Since his days as a college freshman, Childersburg native Arttravious Twyman has found a growing love for designing hot new fashion trends. The Stillman College marketing graduate has been holding successful “pop-up” shows on college campuses across the southeast.
This weekend, he’s showing some love for his hometown by holding a special holiday season show and sale in Childersburg, “I’m bringing my “SkyBlue Inspirational Clothing” line home to downtown Childersburg.
The name came to him as a slogan back in college, “It served as an inspiration to me, motivation to follow my passion and love for creating new fashions. It’s time to spread that love at home.”
Twyman chose the downtown event center, The Patio at 906 1st SW in Childersburg. He’ll be setting up shop for the day from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The annual Holiday Bazaar to benefit the historic Butler-Harris-Rainwater House was a big hit over the weekend, helping raise funds for 2025 projects from the Childersburg Historic Preservation Commission.
“We gathered the best-ever group of vendors,” said Dianne Lester Newman, “And we had a steady flow of shoppers all day. And, I want to emphasize that they were buying from our vendors like never before!”
Newman said that 2024 saw the Commission complete landscaping around the historic landmark, along with automatic irrigation, “It looks better than we even imagined it would. thanks to help from Gina Hudson of Gina’s Greenhouse. This coming year, we’re looking to re-do our brick sidewalk, make it look better and be a safer walkway.”
December means several other annual holiday season traditions for the B-H-R House in downtown Childersburg. On Tuesday, December 3rd, they will host the 6:00 p.m. start of the downtown Christmas Tree Lighting festivities. On Tuesday, December 10th at 8:30 a.m., it’s the December Coffee from the Greater Coosa Valley Chamber of Commerce.
“We get so much help throughout the year from the Childersburg Street Department to make our downtown area clean and attractively decorated,” explained Newman, “we’ll be serving the entire crew a holiday dinner as our way of showing our thanks for all they do. And, yes, we’ll literally be “serving’ them. They’ll just come in, sit down, and enjoy the meal. They make such a difference, it’s important for them to know how much we appreciate the many ways they volunteer to help!”
It has happened only once in the history of the world. A meteor hit a person, a woman asleep in her home in the Oak Grove community, just outside of Sylacauga.
November 30 will be the 70th anniversary of Sylacauga’s Ann Hodges’ unique experience that she lived to tell about. Amazingly, she was not seriously injured.
A real-life history lesson on the meteoric event will be presented on Saturday at Sylacauga’s Comer Museum and Arts Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (It will be over in time for folks to get home and watch the Iron Bowl at 2:30 p.m.)
The principal speaker for the meteor seminar will be famed astronomer Dr. Lawrence Krumenaker.
The Facebook post about the seminar reads as follows:
“Dr. Krumenaker started professional life as an astronomer after growing up steeped in New Jersey’s Revolutionary War historical sites. The two influences eventually merged into a career that included scientific research and popular science, education and historical journalism. His articles and books in historical tourism are based on the idea that history is best understood both by telling the story part of history, and doing that by standing where it happened. It is done best seeing what’s left of the past and the difference between then and today, and traveling along with the event.
As an astronomer, Dr. Krumenaker is best known in the science community as the discoverer of the first microquasar in the galaxy, as a stellar spectroscopist and a planetary cartographer of the planet Mercury. He has been a science journalist and President of the International Science Writers Association. In addition to doing talks on historical events, Dr. Krumenaker has often done workshops and courses in astronomy education for teachers, and writes astronomy-based newsletters on Substack, notably the internationally-read The Galactic Times.
Among his books is ‘From River to River’”’ (2024) on General Lafayette in Georgia and ‘Nine Days Traveling’ (Lafayette in Alabama, 2020), ‘The Colonia Tour Book’ (Roman sites in Cologne, Germany, 2017), and ‘Walking the Line’ (The Atlanta Civil War defenses that kept Sherman out, 2014). Copies of these books and other creations of Dr. Krumenaker will be available for sale at Comer Museum. He has a Star Trek astronomy book, ‘Federation Space,’ due out next year.
After over two dozen address changes, in multiple Northern and Southern States, and residencies and travel in numerous countries in Asia and Europe, the peripatetic Dr. Krumenaker currently resides in Alabama.
Please join us on November 30 from 10-2.”
The Comer Museum also maintains an updated exhibit about the Hodges meteor.
Ann Hodges had been asleep under blankets on the couch in her living room. A meteor plunged through the roof of her house, hit her upright console radio, bounced and then hit Ann Hodges in her lower left side. It was a rude awakening.
Naturally, Hodges and her mother, who was also home at the time, did not know what had happened and did not know what the object was. It was sitting on their living room floor close to where it had struck Ann. The air in the room was suddenly full of dust.
The two women called the local police and fire department. Ann was transported to Sylacauga Hospital (now Coosa Valley Medical Center). Word spread through the community that something strange had happened at the Hodges’ residence, and crowds gathered.
Rumors abounded. Maybe the object had fallen off an airplane. Maybe a plane had crashed. Maybe the Russians, who were in a Cold War with the United States, had shot off something. Or maybe it was a “shooting star,” the common name for a meteor. That last guess turned out to be correct.
After inquiring and legal wrangling with landlord Birdie Guy about who owned the meteor, it ended up at the Alabama Museum of Natural History.
The meteorite that struck the 34-year-old woman weighed 8.5 pounds.
Ann Hodges became a temporary celebrity when she appeared on the highly rated TV quiz show “I’ve Got a Secret” with Gary Moore. Celebrity contestant Bill Cullen guessed it immediately, as the meteor story had national coverage.
Her photo, exposed bruise and all, appeared in “Life Magazine.”
Another piece, believed to be from the same meteor, landed a couple of miles away. As Julius McKinney of Sylacauga was driving his mules home, they balked. They would go no further. He then saw a black object in the trail. He went around it, got the mules home, and came back to get the object. He had the sense to retain a lawyer, and they ended up selling it to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. He received enough money to buy a house and a car.
If this tale weren’t strange enough already, there is yet another ironic chapter. There was a locally popular drive-in movie theater across the street from the Hodge’s home where the meteor struck. It was named “The Comet.” Its logo, on an upright tower, showed a meteor with trailing flame. The Comet Drive-In Theater.
Many people think the Comet Drive-In was named for the meteor incident across the street. No. The drive-in had already been named for several years when the meteor struck. What are the odds?
You may have noticed that this story uses the terms “meteor” and “meteorite.” As the object was in the solar system (outside the Earth’s atmosphere), it was a meteoroid, a small asteroid. When it entered the Earth’s atmosphere, it was called a meteor.
When it made it to Earth, it was called a meteorite.
As she slept, Ann Hodges, her mother, who was there, and her husband, who was not home and missed the whole thing, were completely unaware of all of this. They received a weeks-long course in meteor science that they were not expecting and did not want.
They thought they were learning “meteorology.” That is the incorrect term and means the science of the weather. We are familiar with weathermen on TV and radio — meteorologists. Has nothing to do with meteors and meteorites. The little-known name for the science of meteors and meteorites is “meteoritics.” Bet you did not know that.
The Hodges/Sylacauga meteorite and the conditions in the skies at the time it hit have been studied by scientists for decades. The case is cited in astronomy classes.
When you have a chance to visit the University of Alabama, go by Smith Hall, just off the Quadrangle. It houses the Alabama Museum of Natural History. Ask for the exhibit of the Sylacauga Meteorite. You will see a once-in-all-of-history display.
The Oak Grove Town Council met at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 12th at 6:00 p.m.
Councilman David Harris reported that the recent Oak Grove Fall Festival essentially broke even in terms of expenses and sponsorship revenues, “It was our smoothest and most successful festival, thanks to everyone joining in and working together.”
The Oak Grove Volunteer Fire Department made their monthly report to the Town Council for October 2024:
Total Calls – 54 Structure Fires – 6 General Fires – 5 EMS-Only Calls – 41 Non-Fire, Non-EMS Calls – 2 Aid Given Calls – 4 Aid Received – 6 No-Aid Required – 44 Calls Inside Town Limits – 14 Calls Outside Town Limits – 40
The following are action items from their agenda:
William L. Taylor was approved to joing the Oak Grove Volunteer Fire Department.
The Council approved the 2025 Town holiday schedule for Town Hall and employees. The only change in the traditional schedule is for the Christmas holiday, with Friday (12/26) added to the schedule , along with Wednesday (12/24) and Thursday (12/25).
Repairs to the bumper of the Street Department’s 2022 Ford F-250 were approved at a cost of $1,700 by Collier Motors.
The Town Council approved the purchase of 2024 Gooseneck Trailer ($9,500) and hitch ($699). The 8.5’ by 30’ trailer will allow the Street Department to transport all three lawn mowers to job sites.
Resolution 617 approved declaring the 15-passenger Transportation bus as surplus and authorized disposal of the 2017 E350 Cutaway Bus.
The Council discussed a proposed 2.5-percent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for town employees. The proposal will be formalized with a Resolution during the December regular meeting.
The Town of Oak Grove voted to approve Resolution 616, which joins the State of Alabama in approving a Sales Tax Exemption for Agricultural Fencing, up to $25,000.
A revision of the National Flood Insurance Ordinance had its first reading and will be considered during the December regular meeting.
The required Oak Grove Annual Safety Meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, November 27th at 2:00 p.m.
A contingency budget of $500 was approved for the annual Oak Grove Christmas Tree Lighting event, which is scheduled for Monday, December 2nd at 6:00 p.m. in Oak Grove Park.
Kara Eslinger opened the doors to “Fair to Middlin’ Gifts & Boutique” with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 7th, including both the Greater Coosa Valley & Sylacauga Chambers of Commerce.
Childersburg Mayor Ken Wesson welcomed the new downtown business, “The transformation has been nothing short of amazing. This is a shop that Kara and her family can be proud of creating, something special for the future of downtown Childersburg. It’s great to see such a crowd welcome her and her new shop.”
Eslinger got more than a bit teary-eyed as she explained the name she chose, Fair to Middlin’, “The name is a tribute to my GrandPa, using one of his favorite sayings. I was blessed to have such a supportive family. Everybody chipped in, allowing me to research what I wanted to include, while getting the building ready, and deciding how to display everything. I know he’d be so proud of everything about Fair to Middlin’.”
Here are some scenes for the dig day:
Check out “Fair to Middlin’ Gifts & Boutique in person at 705 1st Street Southwest in downtown Childersburg.
The Heritage South Credit Union Foundation has commissioned an original play about the reality of financial scams, “All Things Considered.”
The play is scheduled to be performed live at the B.B. Comer Memorial Library on Monday, October 21st at 11:00 a.m. A FREE Lunch will be provided for the first 100 guests.
“We wanted to do something to raise awareness of financial scams,” said HSCU’s Kevin Whitman, who is directing the play, “We obtained a grant to make the production possible, including having Sylacauga native Logan Chance write the script, along with myself, Beth Chance, and Jessie Vincent.”
Heritage South held auditions back in early September, and the troupe has been rehearsing since. They held a dress rehearsal for staff members on Monday, October 14th at the main branch in Sylacauga. The cast features:
Janie Giddens as Marjory Donna Walker as Sara Randy Clark as Ed Michael Giddens as Jon Robin Wallace as Stella
Rausch-Coleman Homes held a Ribbon-Cutting & Open House event on Thursday, October 15th. Twelve homes of a planned 132-home College Park development have been completed and more are currently under construction. A great crowd was on hand as College Park gave its first public peek at its new homes.
Here are some scenes from the big event:
We talked with Rausch-Coleman’s in-house College Park representative, Robbyn Duncan:
Wow! What a weekend in the Greater Coosa Valley! There was NO shortage of things to do in the region on Saturday (10/12), all full of family fun! A pair of annual festivals drew crowds in south Talladega County, as well as a big veteran-related music event in the Lincoln area.
Childersburg’s John Cox Stadium hosted a “combo” event – the “Pumpkin Festival & Coosa Fest 484,” while the Childersburg Rescue Squad’s “Ride to the Rescue” brought hundreds of bike riders to town, along with a Classic Car, Truck & Bike show and some of the south’s best BBQ and all the fixings.
And for the 14th consecutive year, Oak Grove’s Fall Family Festival was the biggest and best ever, along with a great collection of vintage vehicles from the Marble City Cruisers.
Talladega County’s Extension Service held an “Open House” on Thursday, October 10th to show of their many community education offerings, while expanding their network of partners. Extension Service offices are an “extension” of Alabama’s land grant universities – Alabama A&M and Auburn University – Offering a wide variety of educational programs to make your life better, richer, and more fulfilling.
The new Talladega County Extension Agent, Dr. Samuel Roberson has been a “regular” of late at all manner of community gatherings and events, to introduce himself and his mission. With this “Open House” event, the focus shifts to enlisting partnerships of community leaders and the businesses, organizations, and other entities they represent.
Check out the event photo slideshow, but also hear directly from Dr. Roberson in the video below:
To find out more, to pledge your support, you can contact Roberson at sgr0060@aces.edu, by visiting the Talladega County Extension Service office at 132 North Court Street in Talladega, By calling (256) 362-6187, and/or visiting aces.edu.
Childersburg High School hosted the October Chamber Coffee from the Greater Coosa Valley Chamber of Commerce. We got a good look at the new student kitchen and met members of the CHS Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA).
You can watch the event below, and also catch it on your home television on the GCV-TV streaming tv Network on Roku. It is available On-Demand on the TGOIS Channel.
