By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
We met after a weekend where people actually got sunburned for the first time in 2026, thought we might blow away in the middle of the night on Sunday, and in the one hour that we spent for our usual Monday interview, enough unexpected snow fell with a brisk accompanying swirly wind that windshields were covered over. To top it off, my national weather app on my IPhone said that it would get to 63⁰F, while the bottom hour-by-hour indicated it would barely leave the 20s all day, and the only icons that showed up were the ones indicating wind—not a snowflake or precip icon anywhere to be found. “You need to get a different weather app,” Mayor Ronnie said matter-of-factly. “Welcome to Wing in Alabama, or Sprinter, depending on your perspective,” I replied. “Wing” is my unique designation for the wild fight between winter and spring when winter is in beast mode, like it was on Monday morning; “Sprinter” is also my unique designation when spring seems to be warmly and firmly ushering winter into the archives. Wing or Sprinter, you decide what’s going on, and understand that if you wait five minutes, it will change yet again.
The weather prompted a brief discussion about the storm shelter that is planned for North Jefferson in the same location as the recycling center. It would be where the old L & S Grocery stood, and the paperwork with EMA and FEMA have been in order for a good while. And so, we wait. When it is completed, it will shelter around 180 people. “There’s been good cooperation between the county and the city,” said the mayor, and added, “We’re just waiting on EMA and FEMA.”
The mayor also happily mentioned the fact that we were going to have a special Saint Patrick’s Day Parade called “Luck of the Wee Ones,” and all kinds of baby supplies had been collected out in the City Hall lobby for Family Resource Center.
We moved on to the announcement that Athens had been chosen as one of 40 “celebration cities” in Alabama for the upcoming 250th birthday of these United States. “How did we get chosen?” I asked. “We’re just so good,” was his dry and chuckling tongue-in-cheek reply. Truth be told, Holly Hollman had applied for our town to be picked, and it is an honor to be chosen. Holly also made sure that the selection committee knew that Athens Arts is going to be highly involved with contests such as “My American Inspiration” Art Contest, and there will be music, lots of patriotic events, and more.
There will certainly be more articles and info about the semiquincentennial, (fancy-ese for America 250) but for now, some of the high points include the art contest; the Art After Hours event on July 3; the Red, White, and Boom fireworks display and battle of the bands on July 4; and the Athens State University’s presentation on July 7, entitled “John Adams: Architect of our Democracy,” featuring Brian “Fox” Ellis.
We both had to bundle up and head out, and there was one thing we needed to do: pray. So we did, and once again it was time for Ronnie to roll.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
