All in a Day’s Drive-Fall Foliage Package for Holiday Inn Express

Take a scenic drive that showcases the beauty of Lookout Mountain all adorned in its beautiful array of fall colors. As an afternoon scenic drive beckons you along the Lookout Mountain Parkway, through Desoto State Park and Little River Canyon National Preserve and across Sand Mountain to DeKalb County Public Fishing Lake, High Falls Park and Buck's Pocket State Park, enjoy the brilliant colors from sugar maples, scarlet oaks, hickories, red maples, and sweetgums. Accommodations are provided by the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Fort Payne and will include a full hot breakfast, snacks and bottled water, and dinner for two at Golden Rule in Fort Payne (two entrees and drinks).
Packages start at $ 139.99 (for a standard room) Code IJHD1- Call (256) 997-1020 for reservations or visit our website at hiexpress.com/ftpayneal. Blackout dates apply.

News Flash! Sequoyah Caverns #1 on Trip Advisor

As everyone knows social media is one of the biggest things going right now in promoting tourism.
We are very excited to announce that Sequoyah Caverns is currently the #1 ranked attraction out of 245 in the state of Alabama on Trip Advisor.
Consumers rank their experiences at attractions, lodging restaurants and other tourist related venues. Each location will have an average score based on all the input they have received. Travelers rank their experiences 1-5. There are requirements for number of inputs in order to have fair averages.

Congratulations to Roy Jones and all the people at Sequoyah Caverns in Valley Head-DeKalb County Alabama for holding the number one position.

A Great New Agri-Tourism Attraction is Coming to DeKalb County by John Dersham

Two weeks ago I attended the ground breaking of the new Agri-Center of Rainsville. The ground breaking was well attended. Reports said there were more than 200 people present for the event. The Agri-Center has been in the planning stages for eight years. Carey Baker (Chairman of the Agri-Center Board) and the Agri-Center board members have been diligent planners for this complex. They have all worked very hard together with the community to get the funding required to have a state of the art facility that will be a first class facility and the very best Agri-Center in our region.
The Agri-Center is slated to be open by November of next year, with a projected economic impact of $8mil the first operating year and the potential of doubling the second year. Carey and the Board are intending to hire a professional facility manager with experience in booking major events at large facilities. The search for this professional will begin soon. This facility will function as a regional Agri-Center and will draw attendees from all over Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi, with some events reaching further.
The Agri-Center of Rainsville is a 43 acre development consisting of a 17,000 square foot Community Affairs building, a 71,300 square foot arena seating 3,800 for performance events with additional seating to 5,400 for concerts. There will be 208 covered stalls with all the amenities, a 25,000 sq. ft. warm up pavilion, a picnic area, a two acre lake with a fountain and a RV campground. The arena is heated and cooled and will be equipped with high versatility lighting and electrical needs to accommodate the most sophisticated concert or arena event.
Some of the events the Agri-Center will be seeking are as follows; concerts, trade shows, motocross, ATV, horse shows, tractor and truck pulls, monster truck shows, bull shows, Rodeo’s, circus, Television tapings, dog shows, flower shows and the list is endless. The arena floor is 150’ by 250’ with a 40’ high ceiling. The seating capacity and arena size enable this facility to host an extremely large range of major events.
The DeKalb County Tourist Association is looking forward to the Agri-Center becoming a major tourist draw to DeKalb County.

Ider Mule Day John Dersham

Every Labor Day for more then 100 years Ider has held Mule Days. In the early years Mule Day was a time for farmers to come to show off their mules and to buy, sell trade and barter their animals. Much of DeKalb County’s rich agricultural past is anchored in the hard work and labor of a mule or a team of mules.
Ider Mule Days is now a very successful highly visited festival in celebration of Ider and Sand Mountains rich agricultural traditions. Every year I and family go to Mule Day. We love it. Mule Day is a delightful mix of traditional Agricultural related events like, horse, mule, donkey and miniature horse shows and competitions, horse and mule pulls, a tractor show and carriage rides. Mule Day is still a day to buy, sell, trade and barter your animals. In addition to the traditional aspects of Ider Mule Day there is an antique and collector car show, arts and crafts, food and music, kiddie games and rides, including pony rides.
Mule Day begins every Labor Day with a grand parade which brings in the animals and owners into the Ider City Park. The parade begins with local fire and police vehicles, the Ider marching band, area elected officials, local civic organizations, antique cars, horse and mule drawn carriages and individual riders of horses, mules , kids on miniature horses and even Uncle Sam was there in his classic horse drawn carriage.
Ider Mule Day is a very well attended that is well planned and is always a pleasure for people of all ages. Mule Day was wonderful this year, the weather was perfect and there were plenty of events and things to do that fill the entire day.