106th Annual DeKalb County Fiddlers’ Convention by John Dersham

You don’t want to miss a fantastic day of classic ole time Fiddle music. The event is the 106^th Anniversary of the DeKalb County Fiddlers’ Convention held tomorrow at the Rotary Pavilion in historic downtown Fort Payne at 202 5^th Street N.E. For only $10.00 (children under 10 are free) you get an entire day of the best ole time Bluegrass Fiddle, Dobro, Mandolin, Guitar and Upright Bass music you will ever hear.  The artists will be competing for 1st and 2^nd place in each category. Over $4,500 in cash prizes and trophies will be awarded with proceeds to support the Big Wills Arts Council and the Forty Payne City Schools Arts in Education program for 2014-2015.

The event begins with an onsite registration for artists at 11:00 A.M.,  the music will begin  at 12 noon with the Dobro competition followed by P.W. Fiddler, Mandolin, O.T. Banjo, Jr. Fiddler, Guitar and at 4:30 P.M the incredible Leroy Troy takes to the stage. Leroy can be seen on RFD TV on the Marty Stuart Show . The competition begins again at  6:00 P.M.  with the Upright Bass then B.G. Banjo followed by  Sr. Fiddler, B.G. Band and the O.T. Band will end the completion starting at 9:45 P.M. Needless to say this is a major event and you will not be disappointed.

This year at the Fiddlers’ Convention Mr. Marvin Downer will be awarded the Roland Walls Lifetime Achievement Award

Here is some information from event planner Russell l Gulley about the award.

Fort Payne: Roland Walls was more than the morning man at WZOB radio, he belonged to all of DeKalb County, had a heart of gold and a wonderful humor and wit. Roland served The DeKalb County Fiddlers Convention as host and M.C. since its revival in the 1990’s by the Big Wills Arts Council (BWAC) and continued to do so until his untimely death in 2011. He was a man that truly loved traditional music whether it is Southern Gospel or Ole’ Time Music and Bluegrass. He supported all of the BWAC efforts to preserve, present, and encourage an on-going participation in local heritage and traditions. It was in his memory that in 2011 the Big Wills Arts Council initiated The Roland Walls Lifetime Achievement Award with the first presentation to master fiddler, Mr. William E. “Gene” Ivey.

 The organizers of the DeKalb County Fiddlers Convention are proud to announce the recipient of this year’s award to be presented at the 106th Anniversary gathering set for June 7th, 2014. The recipient is Mr. Marvin Downer, lifelong resident of DeKalb County and master Bluegrass Musician known for his chart topping recordings with the Sand Mountain Playboys, and for leading his own group, Marvin Downer and the Bluegrass Four for over four decades. A multi-instrumentalist, Downer is best known for his first love, the mandolin, and has served as the inspiration and mentor to some of the area’s most successful musicians.

 Downer, who started performing in the 1950’s, entertained the troops while stationed in Korea with the 301st Signal Battalion and continues to perform today with some of the best musicians to come out of North East Alabama. “I wouldn’t be playing today if it weren’t for Marvin Downer” states master fiddler James Bryan, who studied at the age of 16 with Downer.

If you have not been to a concert at the new Rotary Pavilion you will love that too. The sound is good and the location is scenic in itself nestled at the foot of Lookout Mountain with the Alabama Walking trail next to it along with Fort Payne Depot Museum and Fort Payne City Park and the historic 1889 historic Opera block all in the same area.

I like to pass on a special thanks to Russell Gulley and the Bills Wills Arts Council for planning and hosting this great event each year. A lot of work all year long is put into making this annual event the very best in can be.

John Dersham

DeKalb Tourism Information Center and Destination Marketing by John Dersham

Sometimes when I am out and about town someone will ask me why we are not promoting an event they are involved in locally. There are two answers to this question. Let me give you a little background. DeKalb Tourism is a non profit organization founded in 1953 to inform visitors about things to do and see in DeKalb County. We are; via an act of state legislation the official Tourism Organization in the DeKalb County. We in essence operate two businesses. First we operate a 7-day a week Tourist Information Center at 1503 Glenn Blvd. S.W. here in Fort Payne. At this location locals and visitors come to get information and printed material about things to do and see in DeKalb. At this location we will promote any public event that we are asked to. Please remember if no one tells us the event is happening then we cannot advertise it for you. We depend on the event organizers to call us or bring us their event information and advertising information so we can put it on our digital marquee and on our calendar of events that is available on our website and our mobile website at www.tourdekalb.com. We also keep printed version of our calendar of events at our information center and we sent it via a mass email weekly. Call us to add your email to our list if you don’t receive it already at 256-845-3957. In addition we can hand out any printed material you have for your event and we can display a poster of your event on our advertising bulletin board. If you use Social Media to promote your event we will usually find it and share it on our social media accounts. The thing we cannot do for you is any kind of paid advertising.

The second part of our business is Destination Marketing.  We receive our income from a small portion of the lodging tax which is dedicated to the local tourism agency. We only get money when our visitors are here overnight at a hotel, B&B, cabin or campground. To attract overnight visitors we advertise on radio, TV, newspaper and magazine ads and we distribute our travel guides and printed material region wide via several companies that describe tourist information to hotels, attractions, restaurants and other various public locations. We attend out of town travel shows to promote DeKalb. When our visitors spend the night in DeKalb the tourism expenditures really help our cities, towns and county. Visitors buy their lodging, they eat out, they will buy gas and go to attractions and they will shop. This tax money fuels our economy. DeKalb Tourism has been successful enough that in ten years the lodging income and the dollars spent by tourist in DeKalb County have doubled. The largest portion of our lodging in DeKalb is collected in Fort Payne at exit 218 off I-59.

DeKalb Tourism does not buy paid advertising for local events unless it is an event that according to industry standards is likely to bring in overnight guests. For events like Boom Days Heritage Festival and Mentone Rhododendron Festival and Colorfest we have a budget to buy radio ads. These radio ads are heard across all of North Alabama, southern Tennessee and part of Georgia. We also have a printed guide we send to brochure racks across the state that has our county festivals on it. It is a misunderstanding by some event organizers, attractions or lodging facilities that we serve as an advertising agency for their individual business. This is not true. It is up to the individual event organizer, attraction or lodging facility to budget their outside advertising themselves. In the case of festivals the event organizers should actively seek free radio and TV interviews to promote their events and they should budget advertising money for printed ads and radio. DeKalb Tourism is often asked to be on TV or radio to promote things going on is our area and we do appear on TV fairly often but typically the radio and TV station in the case of an event likes to talk to the event organizers. The paid advertising DeKalb Tourism buys is all with the intent to lure visitors here by promoting the things our visitors are most likely to come here for which consist of leisurely scenic tourism with a low cost to visit, lots of scenic drives and hiking, waterfalls, cabins in the woods, B&B’s, campgrounds, state parks, Little River Canyon N.P., the Lookout Mountain Scenic Parkway, the quaint town of Mentone, Historic Fort Payne with wonderful lodging, restaurants, parks and museums. We do not name specific lodging, restaurants, cabins or local business but ask them to go to our website to plan where they want to stay, eat, visit etc.

We strongly urge you to call us if you have an event you would like listed on our marquee and added to our calendar of events.

Please visit our website or mobile site at www.tourdekalb.com to see all we have there or come in and see the wide variety of printed information at our Tourist Information Center.

Fort Payne Third Saturday Sunset by John Dersham

Fort Payne began its 3^rd season of Third Saturday Sunset events downtown last week. This is a really fun way to spend a Saturday evening. Gault Avenue is closed to traffic and downtown from 1^st Street to 5^th Street becomes a big walkway to stroll and enjoy an evening of entertainment, food, shopping and classic cars. It is here you will see many of your friends that you have not seen for awhile. Along the way you will hear great local entertainers. They are spaced at just the right distance apart so when you start getting too far away to hear one you begin hearing another. This means at almost all locations along your walk through downtown you can hear music. As you walk you will find a large collection of classic cars provided by local collectors and car enthusiasts. Gault Avenue was lined with cars, one after another on both sides of the street. Amelia Landstreet, whom heads up the Third Saturday planning committee, tells me there were approximately 240 classic cars at last Saturdays event. It was really a very impressive presentation of classic vehicles. In addition to Amelia Landstreet the other dedicated planners on the Third Saturday committee are Terry Locklear, Johnny Eberhart, Randall Ham, Steve Westmoreland and Chris Roberts. Third Saturday Sunset is held from April through October. The hours are 5-9 PM. At sunset on a nice evening the sunlight sets shining its sparkle across our beautiful historic downtown and lights up the side of Lookout Mountain with a beautiful warm glow. We are truly blessed with a very appealing downtown with our historic Boom Days architecture of the late 1880’s to the perfectly maintained City Parks all clustered in our historic district close to  the original, recently restored Iron & Coal/ Opera Block.  Just down the road is the Depot Museum, Alabama Walking Park and our new Rotary Pavilion, amphitheater. The whole time you are walking around downtown Lookout Mountain is standing there beside you, majestic and peaceful. There is a sense of being nestled at the foot of the mountain that gives Fort Payne another attribute to its already strong visual appeal as an all American downtown…quaint, friendly and steeped in good will, strong values and  a strong sense of community that is exhibited everywhere you look and to everyone you speak.

Many thanks to the Mayor and City Council and to the Third Saturday planning committee along with the downtown merchants who have done a great job hosting this event. The crowd estimated at 2,500 to 3,000 made for a very successful event. Also thanks to our Parks and Recreation Department for keeping our parks “picture perfect” and to the police and fire departments who protect our people and our assets.  

The next Third Saturday Sunset event is May 17. I hope to see you there.

Dreams of Spring by John Dersham

I stopped along the trail and placed an American Chestnut seeding on the ground to prepare for planting. Yes, I said American Chestnut. You are correct in thinking this was a near extinct tree. A blight in the early 1900’s killed off this giant American classic tree that covered most of the Appalachian Mountain areas, including ours. Yes there are still some around. They keep coming up from roots, they are small and when they get bigger the disease that killed them to begin with infects them again. So why am I talking about planting an American Chestnut seeding on my land on Lookout Mountain? The answer is that after years of research to find a way to re-establish this wonderful tree a hybrid between the American and Chinese Chestnut has been developed that is 94% the original tree and the 6% that is not is the part that makes the tree resistant against the infestations that killed them to begin with. All along the Appalachian Mountains there are organizations of tree and forest lovers committed to re-establishing this tree in quantity. The American Chestnut is not only a large and very beautiful tree, its lumber is a wonderful hardwood that was once a primary tree for the construction of homes, barns and furniture.

Over the years many tree species have been lost to disease or insect infestation. Many of them like the great American Elm have hybrids or variations of the same species that live today. Right now the Eastern Hemlock and native Dogwoods are under attack and mass efforts are in place to try and save them, either by treating them or finding prevention or cure for the disease.

As I walk through these beautiful hardwood forests of Lookout Mountain it feels good looking at our diverse plant cultures. We have an abundance of wonderful tree and shrub varieties to enjoy. Our area, being in climate zone seven, contributes to our diversity by allowing plant varieties to grow here that would normally be better associated with areas further south or further north.

 It is sort of mild day today, between cold fronts. It is wet and foggy out here but there is no day of the year these woodlands are not beautiful. I love hiking and seeing the changes occur almost daily as each fragment of each season has its own look and feel. You only know this if you look close and pay attention to nature. You have to watch closely to notice that even in the dead of winter the woodlands are alive and well and they are busy into their processes required to move into spring, and bloom and grow. There is nothing I like better than seeing the new birth of spring in the woodlands each year. My wife and I take daily hikes and often twice a day just to see this amazing re-birth as it moves full speed ahead into its annual growth cycle, then it slows down as summer evolves and gradually begins to retire for the season and go into another dormant stage to replenish itself to start is all over again.

Ski Bama! By Kayla Worthey

Well, the Arctic Blast has arrived with its bone chilling, frigid temperatures and while it didn’t bring a lot of the white stuff with it, the well below freezing temperatures were enough to make one local attraction very happy... and a lot of their customers too!  Cloudmont Ski Resort, the only ski slope in Alabama, has managed to cover a full 1000 foot slope that has an elevation of 1,800 feet and a vertical rise of 150 feet on one side and a teaching slope on the other with plenty of the white stuff.

Whether you are a “newbie”, which is a beginner, or a serious amateur, which is not a beginner, this is the place for you!  By offering rental equipment, such as skis, boots, poles and snow boards, expert guidance from their instructors, snacks, drinks and a cozy wood burning fire, Cloudmont shows off their accommodating southern hospitality.

Cloudmont is a great place to take the entire family. Thousands will come during the season at Cloudmont which usually lasts from sometime in December until the weather becomes too warm to make snow and keep it on the slopes. There have been some years that skiing has continued on into March and occasionally into April.

If you have never been skiing, now is the time to give it a try. Or if you haven’t been this year, it is a good time for you to give it a go!

Cloudmont is located on County Road 614 in Mentone. Their hours of operation are as follows: weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.; weekends and holidays are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Please call in advance to make reservations and check skiing conditions before you go. Also note that ski equipment can be reserved.

For more information call 256-634-4344 or go to www.cloudmont.com

An assortment of ski chalets, cabins, bed and breakfast inns, and hotels are available within a short drive to Cloudmont Ski Resort for those looking to stay overnight. For more information about local lodging, contact DeKalb Tourism at 888.805.4740 or visit www.DiscoverLookoutMountain.com.