Tuscaloosa Magazine Spring 2019

ALSO INSIDE:

PGA GOLFER PATTON KIZZIRE FARM BOWL + JUICE CO. ALABAMA A&M ALUMNI ASSOCIATION’S DEBUTANTE BALL TABLESCAPES 6 INTRIGUING PEOPLE & SO MUCH MORE www.tuscaloosamag.com $3.95

s e m a g AT Y A L P ORE M L A P IS A K R PA ING L L I R TH RIDE

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editor’s letter

Editor-in-chief Becky Hopf Design Editor Lindi Daywalt-Feazel Photographers Gary Cosby Jr. Joe Will Field, intern Ally Adragna, intern Copy Editors Amy Robinson Kelcey Sexton Edwin Stanton Caroline Wood, intern Taryn Leighton, intern Operations Director Paul Hass General Manager Bobby Rice Prepress Coordinator Chuck Jones Published by The Tuscaloosa News 315 28th Avenue Tuscaloosa, AL 35401 Executive Editor Michael James Senior GL Accountant Carolyn Durel Magazine 205-722-0232 To advertise 205-722-0173 To subscribe 205-722-0102

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try to attend as many of our magazine photo sessions as possible, not that our talented photo director Gary Cosby Jr. needs me — or I suspect even wants me — there, but it’s important to me to be there for several reasons. One, it gives me a chance to catch up with people I know who we are featuring in the magazine or it allows me a chance to finally Me, at Palmore Skate Park with my new favorite athletes, from left, Parker Johnson, Bryan Gyenes, Barry Frith, Dylan McKnight, Shane Fair, Jordan Sanders and Gavin meet someone I’ve been McDougal. talking to and/or messaging to set up the story and the photo session. Being there also helps me Tuscaloosa’s outstanding skateboard facility and the high-flying boarders we have here. with the captions and descriptions we use with And another favorite was our shoot at the the photos on our pages and to get a better feel Tuscaloosa Chapter of the Alabama A&M Alumni for the story.

Association’s 44th Annual Debutante Ball. As Every issue has been fun as far as attendJulie Andrews would sing, “Girls in white dressing the photo sessions, but this issue has been es,” though I didn’t see any blue satin sashes. The exceptionally fun. (Maybe not so delightful for young ladies and their escorts, the decorations, Gary — when we did the photos of Tuscaloosa and the tablescapes were stunning. And what PGA Tour golfer Patton Kizzire, it was a Saturday made it even more special — these young ladies morning, three days before Christmas, at 7:30 are also scholars — all of them. a.m. It was 32 degrees on the golf course at This issue also takes us to Michael and Kara Indian Hills Country Club. It was the only time Warr’s newly renovated home in High Forest, Kizzire could fit us in on his quick trip home — Gourmade Kitchen (where you can run by and his first time back to Tuscaloosa in something pick up tonight’s dinner), and a tai chi class. And like 2½ years). But, despite the extreme cold and among our featured locals are metalsmith Steve early morning hour, Patton couldn’t have been Davis, former CNN reporter Mary Tillotson and more cordial — he and the pro shop staff.

I tortured Gary again on the January afternoon — who knew — meteorologist/beekeeper we met up with Tuscaloosa’s skateboarding stars Richard Scott. Pleshette Bevelle will even show at Palmore Skate Park. It was a little warmer that you how to create a memorable table with items afternoon — 38 degrees. While the weather was you already have. chilly, the reception we got from all of those Welcome, spring! skaters could not have been warmer. They were genuinely excited that we were there and featuring a sport they love and master. It was truly thrilling — and quite frankly, nerve-wracking — observing their moves. Those guys were so much fun to watch and be around. I highly recommend a trip to Palmore to check out

Becky Hopf, editor Reach Becky Hopf at becky.hopf@tuscaloosanews.com.

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SPRING 2019

VOLUME 17, NO.

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CONTENTS

8 08 DINING OUT

Farm Bowl + Juice Co. is serving up a healthy and delicious menu.

13 DINING IN

Gourmade Kitchen streamlines mealtime for busy lives.

34 Places to go, things to see and do.

23 FOODIE NEWS

34 AT HOME

28 ENTERTAINING

40 SPORTS

Michael and Kara Warr’s home Joyful Java and Little Poblano in High Forest is warm and bring street cred to the UA campus. welcoming.

Pleshette Bevelle shares ways to create tablescapes with items you already have at home.

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T YA PLA RE O M PAL IS A K PAR ING ILL THR E RID

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LFER PGA GO ZZIRE KI PATTON WL FARM BO . + JUICE CO

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Tuscaloosa’s Patton Kizzire is making his mark on the PGA Tour.

ON THE COVER Jordan Sanders defies gravity while skateboarding at Tuscaloosa’s Palmore Skate Park on a cold January afternoon.

Photo by: Gary Cosby Jr. • See story: Page 46

A ALABAM NI A&M ALUM ION’S AT CI SO AS E BALL DEBUTANT PES CA ES BL TA UING 6 INTRIG PEOPLE H & SO MUC MORE

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18 EVENTS

$3.95

46 COVER STORY

Members of Tuscaloosa’s skateboarding community are diverse in age and personality — yet their passion for the sport has bonded them into a family.

52 ARTS

Metalsmith Steve Davis is sculpting treasures.

56 FITNESS

Tai chi is a soothing martial art, perfect for any age.

75 6 INTRIGUING PEOPLE

Meet six folks who are making a difference in our community.

89 ON THE SCENE

The best bashes, parties and charity events of the season.

98 LAST LOOK

60 STYLE

It’s beauty and the brains as some of Tuscaloosa’s brightest scholars debut at the Tuscaloosa chapter of the Alabama A&M Alumni Association’s 44th annual Debutante Ball.

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A snapshot that captures life in West Alabama.

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DINING OUT

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happy

TAKE ON

HEALTHY FARM BOWL + JUICE CO. WANTS TO MAKE IT EASY — AND FUN — TO EAT WELL

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DINING OUT

BY DONNA CORNELIUS • PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR. A new Tuscaloosa establishment is giving healthy eating a hip and happy spin.

You can’t help feeling cheerful at Farm Bowl + Juice Co. There’s the space itself, which is light and bright with pops of color from modernstyle paintings, including an abstract mural of an elephant. Fresh fruits and vegetables fill baskets. It’s literally a swinging place, with real swings inside as well as outside on the patio.

The menu, too, has a playful flavor, with items like the Slim Shady Smoothie, cold-pressed Hustle Juice, and the Bed and Breakfast bowl with

an oat blend, bananas, blueberries and walnuts.

But although it has a lighthearted atmosphere, Farm Bowl + Juice takes its healthy-eating concept seriously.

Andrea Snyder, who with her husband, David, started Urban Cookhouse in 2010, said they opened Farm Bowl as a “wellness brand.”

“All our food is plant-based; we don’t have any animal products,” she said.

“Lots of people want to eat that way, but it can be expensive to do it on your own.

We help you achieve your health goals.”

The first Farm Bowl opened in Homewood in January 2018. The Tuscaloosa store in the Village at Northbank opened last November. Like the Homewood location, it’s close to Urban Cookhouse. In fact, Vince Hunter, a part owner of the store who manages both places, has only a few steps to walk from one site to the other.

Andrea Snyder said Urban Cookhouse’s success in the Northbank center was the main reason for opening Farm Bowl + Juice there.

“And Vince is one of the main reasons it’s been so successful,” she said.

Snyder said Farm Bowl is different from other healthy foodfocused establishments “because we’re a wellness brand, a health brand.”

Some of the main menu items are acai bowls. Acai — you say “ah-sah-EE” — is a nutrient-packed fruit grown only in Brazil. It’s known as a superfood because of its antioxidant qualities. >>

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Healthy bowls are among the most popular items, filled with fruits, nuts and, depending on the bowl ordered or the customer’s preferences, additions of things like local honey, hemp seed, cinnamon, nutmeg, toasted quinoa, spirulina, vegan protein and more. • The Fireball contains lemon, ginger and cayenne. • A customer places an order at the front counter.

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DINING OUT

“Our acai is a pure acai berry, and it’s organic,” Snyder said.

“The only other thing we add to it is organic cane sugar to sweeten it.”

Farm Bowl + Juice sources its acai from Sambazon, which was the first company to bring the fruit from the Amazon rainforests to the United States.

Snyder said bowls are topped with fruits and grains, and addins include good-for-you options like toasted quinoa, pumpkin seeds, matcha powder and bee pollen.

“These are meal replacements,” Snyder said. “We’re not adding things like whipped cream or Cocoa Puffs.”

Hunter said the best-selling bowl is the Nutty Professor — acai berry sorbet with strawberries, almonds, granola, peanut butter and locally produced honey. Next on the popularity chart is the build-your-own bowl.

“Our acai is in a sorbet-like form,” he said. “Our oatmeal bowls are made with almond and coconut milk.”

Snyder said her favorite Farm Bowl + Juice smoothie is the Bounce Back, which has two kinds of leafy greens. The PB + J smoothie blends almond milk, bananas, strawberries, chia seeds and raisins, while the Paradise City incorporates coconut milk, oranges, mangos, pineapple, lime, coconut butter and honey.

TOP: Swings and games are part of the unique, and fun, atmosphere.

BOTTOM: Seating options inside include swings and benches as well as couches and chairs, cafe tables, and tables and chairs to seat larger groups.

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DINING OUT

Cold-pressed juices are easy grab-and-go drinks. The process of making these juices is considered to be healthier because nutrients aren’t lost as they typically would be during a heating process.

“With our cold-pressed juices, you can smell the ginger, taste the apple,” Hunter said.

Farm Bowl + Juice also has wellness shots — small-sized and nutrient-rich cold-pressed juices. Shots include the Fireball, with lemon, ginger and cayenne pepper, and the Pep, with lime, apple and peppermint.

Coffee and toasts are on the menu, too. At press time, Farm Bowl + Juice was finalizing a lunch menu that will include wraps, salads and other health-forward, plant-based dishes.

Hunter, who joined the Urban Cookhouse team two years ago, said the Farm Bowl space has plenty of room for special events.

“We have an inside barn door that we can close to create a private space,” he said. “We can rent out the whole building as well.”

Both Urban Cookhouse and Farm Bowl offer full-service catering.

“We can combine food for both places — for example, for a corporate event, we can do Farm Bowl food for breakfast and

Urban Cookhouse food for lunch,” Hunter said. “It’s fun to have everyone do a wellness shot before a teambuilding event.”

He realizes the Farm Bowl menu can be a little intimidating to first-time customers.

“Our staff is very well trained, and we try to make people feel at ease when they’re trying to order,” he said.

Farm Bowl also tries to make younger customers feel at home. Kids can get mini-versions of the bowls, smoothies and juices. Students are welcome, too.

“We have a good mix of high school and college students who come in to study,” Hunter said. “We have rechargers for electronics. You can feel comfortable just hanging out.”

Customers of all ages are likely to enjoy seeing their social media photos appear on a large flat screen display on the wall.

“We reload our board every week, so if you tag your social media pictures with #farmbowlfamous, you can watch to see if your photos appear,” Hunter said.

Snyder said she hopes those who haven’t visited Farm Bowl + Juice yet will give their healthy take on food a go.

“We have great service, and our staff is educated about what we have,” she said. “Come out and try it.”

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Oh Honey Toast has almond butter, honey, bananas, blueberries and strawberries. • Part-owner Vince Hunter. • The Slim Shady Smoothie includes almond milk, matcha green tea, ginger, apple, banana, cinnamon and local honey.

Farm Bowl + Juice Co.

is at 1470 Northbank Parkway, Suite 170. Drive-through service and online ordering are available.

It’s open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday and from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, visit www.farmbowlandjuiceco.com or follow the restaurant on social media.

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DINING IN

Mini-pound cakes and brownies are among the dessert selections.

GOOD eats TO GO

GOURMADE KITCHEN HELPS BUSY FOLKS PUT A GREAT MEAL ON THE TABLE

BY DONNA CORNELIUS PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR. aylor Pearce and Rebecca Patterson know how to make things happen fast.

The two Tuscaloosa moms had just struck up a friendship when Pearce shared her idea for a small business.

“I had been dreaming of having a casserole business and selling food to friends — prepared food, home cooking,” Pearce said. “I flippantly mentioned it to Rebecca, thinking maybe she’d be a customer. But she immediately said, ‘I want to do it with you.’ We were so excited about the idea that we met later that day to talk about it.”

A short time later, in February

2017, they started their business, Gourmet Garage, on a small scale. One day a week, they’d set up in Pearce’s garage to sell casseroles to friends. The pop-up shop wasn’t intended to be a big business, but it turned out to be more successful than they imagined.

“It wasn’t even advertised to the public,” Pearce said. “Then people we didn’t even know started coming.”

The pair knew they needed a retail space, preferably one that already had a commercial kitchen. After an eight-month search, they found what they were looking for at 1530 McFarland Blvd., the former home of Real & Rosemary restaurant.

They opened their brick-andmortar store last December. >>

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DINING IN

Through Gourmade Kitchen, Patterson and Pearce offer fast food — not the kind your favorite burger place serves, but packaged dishes that streamline meal prep time for busy folks. You can buy Mexican lasagna or chicken potpie, for example, and then take them home and pop them into the oven. Everything comes with easy-to-follow instructions.

On a recent late afternoon, customers began streaming into the store to check out the well-stocked coolers or to pick up food they’d preordered. There’s a special cooler for advance orders. Another cooler holds ready-to-cook casseroles and side dishes as well as salads, soups and desserts. Frozen dishes are available, too.

Patterson and Pearce said they saw a need in the community for their Southern-style food with a healthy spin. They know what it’s like to juggle jobs and family responsibilities: Both have four children.

Patterson, a Birmingham native and Ole Miss graduate, and her husband, Michael, are the parents of Cate, 10; Tripp, 9; Miller, 6; and Sam, 4. Pearce, who grew up in Decatur, has Emmaline, 5; Dodge, 4, and two stepchildren, 12-year-old Miller and 10-year-old Clarkson.

Gourmade Kitchen co-owners, Rebecca Patterson, left, and Taylor Pearce.

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Married to Davis Pearce, she has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama and a master’s degree from the University of West Alabama.

Pearce had planned to be an English teacher, but she developed an early love of cooking through the women in her family.

“My grandmother would put me in the kitchen with her, and my aunt from Mississippi gave me a red binder with handwritten recipes, which I still have,” she said. “Our cabbage soup and caramel brownies are made from my mom’s recipes.”

Patterson said her grandmother was an accomplished Southern cook. Her mom? Not so much.

“My mother cannot warm up a can of peas,” Patterson said with a smile. “We ate out all the time, and I thought, ‘I’m not going to make my kids do that.’ So I taught myself to cook.”

She started out by trying some of her grandmother’s recipes.

“Often, they weren’t full recipes — they would say to use a pinch of this or a little or that — so it really was a great way to learn because I had to fill in the blanks myself,” she said.

DINING IN

FROM TOP: Stored on a shelf below Poppyseed Chicken is chicken and wild rice, a palate-pleasing dish. • The Jalapeño Cheddar Loaf. • Chicken salad is one of Gourmade Kitchen’s most popular dishes.

The best seller at Gourmet Garage was lasagna, and it’s kept the top spot at Gourmade Kitchen.

“Poppyseed Chicken is a staple, too,” Pearce said. “The chicken salad is Rebecca’s grandmother’s recipe.

The chicken divan — that’s made from my grandmother’s recipe and always will be.”

Patterson said the pair did extensive recipe testing before putting together their menu.

It’s easy to pick up a complete meal at Gourmade. Main dishes and sides, like bacon-and-brown sugar green beans and cheese grits, come in three sizes. Salads include chicken salad, pimento cheese, broccoli salad, farro salad and spinach salad. You can get white chicken chili, cabbage soup or tomato basil soup. There’s bread, too — yeast rolls and a jalapeño cheddar loaf. For dessert, you can choose from oatmeal cream pies, caramel brownies and pound cakes in mini or full versions. Gourmade recently began offering a boutique wine selection.

Extras are available: white barbecue sauce, balsamic vinaigrette and sweet pickles. Energy bites are dairy-free, bite-sized oat squares packed with protein and chia seeds. Particularly popular during the Christmas holidays was Gourmade’s pepper jelly, which many customers bought to give as gifts.

“We have two healthy dips,” Pearce said. “Both are made with a fermented probiotic with extra health benefits. The GK Ranch can be a dip or a dressing. It’s made with coconut milk, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and spices. The feta dip has feta cheese mixed with organic Greek yogurt.”

Gourmade doesn’t offer full-service catering, but its website has an extensive “large party” menu with hors d’oeuvres and party tray options in addition to main dishes, sides, soups, salads and desserts.

While you can’t eat in at Gourmade, you can pick up a lunch box: a salad trio with chicken salad, pimento cheese and broccoli salad; a pimento cheese sandwich with chips, sweet pickles and an energy bite; or a spinach salad with fresh fruit, candied walnuts and goat cheese.

Pearce and Patterson said they’ve really enjoyed meeting the wide variety of people who have become their customers. Many come in to buy food for a sick friend, for someone with a new baby, or for a sympathy meal.

“The Southern way to love people is to take them food,” Pearce said. >>

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DINING IN

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Pepper jelly is made at Gourmade Kitchen. • Customers select from a variety of offerings in the store’s coolers. • Poppyseed Chicken comes in large and small pans, like most of the offerings. • Macaroni and cheese is among the selections of sides. • Oatmeal crème pies are among the dessert offerings.

One customer, Ashley Ferry, recently was in Gourmade to pick up food for a very special event. Her son, Northridge High School senior Walker Ferry, was recruited for the swim team at Washington University in St. Louis, and his mom was hosting a get-together after his signing ceremony.

She said she knew Pearce and Patterson from Christ Episcopal Church, which all three women attend, and that Pearce is her neighbor in Riverchase.

“I was a regular customer when they were selling from Taylor’s garage,” Ferry said. “I have four kids, so I’d pick up food from them.

I knew everything was homemade and everything was delicious.”

Ferry also is in charge of teacher appreciation for the Verner Elementary School PTA and said special meals for the teachers are made easier with Gourmade.

“I’m just so impressed that they’ve done all this so quickly,” she said.

Patterson and Pearce said they’ve been able to hire “great

people.” They started with three employees and now have six cooks and three front-of-the-house workers.

“God’s been by our side,” Patterson said. “We’ve felt him along the way. For example, we decided we needed to hire someone who would be here all day and wished someone would walk through the door. Soon after, that person literally did walk in our door looking for a job, and she was perfect.”

The women said they “hoped and prayed” about their first day in business.

“People came in, and we were so excited,” Patterson said. “Our kids were here, and they got to see our hard work pay off. It’s nice for children to see that moms can be just as successful as dads.”

Pearce said she “cried all day long” when she saw the turnout on opening day.

“People have been so kind,” she said. “They call or come in and tell us they enjoyed their food, and they say, ‘I’m so glad you’re here.’ ”

Gourmade Kitchen is at 1530 McFarland Blvd., Suite D, in Tuscaloosa. For more information, call 205-764-5090, visit www.gourmadekitchen.com, or follow the store on Facebook and Instagram. The store is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and closed on Saturdays and Sundays. You can rent the Gourmade Kitchen space for parties, meetings and other events.

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EVENTS

Things to do, places to go, people to see this

spring ENTERTAINMENT

Dance Alabama!

Spring 2019

March 26-30 • Morgan Auditorium The biannual showcase of the University of Alabama’s dance department.

The students choreograph their own dances, from ballet to hip-hop.

For more information or tickets, visit https://theatre.ua.edu.

“Godspell”

April 5-15 • ACT Studio Theatre “Day by Day” — come on, you know you want to sing along with that hit from this Broadway musical. It’s a spring presentation by ACT (Actor’s Charitable Theatre). For tickets or more information, visit ACT’s website at theactonline.com or call 205-462-7947.

“Gnit”

April 8 • Allen Bales Theatre A play performed by the University of Alabama’s theater department, its website describes it this way: “Peter Gnit travels far and wide in search of himself, and along the way he makes all the wrong decisions. This new play — a ‘fairly rough’ translation of Henrik Ibsen’s ’Peer Gynt’ — is rollicking, offbeat and unmistakably American.”

For tickets or more information, visit https://theatre.ua.edu.

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“Almost, Maine”

April 11-14 • Bean-Brown Theatre “Welcome to Almost, Maine, a place that’s so far north, it’s almost not in the United States. It’s almost in Canada. And it’s not quite a town, because its residents never got around to getting organized. So it almost doesn’t exist.” And so goes the beginning of the description of the play Theatre Tuscaloosa is presenting. It’s a blend of love stories and comedy. Visit www.theatretusc.com or call 205-391-2277 for tickets and details.

“Sense and Sensibility”

April 16-21 • Marian Gallaway Theatre The Dashwood ladies come to life on stage, as presented by Kate Hamill’s version of the Jane Austen classic. It’s a production by the University of Alabama’s theater department. For tickets or more information, visit https://ua.tix.com.

Zac Brown Band: Down the Rabbit Hole Live

With Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real • April 25, 7 p.m. • Tuscaloosa Amphitheater The Billboard-topping country band has had 13 songs reach No. 1, including the fan favorite “Chicken Fried.” Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater box office, or charged by phone at 800-745-3000.

EVENTS

“Dark and Light”

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra’s Adam Flatt will conduct this performance of Stravinsky Suite No. 1, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major. Jenny Gregoire is the featured soloist. For tickets or more information, visit www.tsoonline.org or call 205-752-5515.

Turn it up, Tuscaloosa, because you know “Sweet Home Alabama” will be a highlight.

Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater box office, or charged by phone at 800-745-3000.

May 6, 7 p.m. • Moody Music Building Concert Hall

Jim Gaffigan, Quality Time Tour May 9 • Tuscaloosa Amphitheater

Gaffigan, star of “The Jim Gaffigan Show,” brings his standup comedy to Tuscaloosa. The New Yorker is touted as a “clean” comic in his routine. Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster. com, at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater box office or charged by phone at 800-745-3000.

May 10 • Tuscaloosa Amphitheater

“Inherit the Wind”

May 17-26 • Bean-Brown Theatre The Scopes Monkey Trial comes to Tuscaloosa. Theatre Tuscaloosa is putting on this classic about a teacher who is prosecuted for “discussing the theory of evolution in the classroom.”

Visit www.theatretusc.com or call 205-391-2277 for tickets and details.

Kenny Chesney

May 24, 7 p.m. • Tuscaloosa Amphitheater Kenny Chesney has been dropping by the Druid City for years now, first popping in to perform at local bars even when he was already a big star.

And a big star he is, shining with nearly 30 No. 1 hits. If you think your tractor’s sexy, he agrees — after all, “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” is one of his biggest hits, along with “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems.” But if you go to the show, wear your shirt and your shoes, because if you don’t, there might just be problems.

Tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater box office, or charged by phone at 800-745-3000.

“Grease”

July 12-21 • Bean-Brown Theatre Grease is the word — and one of the all-time favorite, and fun, musicals. Theatre Tuscaloosa will bring the audience to its feet from the very opening, with hits like “Summer Nights.”

You’ll have a blast with Danny Zuko, Sandy Dumbrowski, Betty Rizzo, Kenickie and the whole crew. Visit www.theatretusc.com or call 205-391-2277 for tickets and details.

Kenny Chesney

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EVENTS

FAMILY FUN Tuscaloosa Farmers Market

Saturdays, 7 a.m.-noon • Tuscaloosa River Market • 1900 Jack Warner Parkway Fruits, vegetables, meats, honey, eggs, baked goods, beverages, plants and even “artisan crafts.” It’s worth the trip on a Saturday morning for a “wholesome” shopping experience.

For more information, visit www.tuscaloosarivermarket.com.

Druid City Arts Festival April 5-6 • Government Plaza

Attendance is free in this 10th annual community festival that celebrates art and features more than 90 artists from the South. For more information, visit www.druidcityartsfestival.com.

Tuscaloosa Mayor’s Cup April 27 • Downtown Tuscaloosa

Lace up your running — or walking shoes — and take part in this 13th annual event that benefits the Tuscaloosa Pre-K Initiative. For more information, visit www.tuscaloosamayorscup.com.

5th Street Vintage Market May 5, June 2 • 4150 Fifth St., Northport

Held on six Sundays a year from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. It’s a covered area, so it’s held, rain or shine. There’s no charge to attend. Vendors and dealers set up tables with all sorts of items from handmade jewelry to antiques to artworks and vinyl records. For more information, visit the website at https://5thstreetvintagemarket.com.

FOR THE KIDS Alabama A-Day Game

April 13, 1 p.m. • Bryant-Denny Stadium Roll Tide! Get the first glimpse of the future of the 2019 team when the University of Alabama football team hosts its annual spring intrasquad game. And the price is right — it’s free.

Get there early and head to Denny Chimes to catch the “Walk of Fame” ceremony honoring the 2018 permanent team captains. For more information, visit www.rolltide.com.

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Theatre Camp 2019

8 a.m.-noon • June 17-28 • Sandra Hall Ray Fine Arts Center • Shelton State Community College

Tuscaloosa Children’s Theatre and Theatre Tuscaloosa combined their talented forces to offer this annual summer theater camp.

The camp offers five age divisions, from kindergarten to 11th grade. The camp includes acting, dance, singing and improv.

Find out more and register online at www.theatretusc.com.

“Aladdin Jr.”

June 3-8 • ACT Studio Theatre The Actor’s Charitable Theatre conducts this camp for ages 8-18 where campers will put together “a full scale production” of “Aladdin Jr.” It starts on day one with auditions and culminates with the campers putting on the show at Bama Theatre, lights, sets, special effects and all.

For more information, visit ACT’s website at www.theactonline.com or call 205-462-7947.

EVENTS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TUSCALOOSA!

Tuscaloosa is marking its bicentennial in 2019 with a yearlong birthday celebration. The city was officially founded on Dec. 13, 1819. The bicentennial commission has set up a website for up-to-the-moment events at www.tuscaloosa200.com. In addition to a list and description of events, there’s a “Historic Tours App” that takes visitors to historic and special sites in Tuscaloosa. See The Tuscaloosa News’ coverage of the bicentennial, including historical facts about the area being added throughout the year, at www.tuscaloosanews.com/topics/tuscaloosa200.

Here’s a list of some of the upcoming Tuscaloosa Bicentennial events:

Tuscaloosa Bicentennial Bash

Featuring Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit • March 30 The best things in life are free, and this concert is one of those best things. The daylong celebration of 200 years of Tuscaloosa includes music — fans can come and go — and there will be a kids’ zone with games and activities.

Doors open at 1 p.m. The concerts start at 2 p.m., and the day ends with a fireworks show that starts at 9 p.m. — all at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater. Jason Isbell headlines the music fest. Performing artists include The Commodores, Blind Boys of Alabama, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, and Moon Taxi.

Tuscaloosa Through Time: A Bicentennial History Exposition

April 23-27

The Tuscaloosa Bicentennial Commission and Tuscaloosaarea schools will put on this three-day event. Each school is assigned an era of Tuscaloosa’s history and will construct

an exhibit of that era, encompassing historical events, inventions and technology, food, fashion, music, arts, education and even décor. School visits take place in Sellers Auditorium of the Bryant Conference Center April 24-26. The public gets its look there on April 27.

Community Book Experience

Sept. 22, 2-4 p.m. • Tuscaloosa Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse Guy Ward Hubbs, who wrote the book on Tuscaloosa — seriously, it’s titled “Tuscaloosa: 200 Years in the Making” — will be the featured speaker, sharing the city’s history.

Tuscaloosa 200 Birthday Party & Holiday Parade Dec. 13

Tuscaloosa’s year-long bicentennial celebration culminates with this event, which will include the unveiling of a bicentennial sculpture at Manderson Landing, the official Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Tuscaloosa County Courthouse and the annual Tuscaloosa Christmas parade.

Tuscaloosa launched its yearlong bicentennial celebration at the River Market Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. Guy Ward Hubbs autographs his book, “Tuscaloosa: 200 Years in the Making.”

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BY DONNA CORNELIUS, THE SNOOTY FOODIE | PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR.

Thanks for the memories:

WHY I’LL ALWAYS THINK OF SALMON-EGGS-AND-GRITS WITH LOVE

I

’m always a little envious of people who say they never watch TV. But I do wonder what they do instead on a boring old weeknight. Read? Catch up on work? Make their children, who would surely rather be watching TV, carry on meaningful conversations or play board games?

I’ll admit it: I do watch TV — everything from “Seinfeld” reruns to “Homeland” and “Game of Thrones.” I even bit the bullet and watched the very scary “Bird Box” on Netflix with my son, even though it left me sleepless for a week. But my real addiction is cooking shows.

Food Network, of course, has plenty of options. My DVR always has a big stock of “Chopped” episodes. I became a fan of “Chopped Jr.” when Fuller Goldsmith, Tuscaloosa’s culinary whiz kid, was on the show — and won it. I even watch the cheesier competitions like “Kids’ Baking Championship,” although I will never understand why, midway through each episode, judges Duff Goldman and Valerie Bertinelli will pop in and horrify the children by making them include a surprise ingredient in their baked goods. (“Yes, we know your assignment was to make an apple pie, but now you have to incorporate — Brussels sprouts! Yay!”) I was delighted to discover that Netflix has a full menu of cooking shows, including my all-time favorite, “The Great British Baking Show.” I’ve also gotten hooked on “Nailed It!” — with which I can totally identify because its contestants are all fairly incompetent bakers charged with duplicating a really fancy dessert. They usually make not beautiful confections but god-awful messes.

I just finished watching one of the most fascinating new Netflix food shows, “Final Table.” Established, award-winning chefs from all over the world competed in pairs, and each segment featured food from a different country. After the first round of cooking, three teams that didn’t make the cut had to cook again for a judge who was a real culinary star in the featured country. The USA’s guy was Grant Achatz. A pioneer in molecular gastronomy and most well known for his Chicago restaurant, Alinea, he’s one of the most recognized chefs not just in our country but globally.

When Achatz walked onto the set, the chef-contestants were star-struck.

One woman said she never dreamed she’d even be in the same room with him, much less that she’d ever cook for him. I imagine it would be like a high school football player looking up into the stands just before a big game and seeing Nick Saban there to watch him.

Watching Achatz inspire that level of awe and admiration was a reminder of what a starring role chefs and food play in our culture today. But it also made me think of unsung heroes — people who will never be on TV or have a Michelin-starred restaurant or win a James Beard Foundation award — but who cook up not just good food but also good memories for their families and friends.

When I interview chefs, I usually ask them how their interest in cooking started. More often than not, they give one of two answers: Either their mother got them into the kitchen or their grandmother did. They talk about watching and helping these women make tea cakes, or meatloaf, or vegetable soup. It didn’t matter that the food wasn’t fancy but that they shared the experience of cooking it together.

Rebecca Patterson, one of the owners of Tuscaloosa’s Gourmade Kitchen, told me that one of her best food memories is of her grandmother’s egg sandwich. “I don’t know why I loved it so much, because it had mayonnaise on it — and I don’t even like mayonnaise,” she said. “But I just remember curling up in a chair and eating it, and it was so good.”

I knew exactly what she meant. My grandmother used to make what I considered a special treat when I would spend the night with her: salmon, eggs and grits. I pronounced it like one long, compound word: salmoneggs-and-grits. As best I can recall, it consisted of canned salmon mixed up with scrambled eggs and served over hot buttered grits. I’m not sure my adult taste buds would find it so appealing. But for me as a child, it was the Gordo, Alabama, version of caviar.

All this is to say: Moms, grandmothers, dads and grandfathers — you don’t have to be a Grant Achatz or a Frank Stitt or even a “Chopped” contestant to be a star to the special children in your life. Cook with them.

Cook for them. Write down your recipes for them. You may or may not be grooming a future chef. But you’ll be creating memories that will last long after the salmon-eggs-and-grits are all gone.

Donna Cornelius is a Tuscaloosa writer whose motto is: So much food, so little time. Contact her to share recipes, restaurant news or anything food-related at donnawcornelius@bellsouth.net. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @blonderavenous.

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FOODIE NEWS

STREET

CRED THESE FOOD TRUCKS ARE BIG WHEELS ON THE UA CAMPUS

The Little Poblano food truck offers authentic Mexican fare.

U

niversity of Alabama students are fans of more than just the football team. Before, between and after classes, lines form quickly at several food trucks. Among the most popular are Little Poblano — as well as its older sister, Local Roots — and Joyful Java.

These trucks aren’t just limited to the UA campus. You might find Joyful Java at the Tuscaloosa River Market farmers market and at special events like the Tinsel Trail at the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk, the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s, and equestrian events at Westminster Farm and UA. Little Poblano and Local Roots have a thriving catering business, and the company’s third annual Roots Fest, a downtown Tuscaloosa celebration with food and music, is set this year for April 27 at Government Plaza.

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HOT STUFF: LITTLE POBLANO

Dustin Spruill isn’t the superstitious type.

He and his wife, Kacie, got married on Friday the 13th. He opened his first food truck, Local Roots, on April Fool’s Day in 2016.

Despite the inauspicious dates, both ventures have worked out extremely well. The Spruills’ daughter, Eleanor, will be 2 years old in a few months, and Local Roots’ success birthed a second truck: Little Poblano, which hit the streets last September.

When Local Roots opened, food trucks weren’t allowed in downtown Tuscaloosa or on the UA grounds. Dustin Spruill was among those who pushed to get the rules changed.

Now, both his trucks are on campus most weekdays.

“We usually park the trucks right next to each other,” he said. “We wanted to let folks know that Little Poblano was a Local Roots concept.”

For Local Roots, Spruill came up with a menu of “food that we like,” including his signature tasty burgers and fries made from his grandfather’s recipe. He’d also developed a taste for Mexican food when he lived for a short time in Texas.

“We wanted authentic food, like handmade tortillas,” he said. “Visibly, Mexican food is colorful, so it’s a fun concept.”

With the new truck, and because his company’s catering jobs were growing, Spruill needed a new chef. That’s when he brought Brandon Wiman, who’s now executive chef for both Local Roots and Little Poblano, on board.

Wiman came with some serious cooking chops. The Hoover native is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, New York, and worked for two award-winning Alabama chefs: David Bancroft of Auburn’s Acre restaurant and Chris Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham.

But Wiman’s most recent culinary gig really prepared him for Little Poblano: He worked at El Barrio, one of Birmingham’s most popular and highly regarded Mexican eateries.

“I learned a ton at all the places,” Wiman said. “I was at El Barrio about five years working for Neville Baay and Brian Somershield.

I started to learn about Mexican cuisine. I knew about Southern food and learned about French food in culinary school, but Mexican is a whole different ballpark.”

The Spruills said Wiman was the perfect addition to their team.

FOODIE NEWS

“We had to have Brandon,” said Kacie Spruill, a UA graduate who left her job in the cardiology department at DCH Regional Medical Center to run the office for the food truck company. “He was a huge factor in Little Poblano.”

Dustin Spruill said it took about 90 days for them to develop the Little Poblano menu.

“We tried so much Mexican food that our tongues were numb,” he said.

A point of pride for the Little Poblano owners and chef is that the food is authentic. Everything, except for the tamale husks, is made in-house, including tortillas, salsa, pickled onions, and crema (a Mexican condiment that falls somewhere between sour cream and crème fraiche).

“It’s traditional Mexican,” Wiman said.

“We design our own tacos with different flavor profiles.

We have different tacos on Taco Tuesdays and make tamales once a week on Thursdays.

We make guacamole every morning.”

The company’s presence on the UA campus has been a positive experience.

“Students are receptive to what we do, and don’t mind trying new things,” Dustin Spruill said. “But when we do comfort food, they love it. They liked our chili (which the food truck serves during cold months) and love if we have pancakes for breakfast.”

You’ll find some students inside the trucks as well as lined up outside them. Five to eight students are hired each semester to work as cashiers and at special events, while several interns handle social media for both trucks.

Catering jobs are booked through Local Roots, but you can get food from Little Poblano, too.

“We can do everything from office lunches to six-course plated dinners for 300 people,” Wiman said.

He said he particularly enjoys catering because it allows him to be more creative. In January, a customer asked for BLTs. But since tomatoes weren’t in season, Wiman came up with a mini-hoecake topped with tomato preserves, bacon and arugula.

Seasonal cooking is a priority for both trucks.

“We’ve learned what people like, and we’ll do specials,” Dustin Spruill said. “But we still make our burgers and fries the same as we did on our first day.”

For more information, and to find out where both trucks will be parked each week, visit www. eatlocalroots.com or follow Local Roots and Little Poblano on social media.

COFFEE TALK: JOYFUL JAVA Kate Hartmann never thought she’d be living in Alabama — much less owning a food truck here. But with the help of her sons, she’s made Joyful Java into a mobile coffee shop that’s a hot spot on campus for many UA students.

Hartmann said she’s been a coffee aficionado since she was 13 years old.

“My family is from the Midwest, and we were at my uncle’s cabin in Wisconsin — with no electricity and no running water,” she said. “It was so cold.”

The hot container of coffee that was thrust into her hands was “pretty much dirt in a cup,” she said. But it started a love affair that’s still going strong today.

Hartmann was executive director for a global nonprofit organization but wanted a change from corporate life.

She was living in New Jersey when she first decided to veer off into the food business.

“I was going to have a storefront in Jersey,” she said. “But there, when you choose a location, you have to choose carefully because of the high taxes and long-term leases that are required. Having a truck was my sister’s idea.”

In New Jersey, the food truck industry is “the thing,” she said. “A truck has its own set of issues, but there, it’s not such a crazy idea for a new business.”

Hartmann’s son, Andrew Hill, moved

to Tuscaloosa with his girlfriend when she became a UA graduate student. Hartmann followed them to town, as did her other son, Tyler Hill, and together they launched Joyful Java.

“We started here a year ago last November, and we made all the mistakes we could possibly make,” she said.

Unlike Hartmann’s very first not-sotasty cup of coffee, Joyful Java’s products are high-quality.

“When people find out you’re going to sell coffee, everybody sends you samples,” Hartmann said. “I had mountains and mountains of coffee to try. I chose a small, family-owned business that had started out as a coffee shop and is now a pretty sophisticated roastery.”

She said her supplier, Harvest Coffee Roastery in Medford, New Jersey, has a unique blend for its espresso roast.

“I told them, don’t ever, ever change it,” she said.

Joyful Java’s menu includes espresso, brewed coffee, cold brew, apple cider and hot chocolate — plus a few food items.

“We were going to have coffee, lattes, espressos, and maybe some scones and doughnuts,” Hartmann said. “Once we got on campus, students started coming up and saying, ‘We’re hungry. What have you got to eat?’ They wanted more than doughnuts, so we started having bagels.”>>

Tyler Hill prepares a coffee-based drink inside the Joyful Java food truck.

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FOODIE NEWS She said Andrew and his girlfriend came up with the idea for offering avocado toast.

“I thought it sounded too complicated,” Hartmann said. “Now, it’s the single most popular thing next to our vanilla latte. Andrew likes to cook, so he came up with a recipe for our caprese toast with tomatoes and mozzarella. Next, we’re going to experiment with gorgonzola, pear and honey-roasted walnut toast.”

Hartmann said Joyful Java’s reception has been heartwarming.

“The truck is doing very well,” she said. “I think we have a good reputation on campus. The students seem to love it. And we went from zero to 900 Instagram followers in less than a year.”

She credits both her sons with Joyful Java’s success.

“I couldn’t have done it without them,” she said.

“They’ve stuck with me, and it hasn’t been easy.

They’ve continued to be dedicated and hardworking.”

One challenge early on was picking a name for her coffee truck.

“That’s harder than you think,” she said. “You have to make sure the name you want is available. It took me about six weeks, and I was about at my wit’s end. Then I found out that the definition of ‘joyful’ is not only being happy but making other people happy. That was a perfect fit.”

For more information, and to find out where Joyful Java will be parked each week, visit www.joyfuljava. com or follow the truck on social media.

EPICUREAN

EVENTS BHamBurger Battle

Birmingham • April 5 Four Birmingham chefs will cook up their very best burgers in hopes of wowing a panel of judges. Those who attend can sample slider-sized burgers, too.

This fourth annual event starts at 6 p.m. at Cahaba Brewing Co., 4500 Fifth Ave. S. For more information, visit www.bhamburgerbattle.com.

Dining Out for Life

FOOD FINDS: YOU’LL FIND

EDIBLE GIFTS IN SOME SURPRISING PLACES Most of us visit gift shops to buy — well, gifts: candles, hand towels with clever sayings, serving pieces. But since friends, teachers and other presentworthy people often have all the doodads they need, why not go a different route and buy them an edible treat?

Several local stores are great places to find food gifts for your favorite folks or maybe a “happy” for yourself. Here’s a sample of what some Tuscaloosa area shops are stocking: Joyce’s Cheese Straws are light and crispy with a back note of cayenne pepper. They’re made in Selma

by Joyce Rylee, whose catering company is housed in a cottage next to the city’s historic Sturdivant Hall.

Get a small box or — take my advice — the large size.

They’re at Anna Kate & Co., 312 Merchants Walk, Suite 5B, Tuscaloosa.

You may think warm weather isn’t the time to drink Hot Ruby’s Cranberry and Citrus Cider. But you can make yummy cold drinks by mixing it with champagne or with tequila and pink grapefruit juice. Add some cut-up fresh fruit for an extra-festive touch. Find it at Confetti Interiors, 4851 Rice Mine Road NE, Suite 530 in the Shops of Lake Tuscaloosa.

Confetti also has Sweet Ruby dessert sauce. Made by the same company, it’s a fruit-and-pecans topping to serve over poundcake, cheesecake or ice cream.

Who doesn’t like peanuts — especially when they’re larger than usual and come in a variety of tasty flavors? MV’s Best Virginia Cocktail Peanuts are the perfect nibbles to serve to drop-in guests.

Try the toffee, herbs and spice, and other varieties, all made with high-quality ingredients. They come in pretty tins and are at Kyle Fine Stationery, 908 Queen City Ave., Tuscaloosa.

A Georgia pie baker turned her hobby into a business, got her husband to help, and came up with Pie

Birmingham • April 25 An impressive lineup of Birmingham restaurants will join other eateries from across the country for this one-night-a-year experience. Dining Out for Life participants will donate at least 25 percent of the event’s sales to AIDS Alabama. For a list of restaurants and more information, visit www.diningoutforlife.com.

Death by Chocolate Tournament

Tuscaloosa • May 2 Sample chocolate creations from Tuscaloosa restaurants and caterers at this sweet fundraiser for the Family Counseling Service.

Advance tickets are on sale now for $30; at the door, tickets will be $35. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Tuscaloosa River Market.

For more information, visit www. counselingservice.org.

Episcopal Place Gumbo Gala

Birmingham • May 4 Teams compete in the Southeast’s largest gumbo competition at this annual festival. Those who attend can sample the creations and then vote for their favorites. It’s from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, 20 32nd St. N. To register a team, buy tickets or for more information, visit www.episcopalplace.org.

Provisions. One tasty product from the company is the Georgia Blueberry Pie Filling; made with a hint of lemon, it fills one 9-inch pie shell. Check it out at Lou & Company, 555 20th Ave., Tuscaloosa.

Buy a packet of Savory Fine Food’s Party Cracker Seasoning, and all you have to add are saltine crackers and canola oil. Mix the seasoning packet with the oil in a large zip-top bag, put in regular or mini-crackers, and then shake things up — no baking needed. Try the classic favor with a bit of heat or the cinnamon flavor for a sweet treat. The packets are at Northport Pharmacy and Gift Gallery, 909 McFarland Blvd., Northport.

West Alabama Food and Wine Festival

Tuscaloosa • May 10 Save the date for one of the Tuscaloosa area’s most popular events, which features food from local chefs and restaurateurs as well as wine and beer. The seventh annual event from 5-8 p.m. in downtown T-town benefits the West Alabama Chapter of Red Cross. Details are still being finalized, but you can visit www. westalabamafoodandwine.org before the event to order tickets.

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ENTERTAINING

table

contents A

OF

How to take what you already have and make a striking tablescape

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ENTERTAINING

U

BY BECKY HOPF • PHOTOS BY ERIN NELSON PHOTOS BY PORFIRIO SOLORZANO/SHELTON STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

se what you have — sage advice that can apply to most anything.

And Pleshette Bevelle, a culinary arts instructor and chef extraordinaire at Shelton State Community College, is a firm believer that this mantra can apply especially when it comes to creating a tablescape.

In early December, Bevelle — who is affectionately and respectfully known to her students as Chef P — led a class at Shelton State’s I.W. Mitchell Cafetorium at the college’s C.A. Fredd campus on just that subject. With Christmas quickly approaching, the class was holiday-themed. Taking items she already had at home, she showed how to pull together a striking display.

Tuscaloosa magazine returned to I.W. Mitchell Cafetorium in February, challenging Bevelle to see what she could do with items we brought — from home — for two themed tablescapes. One has an Easter theme, the other a travel collection theme. And we asked her to pull together two more looks, using her own collections.

As our pictures show, she hit it out of the park for all four looks.

The best part is, though Bevelle has an extraordinary gift and eye for design, she assures us that any of us can create tablescapes that are equally striking.

Pulling the outdoors into a breathtaking indoor display, Pleshette Bevelle anchored the centerpiece with limbs and adorned them with Bells of Ireland and hydrangeas. The copper-colored lanterns coordinate with the glasses, which have bottom tints that match.

The candles are mahogany teakwood-colored. The chargers and placemats blend with the colors used.

Matching the blue hues of the candlesticks and hydrangeas, she selected blue napkins and topped a white dinner plate with a blue-and-white salad plate.

LEFT, AND OPPOSITE PAGE: White, cream and greens make a perfect combination for this simple but stylish setting. Bevelle used a bedsheet for the tablecloth. At the center is a white enamelware pitcher perched on a white metal cake plate. The tea light candles are white, the goblets crystal clear. The candlesticks bring height — and with the black and white, color — to flank the pitcher. Black is brought in again with the rim of the enamelware dinner plate and green reintroduced with the border of the larger dinner plate it sits upon.

The metal charger is cream-colored, working together with all colors, as is the plaid napkin with white, black and green among its colors. In lieu of a fabric runner, she implemented eucalyptus branches. The pitcher is filled with ranunculus and delphinium.

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ENTERTAINING

Here are some of her tips: • Look around your house and you’ll be amazed at all the things that you have to work with: candles, plates, lanterns, chargers, ornaments, wreaths, vases — the list can be endless.

• Don’t have fancy table linens? Use blankets, bedsheets or even scarves for tablecloths.

• Don’t want to use a covering for the entire table? Use a table runner.

Create one if you don’t have one.

For her holiday table, Bevelle created a runner using a ribbon.

• “If you know you’re going to play host to a party, start early,” she advises. “Check your inventory: ‘This is what I have. This is what I want to create.’ ” • Don’t have a clear idea yet? Go

online to sites like Pinterest. Check your inventory and see if you have any of the same type of items.

• Don’t get stuck thinking everything has to be “matchy-matchy.” White plates are a great way to solve that problem. They’ll work with just about everything. “White plates really make things stand out,” she says. “It’s appealing to the eyes.”

• But, also, mix and match. Don’t be afraid to use plaids and color.

Just make sure the colors complement each other.

• Mix elements — gold, silver, cream and white.

• Let food be the center of the attraction. If you’re inviting friends over for coffee and dessert, set up a table just for that. Or set up a bar.

• Don’t want to pull out the good plates? Then use paper plates or clear plastic plates. There are so many options of disposable dinnerware that can still make for a stylish setting.

• For large crowds that require a couple of tables, keep the theme related to each. Do all-formal or all-casual.

• Centerpieces can include items like cheese boards or cake plates.

• Want to use placeholders? For holidays, take a bulb and write names on each. You want each of your guests to feel welcome and at ease, so make sure you seat them, using the placeholders, beside people you know they’ll be comfortable with.

• Don’t have tall candlesticks? You

can elevate what you have. Take a footed clear vase and flip it. Put a plate on top as a base for the candles. Small boxes and crates also can be used as bases.

• Use kitchen tea towels and place them under the dinner plates.

• Chairs don’t all match? Take away that distraction by putting something decorative — a bow, a wreath, a swatch of flowers — on the back of each chair to tie them all together.

• Got an old basket? Spray-paint it and bring it back to life. Use it as part of the centerpiece or put a ribbon or bow on it and fill it with utensils your guests will use.

• So many things can be used as vases: teapots, mugs, glasses, bowls, toys … use your imagination!

The tablecloth is a reproduction of a souvenir-style cloth from more than a half-century ago. The glasses are purchases made — and still available — online at Cat’s Studio. The plates are old souvenir plates purchased at antique stores while traveling through those areas. The lantern is a recent purchase from Target. Inside the lantern is a souvenir glass from Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough in Connecticut along with orange ranunculus. Bevelle used robellini palm fronds between the plates and chargers. She selected candles that match colors in the tablecloth.

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ENTERTAINING

The tablecloth and napkins were past purchases from WilliamsSonoma. The large “chocolate� bunny at center was bought at Anna Kate & Co. years ago and is positioned on a cake plate once sold in the Southern Living collection. Bevelle used robellini palm to decorate the cake plate. The dessert plates were from Pottery Barn. White ranunculus adorns the chick cart. Tulips are scattered around the center.

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ENTERTAINING

The mini-Mason jars originally held popcorn seasoning. Bevelle filled them with herbs and berries. A cupcake stand creates height.

The ornaments are some she has collected over the years. She pulls it all together using greenery cut from the yard, and the plaid flannel sheet doubles as a tablecloth. “It’s family. It’s warm. It’s a holiday look,” Bevelle says.

Bevelle said she likes to keep things neutral, in this example using shiny objects, snowflakes cut from felt under the chargers, and crystal. The silver bands on the tiered tidbit tray blend with the sparkling silver of the reindeer as well as the charger.

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ENTERTAINING

Solve the problem of mismatched chairs by pulling the look together with matching wreaths or other décor on every chair.

Special thanks to Shelton State’s Dakiuta Grant and Tim Parr for their help in styling and setting up the February photo shoot, and for “Mr. Shelton State,” Ulysses Jenkins, who had no idea when he went to work Participants who attended the tablescape class in December were encouraged to bring items from home.

Bevelle, right, gives ideas to Pam Cowart on ways to use some of those items.

that morning that he’d be sawing limbs for a tablescape.

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AT HOME

MAKING A

GOOD THING

EV E N B E T T E R Kara and Michael Warr’s vision has created a home to fit their busy family life — and many happy memories

The master bedroom.

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AT HOME

BY BECKY HOPF • PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR. hen Kara and Michael Warr purchased a home in Tuscaloosa’s High Forest subdivision in 2016, they bought it with an eye for what the home could become. Though the house had been well-maintained and was in a neighborhood they liked, it was more than 50 years old, and they had a distinctive vision of what they wanted as far as updates to fit their busy family life.

Foremost in their vision was a larger, more open, kitchen space.

“We have four kids,” Kara Warr said. “We needed space, but we didn’t want a house that was so big that we couldn’t all get together. We all like to gather in the kitchen. The kitchen originally was divided. When we bought the house, my husband had a vision.”

They shared their vision with Tuscaloosa home builder William Blakeney, who is also a family friend.

“We knocked down walls and raised the ceiling one foot, and it made a difference because, originally, the dining room ceiling was one foot higher than the kitchen ceiling. I cook a lot — my goal is to cook every night so my family has a home-cooked meal. And I’m teaching our kids to cook. We’ve always congregated in our kitchen in our homes, and this space has been perfect for that.” >>

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Michael Jr.’s bedroom has a two-sided sliding chalkboard door that leads to his en suite bathroom and closet. • Kara Warr sits at their kitchen island. The bar is behind her. • The kitchen is the family gathering place. The marble-topped island is 8½ by 5 feet. • The wine room features custom shelving by Roberts Remodeling.

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AT HOME

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The drop-leaf table in the living room belonged to Michael’s mother. The pictures above it are of the Warr children. The orchids are by Richard Melton at Tree House Farm & Nursery Garden Center. Kara says it’s “one of my favorite spots in the house.”

• The family in their outdoor cabana: Michael Jr., Michael, Kara and Jude are in front. In back are Hill, left, and Macon. • The master bedroom has his-and-hers baths. Kara’s suite includes a separate shower and soaking tub as well as a walk-in closet and dressing area.

The kitchen is anchored by an 8½-by-5-foot marble-topped island, perhaps the most popular spot in the home. Family and guests gather around the island more than in any other room. It’s ideal for cooking, entertaining, homework and just sitting around together chatting.

Features in the kitchen include a built-in coffeemaker above the oven, a Wolf range, a warming drawer and microwave. There’s a bar that Blakeney built using pecky cypress. He repurposed leftover cypress for shelving in Michael’s office and master closet. The bar area has its own minifridge and wine cooler as well as open shelves to display and store glasses.

The original kitchen was in a T-shape with a bar and a galley that opened to the living room. It had no pantry. This area included the home’s major renovations as it was opened up and additions were made, including a kitchen pantry. The original powder room on that level was converted to a laundry area. Previously, the laundry room was in the basement. A new powder room that opens to the foyer was added.

Open to the kitchen but off to a side is a breakfast nook area. Kara says Michael wanted a television in that area, but she wasn’t as in-

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clined. Her solution was to hang the television on the wall, but, when the television isn’t on, it’s hidden behind the floor-to-ceiling custom window treatments from Lampadas Living.

The house is wired for digital access throughout — music and televisions can be controlled by phones. They used the Control4 system from Tuscaloosa’s Access Digital.

The home is three levels. The first — main floor — also has a formal dining room, living room and the master bedroom as well as office space and a master closet and bath for Michael that is connected to the master bedroom. Kara has her own en suite bathroom and closet. The home was already set up that way, but, at first, the Warrs thought they’d change it since they didn’t mind sharing a bathroom and closet.

“We originally weren’t going to do ‘his-and-hers’ bathrooms, but we’re glad we did in the end.”

Michael’s area was originally a study that they converted into a bathroom, office space and walk-in closet. Her bathroom features a steam shower with 35 shower heads and a soaking tub. The bathrooms, which were done by Russell Lee Flooring and Tile, feature marble floors, showers and countertops.

AT HOME

Warr said the living room required the least amount of updating.

“We added a limestone mantel and changed out the exterior doors and windows and painted,” she said.

Many of the home’s furnishings and accessories, including lighting, were from Lampadas Living where another of her good friends, Lauren Clementz, works. Warr said Clementz also helped advise her on paint colors and fabrics.

“Lauren and another of my good friends, Leah Shea Branch, helped me with ideas. We all bounced ideas off of each other.” Both Clementz and Branch are local interior designers. The home also includes artwork by local artist Kristin Blakeney, another of Warr’s close friends — and the wife of their builder.

The bedrooms for two of their children — their youngest — are on the second floor. Michael Jr. is 8, and a feature in his bedroom is a two-sided sliding chalkboard door that opens to his walk-in closet and adjoining bathroom.

Daughter Jude, who is 3, has her own bathroom that is not en suite but is next door to her bedroom. Her bathroom’s wallpaper features butterflies and dragonflies. She sleeps in an antique bed purchased from The Potager & Adams Antiques.

That level also contains Kara’s office and design space — she is a jewelry designer.

A double staircase leads to the second floor and the basement level. >> FROM TOP: Teen daughters Macon and Hill chose to share a bedroom. The girls picked the colors for the room, including the custom headboards and pillows.

• The formal dining room. The quartz tabletop is from Russell Lee Flooring and Tile. The chandelier and fabric chairs are from Lampadas Living. The side chairs feature lumbar support pillows. The end chairs are antiques. • Michael’s en suite off the master includes his own shower and bathroom, office space, and a walk-in closet and dressing area.

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AT HOME

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The Cole and Sons wallpaper in Jude’s bathroom features butterflies and dragonflies. • The bottom-level playroom features a seating area for watching movies and television. • A double staircase off the main level leads to the upper floor and the basement. • Kitchen features include a built-in coffeemaker above the range as well as a warming drawer.

The basement level includes a bedroom shared by daughters Macon, 15, and Hill, 14. The basement was originally a mother-inlaw suite that included a kitchen, which was removed and recently remodeled to create a lounge area with a sofa and television. The girls have a bathroom next to their room. It’s decorated to coordinate with the colors and fabrics in their bedroom.

That level has a large playroom that doubles as a room for watching movies and television.

There’s also a separate wine space off the hallway.

“What I love about the basement of our home is that it has windows. You don’t feel like you’re on a lower level,” Warr said.

In all, the home has six bathrooms — three on the main level, one in the basement and two on the upper level. The home itself is 5,629 square feet. The wood floors throughout the home are original. The floors were sanded and stained a custom light, almost natural shade.

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As for the home’s exterior, the Warrs enlisted Neale Fitzhugh at Highland Design Gardens for landscaping. Tree House Farm & Nursery Garden Center maintains the landscaping. The latest exterior and landscaping renovations done in the fall included painting the home’s exterior and creating a new driveway.

The extensive renovations that the Warrs did to their home took about a year from the time they purchased it in July 2016 to when they moved in in February 2017 — a wait they say was well worth it.

“We love it. It works so well for us,” Warr said of the home that has had at least two previous owners. “It was originally built by RoRo and Bob Morrow in the 1960s or 1970s, and, when people find out this is our house now, they’ll say, ‘You bought the Morrow house? We used to play in it.’ It was a neighborhood house, and that’s what we want it to be for us. We want to build memories for our family here, too.”

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SPORTS

BY EDWIN STANTON • PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR., THE TUSCALOOSA NEWS, AUBURN UNIVERSITY AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GENERAL

PATTON KIZZIRE IS TAKING COMMAND ON THE PGA GOLF TOUR

P

atton Kizzire took a peek at the flagstick down the fairway, refocused on his ball, hesitated for about two seconds and then let his 7-iron rip.

His tee shot hit the green, bounced once, rolled two more feet and fell into the bottom of the cup for a hole-in-one, Kizzire’s first in a PGA Tour golf tournament.

With a big smile on his face, Kizzire turned and high-fived his caddie, Joe Etter.

“My caddie turned to me and said that was a ‘lagniappe.’ It’s a Cajun word that means a little something extra that wasn’t expected,” Kizzire said.

The ace on the 186-yard, par-3 hole in the opening round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua in Hawaii may not have been expected, but Kizzire’s success on the PGA Tour was never in question.

It took longer than he expected, but Kizzire finally made it and doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

“It’s been a fairly natural progression for Patton,” said Ian Thompson, a golf writer who has followed Kizzire’s career since Kizzire was a junior golfer in Tuscaloosa. “I’m sure it didn’t happen as quickly as he wanted it to happen.

But good things come to those who wait. He’s a very established player on the PGA Tour and one would suspect he will stay out there for many years to come.” >>

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SPORTS

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SPORTS

It’s a good thing because there was no backup plan for Kizzire.

He was going to make a living playing golf, and that’s all there was to it.

As a kid growing up in Tuscaloosa, Kizzire had big dreams of one day being in contention for a green jacket on the fairways of Augusta, Georgia, or teeing it up at Pebble Beach, California, in a U.S. Open.

In elementary school when the teacher asked Kizzire and the rest of his classmates what they wanted to be when they grew up, he didn’t hesitate.

“I wrote that I want to be a professional golfer and I’ll never change my mind,” Kizzire said. “And I drew a picture of myself playing golf.”

He was true to his word.

In November 2017, Patton Kizzire won his first PGA Tour event, the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Mexico. Two months later, he won the Sony Open in Hawaii. He had four top-10 finishes last year on the tour and earned $3.5 million in the process.

LEFT: Thirteen-year-old golfing phenom. • RIGHT: Kizzire, the 2007 SEC champion.

PATTON KIZZIRE FAVORITE GOLF COURSE: I’m partial to my home courses. I like playing at Indian Hills (Tusca-

loosa), and I love playing at Ocean Forest (Sea Island, Georgia). I’m very partial to those courses. • FAVORITE HOLE: I have to say the 18th at Harbour Town (Hilton Head, South Carolina). There is something about that hole. You have the lighthouse there and the wide-open fairway. I really like that. • FAVORITE CLUB: My putter. I’m usually in contention when I’m putting well. I feel comfortable with my putter.

• FAVORITE GOLFER: Payne Stewart. • BEST ADVICE I’VE GOTTEN: I had this on my wall as a kid — “If you’re not practicing, just remember — someone, somewhere is practicing, and when you two meet, given roughly equal ability, he will win.”

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SPORTS

That he did become a successful PGA golfer comes as a surprise to no one who knows Kizzire. What makes his story unique is the path he took. The fact that Kizzire didn’t have a Plan B played a bigger part than anything else in his finding a spot on the PGA Tour.

“I never wavered. My plan all along was to be a professional golfer,” Kizzire said.

That plan went into action in 2008 when he left Auburn University early and turned pro.

Those plans did not include struggling on the golf course, which is what happened.

Golf seemed to come easy to Kizzire. He was an accomplished player in Tuscaloosa with several big tournament wins on his resume, including back-to-back Alabama Golf Association State Junior Championships, the AGA State Match Play Championship and a Class 6A individual championship to help the Central High Falcons to a second-place team finish. He started his prep career with Tuscaloosa Academy. Later as a senior at Northridge High, where he graduated,

FROM TOP: Hoisting a professional tournament championship trophy. • Kizzire at Indian Hills Country Club in December.

he was named Junior All-American. At Auburn he won the SEC Championship in 2007.

“What always struck me was how tall he was for his age,” Thompson said of the now 6-foot5 Kizzire. “As a junior he towered above the competition and carried himself in a way that he knew where he was going. It was pretty obvious to me and others who observed him that he was going to go far in the game because he had a good head on his shoulders and he had the physical attributes and he was also a good thinker.”

During those early years as a pro, however, the wins were not coming. Neither was the money.

“When I turned professional, I wasn’t ready,” Kizzire said. “I didn’t change my work habits and work ethic to become a professional. It took me several years to do that.”

He struggled for several years, bouncing around the country playing in mini-tour events, trying to find his footing. He made the cut on just one of six Web.com Tour events from 2009 to 2014. It got to the point where he had to borrow money to continue playing in tournaments and keep his dream alive.

“It was tough on me, it was tough on my family,” Kizzire said. “I had to rely on my family and friends, family friends and businessmen I knew to help me financially. That was tough asking for money and playing with other people’s money.

That was really difficult. I felt a lot of pressure.

If you are unprepared and have that kind of pressure under you, you aren’t going to play well.”

Still, he did not relent. It was a career in golf or bust.

The turning point came in 2012. Since he turned pro in 2008, Kizzire had been living in Tuscaloosa. But his hometown isn’t exactly a hotbed for pro golfers. He moved to Sea Island, Georgia, and had some big-time players in his zip code with whom to practice on the golf course.

“When I was home I’d go play golf with guys who were on the PGA Tour — Davis Love III, Zach Johnson, Jonathan Byrd, Brian Harman, Harris English. Every day I’d go play with somebody who is on the PGA Tour,” Kizzire said.

“There were other players down there who were trying to do the same thing I was doing.”

While playing several rounds with seasoned PGA pros — even just watching them — and getting some advice, Kizzire’s game improved.

Two years later, he had his breakthrough.

“I think I finished second like eight times before I won that year,” he said. “I kept putting myself in that spot, and I finally broke through and won a few times on the mini-tour.”

That was the catalyst for the next phase of his career. >>

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SPORTS

Kizzire finished tied for 21st at qualifying school for the Web.com Tour in December of 2014 to give him an exemption for the 2015 season.

He didn’t waste his opportunity. Kizzire won two tournaments, had eight top-10 finishes and was No. 1 on the money list for 2015.

“That was big, not having to worry about every dollar,” Kizzire said.

“Once I got more experience and more comfortable I started playing better and better.”

After that one phenomenal season, Kizzire got to realize his dream.

Since he was the Web.com Tour’s top money winner he earned exempt status for the PGA Tour for the 2016 season.

“It was a dream come true. I had been working toward that since I was a little kid,” Kizzire said. “I got engaged in 2014 and scheduled our wedding on the first week of the (PGA) season.”

Kizzire skipped that tournament, naturally, but the newlywed made his PGA debut the following week in Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.

He finished second.

“That was nice to finish second in my first event to take a little pressure off myself,” he said. “I had a lot of confidence going in, but you don’t really know you can do it until you see yourself do it.”

He had five top-10 finishes his rookie season, earning $1,468,624. In 2017 he posted three top-10 finishes and a second-place effort at the Safeway Open in California.

Everything was shaping up for Kizzire. He was hitting the ball well, making the cut in tournaments and earning a good paycheck. But he wasn’t winning.

That changed in the opener for the 2018 season in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

“I played some pretty good golf throughout the fall and had a little momentum going into Mayakoba (November 2017). I shot a 62 the first day, which really put me in a good spot. If I ever win a tournament or come close it’s probably because I putted well. At Mayakoba, I seemed to make every crucial putt. I made 52 of 52 putts inside 10 feet or something crazy like that. It was insane. I made every putt that was makeable. Every putt you are supposed to make, I made it.”

Despite his best efforts, he finished the final round tied for first with Rickie Fowler, one of the top-ranked golfers on the tour. He persevered and bested Fowler in the playoff to earn his first PGA Tour victory.

“To battle Rickie Fowler coming down the stretch was pretty special,” Kizzire said. “He’s a great guy and a world-class player. It was extremely satisfying. I don’t realize how much fun I’m having and how cool it is while it’s all happening. I’m so in the zone it’s hard to really acknowledge what I’m doing. I look back on that tournament and have an inner grin. To get over that first hurdle and win my first tournament was pretty sweet.”

During the third round of the Sony Open in Hawaii on Jan. 13, 2018, Kizzire and the rest of the PGA Tour pros got some startling news. An emergency alert was sent out across the U.S., warning of a ballistic missile heading toward Hawaii. The alert, sent by mistake from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, was retracted about 40 minutes later.

“It was surreal. I had a feeling it was a mistake,” Kizzire said. “It didn’t seem real, but there is always that possibility it could happen.

Players and their families went to the bottom of the hotel lobby, and a

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Kizzire started his golf career in Tuscaloosa, winning several state tournaments. He took his swing to Auburn where he won the 2007 SEC individual championship and then embarked on his professional career.

lot of people were concerned.

Lots of people were relieved when it was over.

“I was just glad I got to play golf that day. I played well and had a great day.”

Kizzire fired a 6-under 64 that day, putting himself in contention for the win. He finished the final round tied with James Hahn and won in a playoff for his second PGA Tour victory.

This past January, Kizzire was back in Hawaii to defend his Sony Open crown. He played well, but not well enough to win. He settled for eighth place.

Kizzire has played in more than 90 PGA Tour events since 2016, has made 59 cuts and has earned more than $6.5 million.

“I want to win and I want to put myself in spots I haven’t been in before. Whether it be winning a major or contending in a major. A green jacket is always on my mind,” Kizzire said. “To contend in the Masters, that would be a good step for me. Whether I can win the first time I contend is to be determined, but I want to put myself in spots I’ve never been.”

2

COVER STORY

Jordan Sanders goes airborne above the rim at Palmore Skate Park.

hen you think of Tuscaloosa, your mind probably wanders to football games, barbecue joints and tailgating parties, not skateboarding.

Nevertheless, among a small but passionate group of unlikely friends, a niche culture is growing.

Most of the skateboarding done in the Druid City takes place in a small part of Palmore Park, a facility off Fosters Ferry Road a few miles southwest of downtown Tuscaloosa. The skate park there opened in June 2015, and most people credit its creation to two people — Gary Minor, the executive director of the Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority, and Barry Frith, the skateboarder who lobbied PARA to build such a facility then worked with the organization to make sure the park was made right.

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COVER STORY

JR.

D R A O B SBY

AG

ETHR

ND EPHE

TOS

HO E•P

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Y CO GAR

S E M A G T

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L T PA A Y E PLA H T F RT O A P ST A U J E S AR E D I R NG I L L I THR

Frith is not your stereotypical skateboarder, and he would probably tell you there’s no such thing. The 45-year-old father of two said he first tried skateboarding 30 years ago when he was a teenager in northern Maine and never looked back.

“Growing up, I participated in all sports — baseball, basketball, football, you name it,” Frith said. “When skateboarding came around, I think I liked it because no one was there telling me how I was supposed to do it. I could go and do it how I want to. I think it’s more of an art form than a sport in that way.”

Frith was hooked and stopped seriously participating in other sports almost immediately. He moved all over the country,

PARK E R MO

making stops in Florida and California before he settled down in Tuscaloosa in 2000.

Here, his family bought and operated the Skate Park of Tuscaloosa in Cottondale, but a few years later, as the U.S. economy faltered, their business went under, and for several years there was no organized place for enthusiasts to skateboard.

Fast-forward to 2014, where Frith was still skateboarding often, but was married with two children, including a 10-yearold son who liked to ride alongside his dad. That’s what led Frith to get serious about getting another skate park in Tuscaloosa, he said. >>

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COVER STORY

“My son was skating a lot at the time, and all this really started so we had a safe place for him to go skateboarding,” Frith said. “We street-skate more than we park-skate, and with him at that age, 10 or 11, taking him out street-skating was very difficult. I had to keep myself from getting run over by cars and more importantly keep that from happening to him, too.”

So Frith began lobbying PARA and city officials to build a safe, first-class place for skateboarders. He was pleasantly surprised when instead of pushing back against the idea, Minor and other officials instead chose to consult with Frith and other skaters to figure out how to build the best facility possible.

Palmore’s skate park opened on June 19, 2015, National Go Skateboarding Day, and the city’s skateboarding subculture had a place to grow and thrive again.

Gavin McDougal, 24, said when he moved to Tuscaloosa he was primarily a snowboarder and wakeboarder. When he heard about the new skate park at Palmore, he decided to have a look even though he hadn’t spent any time on a board with four wheels before.

“We heard Tuscaloosa was getting this park, and I couldn’t believe it,” McDougal said. “Birmingham doesn’t even have a skate park, and that’s a way bigger city! But we drove out there and checked it out, and later

that day, I went to buy a skateboard from the mall in Birmingham. Now that we had a place to go, I could finally get after it.”

At the park, McDougal met Frith and Shane Fair, another pillar of the local skateboarding community.

Fair lives in Gordo and is the owner and operator of Southern Supreme Skateboards.

Under that umbrella, Fair sells skate decks with custom designs at shops all across Alabama and the Southeast.

“When the shop and park out in Cottondale went under, I just decided to start a board company,” Fair said. “We had a pretty big group of skateboarders, and I wanted to start this thing so we would be able to get boards at a better cost than having to buy them online for 50 or 60 bucks. It was never really about competing with these big companies out in California, it was just something our little group could be proud of.”

Now, Fair said, the company takes care of itself, earning enough money to allow him to hire a small staff, cover his production costs and sponsor local talent with free boards.

After years of skating together, Frith, McDougal and Fair are close friends, even though their shared hobby is one of the only things they have in common. Frith is a 45-year-old father, Fair is a former jock in his 30s and McDougal, 24, is a self-described redneck. >>

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Shane Fair, a skateboard designer, skates in one of the basins at Palmore Skate Park. • Bryan Gyenes jumps and flips his board. • Parker Johnson grinds a rail. • Dylan McKnight jumps over one of the bumps. • Skateboard designer Shane Fair, front center, stands with riders Parker Johnson, Bryan Gyenes, Dylan McKnight, Gavin McDougal, Jordan Sanders and Barry Frith.

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“We always joke that we probably wouldn’t be friends if it wasn’t for skateboarding,” Fair said, laughing. “We’re all totally different people.”

That doesn’t really matter, though, Frith said.

“If you show up, even if we’ve never met you, and you’ve got a skateboard? You’re cool. You can hang out with us,” Frith said. “We don’t prejudge you because of your age or race or any other situation.

If you want to skate with us, as long as you’re not a troublemaker, welcome to our happy little skateboarding family.”

McDougal compared the bond shared by the skateboarders to the one created among teammates.

“It’s more than just a common ground,” McDougal said. “The reason you develop such a tight bond with the guys you play football with is that you all put blood, sweat and tears out there on the field together for a common cause. Skating’s not a typical team sport like that, but you’re still putting your blood, sweat and tears on the concrete together.”

The unlikely friends meet up once or twice a week at Palmore Park to skate when their unusual schedules allow them to — Frith works the night shift at Phifer Wire, McDougal is studying for a master’s degree in international relations, and Fair splits his time between his skateboard shop and freelance video and photography work.

All three men had nothing but praise for the facility Frith helped PARA design nearly five years ago.

ABOVE: Skateboard designer Shane Fair stands in front of a mural on the back of the wall at Palmore Park’s skateboard park. • LEFT: Gavin McDougal took up skateboarding soon after he moved to Tuscaloosa.

He was already adept on snowboards and wakeboards before he took up the sport.

“I’ve skated just about everywhere you can in Alabama, and it’s definitely the best-built and the highest-quality,” McDougal said. “You can tell it’s a professional-grade job. After you do this for a while, you can tell what’s been built by a professional who worked with skaters and what’s just kind of thrown together by a city.”

Fair echoed those sentiments, saying that he’s visited each of the dozen or so skate parks in the state and that none compare to Tuscaloosa’s.

“They’re just excellent facilities,” Fair said. “PARA did really good by us. It took a long time to get the park built, but when it was finally done, we had something we could be proud of.”

There, at the surprising little park in the heart of football country, the trio meets a new skateboarder, BMX biker or roller derby girl, and Tuscaloosa’s most unexpected subculture grows just a bit more.

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ARTS

Steve Davis is a featured artist at Kentuck Art Center in Northport where he crafts works of art from metal.

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ARTS

BY STEPHEN DETHRAGE | PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR.

HEAVY METAL STEVE DAVIS STRIKES ALL THE RIGHT CHORDS WITH HIS CREATIONS

I

n a small studio behind the Kentuck Art Center in downtown Northport, surrounded by painters, printers and photographers, Steve Davis forges a different kind of art.

Davis is the owner and operator of Sunheart Metalworks, and for the last 50 years, he has worked with iron, steel, brass and copper to create sculptures, signs, garden art, railings, gates and more.

“Every day is different here,” Davis said. “I call it general artistic metalwork, and typically I’m making whatever’s required by people for a specific commission or project, but I also have sketchbooks full of projects I like to do myself — things that feature endangered species, extinct species, maps — just little things I work on when I have the time.”

Davis said he began metalworking in 1969 and, 20 years later, he was approached by Georgine Clarke, the founding director of Kentuck Art Center, about moving into one of the center’s studios. He agreed to give the space a shot and see if it was a good fit for all parties.

Three decades later, Davis still works out of the same studio.

Amy Echols, the center’s current director, praised Davis’ work ethic and the quality of the

art he produces.

“Steve Davis is a smart man, and he is also a great example of how artists can turn their creative talents into a business,” Echols said.

“He shows up every day just like you do in the corporate world and files taxes, gets work done on a timely basis and puts his best into each project. His best is excellent, and his dry sense of humor makes him a fun human being to work with.” >>

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ARTS

Echols said Kentuck was fortunate to have a craftsman of Davis’ caliber as part of its artist studio program and as a regular fixture at the annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts.

Davis talks about his own work more humbly. There’s no real trick to it, he said; he just tries to follow his client’s guidelines and, whenever possible, let the metal tell him where to go next.

“I’m just in the studio heating and striking the metal on the anvil or with a power hammer, slitting, bending, upsetting — whatever’s required to pull off the design,” Davis said. “Sometimes those designs are pretty well set, and sometimes I let the creative process take over and whatever needs to happen usually does. When I don’t have a full idea in mind for the finished piece, I just start with whatever’s required, work toward that end and let it all happen.”

Davis said the lion’s share of his work is for customers in Tuscaloosa or Northport, Birmingham or Montgomery, but he has done projects for clients all over the country and even internationally.

One such project was an ornamental piece he crafted for the Groundlings Gate of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.

Davis said that about 20 years ago, a call went out for metalworkers worldwide to forge representations of various icons from the Bard’s plays for display at the Globe.

The end result was an ironworks gate whose elaborate, crisscrossing frame is decorated by metal plants and animals hand-forged by 130 blacksmiths from all around the world.

One of those ornaments, a stag with magnificent antlers, is a Steve Davis original. It is perhaps the piece of which he is most proud.

“The frame pulls it all together, and each forged piece represents flora and fauna from the works of Shakespeare,” Davis said. “It is just an interesting and amazing piece.”

Despite decades of experience and his not-insubstantial acclaim, Davis is still friendly and approachable toward any visitor of the art center. He issued an open invitation for anyone interested to step into the Art Center’s Courtyard of Wonders and watch him work.

Steve Davis poses with some of his many creations.

These works can be found in and outside his Kentuck Art Center work studio.

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“I’m not always doing super-exciting things like teasing up a bar of steel and making sparks fly,” Davis said, “but people are welcome to come by any time. I’ll stop whatever I’m working on, and we can talk about what I’m doing.”

That’s part of the allure of working in such an open space, Davis said.

It’s not just about using the tools there to create high-quality work that has earned him such a strong professional reputation. Davis also wants to be seen as he works, to have the opportunity to inspire even one onlooker to try a hand at some artistic endeavor.

“I’m here in a pretty public space, and hopefully people see me work and see the finished product and they’re actually inspired to go out and create something themselves,” Davis said. “It probably wouldn’t be with metal, but anything — drawings, paintings, claywork — anything made by people who’ve been inspired to be creative themselves, that’s a huge part of what I see as being important.”

ARTS

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FITNESS

BY JOEY CHANDLER • PHOTOS BY JOE WILL FIELD

SHADOW

BOXING Tai chi is a calming martial art form that can be enjoyed at any age

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FITNESS

erene music filled a room inside the Morning Pointe of Tuscaloosa assisted living facility on a Tuesday afternoon in early February.

“Ready? Breathe in, breathe out. Very good. Let’s do it again.” The instructions, in tones as soft and relaxing as the music, are voiced by Gail Hasson, a certified instructor of tai chi for health in the Arthritis Foundation tai chi program.

The eight members of the class mirrored their instructor, focusing on the movements in a calm, meditativelike state.

The size of the group that gathers each Tuesday this winter varies. Some come from the facility but most, particularly on this day, are members of the community who are taking advantage of a class led by Hasson and offered by the University of Alabama’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute — or OLLI for short.

Hasson first learned tai chi, also known as shadow boxing and a traditional Chinese martial art form, in 2008. There are many different styles — Hasson knows five — but this particular class hosted by OLLI is geared toward senior citizens and can particularly help those with arthritis.

Tai chi promotes correct body posture and can reduce pain and stiffness. Hasson has also taught tai chi classes sitting down for those no longer able to stand. No matter an individual’s limitations, the mind-body exercises learned can help with clarity and relieving stress. >> Tai chi classes were included in the University of Alabama’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute curriculum, which is geared toward seniors. A form of martial arts, it’s ideal for any age and requires minimal exertion with what can be maximum results.

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FITNESS

“They all provide many of the same benefits, but the one we are doing is easier on the body, and it includes more breathing than some of the others do and is good for people who are less agile,” Hasson said. “It’s great. You don’t have to have arthritis to do it, but a lot of people do.

They are having fun and enjoy doing it.”

Hasson said the class is not only endorsed by the Arthritis Foundation, but it is also recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for fall reduction, making it an excellent exercise for seniors.

“It is a good thing for balance, and as we get older, I think it is going to help keep the balance so you can avoid falls,” said Susan Fleming, 66, a member of the class. “The more we learn, the slower we will be able to do this, which gives you more physical control over your body.”

It’s not just the physical benefits of tai chi that make the ancient art form so popular for individuals of all ages and abilities, but its mental ones as well.

The atmosphere at Morning Pointe was extremely soothing during the hourlong

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course.

“I think the way you transfer your weight and the way you balance and shift your weight and don’t go rushing into things — that the meditation really calms you down,” Hasson said. “Once you learn the form, you can really just clear out your mind and your muscle memory takes control, and it is very relaxing.”

Lonnie Gladney, 58, bought the tai chi CD that plays during class so that he can practice at home.

“It is relaxing, a great class and a great community, and I really enjoy it,” Gladney said. “It’s good for arthritis and your legs if you are stiff, and you get some flexibility and it makes you feel better.”

The more comfortable you become with the movements, the more beneficial the calming art of tai chi becomes. It’s an opportunity to not only gain balance, but also block out any distractions from the outside world.

“You have to be very focused,” Fleming said. “I think once we know the movements better, we can do them more naturally and let our mind really be free.”

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STYLE

BEAUTY

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THEBRAINS THE BRAINS

BY BECKY HOPF • PHOTOS BY GARY COSBY JR.

S

El Arriauna Moore is escorted into the the ballroom for her formal introduction during the Alabama A&M Alumni Association’s annual debutante ball.

ince 1975, the brightest stars from Tuscaloosa and West Alabama have shone at the Tuscaloosa chapter of the Alabama A&M Alumni Association’s Debutante Ball. Their presentation — their debut — is a black-tie affair with young ladies in elbow-length gloves, wearing long white satin and lace gowns, their escorts in head-to-toe formal wear.

The pure beauty of the event is at the surface, but it’s what is below that surface that really stands out.

These young women, all high school seniors, are not only future community stars and leaders, but they are already making an impact. To make it to the ball, these 20 young ladies must be scholars and must participate in civic and educational activities, together, as a group. Leading up to the Dec. 22 ball at the McDonald Hughes Center, the ladies traveled together to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Montgomery’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice. They got a glimpse of college campus life by attending Alabama A&M’s homecoming festivities and, so that they also will shine in the social and business graces, they’ve taken part in etiquette classes.

They are required to participate in three competitions, with the overall winner receiving the title of “Miss Extravaganza.” The competition requires each young lady to write an essay, produce a personal scrapbook and show a talent. >>

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Ariah Bashir

The late John D. Fredd, who served as Tuscaloosa chapter president for more than 25 years, established the debutante program as a scholarship fundraiser. The Alabama A&M graduate also earned a master of education degree from Columbia University.

At the annual ball, as each debutante is presented, she walks

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through the crowd gathered for the seated dinner that takes place before the dancing, with her father or other designated adult male as escort. As she makes her walk, the master of ceremonies introduces her and includes information about her present and her future — futures that included doctors, lawyers, scientists and businesswomen. All are college-bound.

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Faith Dudley is escorted into the ballroom by her father, Erwin Dudley.

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THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Faith Dudley adjusts her elbow-length gloves as she and Makayla Reynolds, Jakeria Wilder and Triniti Smith await the start. • Jakeria Wilder helps Katilyn Maneice secure a necklace. • Maleah Linton waits offstage before the introductions.

FACING PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Faith Dudley, Jakeria Wilder and Katilyn Maneice take a photo together.

• Destanee Hatchett enters an offstage room to wait for introductions. • Keyanna Stokes, Christian-Alexandra Taylor, Naiya Rice and Dache’ Lanier practice their dance before being introduced. • Walter Conley Jr., the Tuscaloosa chapter president of the Alabama A&M Alumni Association, speaks to escorts Jordan Wilder, Michael McCoy, Wesley Gibson and Joshua Brown.

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THIS PAGE, TOP: Destanee Hatchett is escorted by Michael V. Maxton for her debut. THIS PAGE, RIGHT: Keyanna Stokes makes her debut.

FACING PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Debutantes and their escorts do a little freestyle dancing. • Brooke Gaines with her father, Eric Gaines.

• The first dance belonged to the fathers and adult escorts and the new debutantes.

• Jakeria Wilder takes the arm of her escort after her formal introduction.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Destanee Hatchett dances during the father-daughter dance. • Christian-Alexandra Taylor makes her debut.

• Triniti Dani’l Smith enters on the arm of her father, Damon Smith.

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Dache’ Lanier enters the ballroom with her father, Deboris Lanier.

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FROM LEFT: Dache’ Lanier prepares to make her first steps into the ballroom with her father, Deboris Lanier.

• Faith Dudley takes center stage following her presentation.

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Alyssa Simmons

The 2018 Tuscaloosa chapter, Alabama A&M Alumni Association Debutantes • ARIAH BASHIR, Central High School; daughter of Latrise Johnson and Drellie Bashir

• EL ARRIAUNA MOORE, Central High School; daughter of LaTosha Richardson

• CHARDE’ BRANTLEY, Central High School; daughter of Regina Williams and Charlie Brantley

• MAKAYLA REYNOLDS, Northridge High School; daughter of Kimberly Barganier

• FAITH DUDLEY, Hillcrest High School; daughter of Robert and LaChica Taylor and Erwin and Tamara Dudley • MA’CAILYA DUMAS, Central High School; daughter of Gregory and Tameko Dumas • BROOKE GAINES, Central High School; daughter of Eric and Dorothy Gaines • MYKA GARRETT, Tuscaloosa County High School; daughter of Michael and Linda Garrett • DESTANEE HATCHETT, Central High School; daughter of Felecia Hatchett • DACHE’ LANIER, Hillcrest High School; daughter or Deboris and Tarina Lanier • MALEAH LINTON, Central High School; daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Fedel Linton • KATILYN MANEICE, Holt High School; daughter of Michael and Kattie Maneice

• NAIYA RICE, Hillcrest High School; daughter of John and Tanika Rice • ALYSSA SIMMONS, Paul W. Bryant High School; daughter of Nikki Hedgemon and Harold Hedgemon • TRINITI DANI’L SMITH, Northridge High School; daughter of Cheryl and Damon Smith • KEYANNA STOKES, Hillcrest High School; daughter of Latoya Ushery • CHRISTIAN-ALEXANDRA TAYLOR, Hillcrest High School; daughter of VaShida Taylor • JAKERIA WILDER, Hillcrest High School; daughter of George and Kalifa Wilder • KATELYN WILSON, Hillcrest High School; daughter of Bridgette Montgomery and Freddie Wilson • ANNDRELA WOODS, Central High School; daughter of DeAndre Woods, Joycelyn Woods and Sharmeka Lewis

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6

INTRIGUING

PEOPLE

Meet six folks who make a difference in our communities

MARY TILLOTSON Reporter

JASON JONES

Singer, musician, songwriter

RICHARD SCOTT

Meteorologist, beekeeper

DENNIS CONNER

High school football coach

SUSAN WALTMAN

Global marketer, humanitarian

DAVID SMITH

Hot sauce maker

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

Mary TILLOTSON NO. 1

REPORTER

BY DREW TAYLOR PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR.

A

s the people who were there in the beginning remember it, CNN had to fight early on for its place at the media roundtable.

First launched in 1980, the Cable News Network, derisively referred to as “Chicken Noodle News” in its formative years, was looked down upon by the big news networks as something of a gimmick. Some point to reporters like Mary Tillotson, former White House correspondent for the network, for changing that.

“She was part of a wave that put CNN on the map journalistically,” former CNN President Tom Johnson said. “In her style and on her own determination, she just saw to it that there was nobody better. It didn’t matter what the bigger names of some of the correspondents were, she just got the job done.

“I was always proud of her.”

Raised in Tuscaloosa, Tillotson’s path to CNN began in Virginia, years after she graduated from the University of Alabama and had followed her then-husband across the country while he was in the Navy. In Virginia, Tillotson began working at the Virginia Beach Sun newspaper, making $100 per week. Through an advertisement and a little curiosity, Tillotson moved into broadcasting at WNOR-FM radio.

“I had never even thought about getting into broadcasting, but that was my toe in

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the water,” Tillotson said.

Tillotson eventually moved up to WSB in Atlanta before going to Washington, D.C. By 1981, she was working part-time at CNN, raising her son during the week and reporting on the weekends. By 1984, she was a full-time reporter for the network.

“It was assumed it was going to be a bust from the get-go,” Tillotson said of CNN in its formative years.

In hindsight, Tillotson never considered how revolutionary the 24-hour network would be, or her own place in it.

“I was grateful that someone was going to give me part-time work to do news and pay me reasonably well,” she said.

One of the most storied parts of Tillotson’s career came on Aug. 11, 1992, in the form of a question to President George H.W. Bush as he was running for a second term in office against Bill Clinton. Earlier that day, the New York Post published a piece alleging that Bush had had an affair with an aide in 1984.

Tillotson asked Bush for a comment on the story. He was not amused.

“I’m not going to take any sleazy questions like that from CNN,” Bush was quoted as saying.

The exchange was so momentous at the time that it was covered by The New York Times. In the report, Bush press secretary Marlin Fitzwater was quoted as saying that Tillotson would never work in the White House again.

In Fitzwater’s 2000 memoir, “Call the Briefing!” he recalled that a few days after the press conference, Tillotson stopped by his office and said CNN expected her to

ask that question. He said reporters had to have their own ethics and make their own choices, noting she had made hers.

“I turned to go back into my office. Mary started crying, then turned and walked away,” Fitzwater wrote. “The matter was never mentioned again.”

Tillotson, however, said there is no truth to Fitzwater’s account.

“I did not weep,” she said. “I’ve debunked that the best that I can.”

Contacted for this story, Fitzwater called Tillotson an excellent reporter. However, he did not mince words when it came to “the question.”

“I thought her question about the President’s private life was unsubstantiated and wrong,” he wrote in an email. “But I promised her that it would not affect her relationships within the press office.”

Tillotson says she does not regret asking the question, especially at a time when Bush’s campaign team was making talking points about Clinton and his own alleged affairs. For her, the idea that Bush may have been guilty of those same things seemed an important political point to raise.

“I always liked Daddy Bush,” she said. “I admired him. I thought he was smart and hardworking and a thoroughly decent man, but I felt it was my obligation as a reporter to ask that, since it had been made public in the Post.”

Admittedly, Johnson wished someone else had asked the question. Serving as CNN president from 1990 to 2001, he said he even heard from first lady Barbara Bush about Tillotson’s question.

Johnson, however, believes Tillotson had every reason to ask it.

“Mary is no wilting flower,” he said.

“She is strong, she’s able and she’s smart.”

Frank Sesno, who worked alongside Tillotson as part of CNN’s Washington team, said that as a reporter, she was dedicated to her calling.

“My enduring memory of Mary was that she was a stickler for accuracy and detail,” said Sesno, now working as the director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. “When she came over to the White House, she would turn over everything in the briefing and she would have follow-up questions that she would pursue.”

Charles Bierbauer, another CNN colleague of Tillotson’s, said she was everything you could want in a colleague.

“Mary was just a really good questioner and someone who was persistent, not easily put off,” said Bierbauer, now a professor at the University of South Carolina. “She stood

her ground.”

After Washington, Tillotson hosted an Emmy-nominated talk show at CNN for several years called “CNN & Co.” before leaving the network in 2000. After coming back to Tuscaloosa in 2006, Tillotson began teaching classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes Center on UA’s campus, where she talks about current events and the media.

“In some ways, I consider that reporting,” she said.

Kaitlan Collins, a current White House correspondent for CNN, also grew up in Alabama and studied journalism at UA, like Tillotson.

To Collins, Tillotson’s question to Bush took guts.

“I think she’s just a fascinating person,” Collins said.

Tillotson, who says she does not watch cable news anymore because of what she thinks is more theater than journalism on screen, was taken aback on hearing Collins’ comments.

“It’s amazing that someone like her knows who I am,” she said.

Name: Mary Tillotson Age: 72 Hometown: Tuscaloosa Personal: Son, Dr. Alexander P. Corbett of Albion, N.Y.; brother, Dolph Tillotson of Houston; and Tuscaloosa relatives including sister, Anne Land; brother-in-law, Charlie Land; and niece, Mary Leach, and her family, husband Jamie and sons Sam, Nick and Jack.

People who have influenced my life: My grandmother. She loved to read and taught all three of us that books are very important.

Something people don’t know about me: I never watch television news because, in too many ways, theatrics have replaced journalism.

My proudest achievement: My kid, Alex Corbett, in upstate New York.

Why I do what I do: I think accurate objective journalism is important to the health of the republic in a country I’m lucky to have been born in.

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

NO. 2

Jason

JONES SINGER/MUSICIAN/SONGWRITER

BY BECKY HOPF PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR.

hen Jason Jones was around 12 years old, his grandfather gifted him with a guitar. It was used, one his grandfather purchased from a pawnshop for $100.

He’d never asked for one, had never even shown any interest in learning to play that instrument, or any other for that matter.

“I’m not sure what led him to get it for me,” said Jones, now 37. “I think he wanted me to learn how to play some of the songs that he loved, like ‘Greenback Dollar’ and ‘Tom Dooley.’ ” That guitar may well be the most important material gift his grandfather ever gave anyone.

This spring, Jones, a Tuscaloosa transplant by marriage who heads up the Jason Jones Band, will take that same guitar onstage when he tours as the opening act for country and western music icon Dwight Yoakam.

“It’s fallen apart many times and been put back together,” Jones said. “When I was living in Nashville, I had a house fire and lost all my guitars. This is the one

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that survived. I guess it’s appropriate that it’s the one I use. It’s the one that got me started.”

Jones calls Nashville his “home,” more so than where he was born — Americus, Georgia.

“Americus is special, but I lived in Nashville for 16 years. I’ve lived in other places, but I gravitated toward Nashville. I feel like it’s always been my home because I lived there for the longest time.”

Tuscaloosa became his new hometown, officially on New Year’s Eve 2018 when he married Tuscaloosa native and resident Abbi Moore.

Music has been his full-time career for a little more than a year now, though it’s been a major part of his life since he was a teenager. Jones moved to Atlanta when he was 18 to dabble in music and became serious about making it a career when he was 21. He was between jobs at the time, and, while attending an open-mike session, he met and befriended a musician who often traveled to Nashville for his music career. Jones tagged along a couple of times a week, and, on one of those trips, Jones declared that trip would be one-way.

“I told him, ‘I’m staying.’ I didn’t return to Atlanta. I only knew one person there, and I moved in and slept on his recliner.”

He got a job at a cellphone company, and, through contacts he’d made in the

music industry, he hooked up with Bayou Recording. He’d go in and write as much as he could, then leave in time to work evenings at the phone company.

“I started as a writer. But I wanted to be the guy, the singer. It’s tough. There is so much talent in Nashville. I worked and did several shows. I wasn’t a big hit, by any stretch, but I was mostly performing.”

His writing led to a couple of publishing deals and connections with managers who worked with some of country’s most successful acts — Rascal Flatts, John Anderson, Little Texas.

“I’m not really sure how I would classify my music,” Jones said. “It’s mainstream but not pop. More like ’90s country. I was influenced by Garth Brooks and also by the Texas red dirt music scene and artists like Radney Foster.”

Last year, Jones booked about 74 shows, including several at bars and music venues in Tuscaloosa. By January of this year, he’d already booked 120-125 shows. Tuscaloosa production company Eat My Beats handles his local productions. Tuscaloosa agent Nick Wright, who works for Music Garden, handles a lot of his bookings as well. His wife, Abbi, helped make that connection.

Jones has performed all around the Southeast, including many Southeastern Conference college towns.

“We’ve had a big growth,” he said.

The Jason Jones band, which has been together the past two years, includes Robert Miller on guitar, Alex City’s Todd Sassano on bass and drummer Pat Bubert.

His connection to Dwight Yoakam came via Yoakam’s fiancée, with whom Jones has been friends for several years.

“She reached out to me,” Jones said of the upcoming spring tour. “I’ve met Dwight on a couple of occasions, including backstage at the Ryman (Auditorium.) He’s a cool guy.”

How far music will take him is still a question.

“I still haven’t made it,” Jones said.

“I used to kind of have this picture of how I wanted to look and be,” he said of his music career. “Then I got married. Abbi has three kids. Now I’m a dad. This is something I never thought would happen. I don’t really have a clear picture of where it all will go. But now, I’m having coffee in the morning with Abbi and spending time with the kids and going back and forth to Nashville every week. And I’m loving all of it. It’s changed my songwriting.

When I was single, I’d write about what single people do. Now it’s important to me that my wife and kids be proud of what I sing about. I think this new life has changed me and made me a better person and artist.”

Follow The Jason Jones Band on Instagram @JasonJonesofficial.

Name: Jason Jones Age: 37 Hometown: Americus, Georgia Personal: Wife, Abbi Jones; children, MJ Moore, Cooper Moore and Mabry Moore.

People who have influenced my life: My wife, Abbi; my two grandfathers; my father; my closest friends; too many songwriters and artists to name.

Something people don’t know about me: I lived on a boat for a long time. Was the best time of my life until I got married and moved to Tuscaloosa.

My proudest achievement: Becoming a husband and a stepfather.

Why I do what I do: Because I love it, first of all. And second of all, I was given a gift, and to sit it on a shelf would be to be a bad steward of the gift. So I will do this in some capacity until I am no longer able.

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

NO. 3

Richard

SCOTT

METEOROLOGIST/BEEKEEPER

BY CHRIS MEGGINSON PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR.

S

itting on the porch on a nice day with a cup of coffee or iced tea is a Southern pastime. Richard Scott, chief meteorologist at WVUA 23, helps local residents enjoy their porch time not only by informing them on the weather, but also by helping keep their space free of honeybees.

For the past three years, Scott has gone from owning a small swarm of honeybees to owning nearly 40 hives in three bee yards near Lake Tuscaloosa. All of the bees have been collected from homes and yards of his viewers or others who have learned of Scott’s hobby.

His first hive removal was from a wall of an older couple’s home in Gordo.

“I didn’t really know what I was doing at that point. I was kind of getting my feet wet, but I felt bad for them. I felt kind of obligated, like I need to help these people because, bless their hearts, they’re sitting out on their front porch getting stung,” Scott said.

The queen was captured and the beehive removal was a success. The calls continued.

“I’ve never paid for a honeybee. All of mine are wild, feral bees. It’s been a hobby that’s kind of gotten a little out of hand,” Scott said.

The hobby began when Scott and his wife, Tara, moved near Lake Tuscaloosa, where they grow apples, peaches, pears, plums, figs, blueberries and grapes. When their trees did not bloom, they realized there was a shortage of honeybees to help pollinate them. With the help of Neal Hargle at the Tuscaloosa County 80

Extension Office and Jon Fleenor at Katie Farms in Coker, Scott began learning about bees and was given his first swarm — some 15,000-20,000 bees.

“The honeybee population is not doing very well,” Scott said. “There’s so much that honeybees are responsible for that I think people don’t understand. When you start seeing the decline of the bee population, it’s a little concerning.”

Scott wanted to do more.

The number of bees under Scott’s care today ranges from 600,000 to 2.4 million among his 40 hives, depending on the time of year.

Hives averaged between 15,000 to 60,000 from winter to summer.

Care for the bees includes inspecting the hives for pests or disease, and ensuring there is enough honey left in the hive to last a winter or mixing sugar water to feed the bees when the honey runs low. Weather becomes a factor in all of this. If it’s below 60 degrees outside, a hive cannot be inspected or there’s a risk of killing the brood — the baby bees.

Scott and his family bottle the honey the bees produce and sell it under the label Scott Honey Farm.

The hobby has been a learning experience for Scott and a teaching tool for his two young sons as well as Scott’s father, Richard Sr. “My dad was a big influence on me to get on the outdoor aspect of life and to teach me a little bit about nature. That’s what I’m trying to pass down to my kids,” Scott said.

Growing up in Linden, Scott learned lessons from his parents he puts in practice today — from learning about the outdoors and nature to learning to going to the local

sandwich shop and talking to strangers with his father to develop a natural flow to talk with whomever he meets. Through this he has developed an ability to learn and desire to teach in both beekeeping and meteorology.

Scott got his start in weather as an intern at WVUA for chief meteorologist Wes Wyatt while attending classes at Shelton State Community College. He transferred to Mississippi State University and, while he was still in school, the weekend meteorology position opened up at WVUA. Scott was hired. He made the 170-mile round trip every weekend, opening the door to become chief meteorologist at age 24 when Wyatt moved to Fox 6 in January 2011.

His interest in weather began at a young age. One of his earliest memories is a 1993 snowstorm that hit the South, sending 10-plus inches of snow to his hometown. He remembers being as young as 5 or 6 when he began a morning routine of watching the Weather Channel before going to school or watching the evening weather on stations from Birmingham, Montgomery and Meridian.

On the youth baseball fields, he’d watch the clouds and tell the coach when to expect a rain delay, or he’d often be found in front of a computer watching the radar at Marengo Academy, per request of the school administration, on days severe weather was moving in from Mississippi.

“It’s always been fascinating to me, the science behind it. Weather is always changing, and meteorologists are always learning something new. Every event we have, whether it’s winter weather or severe weather, there’s always something we’re learning from it.”

One of his biggest lessons learned came April 27, 2011, when a tornado hit Tuscaloosa. He was on air when the WVUA 23 station lost power.

“I knew when it barely missed us on campus, it had to have missed my house.”

Scott drove toward his home where he knew his roommate was. With trees blocking the road, he parked at DCH Regional Medical Center and ran the rest of the way, with his microphone still attached. He arrived in his neighborhood but couldn’t make out one pile of rubble from another.

“People literally were just coming out of their house. People screaming and crying for their loved ones. The smell was unbelievable — a thick smell of mud and pine sap,” he recalls. “Ten or more people stopped me while I was trying to get to my house and said, ‘You’re the last thing I saw before the power went out.

I had people say, ‘You saved my life.’ I said, ‘I didn’t do nothing.

All I did was tell you there’s a tornado coming. It was you that reacted.’ I was in tears seeing all of that.”

Scott’s house was gone, but he found his roommate safe. From that day on, Scott has learned more about the science of tornadoes, as well as how to better talk with and serve his community.

“I used to love severe weather. I would get excited. It would be an adrenaline rush. I didn’t understand what it does to people, but when I saw it firsthand, I saw the people who were covered in mud and blood coming out of what was left of their house, a big pile of rocks and debris, it totally changed my mindset,” Scott said. “People are so important. People’s lives are so precious. It taught me to cherish that.”

Name: Richard Scott Age: 32 Hometown: Linden Personal: Wife, Tara; two sons, Parker and Grayson.

People who have influenced my life: My parents. Dad worked long hours at the paper mill in order to provide a better life for me and my two sisters. There were many nights at the dinner table we missed with dad for that reason. He taught me to work hard and do what it takes to make a better life for your family and children. Mom taught me how to raise a family with love and kindness. She encouraged me to follow my dream of being a TV meteorologist and supported me along the way.

Something people don’t know about me: I have never had a cup of coffee. When working long hours during severe weather or winter weather, a bottle of water helps keep me awake. I’m also afraid of heights. If I am more than 6 feet above the ground, my stomach is in knots.

My proudest achievement: Growing and raising a family with my wife. My wife and I are blessed with two little boys!

Why I do what I do: I love people! In both the beekeeping and meteorology business, I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. I get to learn their story.

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

NO. 4

Dennis

CONNER HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACH

BY STEVE IRVINE PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR.

D

ennis Conner has coached hundreds of young men during his tenure as the Central High School head football coach, with nearly 100 percent of his players leaving school with a diploma.

Truth is, that’s an extraordinary number.

However, forget overall numbers for a moment. Perhaps the most extraordinary part of the equation is Conner’s reaction.

“Over my last 10 years coaching at Central, I’ve had only one kid not graduate,” Conner said. “That’s been bothering me for the last six or seven years. One kid didn’t graduate, out of all the kids, and that still bothers me today.”

Conner paused for second.

“One kid, one kid,” Conner continued.

“I was able to coach his brother. When I see his brother or I see him, I say, ‘Hey, man, when are you going to get your diploma?’ I’m not going to ever give up on him.”

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Make no mistake that football is important to Conner. It’s driven him through life, opening the door to a college education, and given him a means to support his family. However, also make no mistake, Conner believes that the success of a high school football loss travels much deeper than a win-loss ledger.

“If you keep trying to respond, trying to prove to all the naysayers, it starts becoming more about you than the kids,” Conner said when asked his response to people who suggest wins and losses are all that matter. “At the point I’m at in my career, it’s not about me. It’s about convincing these kids, by using football as a vehicle or a tool, they can make their life better.”

Malik Hamner is a perfect example. He played for Conner at Central, graduating in 2015, before moving on to Jackson State University. Hamner is an All-SWAC defensive lineman, who is working to get into an NFL camp and carries a 3.1 overall GPA in his final semester toward earning a criminal justice degree.

It all began with his relationship with Conner.

“Coach Conner has been a lot more than just a coach in this community and

in my life,” Hamner wrote in an email. “I transferred in my junior year from Holt High School. My first day there (at Central), he told me that his only goal was to make sure I go to college, graduate from college and be a productive man in this world and society. He also sat down and explained to me that he wasn’t there to break records, get paid, or even so much winning games. His goal and only focus was to see the kids at Central — or wherever you may be from — to get to college and make something of themselves. He wasn’t just talking like a lot of coaches do just to get you to play football because of your size or whatever; he actually meant that from his heart.”

For his players, Conner is also a walking history lesson at Central High. As a 1983 graduate, he was in the middle of the integration of Central High in the late 1970s.

He was part of the first class of AfricanAmerican students to spend all four years at the school.

“That was one of the best experiences I had in my life,” said Conner, a standout linebacker, who went on to a productive college football playing career at Jackson State University. “It gave you a sense of what the world was like. The world is not

Name: Dennis Conner Age: 54 Hometown: Tuscaloosa Personal: Wife, Carol Conner; son, Jalen Conner; daughter, Jada Conner; son, Tavaraus Banks.

People who have influenced my life: Dr. Eddie B. Thomas, Albert Wilson, Coach Roosevelt Sanders, Coach Ed Reed (high school coach), Coach W.C. Gordon (Jackson State University coach), Greg Hurst, and Sam Jones (godfather).

Something people don’t know about me: I’m really a quiet and shy person.

made of one race. It’s made of all different races. We got to go to school with everybody. We all bonded, and we all had a great time. It was great.”

The beginning of his journey at Central High was part of the reason he said he was included in a New York Times story on “how some schools were integrated and now they are almost back like they were.”

From that story, he said, came a short documentary

by ESPN that garnered national attention.

“ESPN saw a unique situation, how we were a powerhouse when we were all together and the city chose to break that up,” Conner said. “It was real special. I didn’t know it would take off the way it took off. I knew in my heart what I wanted to do for those

kids was to give them the exact same experience that I had — going to college, playing football and having a pretty good job and being successful.”

He continues that quest daily.

“In this community he is a huge role model, father figure, mentor to a lot of kids,” Hamner said. “He doesn’t care about how ‘bad’ a kid is or who you have at home. He is here to help this community and, to me, this world. If you ask me, God has sent him down to help guide his kids. He is a very special man in many people’s lives. People don’t see him as the head football coach at Central High School, they see him as a role model and someone that can help them out of the west side.”

My proudest achievement: My children and the ESPN football documentary “Central Of Tuscaloosa.”

Why I do what I do: I love football, and I care about my athletes’ wellbeing, on and off the football field.

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

Susan WALTMAN NO. 5

GLOBAL MARKETER/HUMANITARIAN

BY KELCEY SEXTON PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR.

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t’s been about three years since Susan Waltman began traveling to Haiti and helping with the Joseph School. Within those three years, she has seen the school evolve from a two-room guest house to a new building with multiple classrooms, a kitchen and, soon, its own library.

Located outside the capital of Port-auPrince in Cabaret, the Joseph School was founded by president of 20|20 Research Jim Bryson. He was driven to start the school, Waltman said, “after looking around Haiti and seeing so much need.” Much of that need stemmed from the earthquake that decimated the area and killed hundreds of thousands in 2010. “(Bryson) wanted to do something that would make a difference and felt like education was the only thing that could really help the population help themselves,” she said. The goal is “to educate today’s children in Haiti to become the leaders of tomorrow.”

What began as a two-grade student body now includes 180 students, some of whom live in villages as far as two hours away and travel to attend class. The oldest of the children are now in fourth grade,

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and as they grow up, the next grades in succession are added. The Joseph School aims to educate its students through 12th grade since the majority of children in Haiti get only a few years of education.

“The teachers at the school really believe they have the next president of Haiti, which is awesome,” Waltman said. “It’s an awesome message.”

The school is free for those who attend and is completely funded by the Marketing Research and Education Foundation, where Waltman serves as a board member. “(At MREF) we’re all about making sure we unify and focus on resources that could educate children and youth worldwide,” Waltman said, “so that’s kind of what makes us tick, is childhood education.”

The inspiration behind the MREF board, she said, was to get the marketing research industry together and “do some good.”

In addition to her involvement with MREF, Waltman is the global president of Ipsos, which ranks as the third-largest market research company in the world with 16,000 employees. Headquartered in Paris, Ipsos spans more than 85 countries, working with major consumer packaged goods companies. It also contributes to MREF as well as the Joseph School.

“I feel fortunate to work for a company that has decided (giving back is) important,” she said. During Waltman’s most

recent trip to Haiti in January, she was part of the largest group MREF has sent so far, with 26 people from eight different companies, including Ipsos.

“It’s a special place where a special group of people go, and they get a special gift in return,” she said. “I think I underestimated … I didn’t underestimate how much difference we could make, I underestimated how much difference they would make in us. I’m always learning.”

MREF annually raises funds for the school, and the latest funding went toward educational books, which the group purchased at a shop in Port-au-Prince, then delivered to the school.

“I think when the principal opened up those books, she was teary-eyed. She couldn’t believe she, for the first time, had those books,” she said. The donated reading materials were in Creole and came from the Joseph School’s very first book list.

Part of the visit included spending time with the children, who take lunches to a less fortunate school in the area once a month, Waltman said.

“The kids — think about this — they’re hungry, and they take one of their two meals for that day” — which could very well be the only nutrition they get — “and give it to someone else,” she said. “So we give them the opportunity as leaders to show

them you always have something to give.t … Even when you only have two meals a day, you have a meal to give, and they are happy, so happy. You see these kids walking in (the school) with these Styrofoam containers of food, giving it to another hungry child, it will break your heart.”

The money left after buying books on the trip was used to begin paving the road to the Joseph School. “(Jean Bildad Michel, the school’s director of operations) said he wanted to pave the road, and he was serious,” Waltman said. “So the next day we were mixing concrete and paving. His desire is to eventually go from where we started paving, all the way up to the school, so it’s kind of neat to think we paved the way.”

Traveling is a big part of Waltman’s career in the field of market research, though she admits it’s always nice to come home to Tuscaloosa, where it may be “a drive to the airport, but it’s only a walk to (Bryant-Denny Stadium).” She travels all over the world to meet with Ipsos clients and teams, asking, “How can I help? Where is your pain? What do you need? Where are your gaps?”

“I love the avenue of helping people, whether it’s helping my clients with information on a tough business problem … whether it’s a new product that they’re trying to produce … or a new thing for a brand to grow, I love growing. I love growing things. I’m a builder, you know. At the same time, I think it’s the same for the (Joseph School) … I think I must be a builder. And I’m smart enough to find people around me who will help build along.”

Name: Susan Burch Waltman Age: 55 Hometown: Born in New Orleans, but grew up in Mobile.

(Husband’s proud hometown is Tuscaloosa.)

Personal: Husband, James L. Waltman Jr. (Jim); daughters, Mary Catherine Waltman and Laura Waltman; son, Trip Waltman.

People who have influenced my life: My mom and dad, tennis coaches and wonderful colleagues around the world.

Something people don’t know about me: I learned to read in Spanish before English.

My proudest achievement: Coaching and developing global teams to make a real dif-

ference in our industry. This falls under commercial and technical achievements and also giving back. Commercially, we launch new products for brands people love. In the U.S., this includes great brands like Folgers, Duncan Hines, Enfamil, Viactiv and Healthy Choice. Around the world, it has included mergers, acquisitions and different commercial business models. Technically, it is amazing what it takes in our community and people.

Why I do what I do: I am curious and love to learn, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The line between success and failure is so thin, it is fascinating to understand what people need, why they purchase items, and how I can help them succeed personally and professionally.

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SIX INTRIGUING PEOPLE

David NO. 6

SMITH HOT SAUCE MAKER

BY KELCEY SEXTON PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR.

D

avid Smith long dreamed of owning a business. In 2016, he got the chance to make that dream a reality when he and his sister purchased Alabama Sunshine, which has made and sold hot sauces in Fayette since 1994.

The original owner, Fred Smith, turned his hobby into a business after he began growing peppers in the 1970s, concocting his own hot sauces and sharing them with friends and family. He and his wife, Sally, ran the company and together created hot sauces as well as other products until they decided it was time to retire in 2016.

Fortunately, the couple already knew someone interested in carrying on the Alabama Sunshine legacy.

“I have known Fred Smith, a family friend with the same common last name, for a long time,” said David Smith. “I always told him if he ever sold Alabama Sunshine that I wanted to own (it) and be part of the Fayette community.”

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Although ownership has changed hands, the company continues to be a family business. Co-owners Smith and his sister, Julie Smith Madison, have help from their parents, Garvin and Charlotte Smith, as well as others.

“My parents help us regularly. My cousin, Janet Moore, works part-time with us, and she and my sister (Madison) like to experiment with new recipes for jams and jellies,” David Smith said. “My friend, Jonathan Hollis, (who is deaf like David Smith) helps us part-time in the kitchen and with production each week. When we have a large order to get out, we have additional part-time help, too.”

It took some time to get into the groove of things. Smith and Madison worked alongside previous owner Fred Smith for one growing season after purchasing Alabama Sunshine. The two learned the processes of planting, farming and readying the peppers as well as the business side of things. David Smith oversees the farming — almost all of the peppers used in products are grown in two fields at the Smith family’s fourth-generation farm — and daily production on the facility floor, while Madison handles inventory, record-

keeping, advertising and marketing. The two work together to tackle any problems that might arise.

“We are a fully functioning farm, processing facility, commercial kitchen, bottling, packaging and shipping facility.

People can hardly believe that we do it all when I explain the operation to them,” Madison said. “I was grateful that David likes the farm side of business as much as he does.”

Smith and Madison work hard to help the company grow while keeping its Fayette tradition alive, and as Alabama Sunshine grows, so do they.

“What I do every day makes a difference in the business. I feel proud of the changes we have made so far,” Smith said. “As a deaf business owner, I am proud to show people that it is possible for deaf people to have their own business and make a living doing something they enjoy.”

Since the siblings purchased Alabama Sunshine in 2016, the business has expanded and relocated to a new 7,200-square-foot facility in Fayette. The move in 2018 allowed the increase from one cooking line to three, additional space for storage of merchandise and

ingredients, and a new filling machine among other improvements. The new building also has a showroom where visitors are able to watch production through viewing windows or purchase items.

“Currently, we make more than 20 different products, including nine different flavors of hot sauces,” David Smith said. “Our jams and jellies are selling well, and all of them have just a kiss of that Alabama Sunshine ‘flavor to burn.’ ” Other popular products include mild and spicy barbecue sauce, white sauce, wing sauce, hot pepper relish, hot dog relish, chow-chow, salsa and pepper sauce.

“Our gift baskets and boxes filled with Alabama Sunshine products are popular, too,” he said.

There’s no going wrong with the sauce that started it all, though, which Smith says is his favorite. “(The Alabama Sunshine Original Hot Sauce) is our best seller. People seem to love the taste.”

Alabama Sunshine products can be found in Tuscaloosa at South’s Finest Meats locations, Piggly Wiggly, Manna Grocery & Deli and at Vowell’s grocery stores.

“We hope to be in more locations soon, so please ask for us at your favorite store,” Smith said.

“I hope to see Alabama Sunshine continue to grow even more in the future,” he said. “When I am too old to work at Alabama Sunshine myself, I hope (it) will continue in Fayette.”

Name: David Lee Smith Age: 39 Hometown: Fayette Personal: Parents, Garvin and Charlotte Smith; sister, Julie Smith Madison; dog, a chocolate Lab named JoJo. People who have influenced my life: My parents have always supported my dreams and goals in life. My dad, Garvin, has taught me many things, including how to hunt and how to work on cars and equipment.

My uncle John Davis taught me how to play golf when I was very young, and he gave me my first set of golf clubs. Mr. Fred Smith, the former owner of Alabama Sunshine, taught me how

to farm and grow peppers. In recent years, Mrs. Vickie Brown, the interpreter at Calvary Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, has been very supportive of me and my family. She has introduced me to many new deaf friends and helped me get involved with the Deaf Ministry at Calvary Baptist.

Something people don’t know about me: Some people are surprised when they learn that I own my own business and I am deaf.

My proudest achievement: I am really proud to see Alabama Sunshine growing and being successful in the small town of Fayette, Alabama. My sister, Julie, and I hope to see the business grow even more.

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ON THE SCENE

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TUSCALOOSA 200 BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION JANUARY 31, 2019 TUSCALOOSA RIVER MARKET PHOTOS | GARY COSBY JR.

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ON THE SCENE

DOWNTOWN CHILI COOK-OFF FEBRUARY 9, 2019 BRYANT CONFERENCE CENTER PHOTOS | JOE WILL FIELD

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Marsekia Hollins, Karla Barksdale and Lashonda Simmons Mike Stewart, Alvin Hawthorne, Gwen Stewart and Ronny Johnston Daisy Hicks, Lisa Maddox, Khyla Williams and Tamara Blackmon Kyle Phillips, Heike Harris, Max Karhh, Patrick Hamner and David Kindred Mary Rhodes, Holly Hatcher (back), Tommy Nettles and Lisa Pate Marty Massengale, Amelia Yessick and Elizabeth Brown (Front) Brianna Freeman, Nicole Hall and Derek Osborn Scott Holmes, Jordan Morris, Hunter Brown and Kelli Wolfe Ashley Jackson, Brennan White and Julie Meggs

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OPERA GALA FEBRUARY 1, 2019 BRYANT CONFERENCE CENTER PHOTOS | ALLY ADRAGNA

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ON THE SCENE

1994 FINAL FOUR REUNION DINNER UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL JANUARY 19, 2019 CHUCK’S FISH

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PHOTOS | ALLY ADRAGNA; KENT GIDLEY, UA

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Carla Koonce Russell, Sarah Smith Kelley, Camellia Crenshaw Redmond Sandra Moody, Cecil “Hootie” Ingram and Toni Ingram Rick Moody and Yolanda Watkins Front: Leigh Walker, Becky Hopf, Lesley Sanderson Perrien, Nancy Kelly, Mandy Ellis Dale and Yolanda Watkins. Back: Sarah Smith Kelley, Carla Koonce Russell, Sharrona Alexander Reaves, Rick Moody, Camellia Crenshaw Redmond and Madonna Thompson Madonna Thompson and Nancy Kelly Kelly Curry and Rick Moody

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12. Madonna Thompson, Camellia Crenshaw Redmond, Lesley Sanderson Perrien, Sarah Smith Kelley, Rick Moody, Yolanda Watkins, Consuelo Daniels Saxton, Monique Walls,

14 Sharrona Alexander Reaves, Carla Koonce Russell, Mandy Ellis Dale and Leigh Walker 13. Terry Jones and Tommy Ford 14. Sarah Patterson and Melissa Robinson

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ON THE SCENE

REALIZING THE DREAM BANQUET

JANUARY 18, 2019 BRYANT CONFERENCE CENTER PHOTOS | ALLY ADRAGNA

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ON THE SCENE

IRON CHEF PANTRY COMPETITION FEBRUARY 6, 2019 NORTHRIVER YACHT CLUB

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Bob Bennett and John Bartilomo 6. Casey Smith and Michaela Taylor 7. Chip Bradley, Rick Englehorn and Laura Young Cray 8. Cesar Guaraca and Tony Porcellini 9. Bill Brown and Tom Kriskey 10. Carlos Acosta and Dustin Greer

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ON THE SCENE

MYSTICS MARDI GRAS BALL FEBRUARY 16, 2019 NORTHRIVER YACHT CLUB

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Craig McNorton and Kyle McNorton Charlotte Williams and Cary Williams Donna Lushington, Rosalie Molay and Louise Gambrell Carol Woodard, Susan Halliday, Lisa Downard, Jean Rykaczewski, Marilyn Stephens, Neilann Thomas, Traci Ferguson and Caroline McKinzey Matt Ray, Nikki Ray, Leigh Snodsmith and Blake Snodsmith Craig Lowrey, Aly

Wood, Matt Feller, Beth Feller, Holly James and Mike James 7. Rick Stephens, Marilyn Stephens, Agatha Wade, Charlie Wade, Kirk Cornelius and Bill McKinzey 8. Donna Cornelius, Carol Woodard, Shannon Templeton, Roberta Compton and Leslie Ferguson 9. Sandy Singleton, Linda Ford and Robin Holley 10. Anne Brandon, Liz Bradford and Fred Bradford

ON THE SCENE

ONE SMART COOKIE CELEBRATION

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DECEMBER 18, 2018 TUSCALOOSA RIVER MARKET PHOTOS | ERIN NELSON

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Heather Pike and Jennifer Sholund 4.

Ever Williams and Emma Chambless 5.

George Montgomery, Tammy Montgomery and George Montgomery Jr. 6.

Tasha Washington and Keisha Matthews 7.

Jackie Wuska, Tammy Montgomery and Elizabeth Winter 8.

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Kelly Horwitz, Samantha Horwitz and Steven Hobbs 10. Dr. Carmella Anderson, Dr. Keisha Lowther and Emma Jean Melton

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LAST LOOK

ONE SHINING MOMENT ...

ON A NIGHT FILLED WITH MANY PHOTO BY GARY COSBY JR. Among the bright stars that shone at the Tim Tebow Foundation “A Night to Shine” at Shelton State on Feb. 8 were Paige Weinstein and Brad Smith.

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