2019 Alabama Governor’s Conference on Tourism

Alabama Restaurant Week 2019

Alabama moves to protect the Clotilda

Africatown International Design Idea Competition to help tell Clotilda’s story

10 Things to do in Alabama

Sweet Home Alabama: discovering Alabama’s music scene

What’s American Village up to in the summer?

50th Anniversary of moon landing reaches China

All music lovers should visit the W.C. Handy Home in Florence

Moon tree remains an attraction at Ivy Green

Alabama Welcome Center Retreat 2019

“Partner Pointer” for the tourism industry website

2019 Alabama Governor’s Conference on Tourism
The 2019 Alabama Governor’s Conference on Tourism is Aug. 17-20, at the Von Braun Center and Embassy Suites Hotel in Huntsville. The conference provides tourism professionals a chance to gather and learn about the economic impact of the industry on the Alabama economy, learn new strategies for marketing local Alabama attractions and amenities to visitors, raise money for scholarships through silent auctions and celebrate achievements.

Registration and Reservations at www.alabamagovernorsconference.com

Alabama Restaurant Week 2019
This year, the more-than-weeklong event will be held Aug. 16- 25.

With close to 150 participating restaurants last year, Alabama Restaurant Week 2019 looks to be bigger and better than ever before. This year more delicious food, flavor and fun will be spotlighted. Plan on being a part of the locally owned and operated restaurants who participate.

Participating restaurants will receive in-store promotional items and be listed on the website along with their meal offerings. Late entries will only receive website listing. Participating restaurants set meal prices at $10, $20, $30 and $40 for dinner and $10 and $15 for lunch. In all cases, the price is per person and does not include tax and tip. Restaurants have the choice of offering one or more meals at the preset prices.

There is no cost for restaurants to participate in this statewide promotion. For more details and sign-up information, please see https://alabama.travel/alabama-restaurant-week or contact Courtney Austin at 334-242-4674 or Courtney.Austin@tourism.alabama.gov.

Alabama moves to protect the Clotilda
From the article by Ralph Ellis on CNN.com:

Editor’s note: CNN’s Doug Criss contributed to this report.

An Alabama state commission acted Friday to protect the schooner Clotilda, believed to be the last ship to bring enslaved people to the United States from Africa.

The Alabama Historical Commission filed a claim under admiralty, or maritime law, in U.S. District Court in Mobile. The claim will ensure that the Clotilda, which sank in the Mobile River in 1860, remains a publicly owned resource, the commission said in a statement.

“It carries a story and an obligation to meet every opportunity to plan for its safeguarding,” said Lisa Jones, the commission’s executive director. “AHC is laying the groundwork for ongoing efforts to not only ensure the Clotilda’s immediate assessment, but to also establish pathways for its longevity.”

The commission said a key benefit of an admiralty claim involves retrieving any artifacts that have been taken from the ship and will help prevent against future attempts to take artifacts from it.

“By preserving the Clotilda, Alabama has the opportunity to preserve a piece of history,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in the statement. “It is a prime example of an artifact that deserves our respect and remembrance.”

The Roots of Africatown
Though importing slaves had been illegal for decades in 1860, the schooner brought 110 slaves from what is now Benin across the Atlantic, slipping past federal authorities to Mobile.

The ship’s captain, William Foster, acting on behalf of Alabama plantation owner Timothy Meaher, navigated the Clotilda up the Spanish River and transferred the slaves to a riverboat. Foster then burned the ship, sinking it upriver.

Many of the ship’s slaves, freed five years later at the end of the Civil War, settled a community north of downtown Mobile that became known as Africatown.

Descendants of the original slaves still live in the area. The descendants will be consulted on decisions about the future of the Clotilda.

‘Painstaking and difficult’ work
Interest in finding the Clotilda reignited in January 2018 after AL.com reporter Ben Raines discovered the remains of a ship near Mobile. Experts and volunteers got to work to determine whether the remains really belonged to the last known slave ship.

It was determined this shipwreck wasn’t the Clotilda—the remains were too big—but everyone agreed to keep searching.

The state announced last May that the wreck in the Mobile River had been positively identified as the Clotilda. The commission is working with multiple organizations to assess the ship’s condition before further excavation is performed.

“This kind of archaeological work is painstaking and difficult under any circumstances, but the physical conditions of this particular site—zero visibility, high currents and potential entanglements—made this an especially difficult shipwreck to work on,” said Dave Conlin, a founding member of Slave Works Project and head of the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center.

For the complete article please see https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/26/us/clotilda-slave-ship-admiralty-claim/index.html

Africatown International Design Idea Competition to help tell Clotilda’s story
From the article by Lee Peck on Fox10TV.com:

With the discovery of the Clotilda earlier this year—the last known slave ship in the U.S.—the Africatown community is trying to get organized for what’s next.

How to best feature the tale of American slavery was the focus of a community meeting Thursday night.

Locals with a deep connection are now focused on telling the full story. MOVE Community Development Corporation is launching the Africatown International Design Idea Competition—employing ideas from 143 architectural schools all over the country and beyond.

“I see the competition as being an opportunity to present design ideas for 16 sites throughout Africatown that will connect at least three cities—Prichard, Chickasaw, and Mobile … so that they will be a cultural heritage destination,” explained Renee Kemp-Rotan, architect/professional competition advisor.

The competition will collect design ideas on four sites throughout Africatown—each site containing four buildings.

Site 1: The Welcome Center at the Cemetery
Site 2: Josephine Allen Site
Site 3: Blue Ways Site
Site 4: Africatown Park USA

They hope to connect it all through a unique user-experience for the visitors coming to see the Clotilda.

“It will be a landing pad for all the thousands of visitors that will be coming to the Clotilda from all over the world. To tell the entire story,” said Kemp-Rotan.

A big part of telling that story will be the descendants of slaves on the Clotilda—giving them a first-class landmark they can share with the rest of the world.

“It’s impressive. I would like to see it come to fruition,” said Vernetta Henson who had relatives on the Clotilda.

It would give them a first-class landmark—they can share with the rest of the world.

“If the community is behind it. You know it takes a village. Basically to build something of this enormity—so we are hoping the competition will serve as an advocacy tool that will really employ the community and civic leaders to decide on what they want Africatown to look like,” said Kemp-Rotan.

MOVE Community Development Corporation plans to officially launch the competition on its website Sept. 19.

April 2020: a design committee consisting of 16 jurors (8 locals, and 8 architects and historians from around the country) will judge the submissions.

June 2020: make their recommendations

The winners can receive a cash prize of up to $25,000.

For the complete article please see https://www.fox10tv.com/news/africatown-international-design-idea-competition-to-help-tell-clotilda-s/article_dfd51b78-af58-11e9-89cc-ebd79a55c7ea.html

10 Things to do in Alabama
From the article by Kieran Meeket on RoughGuides.com:

The 50th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic first landing on the Moon on July 20 1969 brings Alabama into the spotlight – where Huntsville’s NASA Marshall Space Flight Center developed the Saturn V rocket that carried all the Apollo missions. To celebrate, here’s our countdown of the state’s top attractions:

The Speedway
As Ricky Bobby (AKA Will Ferrell) said in Talledega Nights: “If you ain’t first, you’re last!” The longest NASCAR oval in the States is Talladega Superspeedway, which holds the NASCAR speed record since Rusty Wallace hit 216 mph in 2004. Speed restrictions implemented since have made for much closer racing as well as crashes involving multiple cars. The track is famed for its race weekend parties.

Roadside Monuments
Like any American state, Alabama has its share of slightly strange, eye-catching roadside monuments. The Boll Weevil Monument in Enterprise shows a classic Greek-style goddess holding aloft the nasty little bug that nearly destroyed the cotton industry in the early 1900s. Farmers switched to peanuts and diversification brought prosperity out of disaster, a triumph to celebrate. Elsewhere, find such oddities as the Bamahenge, a Stonehenge replica in Elberta (where you’ll also see dinosaurs in the woods), the Golden Peanut in Dothan, and an 18-foot-tall aluminum rock star close to the iconic Muscle Shoals recording studio in Sheffield.

Unclaimed Luggage
Scottsboro is the place to go to be reunited with your lost luggage, or maybe someone else’s. The Unclaimed Baggage Center attracts more than a million visitors a year who come to browse the massive-store, made up of unclaimed possessions collected at airports across the country. New stock is added daily to the bargains in clothing, electronics, jewellery, toys or anything else someone might take on a plane or train. If you wondering about the cleanliness of the items on sale you needn’t worry – all clothing is drycleaned before making it out for sale.

Great Outdoors
Alabama landscapes range from Gulf of Mexico beaches to the Appalachian mountains, so outdoor lovers can enjoy everything from hiking to fishing, whitewater rafting and skiing. Swim or sail in the sea or one of the many lakes, play the 468 holes of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, or hike through the canyons and waterfalls of the Jericho Trail, once explored by American folk hero Davy Crockett.

Football
College football is very much a passion in the Southern states and catching a game – along with a tailgate BBQ – is a great way to see stars of the future. The two major teams are Alabama (Crimson Tide) and Auburn (Tigers), who have produced players such as Joe Namath and Bo Jackson, the only athlete ever to be a baseball and football All-Star. Their annual match-up in the “Iron Bowl” every Thanksgiving weekend pulls in over 100,000 spectators (and 10 million TV viewers).

The Civil Rights Trail
Harper Lee wrote her novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” – set in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama – in 1960, but this American tale of racial injustice in the South still resonates. The state’s troubled history is marked by the Civil Rights Trail that journeys through Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma. Montgomery houses the Rosa Parks Library and Museum, preserving the history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Selma’s National Voting Rights Museum and Institute and Slavery & Civil War Museum bring other parts of the story right up to date. Rough Guides has paired with a local company to offer trips taking in the Civil Rights Trail and other historic sights.

Bar-Be-Que
Barbecue, usually involving slow-cooked pork, is an institution all across the Deep South. Alabama’s unique contribution to this Southern genre is “white sauce” – a mix of mayonnaise, vinegar, apple juice and pepper that is a welcome contrast to the usual tomato-based alternatives. Along the Gulf Coast, seafood reigns, with dishes such as flaming oysters, deep-fried wild shrimp or blue crab soup are popular, while Southern fried chicken is a staple anywhere.

Mardi Gras
In the port city of Mobile, Alabama the Mardi Gras celebration long pre-dates the one in neighbouring New Orleans. The oldest annual Carnival celebration in the U.S. began in 1703 when Mobile was the capital of French Louisiana. The party season lasts from November to January and includes exclusive masked balls held by Mardi Gras groups (known as mystic societies) as well as public parades with music and strings of plastic beads thrown into the crowd. Make sure you try a Moon Pie – made of marshmallow sandwiched with Graham crackers and coated in chocolate – a delicious treat and a Mardi Gras staple.

Music
Alabama-born musicians include Nat King Cole, Lionel Richie, Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette, and The Temptations. W. C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues”, was also born in the state, in Florence – within jumping distance of Tennessee’s Nashville and Memphis. Florence is also just across the Tennessee River from Muscle Shoals, where everyone from Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan to Roy Orbison and the Rolling Stones recorded hits at FAME Studios and the nearby Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

Space Race
A visit to the inspiring U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville AKA the Rocket City, includes a tour of the nearby NASA facility, which still works on projects such as the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope. There are plenty of rockets on show, including a full-size Saturn replica as well as a mock-up of the Apollo 11 landing site, complete with a lunar lander and the American flag.

A special exhibition, ‘Apollo: When We Went to the Moon’ runs until the end of 2019. Special events such as a Celebration Car Show, Moon landing concert and Guinness World Record launch of 5,000 model rockets are being held throughout July.

For the complete article please see https://www.roughguides.com/article/10-things-to-do-in-alabama/

Sweet Home Alabama: discovering Alabama’s music scene
From the article by Barbara Barton Sloane on LuxuryTravelMagazine.com:

I recently visited Alabama and took a Cook’s tour of some of the major music sites including Muscle Shoals, Florence, Birmingham, and Montgomery, where diversity as well as African-American contributions to American music and culture are celebrated. My first stop was the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia. Long a dream of the Muscle Shoals Music Association, the Hall of Fame opened in 1990. Inside, portraits cover the walls of all who have been inducted here, from Dinah Washington, W.C. Handy, Hank Williams and Sam Phillips to name just a few. Mightily impressed by this assemblage of musical greats, it brought home the important role Alabama has played in our musical heritage.

Among the Hall’s fun memorabilia is the tour bus for the group Alabama; I clambered aboard and got a true feeling for their life on the road. Then a group of us were given copies of the words to “Sweet Home Alabama” and ushered into a recording studio. To the actual Lynrd Skynrd music, we shamelessly belted out this wonderful song. I don’t know if we should have been grateful or dismayed, but we were each given a DVD of our efforts.

That evening, I returned to the Hall to see The Secret Sisters perform. The duo, Laura and Lydia Rogers, were discovered by T Bone Burnett. They charmed the audience with classics such as “Don’t Ya Love Me?” and “Why Baby Why?” with their effortless harmony. The music is of rural America, roots-filled and timeless. By the end of this amazing concert, we were all on our feet applauding the sisters before one could utter the words “Bless your heart.”

A visit to FAME Recording Studios, whose founder was the late renowned Rick Hall, and also to the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was exciting as I toured the very studio where such iconic music as Wilson Pickett’s “Mstang Sally” and the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses” album was recorded. I was captivated by intimate stories of Aretha Franklin, Duane Allman, The Osmonds, and Little Richard, all who recorded at FAME.

The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in Birmingham is an art deco museum honoring great jazz artists with ties to the state, including Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and Erskine Hawkins. Here I met a most charming gentleman, Dr. Frank Adams, (himself a Hall of Fame inductee). Now in his 90s but embodying the verve and joie de vivre of someone decades younger, Dr. Adams entertained with tales of the greats he’s performed with. He told of a lifelong crush he harbored on Ella Fitzgerald and though the lady wouldn’t give him the time of day, this never dampened his ardor.

Montgomery is the home of the great Hank Williams. I toured his museum and found it a most moving experience. One of the first things I saw upon entering was Williams’ baby-blue 1952 Cadillac on whose very backseat he died at the age of 29 on his way to an Ohio gig. Hank Williams Jr. wrote a song called “This Country Boy Can Survive.” As I listened to the plaintive words, I couldn’t help but wish that his father – a sweet country boy – had survived much longer, and then the world would have had the benefit of more years of his incredible talent. The collection of Williams’ memorabilia is vast and complete – his rhinestone and spangle-decorated cowboy suits, his albums, his guitars and photographs. My Hank Williams’ homage ended at his gravesite in Oakwood Cemetery. The grounds surrounding the grave are covered with Astroturf, four tons of concrete and a cowboy hat resting forlornly atop his grave.

My Alabama visit was made all the more delightful as I guested at Birmingham’s own esteemed 103-year-old gem, The Tutwiler Hotel. It is located in the heart of Downtown Birmingham and comes with its own history of several resident ghosts.  For instance, there are accounts of knocking on doors in the middle of the night – loud, rapid knocks, only to quickly open and find no one sanding there. This particular ghost is known as the knocker and it’s believed to be a male spirit because he only knocks on the doors of women! I’m happy to report that during my stay – no knocks but still a lovely, mystical mood prevailed throughout.

For sure, Alabama had its seductive way with me. I left with a deep acquaintance with the talented musicians of yesterday as well as the very-much-alive musicians enhancing the music scene there today; and not least, I was warmed and charmed by the kindness I felt from Alabamians everywhere.

The philosopher/poet Santiz wrote: “Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.” In Alabama, music does that and so much more!

For the complete article please see https://www.luxurytravelmagazine.com/news-articles/sweet-home-alabama

What’s American Village up to in the summer?
From the article by Ivana Hrynkiw on AL.com:

If you’re looking to step back in time to 1776, Montevallo has a place for you.

American Village is the country’s only campus dedicated to teaching American history and civics through participation and sits on 188 acres off Highway 119 in Shelby County. The campus features 20 historically-inspired buildings and replicas of places like the Oval Office, the Philadelphia Assembly Room, and George Washington’s Mount Vernon home in Virginia.

“Our mission is to inspire and engage people to be good stewards of our liberties,” American Village Communications Officer Melanie Poole said.

The village is a nonprofit educational institution that opened in 1999, after founder Tom Walker envisioned a place where young people could learn American history firsthand by being part of the experience, and not just through lectures and textbooks. Schools in each of Alabama’s 67 counties visit American Village throughout the year, which adds up to about 35,00 students who visit annually. Poole said classes from four other southeastern states have visited on trips as well.

American Village teaches lessons of the American Revolution through historical interpreters—who act as different American icons—and vignettes, which change with different programs. Currently, American Village is displaying its summer program that is designed for children and families. The program ends July 31, when the village will shift into its “Liberty” program.

Some of the people represented by the interpreters include John and Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Paul Revere, George Washington, and Phillis Wheatley. There are also interpreters who portray soldiers, nurses, and other common people from the era.

“What I like about the American Village is seeing those light bulb moments, when the children make the connection between what they’ve been taught in the classroom and what we portray here through first-person interpretation,” Poole said.

“A typical school day here at the American Village, you would land right in the middle of the scene of American history. You would debate the Virginia Resolves for independence, you’d be delegates to the Constitutional Convention, you would take part in the stamp act rally, march with George Washington’s Continental Army. And you learn American history by participating,” Poole said.

Lesli Johnson, a historical interpreter at American Village, said she’s proud to be part of a place that can change young people’s views about history.

“I find that kids—adults as well—become more interested in stories than they do in facts,” Johnson said. “Facts are important, you need to know the dates of things … I think that this particular place is teaching you the story as well as the facts. And I enjoy being a part of that.”

“If one kid gets it, then you don’t know what that kid’s going to be. That could be the next president.”

For the complete article please see https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2019/07/whats-american-village-up-to-in-the-summer.html

50th Anniversary of moon landing reaches China
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center will be a cover story in Air China Airline’s July issue of their in-flight magazine, Wings of China. This magazine is available on all international flights operated by Air China. Air China is the largest Chinese airline owned by the Chinese central government with almost 100 international scheduled flights.

It is written by Key-Opinion-Influencer (KOL) Aurora Zhang. Zhang participated in a Travel South Media FAM earlier this year where participants experienced a miniature version of Space Camp.

Space Camp along with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center are two of Alabama’s most visited paid attractions. The Chinese visitor is a small portion of those visits but is one of the fastest growing market segments. An estimated 700 Chinese students participated in Space Camp in 2018 and that number will continue to grow.

All music lovers should visit the W.C. Handy Home in Florence
From the article by Michelle Matthews on AL.com:

When she moved to Florence, Ala., from her native Illinois in 1996, Algene Norwood didn’t know a soul. She decided that she “had to get out and get active and meet people.” She did that by volunteering on the committee that organizes the annual W.C. Handy Music Festival, eventually becoming the chairperson of the committee and then going to work as the curator of the W.C. Handy Home, Museum and Library four years ago.

Now her family members back in Illinois make fun of her Southern accent. But she doesn’t hear it.

Algene works three days a week at the museum that celebrates the father of the blues, William Christopher Handy, the composer and musician who was born in 1873 in the two-room log cabin that stands behind the museum today.

Visitors to the museum are introduced to Handy through a couple of videos that play on a continuous loop. In “Mr. Handy’s Blues: A Musical Documentary,” they can hear Handy’s actual voice talking about how music “did bring me to the gutter.”

The son and grandson of a minister, Handy once fell in love with a guitar and saved his money earned selling lye soap until he had enough to pay for it. When he brought the guitar home, his father was unimpressed, calling the instrument “the plaything of the devil” and demanding that his son return the guitar and trade it in for a dictionary – which is just what he did.

Eventually, Handy learned to play several musical instruments, including the trumpet and the piano, and quit teaching to become an itinerant musician. For two years, he lived in Mississippi, where he listened to black people working in the field and absorbed the non-written, “impolite” form of music that they sang. He ”gave structure to what he heard,” according to the documentary film about him.

He moved to Memphis in 1903 and insisted his work should be played in every bar on Beale Street. He worked as a band leader and composer as well as a businessman who published his own songs.

Handy then moved to New York City, where he became known as “an icon” for putting on paper the uniquely American genre of music that would become known as the blues. His sheet music and many other items are on display at the Florence museum.

Algene says she’s a fan of the blues, but what inspires her to continue working at the museum dedicated to Handy and his music is “his determination,” she says. “Obstacles did not stop him. He was determined.”

Handy suffered an accident on a train platform in Birmingham in 1943. As a result of his injury, he went blind at age 70. “He went back to school to learn to read and write braille and continued to write music blind,” Algene says.

He also faced racism and ignorance. “Even after he had an orchestra and a band, they would play for big venues but not have a place to stay,” she says. “They had to sleep on the side of the road.”

The museum’s treasures include the piano he used to compose “St. Louis Blues” on in 1914, as well as his trumpet and many of his awards. The two-room log cabin is another highlight of the tour.

People come to the museum from all over the world, Algene says. And there’s no better time to visit the house and museum than during the annual W.C. Handy Music Festival, which takes place through July 28 and includes nearly 300 musical events throughout The Shoals area.

For the complete article please see https://www.al.com/life/2019/07/if-youre-going-to-handy-fest-check-out-handys-home.html

Moon tree remains an attraction at Ivy Green
From the article by Russ Corey on TimesDaily.com:

Edward Murrey had some time off Friday and decided to drive to the Shoals and visit Ivy Green and one of its unique attractions – the “moon tree.”

The Moon Tree is a Loblolly Pine tree planted in October 1976 during the U.S. Bicentennial.

What’s special about the tree is it was grown from one of hundreds of tree seeds that orbited the moon during Apollo 14’s 1971 trip to the moon.

While astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walked on the Moon, former U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper Stuart Roosa orbited above in the command module with 400-500 tree seeds that were part of an experiment.

The seeds were brought back to earth, germinated and trees were eventually planted across the United States. It turned out there were no discernible differences in the Moon Trees and the control seeds that remained on earth.

“I just heard about it,” the Collinwood resident said. “This is kind of a bonus. I’m a big fan of Helen Keller.”

When Aerosmith lead singer Stephen Tyler visited Ivy Green in August, he spent about an hour on the grounds of Helen Keller’s birthplace and some of its unique attractions, like the home and the famous water pump.

He also visited the moon tree.

“Sue took a picture of him hugging that tree,” Ivy Green employee Jennifer Elon said.

She was referring to Sue Pilkilton, Ivy Green’s director.

Pilkilton said Tyler was only supposed to visit for about 10 minutes and ended up staying over an hour.

“He had studied Helen Keller,” she said. “He was just a delight to have here.”

Pilkilton said the moon tree is a focal point of Ivy Green tours.

“It is a vital part of coming to the Keller home,” she said.

David R. Williams, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said The U.S Forest Service made the trees available. Originally, each state was supposed to get three seedlings, but that never happened.

The trees ended up at state capitals, school grounds, parks in small towns, Girl Scout camps and even the White House and NASA space flight centers.

“There was one at Kennedy, one at Goddard,” Williams said.

Many of the trees died, he said, for various reasons, even though Roosa tried to takes seeds of trees that would grow in most parts of the U.S.

“I haven’t found any moon trees in New England,” Williams said.

In addition to Loblolly Pine, Roosa also brought seeds of Douglas fir, Redwood, Sweetgum and Sycamore trees.

“They tried to get a range of trees,” Williams said. “They tried to cover most of the climate ranges they could.”

Williams said bringing the seeds on the mission was more of a publicity stunt than an actual experiment.

“Nobody expected there to be any difference,” Williams said. “I know of about 80 that are alive.”

A Sycamore tree was planted at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and a Loblolly pine was planted at the state capitol in Montgomery. There is also a Loblolly pine at the Alabama Pioneer Museum in Troy.

For the complete article please see https://www.timesdaily.com/news/moon-tree-remains-an-attraction-at-ivy-green/article_733e4b95-4952-5787-b53d-636a80f57321.html

Alabama Welcome Center Retreat 2019
Alabama Welcome Center Retreat 2019 will be held at The Lodge at Gulf State Park, Oct. 27-29. The retreat gives the Alabama Tourism Industry the opportunity to showcase their communities with the devoted staff of the Alabama Welcome Centers. The welcome centers close so each employee can participate in this educational retreat.

Information and registration coming soon!

“Partner Pointer” for the tourism industry website
Alabama Restaurant Week is less than three weeks away, beginning Friday, Aug. 16 through Sunday, Aug 25. To participate, update or create your Partner page and complete the Alabama Restaurant Week portion of your listing where you will include menu information and request promotional materials.

Ready to sign up? Head over to http://partners.alabama.travel/users/signin today to update or create your Partner account for Alabama Restaurant Week.