We Sure Live in a Wonderful Town by John Dersham

It is a great pleasure for me to help promote our wonderful city. Anyone who visited Boom Days Heritage Celebration on Saturday would have to feel good about what they saw. The weather was perfect, the streets were filled with smiling faces, people meeting friends…laughing and sharing in a great day of entertainment against an extremely scenic backdrop.
I am thrilled with the work of Mayor Jordan and our City Council and all city employees and volunteer participants that have made our downtown area a show place. The restoration of the Iron and Coal Building is well underway and all the new windows and doors, along with the new sidewalk and fence were done for us just before Boom Days. Mayor Jordan along with lots of help from Johnny Eberhart in planning and execution along with wonderful carpentry and construction work by Tony Keef and his team are making our “Boom Days” heritage new again. The restoration of the “Opera Block” and currently the Iron and Coal building has come from grant monies achieved through historic building preservation grants. The city qualified for these grants which require the restoration to mimic the original 1889 construction as closely as possible. The city used a number of resources including some architectural professionals who helped review the building and helped uncover changes that were made over its 121 year history. This would enable restoration to look like the original construction. The city also used original Boom Days pictures of the building to help bring it back to the original appearance. If you were at Boom Days you saw the new windows and doors which are exact duplicates (in appearance) of the 1889 construction. The windows and doors were crafted in Alabama. As much work as possible has been as local as possible.
It was such a pleasure for me and my family to spend the day on Saturday walking around our beautiful town. My son was here from Nashville for Boom Days. It was his first visit to our Boom Days Heritage Celebration and he was impressed. He loved the music, the arts and crafts, the people, the weather and the layout of the festival and the whole theme of it. He commented on the cleanliness of the town and was impressed by the dedication to the downtown park system with our City Park, Alabama Walking Park, the idea of the new pavilion and the blending of the original 1889 Boom Days architecture into downtown. He liked the fountain in the park, the old Boom Days brick used in the making of the fence at City Park and The Depot Museum. As a tourist here, he was impressed.
We really do have a town to be proud of. Hats off to Mayor Jordan, the city council, Greg Conkle and the Parks and Recreation team and all the city employees and volunteers from Landmarks and others who have dedicated themselves to keeping Fort Payne a “one of a kind city” in Alabama.
The one comment I hear most from our out of town guest s and the one that makes me proudest is our people. I hear this comment everyday in my job and I witness it every day personally. We are the friendliest people and we provide the best customer service, anywhere and all with a smile.
I am proud to call Fort Payne my home.