Morrison, is developing the environmental education program at the preserve to serve students and adults. She earned two degrees in outdoor education from Auburn University.
“We want to use (the preserve) to the best of our ability to truly be a spot where people can come and be inspired by nature, to learn about the history of St. Clair County … and all the immense biodiversity that we have out there. It’s a very special place.”
Cleaver also oversees the Farmer’s Market and assists Hopkins in managing Parks and Recreation events.
It’s estimated that some 90 percent of Springville’s nearly 5,000 residents utilize the city’s parks and recreation facilities and programs. Some 2,000 from the city and neighboring communities take part in team sports.
All of this is part of an ongoing effort by the city to “raise the bar” when it comes to quality of life in Springville, Mayor Thomas says. He praises Hopkins and his staff as they juggle the myriad activities and events under the department’s umbrella.
“Hat’s off to them,” he says. “I don’t know how they do it.”
The goal for parks and rec? Maintaining and expanding high quality opportunities for Springville citizens. Think possibilities like Art in the Park or Strings in the Park. But it takes time.
“Everybody’s struggling with finite resources,” Thomas says. “We can’t do everything we want to all at once. But as long as we maintain the vision and keep our eye on the ball, we will get there.”
While the success of Springville’s Parks and Recreation efforts can be measured in numbers like participation, a more compelling narrative comes from anecdotes. It’s impossible to please everyone. But Hopkins says positive feedback far outdistances complaints.
Thomas uses another metric. Smiles. “By and large, the support is overwhelming. They like what we’re doing.”
For Hopkins and his department, serving the community is the focus. “We are here to serve (the people), and we want to serve them in the best way that we can every single day.”
