Fairs, Festivals and Tourism in DeKalb by John Dersham

Fairs, Festivals and Tourism in DeKalb

This week is the 55th annual DeKalb County VFW Agricultural Fair. This is an extremely well attended event each year in DeKalb County, and rightfully so. This fair is not your ordinary county fair thanks to a lot of hard work from Charles Stephens (Fair Chairman) and all the volunteers and members of the local VFW Post. The thing that separates our fair from other county fairs is the abundance of true leadership from volunteers and local clubs whom are well organized. These organizations provide us great exhibits like; the flower show, bakery show, vegetable show and canned products show. Then there is the 4-H club and all of its animal entries, demonstrations, competitions, all of which add animals to the visitor’s plethora of things to do and see at the fair. If you are an artist then you can enter and show your art or photography. There is a tractor show and on Friday and Saturday nights there is live music. All of this is in addition to the great midway games, food and rides.

The next big event after the Fair (not counting the fact Football is a weekly big event) is the Colorfest in Mentone on October 16-17. This festival is one of our local favorites bringing many local people to it, but it also attracts many out of towners who plan their fall trips here based on this wonderful weekend of fun activities. This same weekend we have the 1st Annual Alabama Thunder Bikers Festival and Concert in Dogtown. There will be live music from Adam Tomlin Band, Jonathon Alverson & The Hillbilly Circus Band, Cool Hand Luke and more. Tickets for the three day event are $30.00. It will be located at North South Cycles- 665 County Rd 251 off Jennings Rd.

DeKalb Tourism summer review:
This was a good summer for DeKalb Tourism. We started the summer with radio advertising all across the gulf during the oil spill. Our ad did not mention the disaster but was an invitation to come spend some time with us in the mountains and valleys of DeKalb County. We talked about our scenic attributes, our places to stay and things to do and see. Year to date we are up compared to last year by 10%. This is a great contribution to our local economy in a time when the economy continues to struggle. Tourism is a clean industry that brings in tax revenue without the built in cost of supporting a full time resident. In talking to other tourism organizations our growth is well above average for the year. Additional advertising included TV ads on 33/40 in Birmingham and on Comcast in North AL and TN. We continue to use some newspaper and magazine ads in addition to our heavy use of the internet and social media sites. Our new fiscal year begins in October and we will have the added advantage of having the new N.E Agri Center events added into our portfolio of offerings here in DeKalb County.
For more information on events in DeKalb County contact the DeKalb County Tourist Association at 256-845-3957 or view us at www.tourdekalb.com

All New Tourism for DeKalb County

On Sunday my wife and I went to the ribbon cutting ceremony at the all new Northeast Agri Business Center in Rainsville. This facility is something we can all be very proud of and promises to be the beginning of some all new entertainment for us, but will also provide an all new source of tourism to the county and a new source of revenue for our cities and towns.
In looking at the history of tourism in DeKalb County we have been a leisure tourism destination for more than 100 years. Our first tourists came to beat the summer heat from Birmingham and other places where the mountains provided a little relief. The Mentone Springs Hotel opened in 1884 to accommodate tourists coming to the Inn’s healing springs. In the 20’s came the Mentone Inn. We had summer camps opening, and cabins being built as second homes. Other early attractions were Sequoyah Caverns and Cloudmont Golf and Ski Resort and Shady Grove Dude Ranch. In 1939 DeSoto State Park opened its doors to camping and cabins and a little later the lodge. On Sand Mountain, Buck’s Pocket became a state park in the 60’s. Later came the group Alabama. They have been a tourist attraction for three decades now. In the early 90’s Little River Canyon became a National Preserve. In recent years many more rental cabins, B&B’s and hotels have been added to our area. We’ve added some fun county festivals along the way in many of our towns to attract tourists and locals to a day or two of special entertainment. Throughout all this time DeKalb County has remained primarily a leisure tourism county using our scenic beauty and friendly fun small towns as our draw.
It is only now that we have a new tourism draw that is event based. The new Northeast Agri Business Center in Rainsville is a state of the art Agri Center that will be attracting a wide variety of one, two and three day events. All of these have a regional scope and are sure to attract overnight visitors from all over our southeast region. Many of these events will take place at night leaving visitors the daytime hours to eat, shop, tour our attractions, parks, towns, museums and all will add dollars to our local economy. Many of the tourists coming to these events will be new visitors to DeKalb County. It is our desire to show our visitors the upmost in southern hospitality so when they go home they will tell their friends about us and from that we will continue to grow. It is very exciting that in these difficult economic times we are getting this wonderful uplifting boost to our economy. To learn more about the new Northeast Agri Business Center visit their website at www.nealagribusinesscenter.com.

John Dersham

From Mule Day to Boom Days by John Dersham

From Mule Day to Boom Days

Monday my family and I attended our fifth Ider Mule Day in a row. We love this annual festival. This year we had the perfect weather and the attendance was outstanding. We love the traditional rural events like the Mule and Horse Pulls. We like looking at the classic tractors and walking around seeing all the animals that are in the parade then go into the festival to compete in various shows. It is fun to see the covered wagons and the classic cars. My granddaughters love the animals too, but they especially like to play in the amusement area.
Our next big event in DeKalb County begins this evening with the Willstown Conference. Make your plans now to attend as many of these fantastic events as you can at this year’s Boom Days Heritage Celebration. For more information check out www.boomdays.org or view the DeKalb County Tourist Association’s website at www.tourdekalb.com
BOOM DAYS 2010 – Event List
Dates, times, events and participants are subject to change.
Thursday, Sept. 9
Willstown Conference – City Hall Auditorium / 7:00 pm - Willstown Conference
Saturday, Sept. 11
First Federal Country Music Show - DeKalb Theatre / 8:00 pm
Leah Seawright
Sunday, Sept. 12
WZOB Joe Underwood Gospel Concert – City Hall Auditorium / 3:00 pm
Monday, Sept. 13 thru Friday, Sept. 17
Pap Baxter Singing School – Opera House / 6:00 pm
Thursday, Sept. 16
Mayor's Cup Golf Tournament – DeSoto Golf Course / 9:00 am
Times-Journal Keynote Concert – City Hall Auditorium / 8:00 pm
Rodney Dillard & The Dillard Band
Saturday, Sept. 18 – BOOM DAYS HERITAGE CELEBRATION
Hannah Martin Scholarship 5K Run – First Methodist Church Parking Lot / 8:00 am
Pancake Breakfast – City Park Parking Lot / 7:00 am – 11:00 am - Pancakes! Yum!
Bud Light Wheels of Time Car Show – Alabama Park Parking Lot / 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
SPCA Pet Parade – Depot Museum Parking Lot / 10:00 am
101.7 The Storm Theatre Courtyard Stage – DeKalb Theatre Courtyard / 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Southern Vogue
Mike Cooley
Terry Hutcheson
D-C Gas Barbecue Bash – Alabama Park / 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
WQSB Alabama Park Stage – 11:30 am – 3:30 pm
Rock Candy Band
Gildan City Park Art Show - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Lisa Opielinski - Lisa O., Artist
Jimmy Frazier
Frederic Payet - Payet Art
Athlone Clarke - About Athlone
Fleetwood Covington - Fleetwood Covington
Kenny “The Tin Man” Hoff - The Tin Man Art
Lydia Randolph - Lydia Randolph
Andrei Palmer - Andrei's Artistic Automobiles
Will Henry Cobble - Will Henry Cobble
Katie Bird Cobble - Katie Bird Cobble
Gee’s Bend Quilters - Quilts of Gee's Bend
Mae Gray - Mae Gray Pottery
Mike Miller
Randy Cochran - Wood Studio
Robert Frito Seven - Robert Frito Seven
Cal Breed - Orbix Hot Glass
Walter Howell - Walter Howell
Terry Hale - Hale Fire Glass
Kimberly Dawn Clayton - Kimberly Dawn Clayton
Lenton Williams - Lenton Williams
Mighty Fine Art Assault Team - Tommy Moorehead
Charles McFarland - Art Sculptures By Charles
Verizon Wireless City Park Stage – City Park - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Dean Mitchell
Daddy Grant & the Williams Brothers
Un-reconstructed - Un-Reconstructed
Smoky Greenwell & Mark Penton
Pierce Pettis & Grace Pettis - Pierce Pettis & Grace Pettis
Sacred Harp Singers - Sacred Harp Singers
The New Binkley Brothers
Depot Museum Exhibits - 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Hosiery Museum Exhibits - 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Landmarks of DeKalb Book Sale – Hosiery Museum / 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Quilt Exhibit – Richard C. Hunt Hall / 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Devan Lowe Downtown Stage – 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Asbury Methodist Praise Band
Stranded
Dewey Wayne - Dewey Wayne
SuperSkunk
J.M. Van Eaton & The Rockin’ Sunabillys - J.M. Van Eaton
Johnny Neel & Criminal Element - Johnny Neel & Criminal Element
Blackberry Smoke
Holiday Inn Express Children’s Activity Center – City Park / 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
WFPA Food Court - 4th St. NE Parking Lot / 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
WoodMasters Opera Block Stage – Gault Ave. @ 5th St. NE / 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
The New Binkley Brothers
Terry Hutcheson
Mike Cooley
Fleetwood Covington
Kyle Langley
Corvette Show – Gault Ave. @ 3rd St. NE / 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Westmoreland Tire Carriage Rides - Downtown District / 12:00 noon - 6:00 pm
FPFD Fire Simulator / Ladder Truck - 400 Block / 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Pap Baxter Heritage Gospel Singing – Opera House / 6:00 pm
Fort Payne Cinemas Rock & Roll Show - DeKalb Theatre / 8:30 pm
The Handlers
Anders Osborne

Governors Conference on Tourism by John Dersham

Governors Conference on Tourism

Last week I attended the 40th Annual Governors Conference. This year it was at the Renaissance Hotel in Montgomery. Every year the Alabama Travel Council Inc. and the Alabama Department of Tourism host this great annual event. Attendees represent individuals whom make their living in the tourism industry throughout our state.
The primary function is to learn what is going on in our industry, nationally and in Alabama. We have guest speakers from all over the US who teach us the latest in tourism marketing and advertising. We get updates on how each area of Alabama is doing this year. We get to network with others and get great ideas to bring home with us. Some of our guest speakers this year were:

* Roger Dow-President of U.S Travel Association- Roger is the official face of tourism for the U.S. He can be seen regularly on network and cable news.
*Lee Sentell- State Director of Tourism and Travel - Lee unveiled the marketing and advertising plan for 2011 with a recap of this year. Lee and the Alabama Department of Tourism have won multiple prestigious nationwide tourism awards for their “Year of“ programs such as: Year of Small Towns and Downtowns (this year), Year of Alabama History, and Year of Alabama Arts. There have been eight such themed “Year of” programs all focusing on one aspect of our great state. Next year will be the Year of Alabama Music.
* David Bronner - CEO Retirement Systems of Alabama and the owner of Renaissance Hotels, Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail and 46 television stations in 13 states.
*Legislative Update with Representatives Craig Ford, David Grimes, Johnny Mack Morrow, Cam Ward, Richard Lindsey and Senators Lowell Barron, Wendell Mitchell and Del Marsh. Each Legislator updated us on issues and legislation concerning tourism related subjects. The primary legislative issues tourism is interested in are; Later School Start Date and regulated, taxed Gambling. Passage of each would generate more tourism to Alabama and more money to the general fund of Alabama which helps support education.
*Roger Brooks-CEO of Destination Development International - Roger is a leader in developing long term branding for tourist destinations.

In addition to a great three days of continuing education concerning important tourism topics, we had our two gubernatorial candidates speak to us. Dr. Robert Bentley and Ron Sparks took the stage to tell us their platforms and to comment on their position in tourism related legislation. They both agreed that tourism is crucial to the income of Alabama and critical to the state’s general fund. Tourism is the state’s largest employer with nearly 168,000 jobs. Last year tourism brought 9.3 billion dollars in spending to Alabama.

Yard Sale Travelers Love DeKalb County by John Dersham

Last Thursday and Friday I spent most of each day at The World’s Longest Yard Sale. In the last couple years we have been talking to yard sale customers finding out where they are from, how far they are going in the yard sale and why they picked our portion of it. In doing this we learn a lot about our area. We also get the opportunity to give people our travel brochures and tell them all the things we have to do and see in DeKalb County. We invite them to make DeKalb County an overnight stay on their journey and encourage them to come back for a vacation.

This year I talked to people from Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Ohio, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky and of course Alabama. In my rather informal count of out of state plates I found in my couple days we seemed to have the most traffic from Georgia, Florida and Mississippi. I think many people coming up from the gulf start in our area since it is near the beginning entry of the yard sale. The DeKalb County Tourist Association is a key contact for the World’s Longest Yard Sale. Our website is linked to the WLYS and our phone number is given out as a source of information. Due to our high number of calls we get the opportunity to encourage our callers to visit our area for the yard sale. We tell them that we have a lot of yard sale vendors to visit but they also have a scenic venue to enjoy. We explain how the yard sale runs along the 93 mile Lookout Mountain Parkway, passing by Little River Canyon National preserve, DeSoto State Park, waterfalls and Mentone. We tell them about our nearly 150 rental cabins and 9 B&B’s. We tell them about Fort Payne, our hotels and restaurants, shopping, parks and museums.

In speaking with yard sale visitors I found some common reasons they landed in our area. Here are some of the reoccuring responses; scenic beauty, lots of vendors, no big cites with high traffic, lots of places to eat and spend the night. Some other comments came from people who make a vacation out of the yard sale. They have family or friends with them and they enjoy the leisure aspects of our area, such as hiking at DeSoto, taking the Little River Canyon rim drive, stopping at the water falls or milling around Mentone. Several stated they had been to various parts of the yard sale in the past, but were returning here because they like our section the most.

I feel DeKalb County is the ideal setting to combine shopping with vacationing. This is a theme we are trying to promote at the Tourist Information Center. We feel the language of yard sale combined with leisure travel fun, attract people to our area.

The WLYS is big business for DeKalb County. It fills our lodging facilities and restaurants. It brings unusually high sales to our area mini-markets and gas stations. Tourism is clean money that brings great amount of revenue to our county without high costs. Our visitors come and they spend money and add valuable revenue to our County and to our communities without the high cost of providing city and county services. Tourism usually brings quality people with good expendable income. We rarely have tourists committing crime in our area. The yard sale is big business and is very important to our local economy each year.

Collinsville Trade Day by John Dersham

It seems most everyone loves to mill around looking for a particular item they need or want to have. In just a couple weeks thousands of people from all over the USA will descend upon our area for the World’s Longest Yard sale. For us living here in DeKalb County we have something equivalent every week of the year. Every Saturday morning 52 weeks a year from daylight till noon you can shop for your treasures.
Collinsville Trade Day is an entertainment format of its own. People of all ages will find something there to occupy their time. My family loves to go to trade days. My wife, my daughter and granddaughters love the animals. It’s like a petting zoo with everything for sale. There are miniature horses, goats, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, pigs and more dogs and cats of every breed than you can imagine. For the animal lovers there are also the suppliers of cages, leashes, collars, dog clothing and maintenance items. The men in my family usually separate from the women at some point so we can concentrate on our “stuff”. First there is hardware and lots of it. If it’s a tool you will find it there. I like coins. There are a number of coin sellers there every week. The same is true for knives, sports cards and other collectibles. If you want fresh vegetables then you’ve come to the right place. If you like gardening, trees and shrubs you’ll find multiple vendors selling plants. You will find hand made arts and crafts, furniture, antiques, clothing, cosmetics, toys, cd’s, household décor, and several places to buy food and drinks while you are there. If you liked boiled peanuts you have come to the right place. Do you need fishing or hunting gear then Trade Day is the place.

Collinsville Trade Day is more than just one of the largest outdoor markets in the south; it is an experience all in its own. Even if I had nothing in particular I was interested in looking at, just watching the people scurrying around having a great time is well worth the trip. All age groups are well represented and with that come a great diversity of interests.

Collinsville Trade Day is truly a DeKalb County Icon. It is very special. It is not just another flea market or outdoor market, it is an entertainment experience. It is located just south of downtown Collinsville on H-11. The property is appealing adding to the overall experience. It is a rural setting with a great view of Lookout Mountain just to the east.
If you haven’t been or haven’t been lately I recommend the trip. It will be well worth it and may start a habit. For more information visit www.collinsvilletradeday.com or call 866-262-2127.

Traveling the USA on a Photo Trip by John Dersham

Last week I spent the entire week on a photo excursion through seven states. Over the last forty years I have taken trips like this nationwide. In doing so, I have gotten a very intimate look at our wonderful country from coast to coast. I usually travel the back roads using interstates only to pass through sections I was not planning to photograph on the current trip. Most of my images are subjects I find as I travel. I shoot the “Americana” landscape and town views and not so much of the well known attractions or destinations. The work I like to do is spontaneous to the moment, determined much by the look of the moment. The quality of light plays a big role in whether I will shoot a particular scene. Some scenes I really like but the lighting is not suitable at the time. In those cases I make a note of the location, the time of day the light will be better and hope to return one day to take the picture. The photography I pursue requires quite a bit of preparation. I shoot large format sheets of film in a camera that requires a tripod for use. The sheets of film have to be loaded in a darkroom. When I travel I have to stay in motels/hotels where I can make the bathroom totally dark to reload. The camera takes a film holder which holds two sheets of film. I carry twenty-five film holders. This gives me fifty pictures before I have to re-load the holders. It takes about 10 minutes to set up the camera, adjust the movements of the camera for correction of distortion, figure exposure and focus. This type of camera is totally manual. The sheets of film I use are 4x5 inches. Because of the size of the negative and the high resolution of the lenses, my images equate to 400 million megapixels in digital terms. I process the film and print the film in my darkroom. Once the film is scanned on a high resolution scanner then my image is digital and I can do anything with it just as if I started with a digital camera. The reason for using large format film to begin with is the unbelievable difference in quality from the standpoint of resolution, tonality, and contrast. Film contains subtle differences in color, contrast and overall tonality not possible in digital. Film contains 32,000 variations of tone, contrast and color where digital is capped at 1,000. This is why most movies are still shot on film and then scanned to digital. The subtle nuances are important to the film maker and to fine art photographers, such as me.
On this trip I visited Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. I took two lane roads through the mountains and small towns. Everywhere I went I met friendly people whom stop to see what I am doing. Not many people these days see someone along the road with their head under a black focusing cloth looking like its still the Civil War era. Most people think my equipment must be antique but actually my equipment is still currently available gear. There are many photographers using the same kind of equipment professionally or for their art. To see my work visit www.johndersham.com