The positive publicity generated when Christmas in Candyland caught the attention of national magazines is already paying off.
In November, Country Living magazine ranked Andalusia and Candyland among the Top 30 places in the nation for Christmas. It was something Southern Living knew last year, and Atlanta Magazine featured the venue last week.
And on opening weekend, Candyland had visitors from as far away as Missouri.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Chrissie Duffy said the family had heard about the venue and drove two hours out of the way to see what Christmas in Candyland was all about.
“They were very complimentary,” she said.
And that was the general consensus for opening weekend.
“We had a great opening day with the Andalusia City Schools students who came on Friday,” she said. “We had kind of poor weather on Saturday, but we stayed open as much as we could, and had people who came. Sunday, we had great crowds all day.
There was even a celebrity chicken among the visitors.
Sammi Chicken is an Instagram sensation who lives on the Gulf Coast and has been featured on the Today Show. However, before Sunday, he had only been through Alabama.
On Monday, half of the students in the APPLE after school program traveled to Candyland.
Duffy said it’s virtually impossible to be unhappy in Candyland.
Related story: Events like Candyland can help with seasonal depression
“You cannot not be happy,” she said. “Whether you are watching little ones play in the cottages, or people walking up to have their picture taken in the ornament, people are having fun, and that’s infectious.”
The Court Square playhouses will be open from 10 a.m. until noon on Wednesday.
Springdale on Ice will be open 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. Thursday, and both venues will be open Friday night, and this weekend.
Confirms plan for maintenance work in 2019
DynCorp confirmed on Tuesday what local airport officials had hinted at in recent weeks: The company plans to put people to work in Andalusia in the Standard Aero/Vector facility at South Alabama Regional Airport.
In October, SARA Executive Director Jed Blackwell said that a company had received a contract for upgrades to military aircraft, and planned to do part of that work locally. But that wasn’t confirmed until yesterday, when DynCorp International (DI) said in a press release it has been awarded a $152 million contract from the Naval Air Systems Command to provide logistics support services and material for the maintenance of TH-57 aircraft. The contract has a two-year base period and two option years.
DI will provide organizational (O-level), intermediate (I-level), and depot level (D-level) maintenance for the U.S. Navy TH-57 helicopters. The O- and I- level maintenance work will be performed at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Florida, and D-level maintenance work will be performed at DI’s Andalusia facility.
Blackwell said earlier this year that as soon as Standard Aero announced last spring it was leaving SARA, that Covington County Economic Development Commission Executive Director Rick Clifton and Mayor Earl Johnson got to work looking for another company to locate here.
“We welcome the work to be performed at the South Alabama Regional Airport and appreciate its impact on our local economy,” Clifton said.
Johnson said, “We in Andalusia are excited about DynCorp selecting SARA to execute their new maintenance, overhaul and repair contract. This means new high paying jobs for our community. We look forward to DynCorp becoming the latest aviation company to settle in Andalusia. Our sacrifice and hard work is paying off for our community.”
Commission Chairman Greg White said the commission is pleased to welcome DynCorp.
“We are excited to have a Company of this caliber, and with the long history of DynCorp, join our business community and provide opportunity to our folks in Covington County,” White said. “We look forward to working with the leadership team from DynCorp to make their operation here a success in every way!”
Opp Mayor Becky Bracke said, “Investing in the hangar facility at the airport was all about jobs. The airport is one of our biggest economic development assets and seeing our investment payoff is very rewarding.”
DynCorp International is headquartered in McLean, Va.
U.S. Marine Corps Major (Ret.) Christopher Lawson said he learned many things in his 21-year military career, not the least of which was that “we live in the best state in the greatest nation.”
Lawson, who grew up in Pleasant Home and retired to the home his grandfather built there in 1966, was the guest speaker for Monday’s Veterans Day program, which was moved inside city hall due to rainy weather.
Lawson, who recruited and led Marines in the course of his career, which included three deployments, said he decided to pursue a military career for one reason.
“I needed money for college because my sub-par performance in high school did not earn me a scholarship,” he said.
But he chose the Marine Corps because of his respect for his teacher, Wayne Clark.
“Wayne Clark taught five decades,” he said. “He was a history teacher and assistant principal at Pleasant Home. He was in the Marine Corps from 1951 to 1954. When he was discharged, he went to Troy for his education. He never spoke about the Corpos, but we all knew he had served.”
Lawson said he researched the military in the Andalusia Public Library and decided he wanted “dress blues and a bad haircut,” and enlisted in 1992.
On the bus to basic training, he was one of five people from Alabama, with whom the only thing he had in common was their home state.
“Living in Pleasant Home does not prepare anyone to live in the real world,” he said. “Our group had gang bangers from Chicago, preppies from New York, ‘old men’ who were almost 30, and children of immigrants,” he said.
Basic training strips away 18 years of “me’ism,” he said.
“The brand-new Marine bears little resemblance of the person who went off to basic,” he said. “Me is slowly turned into we.
“It sounds cruel,” he said. “Hell, it is cruel. But so is war. “
Lawson, the son of Dige and Patricia Lawson, said he grew up on a small farm on Hwy. 29 where his family raised soybeans, cotton and peanuts.
“I learned love, discipline and a strong work ethic,” he said. “The Marine Corps did not make me a man, my daddy did that; but the Marine Corps made me a better man.”
Lawson said he learned many lessons in the Marines; among them:
- The only thing more arrogant than an officer on a horse is an officer in an airplane.
- The older you get, the funnier basic training is.
- It takes a college degree to break something, but a high school degree to fix it.
- On time is late. Fifteen minutes prior is on time.
- Field day does not mean the same thing it did in elementary school.
- It is OK to take a whipping. It is not OK to not try to get back up.”
- There is no courage without fear, and “my greatest fear was letting fellow Marines down.”
- Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
- Losing friends hurts.
“We live in the best state in the greatest nation,” Lawson said. “But the U.S. did not happen by accident.
Lawson paraphrased a quote generally attributed to George Orwell.
“People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men and women stand ready to do violence on their behalf,” he said.
Skip Stewart Airshows Pitts S-2S Aerobatics performs Saturday. | Photo courtesy of Robert Evers
The approximately 8,000 people who attended Saturday’s South Alabama Airshow had a positive impact on the local economy, local business mangers say.
Airshow organizer and South Alabama Regional Airport Executive Director Jed Blackwell said that 10 to 20 percent of the 8,000 people who showed up to the show spent money in Covington County.
“These are the people that come in and eat at our restaurants, put gas at our gas stations, stay at our hotels and shop at our stores while they are here,” Blackwell said. “It was definitely an economic boom.”
The vendors who were selling items at the airshow did fairly well, Blackwell said.
“We had a couple that didn’t do as hot as they wanted to, but that was mostly people selling ice cream or shaved ice,” Blackwell said. “Most of them did as well as they expected though.”
Holiday Inn Express manager Kim Jenkins said that the facility was completely full Friday and Saturday night.
“About 28 rooms were only airshow people,” Jenkins said. “We had people from a couple hours in every direction, from as far east as Dothan, to as far north as Montgomery.”
Jenkins believes that these types of events definitely increase business in Covington County.
“It absolutely helps,” Jenkins said. “We had a lot of pilots that stayed with us as well. When events like this happen, it definitely makes an impact on our local economy.”
Marathon gas stations owner Roy Mohon said that the store that was hit the busiest was the one by Sanford Road.
“It is hard to tell if the other stores were affected by the airshow,” Mohon said. “But since that store was closer it definitely got some business. I would there was a 15 to 20 percent bump in sales from that store.”
Blackwell said that they achieved both of the goals that were set before the airshow this weekend.
“We gave the people of Covington County some entertainment for the weekend and we attracted people to Covington County,” Blackwell said. “Those are the two goals we set, and I think we accomplished them.”
Country Living magazine has named Andalusia one of the 30 best small towns in the United States for Christmas, and local officials couldn’t be happier.
Chamber Executive Director Chrissie Duffy said it’s a huge honor.
“Country Living is a national magazine,” she said. “Last year, Southern Living named us one of the best Christmas events in the South. To be recognized as a top Christmas town in the United States takes it a step further.”
Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson said the ranking speaks highly of many people.
“As you can imagine, we are just thrilled and tickled to death,” he said. “This is not the first time we’ve been recognized. Southern Living named us one of the best last year.
“This peaks well for Chrissie and Maggie (Jones), and the Chamber board,” he said. “A great deal of credit goes to our hard-working city employees who help Chrissie and Maggie run that. It speaks highly of our city in general that people enjoy coming down here. And it just keeps getting bigger and better.”
This year, a maze has been added, and there is a Christmas in Candyland app that helps users capture the magic of Candyland and take it home with them.
The mayor said he’s particularly looking forward to two parts of Candyland.
“First, my grandchildren being here,” he said. “And driving the new train engine.”
Last week, the council agreed to upgrade the train engine that pulls the Candyland Express.
In Country Living’s description and slide show, it wrote, “It doesn’t get too cold in Andalusia, but that doesn’t stop the town turning into a winter wonderland. Every weekend in December, residents flock to Candyland, a kid-friendly event where children of all ages can ice skate, visit the different holiday cottages, and meet Santa. The best part? Admission is free!”
So who are the other 29 small towns that earned the ranking?
- Solvang, California – Located in wine country, the town hosts Julefest throught December.
- Lewisburg, West Virginia – Home of the Greenbrier Resort.
- Bardstown, Kentucky – hosts “Light up Bardstown.”
- Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – hosts an annual Nights of a Thousand Candles at Brookgreen Gardens featuring 4,500 hand-lit candles.
- McAdenville, N.C. – For the past 63 years, this Charlotte suburb has decorated 265 evergreen trees with 500,000 lights.
- Bernville, Pennsylvania – home of Koziar’s Christmas village, which began in 1948 when William M. Koziar began decorating his home for his family.
- Leavenworth, Washington – home to a Bavarian village with 21 miles of lights, a lively Christkindlmarkt, a weekly music festival, and gluhwein.
- Branson, Missouri – hosts the month-long Ozark Mountain Christmas festival. Also home to the Branson Scenic Railway’s Polar Express Train Ride.
- Woodstock, Vermont – celebrates America’s rural heritage with Wassail Weekend.
- Asheville, North Carolina – home of the Biltmore, which is lavishly decorated for Christmas.
- Frankenmuth, Michigan – known as Little Bavaria, activities include a traditional Christkindlmarkt, a holiday home tour, and the world’s largest Christmas store.
- Jackson, Wyoming – features a town square decked out in lights, and a torch parade of ski instructors snaking down the mountain on New Year’s Eve.
- Natchitoches, Louisiana – Celebrates with more than 300,000 lights and 100 set pieces displayed along the banks of Cane River Lake.
- Helen, Georgia – a former logging town in the Blue Ridge Mountains that reinvented itself as a Bavarian town.
- Williamsburg, Virginia – features Colonial holiday traditions like caroling by torchlight, and fife and drum performances.
- Durango, Colorado – former mining town operates a Polar Express-inspired train trip for kids, as well as Christmas tree runs on which passengers can cut t heir own trees and get them transported back to town.
- Delray Beach, Florida – Activities are centered in the historic district, which features a 100-foot tree which opens to reveal a wonderland.
- Annapolis, Maryland – showcases its 18-th century historic district, and hosts a water parade.
- Sierra Madre, California – imports snow to build a huge snowman, and is home to a live nativity scene and a 154-tree-long Christmas tree trail.
- Santa Claus, Indiana – volunteers answer thousands of letters to Santa in this town that has a candy castle and a 1.2-mile light show.
- Taos, New Mexico – a religious procession in ancient Taos Pueblo, the Native American settlement outside town, includes bonfires, luminarias, and historic gun salute.
- Oxford, Mississippi – activities include Gingerbread Village to benefit food banks, and an ornament auction featuring unique decorations made by local artists.
- Fredericksburg, Texas – honors its original German settlers with a Christkindlesmarkt and Texas-scale parades and other events, all featuring locally brewed seasonal beers.
- Red Wing, Minnesota – home of the Holiday Stroll, an event that starts with a pancake breakfast and continues all day to include parades, cookie decorating, live penguins and baby reindeer.
- Ogunquit, Maine – Christmas by the sea, featuring a calendar of old-fashioned activities.
- Corning, New York – home to Corning Glass, the season includes a parade of lights, and a Christmas tree in the town square decorated with glass ornaments.
- Prescott, Arizona – the courthouse is decorated with a million lights, and a local museum hosts Frontier Christmas Open House.
- Newport Beach, California – home to the Christmas Boat Parade, featuring everything from yachts to canoes, for five consecutives nights.
- Dyker Heights, Brooklyn – Residents of this walkable Italian-American enclave erect intricate and spectacular displays on and around their homes in South Brooklyn.