The Black Jacket Symphony is again partnering with The Center for Education and Performing Arts, America’s First Federal Credit Union and the City of Pell City for the summer’s biggest lake event Sept. 2.
This year, it’s on a new night – Saturday – for the Fourth Annual Live at Logan Martin featuring a live performance of the legendary soundtrack, Saturday Night Fever.
This disco dance party will be held at the Pell City Sports Complex on Lake Logan Martin. The event site will open at 5:30 p.m., and the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. A rain date is set for the following evening, Sunday, Sept. 3.
“We are thrilled to once again be the presenting sponsor of this wonderful event. AmFirst is proud to support Live at Logan Martin and help bring this event to the community,” said Phil Boozer, SVP-Chief Sales Officer, Marketing for America’s First Federal Credit Union.
VIP squares and general admission tickets are on sale now at liveatloganmartin.com or pellcitycepa.com/tickets. VIP squares accommodate up to four individuals. Fans are allowed and encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs for seating. Table seating is available to sponsors only.
On-site parking will be free but limited. All attendees are encouraged to carpool. Due to the generosity of sponsors, the event is free to boats and will feature large video screens for optimum viewing.
Per regulations from the State of Alabama, bringing alcohol onto the event site is not permitted. Beverages will be available for sale at the event.
“I can’t thank the community enough for the support they’ve given this event over the past four years,” said Jeff Thompson, CEPA Executive Director. “What began as a means to bring joy to our community during the COVID-19 pandemic has grown in an unimaginable way, and we’re so grateful to AmFirst, the City of Pell City and The Black Jacket Symphony for another incredible show.”
Proceeds benefit CEPA Management Corp. and its efforts to increase access to the performing arts in St. Clair County, including live music performances at CEPA in Pell City, and the Spotlight Drama Education and Outreach Program, which helped St. Clair students and community members produce 12 different plays in 2022.
Sponsorship packages are available at Gold, Silver, and Supporter Levels. For more information on sponsoring this one-of-a-kind event in St. Clair County, please email Jeff Thompson at director@pellcitycepa.com.
Katheryne Anna Tucker, known better around these parts as “Kat,” was more than a business owner serving up a tasty breakfast at her restaurant, The Kitchen. She and her Kitchen became iconic, a tradition that lasted 23 years.
She passed away in May, and The Kitchen is now dark.
Kat had nurtured it into a neighborhood gathering place where she knew your name – and your order – when you walked in the door. Walk through that door once, and you were no longer a stranger, only a friend she added to her ever-growing list.
At community steak dinner night
“She made people feel like they belonged, and everyone who ate at The Kitchen was treated like family,” her memoriam stated. “She remembered everything about everyone, who their family was, what they did for a living, birthdays, anniversaries and of course, what everyone liked to eat.”
I will miss my own Sunday morning Eggs Benedict, home fries and sliced tomatoes that seemed to taste like “summer tomatoes” year-round. All I had to do was call, and she would answer the phone with “Eggs Benedict, Miss Carol?”
I, like so many others, felt special because it was important to her to remember what we liked. She always had candy for the kids and treats for the dogs and tips for stories for me. It was not unusual to see her head out from the grill for a moment, walk outside to a truck to serve a four-legged friend a side of bacon while he waited on his owner to return. She was like that. All had a special place in her heart.
Regulars even had their own personalized coffee cups hanging in a place of honor. Just like their own kitchen, they would grab ‘their’ cup and ready it for a pour of Kat’s savory coffee.
Regulars always had a place to discuss issues of the day
Her giving ways went well beyond the doors of the kitchen. Charities, church activities, school functions, Animal Savers, Lions Club, Civitans, Fishes and Loaves Ministries and Scrollworks Music School, where her daughter taught, all were on the receiving end of Kat’s generosity.
Her work ethic was unparalleled. She was the ultimate multi-tasker. One only had to observe a typical breakfast rush to see evidence of that.
A veteran, she served in the U.S. Army. Sometimes, she would display that toughness no doubt learned from that military background, but that tough exterior never could disguise the big heart that resided within.
It is with much sadness to see The Kitchen’s empty restaurant and parking lot these days. It is a reminder of the loss for our community, not just in terms of a neighborhood restaurant we’d grown to love but because in so many ways the center of it made us all feel special.
The Kitchen may have gone dark, but the memory of Kat behind the grill, carrying on multiple conversations with customers while turning out one perfect breakfast after another is a light that won’t soon be dimmed.
Local artist adds splash of color to Coosa River Community
Story by Roxann Edsall Photos by Richard Rybka
It’s not unusual to see postage stamps celebrating art and history, but the city of Riverside has taken the celebration to a new level. Even their post office building is a piece of art, one that invites visitors to picture themselves enjoying what the city has to offer.
As the first hints of summer weather invited visitors to the lake, local artist Penny Arnold put the finishing touches on a mural that welcomes both visitors and residents to the sleepy town on the banks of Logan Martin Lake. On Highway 57, just past the fire station and City Hall, you’ll see the 40-foot mural covering the exterior side wall of the post office.
The building, which used to be a grocery store, has served as the post office since the impounding of the lake in 1964. Originally owned by former mayor W.A. “Bill” Coleman, the largely brick structure also houses Local Sister, a home décor store operated by his great granddaughter, Maddie Cochran.
Coleman’s daughter and Maddie’s grandmother, Cynthia Coleman Cochran, now owns the building and approves of the facelift the historic building has received. “I was worried at first about the bright colors,” said Cochran. “But I really like it. I think it gives us something else interesting in Riverside. And it’s fun for people to take pictures by it.”
Penny shows off an osprey in the mural
The distinctive railroad truss bridge is the crown jewel of the panorama adorning the building’s facade. The iconic bridge was built in 1927 and was modified to accommodate the creation of the lake. It is a central part of the history of Riverside, a community that needed the railroad to support the sawmill and logging industry that drove the town’s economy in its early days.
Celebrating that landmark and the surrounding beauty of the lake is central to the goals established by the Riverside Beautification Organization (RBO), which commissioned the mural. The RBO funded the project with grant money from a local business, Charity Steel, which gives a percentage of their profits each year to a local 501(c)3 organization.
RBO President Julie Pounders says the mural is part of their mission to spruce up the city. “We’ve wanted to do a mural for a long time,” she says, adding that she is already looking for a location to add another one in the future.
This one was over seven months in the making from start date to completion. Since paint doesn’t dry well in cold weather, Arnold wasn’t able to do much in the colder months. She says the cumulative time spent on the project was about four weeks.
Arnold is a former English teacher turned art teacher, who now teaches art part time at Duran Junior High School. She has worked with stained glass, mosaic, drawing and sculpture, primarily, but had not done a mural before. She had already been refining her skills in painting by taking classes by noted local artist Nettie Bean. When she was offered the chance to paint the mural, she jumped at it. Her first step was researching the kind of paint to use on the primarily brick façade.
Acrylic masonry paint was the medium she settled on. Application was by paintbrushes and bunched up plastic bags for texture. She added a paint sprayer to her tool belt to blend the sky colors. Safety tools included a stepladder for the higher reaches and an umbrella for sun protection.
“Painting is so many layers,” Arnold explained. “We wanted it to be bold, bright and colorful. When we started, it was just swaths of color and people wondered what we were doing. As it started coming together, people began stopping to tell me how much they loved it.
Riverside’s iconic railroad bridge
“Do you know how tough it is to paint straight lines on brick?,” Arnold added. “It was a challenge in painting the railroad bridge because bricks are not a flat surface.”
In addition to the railroad bridge, the landscape art includes fishermen and kayakers, a nod to the leisure activities and tournaments popular in the area. Large, white American Lotus flowers, native to the ponds in nearby Riverside Park, are also featured in the painting. Arnold included sunset colors in the sky to capture the beauty of evening on the lake. She admits to having a bit of trouble with the osprey. “At first, it didn’t look quite right,” she said. “Julie, the RBO president, knows a lot about birds and was able to give me suggestions that helped bring it around.”
Arnold had some friends help, too. When she was initially covering the building with large areas of color, she invited friends from her church, Pell City First United Methodist, whom she called the “Joy and Color Brigade,” to come and paint the base layers.
The colorful mural has certainly given Riverside residents another reason to be proud of their city. According to Riverside Post Office employee Honey Waters, people come to her window frequently to give compliments about it. “A lot of people seem to like it. In fact,” she added, “just a couple of days ago, I watched a group of people stop and take their picture by it.”
Arnold hopes she will be able to do more murals in and around the area. “It’s given me so much joy to see the happiness it brings people in the community when they drive by. Every community deserves to have something that encourages pride in their city.” The artist has certainly delivered that.
Cooking on Logan Martin Lake with Robert and Ava Ballard
Story by Scottie Vickery Photos by Graham Hadley and Robert Ballard
When Robert and Ava Ballard couldn’t find exactly what they were looking for in a house on Logan Martin Lake, they decided to go back to the drawing board. After all, the empty nesters had already changed plans once. They originally thought that, after living in the hustle and bustle of a Birmingham suburb for years, they wanted a house in the country.
Then Ava decided that the only thing better than a view of the land was a view of the water. Their excitement turned to disappointment, however, when they couldn’t find a lake house for sale that met their needs. So, Robert, who has worked in the paper and packaging industry his whole career, took pen to paper and drew one himself.
The deck is the perfect place for grilling
“We couldn’t find a floor plan we liked, so I just started scratching one out,” he said. Their builder brought the drawings to life and four years later, the Ballards are still counting their blessings. “I never dreamed I would have that in my backyard,” Ava said, pointing out the window to the water glistening in the sunlight.
The heart of the home
Most of the “must-haves” on the couple’s list centered around the kitchen area. They’d always had a galley kitchen, so this time around they wanted an open concept so no one missed out on the fun when family and friends visited. Ava wanted granite countertops, something she’d never had, and they wanted the laundry room on the main floor, which they placed just outside the master bedroom. Factor in the view of the water and they got the kitchen of their dreams.
“We cook together a lot, and during the holidays, everyone is hanging out here,” Ava said of the large island where they love to spread an assortment of dips for their young nieces and nephews. “I love trying out new international dishes and looking for creative, flavorful recipes.”
They especially love it when their daughter, Jessica, comes home from New York City, where she is a researcher. “She likes to experiment with different recipes, too,” Ava said. “We love to pour a glass of wine, put on some music and all cook together.”
The Ballards estimate they cook dinner 70 to 80 percent of the time, enjoying leftovers and a dinner out the other evenings. “Robert leans more toward seafood, and I lean more toward red meat,” Ava said. “Growing up, we didn’t have steak a lot, and I’ve developed an intense love of steak.”
Robert loves shrimp dishes and grilled salmon, and they both love a good smoked Boston Butt. They’ve also been known to make a meal from a cheese tray or charcuterie board while enjoying the view from their deck with their dogs, Niko, a 15-year-old black Lab, and Sophie, a 10-year-old Chihuahua. “We sit on the deck almost every evening and just unwind,” Robert said. “There is nothing more relaxing.”
Peaceful, easy feeling
Although they love living on the lake, it was never really on their radar when they started thinking about making a change. They knew they wanted to get closer to family – Ava grew up in Talladega, while Robert is from Sylacauga – and after fighting traffic for years, they were looking for something more peaceful. “We talked about finding 15 or so acres in the country and just getting out,” Ava said.
One of her sisters, who has a lot of land, reminded them that there’s a lot of work involved with acreage, and that’s when Ava started thinking about Plan B. “I grew up coming to this lake,” she said. “We had an aunt who brought us up here fishing all the time. The idea just popped into my head one day, and I mentioned it to Robert.”
He was intrigued, but he said he never really considered that lake life could be a possibility for them. After finding a lot in the Fish Trap area of the lake, though, things fell in place fairly quickly. “Never once have I regretted it,” Ava said. “We’ve been here four years, and we still love everything about it.”
Family ties
Their view wasn’t the only thing that changed when they moved to the lake. Robert, who works in sales, travels some and works mostly at home when he’s in town. Ava, however, worked as a special education paraprofessional in a Shelby County school for 15 years. She didn’t want to commute, so she found a new job that’s close to her heart, as well as their new home.
Ava shows off a piece of hand-painted wood valance from her mother’s kitchen
Raised by deaf parents, Ava works at Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind (AIDB), the alma mater of her parents, an aunt and a cousin. She currently serves as the administrative assistance for the vice president of instructional programs. “Sign language was her first language,” Robert said of his wife of 34 years.
Although Ava’s mother passed away before they moved to the lake, the Ballards enjoyed being closer to her father during his final years. Robert’s father has passed away, as well, but his mother and brother still live in the area, and his sister is in Chattanooga. They also enjoy spending time with Ava’s sisters, Molly and Kim, who live nearby, and their families.
Traces of family can be found all over the Ballards’ home. Robert cherishes the hall tree that belonged to his grandparents, and reminders of Ava’s mom are evident all around the kitchen, especially in the old rolling pin that rests on top of the stove.
“She used it when she made chicken and dumplings, which was one of the best things she ever made,” Ava said. “I have very vivid memories of watching my mother cook. Nobody can fry chicken like my mother could.”
Ava also has her mom’s old flour sifter on a nearby side table, a candy dish that sits on the kitchen island, and a special memento from her parents’ kitchen hanging on the wall. Ava’s cousin, Jana Hadley, had painted dogwood flowers on her parents’ kitchen cabinets, as well as the wooden valance that was over the kitchen sink. When they passed away, Ava and her sisters had the valance cut into thirds, and each kept a piece.
“Family is really important to both of us,” she said, adding that many of their memories and best times are centered around food. “My parents grew up in a mill town in South Carolina, and a lot of times you had nothing to offer a friend or a visitor except a meal,” Robert added.
That’s what they continue to offer friends and family, along with a beautiful view. “We love to watch the hummingbirds, and we’ve seen two litters of squirrels get raised” in a tree that was near their deck, Robert said. “Even if it’s raining, and we can see a storm moving across the lake, it’s beautiful. The view never gets old.”
Black Bean and Corn Salad
(from allrecipes.com)
Blackened Shrimp & Black Bean and Corn Salad
Blackened Shrimp
(from amandascookin.com)
1 pound extra large grilling shrimp peeled and deveined, tails on
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 Tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (optional)
Directions:
Rinse shrimp and pat dry with paper towels. Combine all seasoning ingredients and whisk together. Toss shrimp in seasoning ingredients to coat well. Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Cook shrimp for 3 minutes per side. Be careful not to crowd shrimp in the pan. Serve over a bed of yellow rice.
½ cup olive oil
⅓ cup fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1½ cups frozen corn kernels
1 avocado – peeled, pitted and diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
6 green onions, thinly sliced
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
Place olive oil, lime juice, garlic, salt and cayenne pepper in a small jar. Close the lid tightly and shake until dressing is well combined. Combine beans, corn, avocado, bell pepper, tomatoes, green onions and cilantro in a salad bowl. Shake dressing again, pour over salad and toss to coat.
Beef Stir Fry with Vegetables
(From rachelcooks.com)
Sauce
¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
¼ cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Stir Fry
1 pound flank or flat iron steak, cut into very thin slices against the grain
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 small red onion, sliced vertically, or about 1 cup
2 cups broccoli florets
1 ½ cups sugar snap or snow peas
4 cups cooked rice
2 or 3 green onions, thinly sliced
Directions:
Prepare sauce and set aside.
Combine cornstarch with salt and pepper. Toss sliced beef with cornstarch mixture and set aside.
Heat oil in a wok or large pan over high heat. Tilt pan and swirl to coat the sides. Add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until desired doneness is achieved. Remove beef from pan and place on a plate. Return pan to high heat and add the onions and carrots; stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the broccoli; stir fry for 3 more minutes. Stir in sauce mixture (stir sauce mixture well before adding), beef and any accumulated juices and snow peas; cook for another 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened and peas are cooked to desired doneness. Serve over rice and garnish with sliced green onions.
Judi Denard had a knack for putting the most unlikely elements together and creating a masterpiece. She had an uncanny ability to envision what could be and set out to make it happen.
It was little more than a year ago when she put the full force of her dynamic personality, ‘can do’ spirit and a love of music together to make history at Pell City Center for Education and Performing Arts.
Judi, Teresa Carden and Becky Jones, wife of Ed Jones, one of the presenters
Taking center stage was The Firebirds, one of Europe’s top Rock ‘n Roll bands, whose appearances were usually reserved for much larger cities. But that night belonged to Pell City, bringing the audience to its feet with ovation after ovation.
Presented by friends Frank Shikle and Ed Jones, Judi convinced them to bring the show to Pell City while they were touring in Birmingham.
Her enthusiasm for an event of this magnitude coming to what she called “our little town” could not escape notice. It was infectious. Storeowners gladly handed over merchandise to give as gifts to the band from England. She planned a reception in their honor, and her attention to detail made them feel at home even across the ocean.
She wanted to show them what Southern hospitality really is to remind them of an evening Pell Citians won’t soon forget. And she did. She became the town’s and the band’s biggest cheerleader.
The Firebirds didn’t forget either. They are returning to center stage at CEPA on May 18 at 7 p.m.
While Judi won’t have her familiar seat in the audience – she passed away from Leukemia just a few months later – the legacy she helped create is expected to excite, entertain and engage the crowd once again. Just like she would have wanted.
The Firebirds are Jim Plummer, Dan Plummer, Rich Lorriman and Paul Willmott – four first-class musicians/vocalists who re-create the complete spectrum of music from the 1950s and 1960s. Their incredible set features everything from commercial music to rockabilly, harmonized doo wop to instrumentals, and even some incredible original hits. The band has undertaken extensive tours both at home and abroad. To date, the band has released three singles and 12 albums.
The last five albums were recorded in their own studio and on their own label, ‘Rockville Records,’ and include a Rock ‘n Roll Special with Linda Gail Lewis, the sister of ‘The Killer,’ Jerry Lee, and two Doo Wop albums. The second album features guest vocalist Den Hegarty of ‘Darts’ fame.
Sponsored by Humana, tickets are $25 available at pellcitycepa.com/tickets.
A Talladega County Logan Martin Lakeside icon before Alpine Bay
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Submitted Photos
It was a golf course, a resort, a swanky place to hold weddings, class reunions and fundraising dinners that often featured famous entertainers. It was a day-trip for horseback riding or lounging by the pool. It was a destination point for a few days of rest and relaxation, tucked away in the small town of Alpine, 10 miles southwest of Talladega.
Alpine Bay Golf Club began life as Point Aquarius in 1969. First owned by International Resorts, Inc., of Vestavia Hills, it went through several more owners and a name-change through the years as it struggled to hold onto its identity and its membership. Plagued by poor management, high-pressure sales tactics and the very seclusion that made it unique, it finally withered and died in 2014, only to be revived again two years later in a smaller but more manageable form.
The original clubhouse
“We used to book acts in the ballroom like the Swinging Medallions, the Temptations, Fahrenheit and others from the 50s and 60s,” says Stuart Brasell, who, with his business partner, Jack Graves, was food and beverage manager there from 1986-1997. “We had B.B. King once as well. It was a different time.”
Former members and employees recall gourmet meals in a multi-tiered clubhouse that included a restaurant, lounge, snack bar, game room, covered outdoor patio with a ballroom above that could seat 500.
The golfing was world-class, too, with two courses designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. One of them lasted only a year or two, but comedian Bob Hope and blind golfer Charley Boswell played a few rounds at the other, along with several NASCAR race drivers killing time during Talladega 500 weeks.
“I loved working there,” says Jeanna Carmack, bar manager at the resort from the late 80s “off and on” until 2000. “We had a lot of fun, just the atmosphere, the people you met. A lot of the NASCAR drivers would stay there in the 80s, including Darrell Waltrip, Ernie Irvan, Mark Martin’s team and Jack Roush’s team. They’d have a big charity golf tourney during NASCAR week, they’d come out and play golf and have a big dinner in the ballroom that night. Other people would come from all around the world that follow the NASCAR circuit.”
Purchased and re-named by Alpine Bay Resorts in 1982, the property at that time included the clubhouse, pro shop, Olympic-sized swimming pool with fountain and pool house, five clay tennis courts, a barn and equestrian club, putt-putt golf area, walking trails, marina with restaurant and dock storage, 60 motel units and three condominium developments. The latter were dubbed Dogwood, the Pines and East Pines. Only two of the individual units were privately owned, while the others were timeshares listed with RCI, which allowed you to trade your week at almost any timeshare resort in the world.
“Around 500 lots along Logan Martin Lake and on the interior of the resort property were part of the original 1,400-acre development,” says Brasell. “There was an RV campground that adjoined the property, too.”
Former member Gene Davis of Moody recalls that during the mid-1960s, Democratic governor contender Sen. Ryan DeGraffenried, who was later killed in a plane crash, played golf at the Charley Boswell Golf Course (Highland Park) in Birmingham along with Bob Hope and Charley Boswell. Then DeGraffenried went to Point Aquarius, as it was still called at that time. “I’m not sure about Hope, but Ryan and Charley and maybe (former football player) Johnny Musso played together there. The owners were really trying to promote and sell that property.”
Alpine Bay sold again in 1988 to National America Corporation (NACO), a part of Thousand Trails out of Gautier, MS, according to Stuart Brasell. In 1994 NACO sold the clubhouse and golf course to Joe Yarborough from Bessemer and his business partner, Pat Sanford of Childersburg. NACO, however, retained ownership of the condominiums, and still owned them when Brasell and Graves left in 1997.
Yarborough didn’t make it in the food and beverage business there and built a small pro shop and snack bar to replace the huge clubhouse. “It cost $5,500 in utilities alone each month to run the clubhouse,” Brasell says. “A consultant came in once and said it would be best if we let the tennis courts grow up and fill in the swimming pool and grow roses.”
At various times, Alpine Bay was a private resort or a semi-private resort used for many types of events. It played host to high school speech contests, state chili cook-offs, the Alabama Associated Press Broadcasters convention, the Alabama Sports Writers Association convention, the Jet Ski Nationals, Talladega College fundraisers and numerous golf tournaments.
The resort owned the equestrian club and the horses that were stabled there, according to Brasell. During the off-season, the horses were kept off-site. “They weren’t there when the barn burned in 1988,” Brasell says.
The barn wasn’t the only building to burn down.
In January 1988, two fires on New Year’s Eve destroyed four condos and a motel complex at the resort, according to brief articles in the Anniston Star and the Birmingham Post-Herald. It is unclear from the articles, however, whether it was actually the same fire both newspapers were reporting on. The Star article said a fire destroyed “apartment units 126-129 in Building Two.” The top floors were burned and the bottom floors were gutted. The Post-Herald article said a 12-unit motel complex was destroyed. “The resort has 72 motel units and 56 condominium apartments, contained in six buildings near Lake Logan Martin on the Coosa River,” the Post-Herald article stated. “The motel had been undergoing renovations.”
The yacht club
“Actually, the building that burned was Building 2,” says Brasell, clearing up some of the confusion. “It housed 12 motel units. They were converted from four condos. Each building had four king suites, four double queen rooms and four single queen rooms.”
In 2006, the clubhouse was in such disrepair that it was razed during a controlled burn by the Renfroe, Lanier and Munford volunteer fire departments as part of a training exercise. In a June 13, 1986, Daily Home newspaper article about the controlled burn, former resort member Helen Ruth Deese, a Talladega real estate agent, said the clubhouse had been absolutely fabulous in its heyday.
“It was the most gorgeous thing you’d ever seen,” she said in the article. “There was an open circle staircase, and a huge dining room with a stacked rock fireplace in the middle. And the food was absolutely fantastic. We had some friends who came to visit once that lived in downtown Atlanta. We took them to dinner there and then visited with them around the pool, and they just couldn’t believe there was something like this in Talladega County. He was an attorney in Atlanta, so they were used to some pretty swanky places.”
She said the dining room was “always covered up, especially for Sunday dinners,” and people came from Birmingham and Atlanta to eat there. She described lots of open balconies where they sometimes had dances, along with a big ballroom upstairs. “And there was a pro-shop downstairs that you could just drive your golf cart right up to it. In its heyday, it was just unbelievable.”
The article also mentions a swimming pool with a fountain in the middle, a large play area for children and a soft-surface tennis court that was still in use when the article was written. The clubhouse was built in 1972 but had been closed for 11 years leading up to its razing, according to the article.
“It just wasn’t worth restoring,” Yarborough, who has since died, said in the controlled burn article. “It was too big, and it was built before its time. I know of several people who have gone broke trying to run things in that building. I bought the property in 1994, and I know there have been a lot of parties and weddings there over the years, but I’m not in that kind of business, and I wasn’t going to let it break me.” He said that prior to his purchase of the property, it had been owned by Linkscorp, based in Chicago.
The original maintenance barn caught on fire and burned down somewhere along the way. Tony Parton, managing partner for the Alpine Group that now owns the golf course, believes some of the other buildings need to come down even now.
“The Pines condos are falling in and are dangerous,” he says. “They need to be burned. The current owners have been working on them but haven’t done anything with them in months. The ones by the water tower are falling in, too. People call me all the time wanting to rent them, but I don’t have anything to do with them.”
Poor management and lack of vision contributed to the demise of Alpine Bay. “Before the clubhouse was burned down, a small pro shop and snack bar were built,” says Brasell. “Without the large functions, the restaurant and lounge revenue, an enormous source of income was lost. Oddly, the barn for the equestrian club and the marina burned at different times under different ownerships.”
Clara Curtis of Sylacauga recalls working as a sales representative for timeshares in the early 1980s, when LA Marketing owned the resort. “The golf course was in full swing then,” she says. “Henry Ritchie was golf pro when I was there. It was a regular country club-like atmosphere, and you could buy shirts and souvenirs. It was a booming place. Lots of times I got there at 7 a.m. and wouldn’t leave until 2-3 a.m. because of the reunions and showers.”
Curtis started as a sales person, but when the man in charge of closings left, she got his job. “Then it started going downhill,” she says. “It was sold to another company, and they didn’t do anything with it. So, I went to conference sales: banquets, and so forth. We had a lucrative thing going on. That was just before Jack and Stuart took over.”
Curtis thinks it was the overhead of the clubhouse that did it in. “It got to where lots of folks didn’t support it, but just played golf and sat in the bar,” she recalls. “I think that’s when Joe Yarborough bought it. They split the timeshares away from country club.”
Clubhouse entrance
Curtis recalls entertainers like the Temptations, and others of the Motown sound. “We didn’t book shows, it was people having events there,” she says. “It was a lot of fun. You’d meet regular, everyday people that you get to know, people with summer houses, golfers. For people who lived that far out, it was nice to have someplace near they could come after work. The dads would play golf, moms would have kids at the pool. And my sister got married there!”
She says the clubhouse was a glorious facility. “You wouldn’t know you were out in the middle of nowhere. Torches were always lit at the entrance.” Those torches were enormous gas torchères at the front gate, according to Brasell. “They were beautiful but expensive,” he recalls. “It cost about $2,000 a month to keep them lit.”
Gene Davis played golf there in the 60s and had a corporate membership in the 70s. “I was a sales manager for a company out of Birmingham and when they were developing Point Aquarius, Johnny Musso was working for the people who were putting that together,” he says. “They were selling property all around the golf course. He came to our company, and I was a golfer and was interested. With my influence, our company bought into it. It cost us $5,000 for thecorporate membership. This was probably in the early 70s, probably 1973 or 1974.”
Deese did a lot of appraisal work on some of the lots in the 80s. “Often the same lot sold more than one time,” she says. “People would go look at their lot and someone would be building on it!”
Brasell claims the original Point Aquarius was built because the developers thought Alabama would get casino gambling. “That’s why the corridors of the clubhouse were so wide and the rooms so big,” he says. “It was no secret that at one time resort owners ran junkets out of Birmingham to Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Ed Salem was an investor at the resort then, and Donald Trump’s wife always wanted Salem to bring Krispy Kreme donuts on those Atlantic City junkets because there weren’t any there.” He says a lot of folks got stuck on memberships, because every time ownership would change, new owners wouldn’t honor old memberships. “We made sure the resort remained public when we were there,” he says of his and Jack Graves’s managerial days.
The very location, while rural and scenic, may have contributed to the demise of the resort, too. A Golfweek article in USA Today’s sports section on Nov. 25, 2022, said, “Although a beautiful layout in a brilliant natural setting, Alpine Bay was hard to reach even from Birmingham, with a least part of the drive on winding, two-lane roads. After barely managing to stay alive for decades, it was shuttered in 2014. But the place had a loyal following.”
NACO still owned the condos when Brasell and Graves left in 1997. “They were governed by an association,” Brasell says. “Most of the amnesties were gone near the end. People finally quit paying maintenance fees, which I’m sure ended the timeshare condos.”
Current managing partner Tony Parton says all three sets of condominiums are still on the property, but they aren’t part of the 144 acres his Alpine Group owns. “Those in East Pines, they claimed they’ve restored them, but nothing has been done in months,” he says. “This was originally 1,400 acres that stretched nearly to Logan Martin Dam and included individual lots. We own just the golf course.”
Gene Davis says he has been playing golf at Alpine off and on ever since the company he worked for had a corporate membership. “I do know Tony Parton and his wife Jan, also Percy Jennings and Ray Ferguson. I’m excited they were able to do what they did by resurrecting and salvaging that old place.”
It’s easy to say an event is bigger and better than ever, but organizers for Logan Martin LakeFest 2023 mean it.
When LakeFest kicks off Friday, May 12, through Sunday, May 14, at Pell City Lakeside Park, be ready for the Southeast’s largest in-water boat show featuring a host of dealers and onsite financing, row upon row of vendors, a variety of entertainment and food vendors galore.
“We’re excited,” said Eric Housh, one of the organizers of what has become a Logan Martin tradition. “Overall, this is our 13th year,” and each year seems to get better than the one it follows.
This year is no different, and there’s a reason for that. “We listen,” he said. Community feedback helps them improve on the strong foundation already in place. “We are refocusing to a full family event – fun for the whole family.”
LakeFest lights up at night
The outdoor festival features entertainment throughout the weekend, lake lifestyle vendors and the splash pad open for the kids for free all day on Saturday.
The event moved from its normal third weekend in May, which this year makes it fall on Mother’s Day weekend. So, organizers have added a special gift for mothers on Sunday – “Mimosas for Moms” – with 1,000 Mimosas given away courtesy of United Johnson Brothers, a major LakeFest sponsor. America’s First is providing free flowers for mothers, too.
“We have had fantastic sponsors over the years,” Housh said. “They make it happen. Without them, we wouldn’t have an event, and they come back year after year” to support it.
Judging by the size of the crowds, support from the community grows year after year, too. An estimated 45,000 to 50,000 attended the 2022 event.
From the beginning when the late Jerry Wood and others envisioned it, it has been LakeFest’s way of “welcoming people into our community and showing them Logan Martin Lake. We are very fortunate to have it here in our backyard,” Housh said.
Because of its sponsors, they have been able to keep the event free to the public. They even offer major giveaways and hourly door prizes as well as nearly nonstop entertainment and a fireworks show in honor of veterans.
“It was important to Jerry to honor veterans,” Housh said, and it has been a tradition since LakeFest’s inception. Veterans from Col. Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home are hosted for the spectacular display in their honor that lights up the sky after dark Saturday.
Entertainment throughout the weekend features a family friendly version of the Velcro Pigmys as the headliners, a number of bands, and children’s television character, Blippy, will appear at this year’s LakeFest on Saturday.
Everyone who enters LakeFest has a chance to enter for major giveaways. “We’re super excited about the giveaways,” Housh said. A Seadoo will be given away by Munford Motorsports. LakeFest is giving away an ATV from Tracker Offroad, and Talladega Home Center will give away a Big Green Egg. “These are going to be really popular,” he added. That’s in addition to impressive door prizes – everything from kayaks and paddleboards to Tshirts and hats to boating accessories.
“We’re looking forward to it. We learn something every year,” Housh said. “Let us know what you think.” l
Established restaurateurs create another eatery on Logan Martin Lake with Wake Zone
Story by Scottie Vickery Photos by Mackenzie Free Submitted Photos
Keith Clements’ quest to own a restaurant started when he was just a boy. Raised by a single grandmother in the Pell City area, he fell in love with cooking before he could read and write. “I’ve always had a passion for it,” he said, and that passion eventually took him to culinary school in Cleveland, Ohio.
Nicola Wright, however, never even considered a future in the restaurant business. With a background in sales and managing fitness centers, she’s much more comfortable being a taste tester than preparing a meal to taste.
Can’t top Wake Zone’s nautical theme bar
After recently opening their third restaurant – their second on Logan Martin Lake – the business partners agree that even though their paths were different, they make a pretty good team. After buying the Wake Zone Grill and Bar last December, they opened the restaurant in February with a new menu, live entertainment and big goals.
“It’s right in the middle of the lake, and the middle of the lake needed something,” Clements said of the restaurant at Stemley Bridge. He and Wright believe that “something” is the perfect combination of great food and great fun. After all, it’s the same recipe for success they followed with their first partnership, Lakeside Grill on Coosa Island.
Entertainment is definitely on the new Wake Zone menu. They’ll offer Bingo on Wednesday nights and Karaoke is on tap for Thursdays. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays will feature live music. “We’ll have everything from the 50s all the way up,” Clements said.
Wright said they also plan to have some weekend events at the Wake Zone similar to those they’ve offered at Lakeside Grill to celebrate the start of summer or the end of a great season. “I think the events are what really made me fall in love with it,” she said of the restaurant business.
Spice of life
Hosting music and events aren’t the only ways they plan to spice things up, however. The Wake Zone, like Lakeside Grill, will offer a number of Cajun dishes, including Cajun Shrimp Tacos, Bayou Potato, Cajun Chicken Alfredo and Bayou Alfredo. “Cajun pasta is what we’re known for on the lake,” Clements said. “We brought a taste of New Orleans to Logan Martin.”
Clements’ taste and cooking skills have evolved over the years, and both have been heavily influenced by his family. “I grew up cooking with my grandmother,” he said of Viola Clements. “I started when I was 5 years old and I’ve been doing it ever since. I even won some 4-H competitions for the best homemade biscuits and cornbread.”
Outside dining gives you a beautiful lakeside view
His other grandmother, Jackie Fuller, influenced him, as well. Clements’ grandfather was part Hungarian, and Fuller taught him to make dishes like Chicken Paprikash. In addition, her sister married an Italian, and they had a big influence on his love for pasta dishes.
“I’ve always liked spicy foods, and Cajun pasta is my favorite thing to cook,” Clements said. “All of our alfredo sauce is made from scratch to order. There’s no canned or bagged alfredo sauce here.”
Given his love of Cajun food, it’s no surprise that the second restaurant Clements and Wright opened, Woodies Grill and Bar, is in the New Orleans area. That restaurant, which opened in November 2022, shares some of the same dishes that Lakeside Grill and Wake Zone have.
The Bayou Potato is an example. Topped with andouille sausage, shrimp, and crawfish cooked in a creamy Cajun sauce, as well as queso and shredded cheese, the baked potato has become a crowd favorite. “I went back to the kitchen and was just playing around with some stuff and when I brought it out, people all around me were eating off my plate,” Clements said. “I said, ‘Well, that’s a menu item.’”
Joining forces
Although Clements always wanted to own a restaurant, he knew he needed a backup plan, too. “I knew I needed another income because so many restaurants fail,” he said. As a result, he’s been in the construction business for 19 years and opened Lakeside Boathouses in 2011.
But he didn’t stop there. “I own about nine businesses between New Orleans and here,” he said. In addition to the three restaurants he runs with Wright, he also owns an excavating company, a boat rental company, a snow cone business and several rental properties. He also was a partner in two other restaurants before joining forces with Wright.
Wright, whose life was in transition a few years ago, was looking for a new path. She bought out Clements’ previous partner and decided to change careers. “I knew nothing about restaurants at the time,” she said. “I do now.”
The partners’ first venture together was Lakeside Grill, which opened in May 2020. “There’s not many people opening a restaurant in the middle of COVID, but I was the gambler,” Clements said.
It paid off, and shortly after the restaurant opened, Wright came on board. Since then, they’ve hosted a number of community events such as the “Rockin the Island Luau,” and Lakeside Grill has become a fixture on the water. “We’ve had events that have drawn crowds of 600 and 700 people a day,” Clements said. “We put a big stage down by the water facing the restaurant, and we just pack ’em in.”
While Wright runs the business side of things, she also puts her own stamp on the restaurants and the events they host. In addition to starting weekly Bingo, she’s brought in everything from a 360-degree photo booth to a mechanical bull at special events. One of her first ideas for the Wake Zone is to host a Poker Run between it and Lakeside Grill.
“There’s no better feeling than when an event comes together and everybody says it’s so much fun,” she said. “At the end of the night, you can close up and think, ‘That was good.’”
That’s one reason she’s come to enjoy the restaurant business more than she could ever imagine. “I love the social aspect of it,” she said. “I’ve met so many people through it, and it really keeps me busy. It’s been very good to me at a time when I needed it.”
In addition, Wright said she and Clements work well together.
“Together, we come up with some really good stuff,” she said. Some of the good stuff they have planned for the Wake Zone is adding a tiki bar, expanding the deck overlooking the water and building an outdoor stage. “There’s a lot of potential here,” Clements said.
Special touches
Although there are some similarities on the Lakeside Grill and Wake Zone menus, there are some dishes that are only served at each restaurant. Lakeside, for instance, has barbecue while Wake Zone has a pork chop and more seafood items, such as crab claws and fried fish on “Fish Frydays.”
In addition, the Wake Zone menu features favorites of Clements’ kids (Cassidy, Riley and Madilyn), Wright’s kids (Brayden and Leelee), and Lakeside and Wake Zone manager Tanya Barnett, known to customers as “Ma.” There’s “Cassidy’s Bangin Popcorn Shrimp,” “Ma’s Meatloaf,” which is a special on Wednesday, and “Bray’s BLT.”
The restaurant family also includes some of the employees in Clements’ other businesses. “Some of the boathouse guys tend bar on the weekends,” he said. “Tanya and one of the cooks came in for construction work, and I put them to work at Lakeside. We turned our staff into a family.”
They’re working on making the whole community family, too. They love to sponsor and host community events, adopt kids at Christmas, provide holiday meals for the community and more. Some summer weekends, they’ll take a grill to Pirate Island, grab some food from the restaurant and feed whoever happens to come by.
“We’re not just a business,” Clements said. “We’re here to create family, a lake family.”
Cajun Jambalaya from Wake Zone
Cajun Jambalaya
(Makes 20 servings)
1 cup diced bell pepper
1 cup diced yellow onion
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 teaspoons garlic powder
6 teaspoons crushed red pepper
6 teaspoons smoked paprika
6 teaspoons Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning
5 teaspoons hot sauce
4 cups chopped andouille sausage
4 cups chopped chicken
6 cups medium or long grain rice
6 cups chicken broth
6 cups water
Directions:
Heat olive oil in a stock pot and add peppers and onions. Add all seasonings and cook until onions are translucent, stirring occasionally. Add meat and cook thoroughly. Add rice and liquid. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover, stirring occasionally. Cook until rice is tender.
Serve with shrimp and a lemon wedge.
Chicken Alfredo from the Wake Zone restaurant on Logan Martin Lake
Chicken Alfredo
(Makes 1 serving)
1/2 cup cubed chicken
1/4 cup broccoli florets
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 teaspoons olive oil
3-ounces grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tablespoon garlic salt
1 cup cooked fettucine noodles
Directions:
Heat olive oil in a 9-inch skillet. Add cubed chicken, broccoli and garlic salt. Cook chicken thoroughly. Add heavy cream and bring to a light boil.
Add parmesan cheese. Mix well until thickened. Add cooked noodles and toss. Serve with garlic bread.
‘We were a mile from the Coosa River, so we knew the water would get us.’
Sue Clinkscales Granger has a lake house. Her house, which sits next door to John Abbott’s, became waterfront when the waters of Logan Martin rose. Though she lives in Jacksonville now, she visits her Cropwell place frequently and remembers well the chaos that came along with the rising waters.
Old Cotton Gin in Easonville
Growing up, she lived in a different house, one that was directly in the path of the floodwaters, and her family was not happy about it. “The surveyors would come by putting in stakes, and my granddaddy would come by and pull them up,” said Granger. “We were a mile from the Coosa River, so we knew the water would get us.”
Continuing, she recalls, “I was away in college at Jacksonville State (JSU). I remember coming down and going swimming as the water was coming up.”
In the end, they sold that home for $6,000 and built a house in Pell City.
Longtime Pell City resident Dianne Fisher tells a similar story. She was in first grade when her parents had to move their home out of the path of the future lake.
Her family’s home was not far from John Abbott’s home, just about 100 yards into the center of what would be the lake.
They had it jacked up and moved to higher ground in 1963.
“My mother cried when they cut down the trees. They were huge, beautiful old oaks.”
Four months after they had the house moved, they sold it and moved into a house they had built in Pell City. The old one that was moved has long since been torn down.
“In the end, it was OK,” admits Fisher. “I have four brothers. Once we got into our bigger home, we all had our own bedrooms, and it was easier. And we were closer to town.”
Coming soon: A look back before there was Alpine Bay
Alpine Bay has a rich history dating back to its days as Point Aquarius, when the likes of Bob Hope and blind Alabama golfer Charlie Boswell frequented the resort.
Name brand entertainment, formal wedding receptions, class reunions and elegant dinners took center stage, and the resort became a destination point.
In the May issue of LakeLife 24/7 Magazine®, look for a full story on the history, recollections and photographs that capture the essence of Point Aquarius.
