Press Release

For Immediate Release

The Clay County Chamber of Commerce Office Moved to Downtown Lineville, Alabama

On Tuesday, June 22, 2010, the Clay County Chamber of Commerce held a conference at the Randolph Properties office across from the Historic Lineville Theater to make a special announcement.

The Chamber Board of Directors announced to officials present from the City of Ashland, City of Lineville and Clay County Commission that the Chamber is moving its office to the building owned by Randolph Properties located at 88855 Hwy 9, Lineville, AL 36266.

The Chamber’s previous office was located at the Clay County Farmer’s Market since 1991. Chamber Executive Director Mary Patchunka-Smith said “I’ve been with the Chamber for 3 plus years and one of the biggest projects we’ve been working on is to get our office out of the Farmer’s Market. We needed more room and better exposure The Farmer’s Market is not easy to find and some believe not very inviting for folks that are visiting our county or wanting to do business here. We have been seeking a new location for years and it did not matter to the Chamber Board which city we would locate a new office. Matt Hooton, owner of Randolph Properties, came through for us. He has agreed to lease the office for the next 3 years. The Chamber will only have to pay the utilities.”

Mary assured everyone that even though the Chamber Office will now be located in Lineville, Chamber business will still be conducted in the same manner it has always been. “We are here to help everyone in Ashland, Lineville and Clay County.” She continued, “The entire Chamber Board is so excited about having this beautiful office for the Clay County Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber would like to thank Matt Hooton for his generosity.”

The Chamber is now in the process of finding a location to open a satellite office in Ashland.

At the conference, Chamber President Kathy Pinkston spoke about the Chamber and the many projects it has been working on for Clay County. Pinkston announced that the Chamber membership has grown to 154 members, with members located from Gadsden, AL to St. Cloud, FL. She also reported the Chamber Website has continued to grow its visitor count and page views, month after month, and is currently receiving over 35,000 page views per month. Pinkston also announced The Alabama Birding Trails coming to Clay County with five different sites within the county: At each city park in Ashland and Lineville, the Watershed, Clay County Lake and Lake Chinabee.

One Chamber project in particular, The Clay County Life magazine which launched in April 2010 has been a huge success for Clay County and Chamber members. The 2010 Edition was the first Quality of Life magazine for Clay County.

Another project in the works is helping to bring Broadband Internet service to Clay County, which hopefully will be made possible through the joint efforts of the Chamber and the Clay County Commission.

For your convenience, the Clay County Chamber of Commerce has a brochure rack in the Clay County Court House in Ashland with brochures, maps, telephone books, the Clay County Life Magazine and more.

Lineville, Ashland and the Clay County Chamber are all on Facebook with Fan Pages. In addition, the Alabama Dept. of Tourism has assigned Mary as the Administrator of the City of Ashland and Lineville Facebook pages to continue to promote these beautiful and wonderful cities of Clay County to the millions who visit and use Facebook.

Reminder …. The Chamber Annual Meeting is scheduled for October 28th at 12:00 at Wellborn Cabinet, Inc. Training Facility located on Hwy 77 South of Ashland. Governor Bob Riley is the Guest Speaker.

Present at the meeting was: Clay County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mary Patchunka-Smith, Clay County Chamber Board of Directors President Kathy Pinkston, 1st Vice President Brad Strother, Secretary / Treasurer Jeanette Carroll, Billy Robertson, Mike Coleman and Baron Sandlin, City of Ashland Mayor Larry Fetner, City Council Member Becky Boddie, City of Lineville Mayor Roy Adamson City Council Members Carolyn Smith, David Proctor, Mamie Truman, Johnny Appleby and the Clay County Commissioner Chairmen Ricky Burney and Kevin Kiser.

The Clay County Arts League produces the Summer Sizzle in the Park Concert Series in July.  Every Thursday night in July, the Lineville Recreation Park Bandstand comes alive with musical sights and sounds. Free to the public.  Don’t miss these great summer events in Clay County, Alabama.

July 1:

Roger Hammett, Ryan Robertson and Friends. Patriotic music and a fireworks show will also be included in the night’s festivities.

July 8:

The Heritage Hall Jazz Band performing a variety of styles of music not just jazz.

July 15:

Clay County’s very own Shot Gun Gidden’s and the Master’s Clay Quartet with a very special guest National Recording Artist Marty Raybon formally of the Grammy award winning hit group Shenandoah.

July 22:

National Fiddle Champion Roy Crawford with the Cullman County Bluegrass Performers / Kevin Moon and the Outlaw Justice Band.

July 29:

Gospel under the stars with Hope’s Journey and friends

The Clay County Arts League meets the 2nd Monday of each month at 6:30 pm at the Ashland Water Department Office on Hwy 9, next to the Post Office.  The Clay County Arts League is open to ages 14 and up.  Membership fees are $25 for Adults and $15 for teens or 30 hours of community service.  Our organization coordinates many events which take place in the county.

We welcome you to join and look forward to seeing you soon.  Visit our website – click here.

The RE-GRAND OPENING of the MAPCO Mart in Ashland on the corner of Hwy 9 and Hwy 77 was held on Thursday, June 3rd at 3pm. Congratulations!

Some 30 towns across Alabama will be on display during Saturday mornings in June as part of the Alabama Tourism Department’s June Walking Tours.

A variety of community leaders will lead the free tours through the historic districts or courthouse square areas of their hometowns.  The hour-long tours will start at 10 a.m. on June 5, 12, 19, and 26.  The June Walking Tours are part of state tourism’s “Year of Alabama Small Towns and Downtowns” state-wide promotion.

Towns and starting places for the June Walking Tours are: Ashland, Ashland City Hall; Ashville, St. Clair Tourism Office; Athens, Limestone County Courthouse Annex Parking Lot; Atmore, Heritage Park; Birmingham, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute; Courtland, Park on the Square; Decatur, Delano Park Rose Garden; Demopolis, City Hall; Enterprise,  Rawls Hotel; Eufaula,  Chamber of Commerce Depot; Fairhope, Fairhope Welcome Center; Florence, various starting locations; Gadsden, City Hall Gazebo; Gordo,  Chamber of Commerce; Guntersville, Chamber of Commerce; Hartselle, Historic Depot; Hayneville, Lowndes County Courthouse; Homewood, City Hall.

Huntsville, Constitution Village (June 5 & 12 only); Madison, Madison Roundhouse (June 19 & 26 only); Monroeville, Old Courthouse Museum; Montevallo, Chamber of Commerce; Montgomery; Montgomery Visitor Center; Oak Hill, Bethel ARP Church; Prattville, Autauga County Heritage Center; Selma, Dallas County Public Library; Scottsboro, Jackson County Heritage Center; Sheffield,  Sheffield Municipal Building; Silas, Silas Community Center; Sylacauga, B.B. Comer Library; Thomasville, Thomasville Civic Center; Tuscumbia, ColdWater Bookstore; Tuskegee, Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multicultural Center; Wetumpka, Chamber of Commerce.

The tours are being coordinated by Brian Jones with the Alabama Tourism Department.  “Alabama is the only state in the nation to hold statewide, simultaneous walking tours.  The beauty of the June Walking Tours is that any community, whether big or small, can do this.  We have done more than 1,000 walking tours since the beginning of the program seven years ago and they keep increasing in popularity every year,” Jones said.

More information about the June Walking Tours is available by going online at www.alabama.travel or by calling 1-800-ALABAMA.

Dear Fellow Chamber of Commerce Executives and State Business Leaders:

As we write this to you, we are into the twenty-first day of dealing with one of the most important environmental and economic challenges that our area and our state have faced in many years.

On April 20th, an explosion and fire occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oildrilling platform approximately fifty miles into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. Tragically, eleven members of the rig’s crew were killed that night in the horrific accident.

The potential environmental impact of this accident is unprecedented and the economic challenges that it could bring to our area are equally enormous. Yet, we who live and work on the Gulf Coast have been confronted with and have successfully responded to difficult challenges before.

With your help and assistance, we will rise to this occasion, as well. No one knows when or if the oil that is leaking from the site of the undersea well will reach our Gulf Coast beaches and back bays. Clearly, the immediate need is to shut off the oil at the source, and we believe at this time that all that can be done is being done to achieve this critical objective. Currently, our beaches are clean and there is no clear evidence of oil or oil by-products reaching our shores.

Our local elected officials and business leaders have come together as a team like never before. They are working closely with Governor Bob Riley, members of his Cabinet, officials from the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to ensure that the public health is maintained and protected.

Massive amounts of work have been done to attempt to keep the oil off our beaches and out of sensitive areas such as Mobile Bay, while at the same time maintaining important economic engines such as the Port of Mobile and the Alabama State Docks that act as an essential economic artery for businesses throughout our state.

Our local and state officials are also working closely with our federal officials, including Congressman Jo Bonner and Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, to ensure that all available resources are brought to bear and provided to local and state responders.

Our greatest challenge, at this point, is the potential impact that this oil spill may have on our local economy and, potentially, on the economy of the state of Alabama. In Baldwin County, there are more than 40,500 tourism-related jobs with $2.3 billion in travel-related expenditures. In Mobile, there are more than 15,700 jobs with $820 million in travel-related expenditures.

We were poised for an excellent tourism season in 2010, with a potential increase in tourism activity, rental bookings and a resultant positive economic impact for our region and the state as a whole. Now, we are suffering from a large number of cancelled reservations and a general slowdown in our economy, just as the critical summer tourism season is set to begin.

Our local officials are working with Governor Riley, State of Alabama Tourism Department Director Lee Sentell, Gulf Shores Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Herb Malone, and others to develop an advertising campaign to help impress on our guests and visitors that our beaches are clean and that we are open for business.

There are several things you can do to help us. First, keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We know that Divine providence and intervention can give us strength, courage and wisdom to deal with all challenges in life, including these. Second, please let your business friends and colleagues know about the important role that our area plays in the vital tourism economy in our state. Tourism generates thousands of jobs throughout Alabama and billions of dollars in positive economic impact. Baldwin and Mobile counties account for over 35% of the overall tourism economy of our state.

Finally, and most importantly, come and visit! Encourage your friends, family and business colleagues to do the same. We need you to come here and enjoy our Gulf Coast now more than ever!

Our beaches are clean; the restaurants are open and packed with fresh seafood; local fishing guides are ready to hit the Gulf and back bays; the pools are sparkling, and the weather is sunny and warm. You won’t find friendlier faces or more gracious and appreciative hosts than you will at our Alabama Gulf Coast right now.

We say, “our Alabama Gulf Coast” for a reason. We are lucky to live down here, but the Alabama Gulf Coast belongs to all of us. It is a resource and a blessing that God has given every Alabamian. With your help and support, and with His guidance, we will get through this challenge and continue to be an economic resource and a source of pleasure and recreation for generations of Alabamians to come.

We thank you for your time and support. Please call on us if you have questions or suggestions on how we can work together to deal with these challenges.

Sincerely,

Linda Whitlock
President and CEO, Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce

Donna Watts
President and CEO, South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce

The 2010 Alabama Wholesale Market will be held July 11-12 at the Florence-Lauderdale Coliseum, located at 702 E. Veterans Drive, Florence.  This tradeshow features Alabama companies and their products exclusively and is a great opportunity to buy and sell homegrown food and goods.

Buyers and exhibitors can now register for the Alabama Wholesale Market online at www.AlabamaWholesaleMarket.com.

Alabama products that have been exhibited in the past include: gifts, jewelry, specialty apparel, pottery, decorative accessories, gourmet foods, garden accessories, personal accessories, art and framed art, linens, bath care products, aromatherapy products, candles, gourmet coffees and teas, children’s accessories, specialty furniture, store supplies such as gift wrap, spiritual products, services used by retailers or exhibitors and more.

For more information, contact Sherry Campbell at (256) 764-0044, or via email: scampbell@shoalsec.com

www.AlabamaWholesaleMarket.com

Sherry Campbell
Director
Shoals Culinary Center
610 W. College St.
Florence, AL 35630
256-764-0044 – Ph
256-764-5999 – Fax

Help Raise Awareness of Autism

2nd Event of our 1st Awareness of Autism Day

Bad weather on the original date so we’re doing it again.

May 8th at 10 am at the Ashland City Park. Live entertainment, vendors and children activities for $1 and under.

Everyone is invited to come out, and if you can sing for us let me know. Also we are accepting vendors for $15 for an informational, and $30 for a sales booth. If you bought a vendor spot and came out to April 24th event you may come back and set up for free. For more information please call Brady Pitts at 256.404.5662

The Clay County-based organization Citizens Protecting Constitutional Rights (CPCR) will hold its annual meeting and a political rally on Thursday 29 April at 6:00 P.M. at the Clay County Farmers Market.  After a brief business meeting and report on the status of the organization, there will be a political rally.  All candidates for county and area political offices have been contacted and invited to speak on their platforms.  Free hot dogs and soft drinks will be provided afterwards.  For more information, contact Rosemond Shannon at (205) 763-7280 or (256) 315-1123.