Welome

Welcome to Alexander City

II’d like to personally welcome you to Alexander City, the home of Lake Martin. The Alexander City Chamber of Commerce would like to ensure your time in our community is fulfilling and enjoyable and that our Southern hospitality exceeds your expectations. Whether you enjoy Lake Martin as a part-time resident or you live here yearround while functioning daily within the community, the chamber strives to create an environment that promotes enthusiasm, happiness and success in both your personal and professional lives.

My family moved to the Lake Martin community over six years ago, and that decision is one of the best we’ve ever made.

My wife, Meridith, and I have a 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, and we’ve all fallen in love with the area. The educational opportunities afforded by the Alexander

City Schools system continue to exceed expectations. With recent capital upgrades and plans for a new high school in the near future, it’s an exciting time for our community’s educational system.

The chamber of commerce believes strongly in retaining our young talent and cultivating their entrepreneurial spirits. The Wildcat

Entrepreneurs Academy is a yearlong program that teaches middle and high school students how to start and run their own real businesses. WEA guides high school students through the process of starting and running a legitimate business or social movement over the course of a full academic year.

The Alexander City Chamber is proud to provide the

Gateway to Education Scholarship Assistance Program, an education/workforce development initiative that provides up to 64 credit hours of free tuition to Benjamin Russell

High School graduating seniors attending Central Alabama

Community College. Since 2006, Gateway has paid more than $2 million in tuition for 1,000-plus graduates of BRHS. There is no other program like Gateway in the state, and it’s another unique asset that makes our community great.

Our family relishes the quality time we are blessed to spend on Lake Martin. With 880 miles of pristine shoreline, it is the most beautiful lake in the Southeast. Exploring Lake Martin is endless fun that provides unlimited tranquility, entertainment and memories. Lake destinations like Chimney Rock, Peanut

Point and Wind Creek State Park are just a few of the sites to explore, although spending an afternoon on one of the island beaches is our personal favorite.

Our family has just as much fun off the water in the

Alexander City community, too. We love downtown Alexander

City and consider it a unique treasure. A huge thanks to our

Main Street organization, which promotes our historical downtown area. With the great shopping, delicious food and quaint beauty, there is always something to enjoy in our downtown.

My family loves that throughout the year there is always something to do in Alexander City and the Lake Martin community. The chamber hosts its annual Sun Festival each June,

which encompasses 40-plus events over 10 days. It’s the perfect lead into Jazz Fest, a free two-day music festival held on the second weekend in June, which celebrated its 32nd anniversary in 2022. Friday night’s festivities take place in downtown Alexander City at Strand Park; then, the concert series moves to The Amp on Lake Martin on Saturday night. The goals of these events Ed Collari are to unite our community while attracting tourists throughout the region. We are delighted by the thousands of people who attend these annual events that showcase our wonderful city. The chamber also oversees an extremely popular and progressive organization known as the Lake Martin Young Professionals. The group coordinates, collaborates and promotes events around Lake Martin that are social, volunteer or informational in nature. They connect the younger crowd in the area with activities to improve the careers and social lives of its members. Even if you aren’t “young” or “professional,” you are still welcome to partake in LMYP events like the Polar Plunge, Trivia Nights and Strand Sessions, a live concert series held in Strand Park on the first Thursday of every month from April through August. While our community enjoys a good time, it’s not all play. I’d like to personally invite you to the Lake Martin Innovation Center, conveniently located off U.S. Route 280 in Alexander City. This state-of-the-art business incubator promotes and nurtures start-ups and entrepreneurs, as well as existing businesses. The Innovation Center also offers co-working space for a minimal monthly rate, including 24/7 access to the facility, high-speed fiber internet, private conference rooms, complimentary coffee and much more. The outlined goals and expected outcomes in the chamber’s five-year strategic plan, Partners in Progress, focus on strengthening our business and educational community by bringing everyone to the table to achieve the highest standards. Through generous contributions from our local businesses and community leaders, our campaign to move Alexander City in the right direction regularly surpasses benchmarks and continues to accomplish the mission we set out to achieve. Our goal is to help Alexander City thrive economically and to promote all of its wonderful attributes. We could not be as successful as we are without our partnership with the Lake Martin Area Economic Development Alliance, which recruits industry and helps to develop our workforce. The award-winning Lake Martin Tourism Association promotes our vibrant community and all of its amenities to the thousands of tourists that flock to our market on a regular basis. Our businesses, civic organizations, government and, most importantly, our people motivate us to work smarter toward creating a vibrant community that we call home. Join us on this journey and help us continue to make Alexander City the best place to call home.

Cole Patterson