Even as City of Andalusia employees were hard at work starting to put away all of the pieces Candyland on the first work day of the new year Wednesday, members of the city council were talking with staff members about its success and how to make it better in 2019.
City employees and chamber officials will have a debriefing on Friday, Director of Planning Andy Wiggins said.
Mayor Earl Johnson said among the ideas already being discussed are adding another lane to the Polar Bear Slide, and potentially setting up a second skating venue for younger children.
“That way, you don’t have to worry about smaller children being run over,” he said.
“We also could work with a contractor to do a carousel,” he said. “That would help us spread the crowd out more. I think we’ve got to add a little something different to keep people’s interest up.”
National publicity for the event also added to this year’s crowds.
In November, Country Living magazine ranked Andalusia and Candyland among the Top 30 places in the nation for Christmas., and Atlanta Magazine featured the venue in early December.
On Dec. 12, Candyland was in the national news again when the homepage of msn.com featured a Reader’s Digest story titled “The Best Christmas Town in Every State.
Director of Planning Andy Wiggins said the city took in about $28,000 in revenue at the Springdale venue, where the only charges were for skate rental and the polar bear slide.
“Everybody thought that Sat., Dec. 15, was our biggest day because of Cocoa with Characters,” Wiggins said. “But we actually had a bigger day on Saturday the 22nd. The crowd was spread throughout the day as opposed to condensed into the time the characters were there.”
The city sold 3,129 skating tickets, he said.
Parks and Rec Director Tommie Agee, who joined the city in 2018, said he had been told about Candyland’s success, but really didn’t comprehend the crowds and the work until he experienced it.
“Our staff from the city did an outstanding job,” he said. “Those guys and those young ladies were here every day. My hat goes off to them. They put in a lot of hours.”
Councilman Ralph Wells thought his daughter Kim, who lives in Alaska, might have travelled the greatest distance to Candyland, but Wiggins said he met a couple from South Africa who was in Panama City and heard about the event.
Johnson expressed his thanks to the Chamber of Commerce for its creativity in adding to the event, and to city workers for their execution of the details.
The Andalusia City Council on Wednesday approved the $80,000 sale of 18 acres off Sixth Avenue for development as an apartment complex.
The property is part of a tract commonly known as the Sneed-Kennedy property that was acquired during Benny Barrow’s tenure as mayor for development as an industrial park. However, efforts to locate industry there have been unsuccessful.
City Clerk John Thompson said that local developer Robert Bishop approached the city recently about purchasing the land for proposed workforce housing.
Mayor Earl Johnson said if the group led by Bishop does not secure approval for the apartments, the property will revert back to the city. The council executed a mortgage, which will be paid in full if the project is funded.
The development will be similar to a 56-unit complex scheduled for construction on Shreve Road behind Ireland Trailer early this year, Johnson said.
“We are terribly deficient in housing available here,” Mayor Earl Johnson said. “This is very nice housing, and would be appropriate for teachers, police officers and other working families.”
Johnson said the topography of most of the property is rough, and not suitable for development.
“I runs behind PowerSouth, but cannot be accessed from Hwy. 29,” he said. “The only access is on Sixth Avenue.”
“If this deal should work out, we would have two brand-new workforce housing complexes,” Johnson said. “We’ve not had anything built like this in Andalusia in 30 years.”
The Shreve Road development by Invictus Development, LLC, will be a 56-unit family development with 36 two-bedroom units and 24 three-bedroom units. All units have two bathrooms. The complex will also have a clubhouse and fitness center. A leasing office will be located on-site. Construction on Appaloosa Run is scheduled to start the first quarter of 2019 with completion in approximately 12 months.
A year after a Mobile family experienced the magic of Candyland in an unplanned visit, Andalusia has four new residents.
Jena and Daniel Anderson decided to move to Andalusia after visiting during last year’s Christmas in Candyland festivities.
“We’re very familiar with the area,” Jena Anderson said. “Dan’s family lives in Brooklyn and we drive through here often to visit my family back home in Colombia, near Dothan.”
“One night we were wanting to try out Big Mike’s in Andalusia, so we came into town. We got to the restaurant they told us about the hour wait so we went up the square,” she said.
Anderson said her two sons, Will and Drew, had lots of fun.
“It was just the cutest, the snow had just started. The boys loved it. They were jumping around and having a great time.”
Anderson said it was then that she knew she wanted to move to Andalusia.
Because of Dan’s job as a chemical engineer, the family could pick where they wanted to live.
“We already had it in our minds that we were going to move somewhere besides Mobile,” she said.
“We were looking at several small towns but I still wasn’t sure until I saw Andalusia.”
The family sold their house in Mobile two months later, and moved to Andalusia in August.
It isn’t all about Candyland for the Andersons, however, it’s about what Andalusia has to offer.
“It’s just so convenient. We love it and the community. Every day I feel like I made the right decision because of how much pride the community has,” she said.
“We love all the pep rallies at the square and those kind of things really let us know that we made the right decision.”
Anderson said that she’s finding new reasons to love Andalusia every day she’s here.
“The boys love their school. There’s so many local shops in town that we love,” she said.
But she said she’s looking forward to discovering more.
“Honestly, we are still finding more reasons to love this town,” she said.
“We discover all these little hidden things that solidifies our decision to move here.”
Existing industries’ growth, planned new developments lauded
Local leaders predict Covington County will continue to see slow, steady growth in the new year.
“If we look at last year, we start with Shaw, and what it means to the whole region,” Covington County Economic Development Commission Executive Director Rick Clifton said. “Couple that with the airport being able to secure some good tenants, and that’s where we start.”
Shaw is in the midst of a $250 million project at the local plant. The project includes construction of new and expanded building assets, and installation of substantial amounts of new manufacturing equipment. The changes will improve efficiency and production as well as ergonomics and safety for the more than 1,000 associates who work in the plant.
At South Alabama Regional Airport, the board has entered a contract with DynCorp to operate in the building previously used by Vector and Standard Aero. DynCorp’s has a five-year government contract to provide maintenance and upgrades to military helicopters, and plans to hire 65 to 80 people in 2019.
The board also has leased its twin hangars to Yulista Holding LLC.
But Clifton said he is equally excited about growth in existing manufacturing operations.
“In Opp, Sonoco, MFG, American Apparel and Global Aerospace have expanded and are looking for people,” he said. “That’s where most economic growth comes, and we plan to concentrate on that in 2019.”
Regional marketing also is a big focus.
“We’ve worked on promoting an eight-county region in Southeast Alabama,” Clifton said. “Grow Southeast Alabama is a website that we’ve developed, and we’ll be doing regional marketing for that.”
In Andalusia, Mayor Earl Johnson said residents should anticipate the announcement of another fast food restaurant locating on the west bypass in the near future.
“It’s very popular with local people,” Johnson said.
He also anticipates the announcement of a large convenience/gasoline store on the bypass.
“We’ll also finish the school project this year,” he said. “That’s going to be a huge uplift for our community to have those two fine facilities.”
Construction for “workforce” apartments designed for working people not yet ready for home ownership is slated to begin in March or April, near the Holiday Inn Express.
“We also have another developer looking at us for similar apartments,” Johnson said. “We’ll know more about that in the next 90 days or so. We are getting some nicer places to live in Andalusia.”
The mayor still hopes to add more upscale apartments to the local housing mix, a feature that he believes would help attract businesses.
“That is our next big cat to skin, and we’ve got to get it done,” he said.
In 2019, the city will continue to develop plans for the First National Bank building, developing the floors above Milky Moos, he said.
“We will continue to put together long-range plans for the museum/art facility at the old Count Darling building,” he said.
In addition, the city is expected to use grant proceeds for a sewerage improvement and resurfacing project, and may add additional resurfacing. Read More>
With extra tables set up and set with Christmas finery in the grand central hallway of her South Three Notch Street home, Harriet Hubbard waited for the arrival of a limousine.
When it arrived at the side entrance, little girls poured out of it, racing to the party that awaited them indoors.
“We’ve been talking a lot about manners,” Hubbard, who works with the third through sixth-grade girls at the A.P.P.L.E. after school program said. “We’ve talked about the way we eat everyday – which is everywhere – is not how you always eat. Sometimes you might eat some place that is really fancy.”
She’s been reviewing manners with them, the proper use of silverware, how to serve and pass food at the table, and how to not react if there is something on the plate they don’t like.
“You can pass it, or not put it on the plate, but you don’t comment,” she said.
The girls also have been studying women who overcame odds to do great things, including Coco Chanel, Rosa Parks, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
And on Tuesday, the young ladies left the after-school program in a limousine that delivered them to the Hubbards’ door. Many changed into party clothes before taking the ride across town.
“It was really fun,” Britton Bennett said. “It made me feel luxurious and important.”
Zoey Robertson said the limousine was outfitted with beautiful lights that made the ride special.
Dryden Wilkerson said it was her first chance to ride in a limousine, which she described as colorful and stylish, and said she was looking forward to a fun night with friends.
For dinner, the girls had lemon pepper chicken, glazed baby carrots, green beans, spiced rice, iced tea, and tiramisu. Mrs. Hubbard and her husband, Steve, previously had opened their home for the Luncheon Pilot Club’s annual Tour of Homes.