Andalusia Star News
The annual Coterie Club’s Storybook Festival was held Saturday at Springdale.
Andalusia Star News
Carrying the banner for the survivors walk at Friday night’s American Cancer Society Relay for Life, shown from left, were Donna Bass (three-year survivor), Gladys Martin (10 years), Diane Armstrong (14 years), Dorothy Griggs (52 days), Tammy Dyess (17 years) and Becky Morris (17 years). Collectively, the cancer survivors who introduced themselves in the opening ceremonies and walked the survivors’ lap had more than 592 years of life as a cancer survivor.
This year’s theme was “Once Upon a Cure!” The goal for this year’s event was $90,000 and they were at $77,000 going into Friday night.
Andalusia Star News
The 46th annual Coterie Club of Andalusia Storybook Festival is this Saturday.
Storybook Festival Publicity Chair Kelley Nolen said this year’s theme is “Journeys of Imagination.”
The event is free and will be held at Springdale Estate. “The piggy and the elephant story is ‘Let’s Go for a Drive,” Nolen said. “They gather all kinds of things they need to go for a drive before realizing at the end that neither one of them has a car.”
Nolen said other stories include “Oh! The Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss. Andalusia High School students will perform this story.
Next, there will be “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.
“Coterie will perform this one,” she said. “Max is sent to bed without supper and travels to a land where he becomes king of the wild things until he decides he would rather be home with the people who love him.” “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes” is also on the agenda.
“Pete sings a song about loving his white shoes, but they keep changing colors as he steps into different things,” she said. “Does Pete cry? Goodness, no. He just sings his song again.”
“The ChimpanSNEEZ” will be read by a Coterie member. “This describes all the funny things that happen because a chimpanzee sneezed,” Nolen said. Pleasant Home students will perform “The Interrupting Chicken.”
“The little red chicken keep interrupting her dad as he tried to read her a bedtime story.”
And children will also learn the importance of being a friend from “Little Blue Truck.”
“Balloons, face-painting and concessions will be available for a small charge,” she said. “ We will also have a free craft project and photo backdrops available for some cute photos.”
Gates at Springdale will open at 9 a.m.
“The first set of stories begins at 9:30 a.m.,” Nolen said.
Nolen said children and their families will enjoy watching several stories come to life, as well as the opportunity to make a craft.
Each year hundreds of parents and children attend the event with their parents or grandparents.
The Coterie Club was formed in October 1948. It has established a long history of service to the children of the community and a reputation of concern for the welfare for the community as well.
Andalusia Star News
Looking to make a small impact, members of the Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce along with other volunteers took time out of their day on Friday morning to clean up trash along the road.
“At the Chamber, we have an interest in environmental issues,” Executive Director Chrissie Duffy said. “We want the people here to have a clean place to live, but it’s also about it being aesthetically appealing. Our traffic numbers our up, and we want to show off our assets, not out trash.”
Duffy said the group of around 20 volunteers picked up a lot of trash in just a few hours. “There were about 20 volunteers altogether,” Duffy said. “We had engineers from CDG, bankers, retirees and, of course, chamber members. We picked up a couple of truckloads of garbage in just a tiny area. This is just a small start and hopefully it can be a catalyst to inspire others to do the same.”
The group of volunteers chose a stretch of road on Hwy. 29 North between Cynergy and Straughn School road to begin their efforts.
“We asked Glenn Ralls where would be the best place to make the biggest impact,” Duffy said. “He said that this would be a good place to start. That’s all this is. It’s just a start. We want more people to see this and be inspired to hold their own cleanup day.”
Duffy said that the chamber would even help provide things needed for a clean up.
“If anyone wants to hold their own cleanup day, we will be more than happy to provide them with the materials,” Duffy said. “We have trash bags and extra safety vests that we will provide.”
Any churches, school groups, business or anyone that wants to help, they come up to the chamber and we will help them out.”
Andalusia Star News
The Andalusia City Council agreed to transfer $10,000 in seed money to the Downtown Redevelopment Authority to restart its façade renewal grant program.
The grants are available up to $5,000 and are made on a 50-50 matching basis to businesses located in the area represented by the DRA. Their purpose is to give business owners the means to improve the look or “outer facade” of their properties.
The grants are available to business owners in the following areas:
Along Church Street from the railroad tracks down to Third Avenue.
Along South Cotton Street from the railroad tracks to Troy Street.
Opp Avenue to the corner of Crescent Street.
Pear Street, Coffee Street, Troy Street. For more information or to receive an application packet, contact the city clerk’s office at 222-3313.
Andalusia Star News