Tag: Features

A Good Place

Finding faith, hope and love at the Red Barn

Story by Jane Newton Henry
Photos by Mike Callahan

Located on the banks of the Little Cahaba River in Leeds, the Red Barn is a haven for children and adults with physical, cognitive and emotional disabilities or special circumstances.

According Joy O’Neal, executive director, this equine-assisted therapy center is a place where children can have a good time, and veterans can reconnect with their families.

Before Randy came to the Red Barn, he had a difficult time talking, and other children at school made fun of him when he tried. He became embarrassed to speak, so he chose not to speak at all.

But as Randy began to ride horses, he learned to depend on his voice. He spoke commands to his horse, telling him to “Walk” and “Whoa.” Riding gave Randy the confidence he needed to speak more clearly.

“To me that’s the heart of what we’re trying to teach,” O’Neal said. “If learning to ride a horse makes your life better and gives you the skills that you need to get your words or your needs across, that’s what matters.

“When children with physical disabilities ride horses, their bodies become stronger. The movement of a horse improves muscular coordination and gives riders a fun activity they can talk about with friends. When they’re up on a horse, you can’t tell that they might have a hard time walking.”

Programs breed success stories

The Red Barn offers three main programs: Saddle Up, Horse Play and Take the Reins.

Saddle Up consists of weekly individualized therapeutic horseback-riding lessons.

Horse Play camps are held year-round for children with disabilities and their typically developing peers. These traditional day camps incorporate art, music and outdoor education with horses. The program also offers classes and other recreational and educational activities for individuals and groups from other non-profit agencies and schools.

Birmingham-area artist She She Vaughn teaches art classes and lessons as a part of the Horse Play program. “Art uses the creative process and allows children to communicate when they may be uncomfortable or less capable of expressing their thoughts aloud,” O’Neal said. “Art also aids the students in stress relief, social skills and developing a positive self-image.”

Take the Reins serves veterans, active and inactive military personnel and their families. It gives veterans time to reconnect with their families after deployment or just a place to be together.

All about the horses

The 11 horses at the Red Barn were given from the community. “We get retired show horses, and we get horses from people who are looking to re-home their horse,” O’Neal said. “Sometimes it’s because they can no longer care for them, or they are looking for a place where the horse can still have a useful life.

“Every day is different at the barn, so it’s important that our horses are sound and tolerate a lot of people,” O’Neal said. “With 70 riding lessons and 30 campers a week, along with parents and volunteers, you need a horse that really likes people, is adaptable and doesn’t mind change.”

Making good things happen

“We have the best folks in the world working here,” O’Neal said. “They are slobbered on and thrown up on. They put up with a lot, and it’s physically taxing work.”

In addition to employees and volunteers, the Red Barn hires about three interns a semester from local universities. Some interns have come from as far away as Missouri, Delaware and California.

The facility holds orientation and training programs for its staff, volunteers and interns, and trains others who want to work in a similar industry,

Funds that pay for programs and expenses at the Red Barn come from individual contributions, programs and grants. And the Red Barn holds two major fundraising events annually.

The Take the Reins 10K race was held for the second time on June 11 in Birmingham. “The race is run in memory of Cpl. Anthony Clay Ward, who died after returning from military service. He was the brother of Abbie, one of our first students,” O’Neal said. “Last year was the sixth anniversary of Clay’s death. His friends run in the 10K, and I am thankful to the Ward family for sharing their story.”

The second major fundraiser is Bluegrass and Burgers. “It’s more of an open house. We invite people out to see the place. They come to see what we do and how we do it.”

‘That changes you’

O’Neal expressed surprise about one aspect of working at the Red Barn: “You think it’s about changing others, but what it does instead is change you,” she said. “You think you are coming to be a side walker in a kid’s lesson, and you see the bravery of what they face. You see this kid who can’t speak, and other kids might make fun of him or maybe he doesn’t have friends. You watch the courage of that child every single day. And that changes you.

“You also see the goodness in the people who work here — out in the sun, cold and wind. You see them give of themselves, and you think about how many good people there are in the world. You see people come together and cry, and it becomes a community, and you think, wow, this is what God intended us to do.” l

Accredited by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship and the Certified Horsemanship Association, the Red Barn is located at 2700 Bailey Road, Leeds, AL 35094. It is a 501(c)(3) organization, and all donations are tax-deductible. For more information about the Red Barn’s organization and services, go to: www.TheRedBarn.org.

Features

Looking to the future

Curtain goes up on new director, new energy at CEPA

Story by Linda Long
Photos by Michael Callahan

Jeff Thompson is fitting right in to his new role as executive director of the Pell City Center for Education and the Performing Arts (CEPA), but at four years old, Thompson was on a totally different career path.

“At my preschool graduation, I told the whole class that I was going to be an aeronautical engineer. Well, that brought a whole bevy of laughs,” recalled Thompson, “but I loved planes and as a child, that’s all I wanted to do. That is, until I found out the engineers get paid by contract work. I didn’t see much stability in that. So, suddenly, aeronautical engineering didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.”

The intrepid young Thompson then turned to “Plan B.” Architecture.

Though foiled again, he was not the least chagrined. “I could not pass Physics. I failed it twice. I do not understand the concept – never have, never will, and you can’t be an architect if you don’t get Physics. I can draw just fine,” laughed Thompson. “I just wasn’t able to do those high level equations.”

Those two early career misdirections are clearly St. Clair County’s gain. Thompson, who has been in his new role as CEPA director for only two months, already has a clear vision for leading the top notch 2,000 plus-seat sports arena and a state-of-the-art, 400-seat theater into the future. That vision is clearly spelled community.

An Auburn University graduate in Journalism, Thompson comes to CEPA with a 10-year background in newspapers, most recently as editor and general manager of the St. Clair News Aegis.

“My formal training is newspapers,” said Thompson, “and certainly one of the things newspapers gives you is intimate access and understanding on how to build identity. And that’s what we’re looking to do with CEPA at the moment is to take this phenomenal product which is here and really does benefit the community and build it around that.”

Already finalizing the 2016 fall season, Thompson said, “We’re looking to create programming that attaches itself to numerous demographics in the community. We don’t want to follow a show with another show that attracts an identical audience. We want to make sure that everybody across St. Clair County feels like they have a home at CEPA. This facility was built, created and conceptualized on that bedrock. There shouldn’t be anyone who doesn’t have access to this facility. It was built for this community.”

To that end, CEPA is kicking off a fall line-up which should indeed include something for everyone. The season begins in September with an amazing magic show followed just days later by a performance of the full Alabama Symphony Orchestra, a first for Pell City.

The “top tier” magic show features Brian Reaves, and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra is seen as a major coup for the theatre. Next up will be country music band, Confederate Railroad, another major act, with Two Halos Shy as opening group.

Confederate Railroad, a country rock, southern rock band, is a multi-platinum recording group. It has been nominated for a Grammy Award, and it won an American Country Music award. In May, the group appeared in Nashville with Willie Nelson, John Anderson, Colt Ford and former NFL Coach Jerry Glanville for the 20^th anniversary version of its signature smash hit, “Trashy Women.”

Two Halos Shy features Madibeth Morgan and Anna Tamburello. When their vocal harmony hits an audience’s ear, you would swear the halos were there as the vocals sound almost angelic. Very little sounds better than a pair of voices in perfect harmony, and this talented duo fits the bill. Although still teenagers, they have been writing music and singing since before they could legally drive a car. They are working on their first album.

Capping the season is a multi-faceted arts festival featuring Alabama’s top storyteller, Dolores Hydock, and bluegrass group, Whitney Junction.

“This event is all about St. Clair County,” said Thompson. “It will feature local artists of all kinds.” Hydock is an award winning, premiere storyteller based in Birmingham, who has entertained audiences large and small around the country. She will be performing, Footprints on the Sky, a story about the time she spent on St. Clair County’s Chandler Mountain. Sharing the stage with her, providing music for her words, is Whitney Junction.

This bluegrass group formed as a ministry of First Baptist Church of Ashville and while its primary musical focus is a unique brand of bluegrass gospel, the band also performs old time bluegrass music at festivals, rallies and other events. “We want to wrangle in as many people as we possibly can and get them tied into this,” said Thompson.

Built nearly 10 years ago as a partnership among the Pell City School System, City of Pell City and the community, Thompson said, “community builders came together to support this facility.” A huge granite marker hangs in the lobby, telling the story of the people who built this facility. It is not just for Pell City, but for everybody. “We want to make sure every bit of our programming educates, inspires or entertains and gives them a reason for coming back.”

CEPA has already established many ongoing traditions, such as its annual summer drama camps, performances by many artists from local schools and the Pell City Players, a local drama troupe created as part of its community theater offerings.

But Thompson is hoping the facility will soon have some new programs making new traditions.

“We want to maximize the availability of the facility as much as possible. One of the main activities we’re looking at now using some captive audience around football games to open up the center and let folks come and be entertained prior to or following a football game. “According to Thompson, “Whatever legacy we can create with it, I want it to be something that includes the idea that we build community off of it. II think it fits in with the chamber of commerce, the city, and the school system. I think there are ties for to almost every aspect of generating a positive image for Pell City and St. Clair County. I know community, and I love community and when I look at this building, I know it can be what my definitions are for it.”

Features

Smiling on the inside

Loving the life of a rodeo clown

Story by Leigh Pritchett
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

He is known as Huck Hano — Skylar’s Dad, … the neighbor, … the sheet metal mechanic, … the man who plays guitar at St. Clair County Cowboy Church.

Yet, when he walks into a rodeo arena, the Louisiana native becomes the Cajun Kid, a clown with oversized Wrangler jeans, a star-spangled shirt and a hat full of humor.

For 38 years, he has been a rodeo clown, appearing in more than 25 states.

He has worked at small rodeos, and he has worked at big ones that drew as many as 30,000 spectators. Performing before such a large crowd was scary, he said, but oh so fulfilling when the people laughed.

“I love entertaining people,” said 55-year-old Hano. “I love making people smile.”

In May, he got to be a clown locally during a horseless rodeo at St. Clair County Arena.

Interestingly, his love for clowning came from riding a bull.

In his early teens, Hano started riding bulls two days a week at an arena near his home in Albany, La. He became so proficient at the sport that he advanced to state finals his senior year in high school.

When he was at a rodeo, however, his competitors were not his focus; the clowns were.

He studied what they did and how they did it. He noted their timing, body language and jokes.

“That was my whole reason to be there,” he said about his five years of riding bulls.

His first time to be a clown was in 1978 at a high school rodeo in McComb, Miss.

“It was the greatest thing in the world,” Hano said. “I knew then that it was what I wanted to do.”

In the beginning …

His name is actually Elisha Henry Hano. He acquired the nickname “Huck” as a 5-year-old dressed in jean shorts and a straw hat.

His Dad, a Baptist preacher, remarked that his son looked like the character Huckleberry Finn. And the name stuck.

It was also his Dad who was glad when Hano become a clown.

“My dad was relieved because, when I started clowning, I started riding bulls less,” Hano said.

In a rodeo, Hano said, there are two kinds of clowns. The job of one kind is to protect. A bullfighter is a clown who distracts the bull to let the rider get to safety. There is also a “barrel man,” who wears a barrel and gets between the bull and the rider, or between the bull and a tired or imperiled bullfighter. The job of the other kind of clown is to entertain. That clown tells jokes and performs acts to amuse the audience.

Hano has been all of them. At first, he was a bullfighter before moving into a comedic role.

The purpose of the entertaining clown is to fill time gaps between activities to make the program flow smoothly. Generally, each of the clown’s appearances during the rodeo is just a few minutes long.

If glitches or interruptions occur during the program, in comes the clown. At a rodeo in New York, for instance, a transformer blew, putting the arena in darkness. For 25 minutes, Hano and the announcer told non-stop jokes to the crowd.

In all his years as a rodeo clown, Hano has never suffered a serious injury. But there have been some harrowing moments.

A particularly frightening one occurred in Lafayette, Ga., in 1985. A bull got his horn behind Hano’s leg and threw the clown into the air. While Hano was still in midair, the bull caught the man in his horns and tossed him up again. That would happen once more before the bull finally let Hano fall to the ground.

The entire time, a rider was sitting on the bull’s back.

That “hooking” happened on the first of a three-night rodeo series. Hano performed the other two nights with bruises and soreness.

“I’ve taken several hookings (through the years), but that was definitely the worst,” he said.

Dwayne Banks of Odenville, who is pastor of St. Clair County Cowboy Church, said Hano was a clown at the first rodeo in which Banks participated.

He described Hano as humble. “That’s who Huck is.”

Banks said Hano’s personality makes people feel comfortable. He has a quick wit and can connect with the audience. “He is a very down-to-earth type of individual. (He) has the ability to capture attention by what he says and how he acts.”

Behind the clown makeup is a man who “loves the Lord with all his heart,” Banks said. “… He’s got a heart for the people around him. … He wants to serve.”

Hano does indeed want to serve. Currently, he is music minister at St. Clair County Cowboy Church, and believes that clowning is a talent God gave for serving Him.

In a rodeo, “the clown’s job is actually to serve,” Hano said.

Being a clown has given Hano opportunities to speak in churches and schools all across the country and to tell people about Jesus Christ. “God used me as a rodeo clown and that’s what I want to do is be used,” Hano said.

For about 12 years, Hano was a clown fulltime, traveling from March through October. His living quarters were in the front third of a trailer he towed. In the middle section, he stored the props for his acts, such as a spaceship he built himself. The back third of the trailer was a stall for his four-legged comedy partner.

During the rodeo circuit’s “winter months” of November through February, Hano was at home with his family and worked at another job.

It was his career as a clown that led him to move to Odenville in 1993. Where he lived in Louisiana was flat and “a long way anywhere,” Hano said. St. Clair County, on the other hand, is near three interstate systems … and has mountains.

The five acres on which his home sits are nearly encircled by mountains. It is a quiet refuge where he reads his Bible, farms and works to train a colt named Dolly.

“I love the mountains. Where I came from, there were no mountains,” said Hano. “I walk out and say, ‘Thank you, God.’ I get to see this on a daily basis.”

When his daughter Skylar was a baby 18 years ago, Hano felt he was missing much of her life by being on the road. At that point, he took a full-time job locally and became a weekend clown.

He has continued to be a clown part-time and currently works full time as a sheet metal mechanic at Hardy Corp. in Birmingham.

Clowning is hard work

Being a clown is not all chuckles; it is work.

“Clown acts are not as easy to come up with as you would think,” Hano said.

It takes researching and planning. It takes building props. It takes rehearsing and refining. Perfecting an act could easily require two years of work, he said.

“You want as many different acts as you can. But you want quality acts,” he said.

For many years, Hano had a comedic sidekick named Esther. She was a white mule.

“She turned out to be one of the best acts I’ve had,” Hano said. “She opened a lot of doors for me across the country. People loved that mule.”

Esther would lie down, roll over, play dead and sit up, all on command.

“I think her greatest asset was she loved doing what she did. (Other clowns said) they had never seen a mule work as smoothly as she did,” Hano said. “She was one of a kind.”

Two years ago, at age 32, Esther died. She is buried underneath her favorite tree in the pasture.

It is Hano’s hope that Dolly will be Esther’s successor in comedy.

When Hano got Dolly a few months ago, she did not like him, he said.

But that has changed. Now, she runs to the fence to meet him when she sees him come out his front door. When he reaches the fence, she nuzzles him, indicating she would appreciate a back-scratching.

In some ways, she is like Esther was at first.

“When I got Esther, she was six months old,” and was so unruly that four people were needed to handle her, Hano said. Within a few months, he had won her trust. That was when the training began.

He is encouraged as he watches Dolly learn to trust, too.

“I like seeing them come from nothing to being disciplined,” Hano said.

Eighteen times in his career, Hano has been given the privilege of clowning in the finals of several rodeo associations across the county. The selection of clowns for the finals is done by a vote system, and only those ranked “best” are invited to perform.

Even so, Hano expresses humility about his work as a clown.

“I never considered myself the star of the show,” he said. “I considered myself a part of the team that made the show work.”

After nearly 40 years of making people laugh, Hano is now accepting fewer engagements and thinks he might, at some point, retire from being a clown.

He is seeking to serve in a different way in this season of his life.

“I’ve had a good career,” Hano said. “And if I had it to do all over again, I’d do it again. … God has given me a good life. Now that I’m slowing down, I’m going to give it back to Him.”

Features

Pirate’s Island

A day in the life of a
Logan Martin landmark

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.
Submitted photos
Drone Photo by
David Smith, Star Aerial

It’s a place that would make Jimmy Buffett proud. Surrounded by family and friends and scores more of adopted family and friends, this tiny island in the middle of Logan Martin Lake is like the star of the singer’s tune, Cheeseburger in Paradise – “heaven on earth with an onion slice.”

On this Saturday afternoon in late June, one of the hottest of the year, there are no complaints about the sweltering temperature, only laughter, music, children’s squeals and an unrivaled camaraderie of hundreds gathered around Pirate’s Island.

It has become THE place to meet, anchor your boat or personal watercraft, wade into the shallow water all around and greet friends – old and new.

It’s a recreational respite in an otherwise wide open waterway of boats darting to and fro.

Lincoln’s Kent Crumley has been coming to the island since 2012. Now joined by his son and grandchildren, the fun they have as a family is unmistakable. Brian Crumley and his children, Easton, Addie and Brynlee are there to celebrate Easton’s first birthday.

What makes this place so special? “Just the people,” Kent says. “The fellowship,” his son adds. “We came to hang out and have a great time,” Kent says, putting an exclamation point on the sentiment of the day.

And it’s precisely the purpose Jim Regan intended for the island when his wife, Laurie, bought it for him as a birthday present.

She had decorated it with crepe paper, but rain put a damper on the surprise impact it was supposed to have when approached by boat that evening. So, Laurie improvised. She grabbed a drink Koozie, wrote “Welcome to Your Island” on it, put a drink in it and handed it to Jim. He kept putting the drink down, never glancing at the message. Laurie said she finally – and strongly – urged him to look. He read it, and in that moment of realization, “he dove right off the boat!”

That was 2008. It took about a year to fulfill the vision they had in mind for the island – they cleared underbrush, built a beach, brought in palm trees, a hammock, a treasure chest and of course, a pirate flag.

They first named it Grand Island, but the throngs of boaters who found their own paradise there won out. Pirate Island, it became, and Pirate Island, it will stay. “We were outvoted by the people,” Laurie says.

And the people keep coming. On Memorial Day, 46 boats were counted anchored around the island. On this day, a typical Saturday afternoon, there were 29 boats full of people.

On the 75 x 50-foot island itself, its palm trees leaning out over the water, the Regans’ family and friends gather around a fire pit, relaxing in chairs of all shapes and sizes.

A nearby grill, still smoldering, hints at noon day activities on the island. “It was Cheeseburger in Paradise Day,” says Jim. He cooked 36 hamburgers for his invited guests and boaters who happened to be there. It’s not unusual for Jim to cook on the weekends. He simply signals in boaters when the hotdogs or hamburgers are ready, according to Laurie.

All are welcome on Pirate’s Island. It’s a tradition that evolved when a boat load of 10 year olds asked if they needed help on the island. They helped clean it, and their pay came in hotdogs.

Of course there are other riches on the island. A treasure chest full of Mardi Beads and gold coins awaits, and children rush to see what’s inside. Down on their knees like a cannon shot, they surround the chest, combing through to pick just the right color. Giggles and shrieks tell the rest of that story.

“I get them from a Mardi Gras supplier in Mobile where I grew up,” Laurie says. The treasure chest is filled to the brim, and it is the island’s most popular destination point for kids. As a bonus, Jim sprinkles gold coins all around the water’s edge for children to ‘discover.’

Palm trees don faces and perhaps a pirate kerchief – “Palm Pirates,” they call them. A ‘pirate’ pontoon boat sits anchored on the main channel side of the island. It even has a gang plank. The customary island hammock hangs between palms, an inviting place for a summer’s day.

And a skull and cross bones pirate flag flaps in the summer breeze some 50 feet above on a pole made of bamboo courtesy of a neighbor, helping passersby pinpoint this Logan Martin landmark.

On Saturday mornings, Jim puts out an oversized float a few feet offshore – a Lilypad – for kids to launch themselves in innovative ways into the water. He doesn’t dare take it up until Sunday night. Too much fun would be missed, he and Laurie surmise.

“Everybody has taken responsibility for the island,” Laurie adds. “We’ll get calls if someone is not doing something right. They help clean it up. They love the island. Everyone takes ownership in it.”

Why do the Regans share their own bit of paradise? “We love our family and kids. This is our town. It’s our home,” Laurie says. “It just feels good.”

Perhaps this email Jim sent to his family in 2008 just after he became the proud owner of the island tells the evolution of the original vision best:

Laurie surprised the living daylights out of me for my birthday by purchasing the tiny island just 1/4 mile down the beach from us. I’ve been pining for it for over a decade, and Laurie thought it was a pretty worthwhile goal also.

We have named it “Grand Island”…owing to its “massive” size (75 ft.X 50 ft. excluding beach & sandbar) and also to the original purchase price some years ago by our friends & the former owners-Randy & Sandy. The island is a popular place to park your boat and swim from its sandy little beach. It will remain open to the public. We’ve already heard some excellent ideas like: planting fruit & palm trees; placing a “Grand Island” plaque on it; mount a “Wilson” volleyball on a pole (from the movie “Castaway”); hanging a hammock between two trees; and the ideas just keep coming. Feel free to add your art to the picture.

Whether you remember this little Corona commercial of an island or not, I happen to know that each of you have been there. We hope you’ll come to the island many times again in both mind and body. Once you’ve hacked your way through the jungle and pass the lost temple beyond the largest cave on the other side of Blue Lagoon, look for us…We’ll be right there in a hammock holding out your favorite cold beverage.

On any given weekend, it’s easy to see: Dream fulfilled.

Features

Hazelwood’s Greenhouses & Nursery

A quarter century
of growing nature’s
beauty in St. Clair

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Susan Wall

John Hazelwood squinted as a streak of sunlight parted cloudy skies above, accentuating the creases in his face – the unmistakable signature of a man whose earned them in a lifetime spent outdoors.

It is outside at Hazelwood’s Greenhouses and Nursery where he feels comfortable, fulfilled, surrounded by the flowers, plants, shrubs and trees he has grown. And all the while, he has nurtured a business others can enjoy, too.

For more than a quarter of a century, Hazelwood has been doing what came natural to him – digging in the dirt, planting a seed and watching his creations grow. He grew up on a nearby farm of his family’s, and his chores including gardening. Was he always interested in growing? Not necessarily. “My daddy took an interest in me growing things,” Hazelwood mused. “I had seven brothers and two sisters. He made sure we had plenty of work to do.”

The farm where he once labored as a boy has now become growing fields for the business he built a greenhouse at a time.

Atop a hillside in Pell City, almost hidden from view of passersby, is Hazelwood’s, the business that has become a tradition around these parts. His colorful handiwork at Mt. Zion Church is a hint you’re getting close. With a chuckle, he calls it his billboard, but it really is a ministry of his.

After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, intending to be an X-ray technician. But after four years, he figured he could pursue his future education on the GI Bill rather than re-enlist for another four years. “I figured out what I liked and what I didn’t like,” and as life has its usual twists and turns, he wound up at Auburn University, majoring in Agribusiness Education instead.

He taught in Lee County and in Odenville and eventually made his way to what is now John Pope Eden Career Technical School. He was principal his last 13 years before retiring in 2001.

Throughout his education career, he dabbled in growing. “I thought I would do a little on the side and raise some ferns,” he recalls. He bought an 80 x 25-foot, used tomato greenhouse and grew 400 ferns that year – 1985.

The manager at TG & Y, an old department store in Pell City, told him he would take them all at wholesale, but the deal fell through. He managed to sell them all, though, and people started asking if he could grow other plants. “It started snowballing,” he said.

In a couple of years, he bought another used tomato greenhouse, then another, and the business just kept coming…and growing.

In the early 1990s, he hired Harold Fairchilds, who was in the high school cooperative program. That was 25 years ago. He has been with Hazelwood ever since. So has Harold’s sister, Becky. Gayla, another sister, started a couple of years after that.

The Fairchilds siblings make up most of Hazelwood’s greenhouses and nursery ‘family,’ and he credits them significantly with the business’ success. “I can’t replace those three,” said Hazelwood. “I’d have to close up. I don’t know how I’d do it.”

The Fairchilds moved to Pell City from Missouri and a farming background, according to Becky. “At the time, it was a job. I didn’t know I would fall in love with it.”

The same holds true for Harold. “I guess I’m just comfortable here. I like being outside doing something I enjoy daily.”

And Gayla’s assessment isn’t far from her brother’s and sister’s. “Obviously, I love it, or I wouldn’t keep doing it,” she said. “I like the outdoors. I love flowers, and I love color.” It was a perfect match for her family and for Hazelwood’s. “It was the closest we could get to farming,” she said.

Harold clarified: “It’s farming in pots.”

Changing with times

Over the years, as the Hazelwood hillside landscape changed – more greenhouses and cold frame houses and rows and rows of plants, flowers and trees – the business has changed as well. Choices grew quickly. “There are so many new plants,” Hazelwood said. “There are hundreds of new varieties every year. There are new colors, new everything. There are a couple of thousand petunias.”

Where people used to prune hedges, they now want landscape that is low or no maintenance. They pick dwarf plants. “They just don’t have time like they used to.”

But fortunately, he added, “people still like to plant trees, shrubs and flowers.” And their one constant is Hazelwood’s.

As for competition from big box stores, “we just decided to do a better job, have more quality plants at a good price and try to keep customers happy and satisfied.”

You’ll get no argument there from John and Helen Golden. They’ve been shopping at Hazelwood’s from nearly the beginning. “We’ve been buying plants here for our garden for years and years,” Golden recalls. Their favorite? “Roses,” they say, almost in unison, much like the way they talk about their shared experience at Hazelwood’s.

It’s like family serving family. It’s a trust factor, an ever ready smile and a helping hand, and one would be hard-pressed to replicate the chemistry they have with each other and with their customers. “They have good plants, and they are good people,” Golden said. “Becky is really good.”

Becky is easy to spot. She is always moving, whether it’s on foot or in a golf cart. You’ll see her toting a bag of potting soil, a plant or a cartful of essentials for the garden, all the while greeting customers with a deep South charm that belies her Missouri roots. Her attentiveness to customer service is unmistakable.

Gayla is much the same way, chattering away to customers as she creates beautiful container gardens. “I’m happiest when I’m creating,” she says. Even a work in progress seems to be good enough to buy. Her work table sign warns customers: “Please do not take plants off the table.” They seem to snatch them up as if they were a finished product, and the perfectionist in Gayla isn’t about to let them go too early.

Down in the lower part of the property, you’ll find Harold watering and watching over plants, trees and shrubs as if they were his children. “We just had a handful of shrubs when I started,” he says. Now they stretch as far as the eye can see on the property. “If you don’t like the heat, this is not the job for you. If you don’t like to get dirty, this isn’t the job for you,” he says. As for him, it’s definitely the job he loves. “I guess I’m just comfortable.”

In addition to Hazelwood’s extended family, his daughters, Shelly Martin and Kelly Staples, grew up working at the nursery. Shelly even pursued a career in landscape design after graduation from Auburn and does design work in Birmingham communities like Liberty Park as well as Pell City and surrounding areas.

Hazelwood does some landscape design work himself and is quick to offer advice to customers when needed. “Fall is the time to do landscaping,” he says. Like the Goldens, he has his favorites, too: Podacarpus for shrub; any variety of begonias for bloom; and “the old Magnolia” for a tree.

As Hazelwood looks around at the bustle of activity on this spring afternoon, recounting the journey that led him to a thriving business, he notes, “It’s something that just kind of happened. I didn’t intend to do it at all. It just grew out of starting something. I’ve been blessed. The Lord had something to do with it.”

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Margaret, Alabama

Blossoming boomtown of Margaret won’t be ‘Alabama’s best-kept secret’ for long

Story by Paul South
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

When Pastor Chris Crain was searching for a place to start a church in St. Clair County, a Trussville friend had a simple suggestion:

“You need to go to Margaret.”

Crain’s response: “Who’s she?”

You’ve never heard of Margaret, Ala.?” his friend asked.

“I drove out here, and I was shocked at the number of homes and people,” Crain said. “I think if there is a problem, it’s that people don’t know about Margaret.”

That was a decade ago. Today, Crain, 41, who began North Valley Church in Margaret with 16 people, now draws 400 worshippers on Sunday mornings.

The church is a microcosm of the boomtown that Margaret has become in recent years.

“One in every 10 people in Margaret is in our church on Sundays,” Crain says.

The church is just one slice of the Margaret story. If economists, developers, community planners and visionaries could concoct a recipe for a boom, Margaret would be their masterpiece. New, affordable subdivisions, a state-of-the-art elementary school, virtually nonexistent crime and location, location, location have Margaret poised as one of the Birmingham metro area’s fastest growing municipalities in the first decade of this century, a perfect landing spot for young families and entrepreneurs.

The community grew by a whopping 278 percent from 2000-2010, from nearly 1,200 to more than 4,400. The city grew by nearly 8 percent between 2010 and 2015. Six percent growth is projected between now and 2020. More than 20,000 live within a five-mile radius of the city’s center. Margaret incorporated in 1960 and became a city in 2011.

Tucked between Interstates 20 and 59, Margaret is an easy hop for commuters who are moving to Margaret and St. Clair County. In the post-war period and into the 1980s, the Birmingham metro area grew southward over Red Mountain and into Shelby County. But in recent decades, all eyes seem to have turned eastward, putting Margaret in a prime spot to be a bedroom community for The Magic City.

Seventy-four-year-old real estate executive and developer Lyman Lovejoy, who’s sold and developed property in Margaret and throughout St. Clair County for more than four decades, is perhaps Margaret’s biggest cheerleader.

“Probably one of the best-kept secrets of what’s going on, even for the people who live here (in St. Clair County) is Margaret,” Lovejoy said. “You get off on the roads, and there’s 300 houses in one subdivision, 200 in another, 150 in another. Unless you get off the main road, you don’t know.”

At first blush, it would seem Margaret bucked historic trends. Charles DeBardeleben built the town around a coal mine at the turn of the 20th century. The Alabama Fuel and Iron mine – in the 1930s one of the most productive mines in Alabama – long ago played out. But unlike other towns built on coal, iron and steel that went as their industry did, Margaret not only survived, but now thrives. Location may have been Margaret’s saving grace when mining passed away.

“I think Margaret’s location as a coal mining community in a suburban growth region is the reason (growth) has taken place,” said Don Smith, executive director of the St. Clair County Economic Development Council. “Right now, as that growth around Birmingham’s urban core continues to intensify, it’s put Margaret right in that sweet spot. It has more to do with its location at this point in time than its history as a coal mining community.”

Visionaries apparently saw the sweet spot. Owners of huge tracts of land eventually sold acreage to ambitious developers. New subdivisions are being briskly built, bringing real estate bargains, and a desire for services and retail presence – a grocery store, restaurants, a doctor’s office, to name a few.

Telling the Margaret story to retailers and retail developers is an aim for the council, Smith said.

“One of the focuses that we have is to make sure that retail developers and retailers out there understand that Margaret is an underserved area as far as retail goes,” Smith said.

While many prime locations are now home to residential subdivisions, Smith believes there are other great locations available for commercial expansion.

Pharmacist Mark Ross and his wife Tracy took a leap of faith earlier this year to open Margaret Pharmacy. Lovejoy approached the couple last year about opening a drug store.

“I came out here, looked around, talked to people and just fell in love with the place,” Mark Ross said. “I fell in love with Margaret and the people here. My wife and I talked about it and prayed about it. It was just a matter of timing and Lyman Lovejoy’s foresight, I guess, that Margaret needed a pharmacy.”

Ross called his first four months in business, “phenomenal.”

“The people of Margaret have embraced us wholeheartedly. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been told, ‘A pharmacy was just what Margaret needed.’ ”

Ross has also heard something else in the voices of the townspeople that may say something about the future. Talk to people here long enough, and the vision for the city includes more eateries, a grocer, sports complexes and middle and high schools as Margaret’s kids grow up.

“They say, ‘Ahh, this is fantastic. This is the beginning of something great for Margaret.”

Margaret Mayor Isaac Howard III believes more great things are ahead for St. Clair’s boomtown. And the real ingredient that drives the little city’s success – its people.

“It’s really like a family network, the people who have lived here for years, and even the people who have moved in recently, they’ve formed a family network.”

People are really at the heart of Margaret’s success, a story that began more than a century ago. The Golden Rule that DeBardeleben based his business upon still thrives today in old-timers and newcomers alike.

“For a lot of people out there, they’re looking for a safe, affordable place with good schools to raise their family. Margaret is that exact place they’re looking for, they just haven’t heard of it,” Lovejoy said. “I don’t know what else you’d ask for in a community.”

Gene Barker, building inspector for the City of Margaret for eight years, doesn’t either. He has seen the housing boom up close. In mid-May, there were 22 permitted new homes in various stages of construction.

Barker inspects the homes from foundation to roof and everything in between. He’s done as many as nine inspections on nine different homes in one day. Each house also involves multiple inspections. “That’s pretty much all I can handle,” he said.

A variety of factors have fueled the housing boom Barker sees on a daily basis. Low interest rates, more house for the money and geography – all play a role, Barker said. Margaret is eight miles off Interstate 59, and is also convenient to Interstate 20. Thirteen new houses have been permitted so far in 2016, according to city records. That’s a good year, Barker said.

“People are getting out of Birmingham,” he said. “They’ve got access to the interstates. The houses are reasonable. A lot of our buyers are young people.”

It is an easy, convenient commute. “It’s close to 59, but if you come over here in the mornings or afternoons, you see them coming from 59 and 20,” Barker said. “We try to cut the rights of way after 9 (a.m.), and we have to be done by 2 (p.m.), or you’ll get run over. It’s like a funeral procession.”

In 2005-2007, before the economic downturn, 26 different builders were working in Margaret. After the crash, the number plummeted to from three to seven per year. “It started to come back last year. So far, this is a good year,” Barker said.

With all the new that’s coming – and will come to Margaret – there’s still an homage to the town that the Welsh coal baron founded and named for his beloved wife, Margaret. The bell from the company-built community building now hangs at North Valley Church and still beckons stranger and friend to Margaret.

Said Pastor Chris Crain, “We still ring the bell.”

For more on Margaret and it’s history, read the full digital edition of Discover St. Clair online or get the print edition for Free.

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