Developing Our Community

Thousands of people visited our town for the Mentone Fall Festival last month. The weather was perfect, and everyone seemed to have a great time. From the varied selection of artists to the food and live music, there was something for everyone to enjoy.

Events like this don’t just happen. It takes untold hours from volunteers throughout the community to bring such a large festival to life. Months of planning and promoting are followed by addressing countless details concerning parking, marking tent sites, coordinating vendors, and putting up signage to direct our visitors.

In addition to thanking our many volunteers, we thank all of our festival sponsors who donated to help make the event a financial success. I would like to publicly thank our town employees, Town Clerk Kristen Emory, Public Works Director Paul Nail, Police Chief Gene McKee, and Assistant Police Chief Mike Langston, for putting in many extra hours in planning and preparing for the festival. The work isn’t centered solely on the festival site. This is a community event, and businesses throughout Mentone welcomed visitors with specials, live music, and events to give folks a reason to enjoy all Mentone has to offer. Thank you to everyone involved — Mentone appreciates you!

You may not think of it this way, but festivals are part of our economic engine. The money generated by the festival will be reinvested in the historic Moon Lake campus. The school provides rental space to artists and galleries — plus Northeast Alabama Community College and a new restaurant soon to open. This, in turn, brings more visitors to our town and supports local business owners. The tax revenue generated is reinvested in services and projects that benefit all of Mentone.

Community development is an ongoing process. You’ll read elsewhere in this issue about a recent visit from Kenneth Boswell, director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). We’ve spent months working to secure grants to improve Moon Lake, and our enthusiasm led Boswell to visit Mentone to see the project for
himself. While here, he asked about other projects we had in mind; when I mentioned Brow Park, he said, “Let’s go see it.”

Greeted by the amazing views at the park, Boswell saw the vision as I described improvements such as an observation deck, hiking trail, and restrooms. Brow Park is a tremendous asset to our community, and such upgrades would create an even more enjoyable experience for our citizens and visitors.

Make a point to visit Moon Lake soon and check out an Eagle Scout project. Longtime Laney camper and now counselor Matthew Hough from Atlanta expressed interest in doing his Eagle Scout project in Mentone. The structure around the white oak tree in front of the historic Moon Lake School was in need of staining, and Matthew took on the project. He had help from his parents, as well as Police Chief Gene McKee and Public Works Director Paul Nail. A few Laney counselors who had worked with Matthew took their lunch break at father/son weekend to help. Matthew gave a special shout-out to local scouts Jeremiah and Jonah Gilbert, saying, “They were a huge help and super committed to getting the whole structure finished.”