THREE UNIQUE EVENTS IN OCTOBER BRING COLORFUL FUN IN NORTHEASTERN ALABAMA

Fort Payne, Ala. – With the arrival of autumn and its beautiful display of colors, a visit to Lookout Mountain in the northeastern corner of Alabama in October proves to be just as colorful as it is fun. Three unique events --a new Christian worship event, a Little River Canyon celebration, and a two-day arts and crafts festival-- attract thousands of visitors high atop Lookout Mountain for free family fun at a time when Nature is preparing for a spectacular fall season.  

A new 72-hour outreach and worship event is set for October 10-13, 2013 on Lookout Mountain. The Courage is a free worship concert featuring dozens of Christian bands, solo artists, and speakers. During daylight hours, there will be organized community service groups going out at each hour for volunteers to participate in with worship time continuing throughout the day and night. Over 30 bands are slated to perform including For His Reward, Bay of Believers, Matt Stinton, David Walker, Unspoken, Big Daddy Weave, Against the Downpour, Bread of Stone, Leeland, Shane and Shane, Chris August, John Tibbs, The Ember Days, McKenzie Lockhart, Noah Cleveland, Joe Guerra, and Derek Johnson.

According to event organizers, the event was established to serve the people of DeKalb County who are in need. DeKalb County saw the highest death toll in Alabama during the massive tornado outbreak in April 2011, and today, many are still recovering emotionally, physically, and spiritually. The three-day event starts at noon on October 10 and lasts until noon on Sunday, October 13 and will be held at Twilley Fields Event Grounds located at 13675 Alabama Highway 176, less than two miles outside of Little River Canyon National Preserve in Fort Payne. Admission is free but a ticket is required for entry and may be downloaded from www.thecourage.org. 

Visitors will make their way to the Little River Canyon on the second Saturday for a day of guided hikes, music, food, and more. Set for October 12, 2013, Rendezvous at the Rim and Half Marathon celebrates the arrival of autumn in the Little River Canyon offering a day of guided hikes, live music, and other fun centered on nature. Runners will take to the streets beginning at 8 a.m. for the Little River Canyon Half Marathon, possibly one of the most scenic half marathons in the country. The certified course loops 13.1 miles on paved roads, starting and ending at the Little River Canyon Center. Proceeds benefit outdoor education programs and local conservation efforts. Registration is available online at www.active.com.

At 8:30 a.m., Rendezvous at the Rim gets underway with Growl Prowl where children are led on an interactive hike with a naturalist. As they encounter animal clues along the trail, the children become different animals following the leader in animated motions, such as hopping like a rabbit, leaping like a frog, and buzzing like a bee.

Throughout the day, a variety of activities will keep festivalgoers busy and entertained. Bring your camera and join DeKalb Tourism Director and former Kodak executive John Dersham for a photography improvement hike. All ages are invited to participate. Festivalgoers can participate in a tree, wildflower and geology identification hike or learn about the history of the Little River Canyon from Park Ranger Larry Beane and the DeKalb Historical Society.

Children will also want to check out Critter Tales, a hand-on program about animals including live snakes led by Jacksonville State University Field Schools Assistant Director Renee Morrison, and there will be a Un-natural Trail Hike where children can practice their observation skills by looking for items along the trail that do not belong there.

Additional activities include live music, natural history hikes, nature art, a bug safari and fly fishing and rock climbing demonstrations and there will be plenty of concessions for breakfast and lunch. The event wraps up at 3 p.m. Admission is free.

The town of Mentone welcomes autumn and its colorful display with a two-day celebration. Sponsored by the Mentone Area Preservation Association, Colorfest is set for October 19 and 20, and this year’s event introduces two new fun events – A 5K Color Run and Scarecrow Holler, a scarecrow-building contest and display.

On Saturday morning, gates open at 9 a.m. to a beautiful display of arts and crafts from over 70 premier artists and craftsmen in Mentone Brow Park with breathtaking autumn views in the background. Swing by Mason Park to admire Scarecrow Holler and vote for your favorite handmade scarecrow and be sure to visit the Children’s Farm Fair across the street from Mason Park for pony rides, crafts for the kids, pumpkin painting and other family-friendly activities. Saturday night at 6 p.m., festivalgoers will not want to miss the pig roast and live music hosted by Wildflower Café. The Farm to Table Pig Roast will feature Birmingham chef James Lewis who was named one of America’s best new chefs of 2011 by Food & Wine and a James Beard Foundation 2013 finalist for best chef in the South region. Mountain Song Farms, a local farmer of woodland raised heritage breed hogs, pastured chickens and mixed pesticide free produce, will provide the pig and fresh vegetables.

Rise early Sunday morning for the Color Craze 5K Run at 8am before heading back to the festival when gates open at 11am. Throughout the weekend, a steady stream of music from talented local musicians featuring the "Sounds of Mentone" can be heard in the Brow Park pavilion.

On Friday night beginning at 5 p.m. (and until supplies last), One world Adventure Company will host a Fish Fry at the Mentone Inn Pavilion. For a $10 donation, get a taste of some of the best hand breaded fish along with homemade hushpuppies, slaw, dessert, and drink. Following dinner, enjoy live bluegrass and folk rock music by The Gypsy Begonias at 8 p.m. in Mentone Square.

Brow Park is located off of Alabama Highway 117, north at the caution light in Mentone. All activities are held rain or shine and festivalgoers are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and picnic blankets. Admission is free.

For more information on Rendezvous at the Rim and Colorfest or on additional things to do in and around DeKalb County, contact DeKalb Tourism at 888.805.4740 or visit www.DiscoverLookoutMountain.com.   

Fall in Northeast Alabama by John Dersham

Pretty soon our good friend October will arrive. Just like every year she will bring her magical weather wand and a full palette of gorgeous shades of yellow, orange, red, crimson and plum. She will whisk away the heat and humidity of summer and bring us bright blue skies and clear air so we can see forever across a canvas of mountains, hills and valleys all in fall splendor. We love our area in the fall. We brag about our beauty and our great fall colors and we should because it is not just us locals that say this about us, it is our visitors too. Every fall people from all over the Deep South migrate north to see our fall foliage. Many of our fall visitors live in Birmingham and further south in Alabama, they live along the Gulf Coast or coastal plains in Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and Florida. We represent the closest area for them to travel that has fall colors equal to anywhere further north of us. Our cooler temperatures and hardwood forests are the reason. The coast and coastal plains don’t have as defined of seasonal changes and they don’t have the trees like the Maples, Dogwoods, Black Gums, Sweet Gums, White, Red and Scarlet Oaks that give us the rich diverse color palette we see here in Northeast Alabama. For the same reasons we don’t see as many visitors from areas north of us especially if they live in the mountains. They already have the same features where they live. We are fortunate to be located where most everyone living more than 50 miles south of us would find our area to be distinctly more scenic in the fall than where they live. Fall is our second largest tourist time, just behind June and July.

We have a lot for visitors to do here in the fall, in addition to the scenic value and usually great weather we have festivals, like Fort Payne Boom Days, the VFW DeKalb County Fair, Mentone Colorfest, Collinsville Turkey Trot, Rendezvous at the Rim and Canyon Fest at the JSU Canyon Center and Little River Canyon N.P. and lots of local events with an outdoor setting. It is a great time for those of us that live here to get out for a daycation in one of the prettiest, friendliest places you’ll ever find.

For more information about upcoming fall events in DeKalb County visit our website at www.NorthAlabamaFestivals.com or call us at 256-845-3957.

Ider Mule Day by John Dersham

This Monday the town of Ider will celebrate its 27^th annual Mule Day. This fantastic event has suffered from downpours over the last two years which is unusual for the Labor Day event which is typically a sunnier dryer time of year.

My family and I try to go every year. Mule Day is one of our favorite family days together each year. We always get there in time for the parade that begins at 9:30 AM. This parade is filled with rural Americans finest visual attractions such as horseback riders, ponies, hay wagons, horse drawn carriages, mules, tractors, antique automobiles, elected officials, fire departments, police departments, local school marching  bands and all the other colorful things that are working their way to the park for a great day of wonderful family oriented events.

Our family loves the look and feel of rural America. I guess that is why we city folk moved to the top of Lookout Mountain on a farm. We love all the animals at Mule Day and the events that go with it like the Mule Pull and Draft Horse Pull. It is amazing to witness the strength and drive of these very large animals. There will be a big crowd at the horse arena cheering for their favorite horse and mule. As you walk around the park you will see people brushing and washing their horses, ponies and mules. There are competitions for each category. You can hitch a ride on a horse pulled carriage and enjoy a ride more similar to 100 years ago. For the kids there are pony rides, miniature train rides,  inflatable’s for jumping or getting lost in brightly colored plastic balls. This event has something for everyone in the family. You will find antique cars and tractors, arts and crafts, live music and food and drink all taking place in Ider City Park. This is an event you will not want to miss and it makes a fantastic way to spend you Labor Day holiday.

Drive-Ins…An American Tradition by Kayla Worthey

Drive-ins have been described as “the essence of American Culture”, “part of an American tradition”, “a great way to spend time with family”, and “a real piece of history”. There is nothing quite like the experience of a drive-in.  Unfortunately, for many that experience is being threatened by the movie industries switch from film to digital projectors. At the end of 2013, 35mm movie reels will no longer be available to theaters and only digital files will be distributed. 
There are currently 368 Drive-ins left in the United States. The majority of them still need to make the change to digital. They are facing the largest challenge that Drive-ins have ever had to face and that is converting to digital projection. Theaters that don’t have a digital projector by the end of the year, like Henagar Drive-In, will no longer be able to show movies, thus forcing them the majority of them to close. It costs an average of somewhere around $75,000 to make the upgrade to digital or face going dark.

Honda “wants to preserve this iconic part of American car culture” and is helping drive-ins like Henagar Drive-In, by donating 5 digital projectors to be given away by Project Drive-In.  Out of the sixty drive-ins that were chosen by Honda and Project Drive-In from all over the United States, Henagar Drive-In Theater is the ONLY theater in the State of Alabama. Your vote decides where the 5 projectors go and Henagar Drive-In needs your help. They are asking Alabama to vote and help keep them open.

This is a partnership between Honda, Drive-ins across America and you! You can help in a number of ways by doing any or all of the following:

HELP spread the word. Share information about Henagar Drive-In and Project Drive-In with your friends by word of mouth, email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

CONTRIBUTE to help all drive-ins across America by making a donation directly to Project Drive-In where all proceeds go to help purchase more projectors.

PLEDGE to visit a drive-in located near you to help keep this American tradition alive.

VOTE for Henagar Drive-In Theater online at projectdrivein.com/vote_46 and again by texting Vote46 to 444999. You can vote both ways every day until September 9, 2013.

To learn more about Project Drive-In, visit ProjectDriveIn.com

Sequoyah Caverns and Ellis Homestead by John Dersham

By now most of you have heard that Sequoyah Caverns will be closing on September 3^rd. If you have not visited Sequoyah Caverns and Ellis Homestead now is the time to do it and if you have been it is a good time to visit again before they close.

This location, the cave, the land and the entire setting is, one of a kind. Nestled in the valley and running up Sand Mountain is this picture perfect location. With 1,000 acres or so you will get an uninterrupted scenic view as you approach Sequoyah Caverns from highway 11 north of Hammondville and South of Sulfur Springs. The owners John and Roy Jones have been long term leaders in promoting tourism in our area. They have been members of North Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association and of Dekalb Tourism. Roy has been President of our DeKalb Tourism Board twice in the six years I have been Executive Director. I credit Roy as the reason I was able to get an interview for this job. When I applied for the position I responded to an ad in the paper. I was to send my resume to one of our email addresses that is generic with no person’s name. Since I did not have a hospitality and tourism background I feared my resume would be ignored. The ad asked for 5 years of experience in the industry of which I did not have but I had a 30 year management background with Eastman Kodak and almost all the remaining criteria in the ad seemed to fit perfectly. I started calling friends around town to find who was on the tourism board so I could call and introduce myself. After a couple of phone calls the name Roy Jones came up. My friend volunteered to give Roy a call and give me an introduction and find out if I could give him a call. I called Roy later that day and I explained how I felt my background at Kodak and my passion for our area fit what they were looking for. I told Roy that after 30 years of Kodak moving us to various locations around the country my wife Kyle and I selected this area on our own because we had been coming here on vacation and loved the area. I mailed Roy my resume with a cover letter and he later arranged for me to interview with himself and the entire tourism board. The board agreed to make me an offer and the rest is history.

In addition to the cave the Jones have Jones Farm which produces some of the best and most naturally grown strawberries you will ever taste. The farm and the production of vegetables will continue.

The history of Sequoyah Caverns and Ellis Homestead is a wonderful story. They have made a valuable contribution to the history of DeKalb County and have left an indelible mark on the history of tourism to our entire region. The cave and property have been in the Jones family since 1841 with the cave having opened to the public in 1964. Prior to that the cave was visited by private groups or individuals on a requested basis. It used to require climbing a ladder to get into the cave until the current entrance was built prior to the public opening in 1964. For more information about Sequoyah Caverns, its hours of operation and history visit www.sequoyahcaverns.com