Free admission Saturday, October 30
Opens at 8 a.m.

The town of Brundidge is excited to announce the Peanut Butter Festival is back for 2021.

On the last Saturday in October, this annual harvest and heritage celebration pays tribute to the foodstuff that sustained our community through the Great Depression. The little nut continues to boost the local economy as visitors travel from all over to join in the fun.

• Old-time demonstrations
• Peanut butter recipe contest
• Arts and crafts
• Games and contests
• Festival foods and more

Join us on the grounds of the historic Bass House.

• 5K Peanut Butter Run — 8 a.m. (registration open day of race)
• Nutter Butter Parade — 1 p.m.

For information on becoming an arts and crafts or food vendor, contact Cathy Steed at (334) 685-5524.

For parade entries call Brian McDaniels of Jackson Hardware at (334) 372-3148.

For all other inquiries contact Lawrence Bowden at (334) 735-3898.

Goshen football has played a major part in the Snyder family for decades. Coach Bart Snyder spent 34 years on the sidelines with the Eagles. During that time, he coached his 2 sons, Brock and Will. His wife, Stephanie, and mother, Linda, were in the stands for every game. His father, Keith, would have been there beside them, but he was busy calling the games from the PA booth.

Now, after 12 years as head coach of the Goshen Eagles, Snyder is retiring. And in some ways, so is the rest of his family.

“My younger son graduated last year, and my father is retiring from the booth, too,” Snyder says. “We’re all letting that go and letting someone else take the reins. They can continue what the others before us have built.”

That decision brings a close to his career as the winningest coach in Goshen football history, with a 74 to 55 record. It also comes on the heels of a difficult first season for the Eagles in Class 3A, as the team made several long trips for away games and was forced to forfeit two games due to COVID issues.

Still, it wasn’t an easy decision to make. Snyder’s parents went to Goshen High School before him. He even wore the purple and gold himself and tried his hand at quarterback once upon a time. But for all his family history with the school, Snyder ultimately felt now was the time to help Goshen football make a fresh start.

“I enjoyed every minute of it,” he says. “It was an incredible opportunity to be home, in the place where you played, and know that the young men you’re coaching are experiencing the game you love on the same field you played on. And hopefully, I was able to instill something in them that will have a positive influence in their lives.”

A Lifelong Pursuit

Goshen football was part of Snyder’s life from the very beginning. He played peewee football for the school and worked his way up to junior varsity by the time he graduated in 1986. He attended Troy University, where he studied physical education, but he couldn’t stay away from Goshen for long.

“I always thought that working with young people was something I wanted to do. So in ’88 I got to come back as a volunteer coach and spend a little bit of time with the high school JV program at Goshen,” Snyder says. “I started to think maybe I could come back home and try to make a difference when I graduated from Troy.”

In 1992, he got a job as a PE teacher at Banks Middle School, where he worked with the girls basketball and baseball teams. But in the afternoons, he would still drive back to Goshen to volunteer with the football team. A couple of years later, Snyder was hired as the Goshen Middle School PE teacher, JV football coach and assistant coach for the varsity team.

Finally, in 2009, Snyder got the opportunity to take over as head coach of his hometown team. From the start, he felt like he approached the game from a different angle.

“High school football is something that just about everyone can get out there and be a part of,” Snyder says. “I really wanted to make sure that anyone who wanted to play knew that they could come out there and be part of our program. And hopefully, contribute to success. The way we looked at it, there’s always something for somebody.”

The crowning success of those 12 years was a 2017 run to the state semifinals that saw everyone in Goshen and the surrounding towns rally around the team. For all the challenges of his job, those nights when the whole community came together will always stick with Snyder.

“A lot of people say it’s very hard to coach in your hometown. But I really believe it can be a blessing if you’re patient and you do things the right way,” he says. “You always have to give your best, and I think that’s something we did.”

‘A Very Special Place’

Snyder has never been able to stay away from Goshen football for long, so he can’t say with any certainty that he won’t find his way back one day. For now, he hopes to continue teaching while he decides where his next path will take him. Whatever it turns out to be, he knows he will always support the program however he can.
“Goshen is a very special place, and not just because it has been such a big part of my life and my family’s lives,” Snyder says. “It’s the nucleus of so many communities that come to the school. The football games give everyone a focus point to come together and have a sense of belonging.”

More than anything, he hopes he was able to make some sort of impact on the players he has coached that can repay all Goshen has given to him.

“I’ve always felt football is a great tool to learn how to deal with hard times when other people are counting on us,” he says. “If I made a difference for anybody, I’m thankful. But I’m most proud of the difference those athletes and students have made in my life and how they’ve made me a better person.”

Highland Home School may be best known for its awesome nickname, the Flying Squadron, and the eye-catching F-16 fighter jet that sits in front of the school on Highway 331 in the northern part of Crenshaw County.

Principal Gary Coleman, who’s going into his second year in that position, says HHS reflects a small, rural community where teachers and parents are involved. “I like the fact that it’s family oriented,” says Coleman, a Bullock County native who immediately felt comfortable in the school and area. “The people are very welcoming, very nice, open to other ideas, and they’re very supportive.”

Highland Home School is rich in its educational history. Its campus first served as Highland Home Institute, established in 1881, and then was the site of Highland Home College from 1889 until 1915. HHS, also known in the area as Crenshaw County High School at that time, came to be in 1916. Now, Highland Home School is a pre-K through high school campus with 854 total students, an enrollment that has grown by 10% over the past years. HHS is one of three public schools in the Crenshaw County School District, along with Luverne and Brantley.

The school competes in Class 2A, Region 3 in football with county rival Luverne. Highland Home is still seeking its first state championship in any AHSAA sport. The 2018 football team recorded the program’s first 12-win season with a run to the state semifinals.

The school’s nickname, the Flying Squadron, is one of the most colorful and well-earned nicknames in sports at any level. The origin of the name dates back to 1941, when the attack on Pearl Harbor drew the United States into World War II. All 11 members of the Highland Home football team entered the military’s airborne division, and the sport was dropped for the duration of the war.

The school changed its mascot from the Panthers to the Flying Squadron after the war. In 2008 it received the F-16 that is proudly displayed in front of the school. The fighter is no replica — it saw active service in the Air Force for many years, starting in 1980.

Highland Home’s community spirit is exemplified in its partnership with South Alabama Electric Cooperative. Several years ago, the football and baseball fields desperately needed new lights. The school purchased the lighting and the poles. SAEC assembled the lights and provided the installation after parents and local electricians wired switch boxes and installed the underground components. SAEC set the poles, mounted the lights and positioned them. Since then, the co-op has changed bulbs and realigned the lights as needed.

“Our coaches are very appreciative and complimentary of the partnership with SAEC,” Coleman says.

In 1926 in Graceville, Florida, W.D. McRae planted the seeds of a company that still has his family in the lumber industry 4 generations later. Rex Lumber spread its limbs to include other locations, including a mill in Troy that’s currently undergoing a $21 million expansion.

That 170-employee mill, which opened in 2019, is a welcome addition to a community rich with natural resources.

“Rex Lumber is a fantastic match for Pike County,” says Chase Cobb, the president of the Pike County Economic Development Corporation. “We’re in the Pine Belt. We have a diverse manufacturing base from all across the industrial spectrum, so they are a great fit.”

Building a Legacy

The story of the McRae family’s relationship with the lumber industry begins in the 1900s in Alabama and Florida. W.D. McRae founded Rex Lumber as a sawmill, and it later became a manufacturer of oak flooring. While the Rex Lumber Graceville location did change hands over the years, the family never left the business, and the Rex Lumber brand came back to them in 2001.

The company operates sawmills in Graceville and Bristol, Florida. In 2009, it added a third mill in Brookhaven, Mississippi. Then in 2018, the company broke ground in Troy, beginning operations there a year later.

The Troy mill was built on about 300 acres in north Pike County. The 148,000-square-foot sawmill building sits on a concrete foundation that supports steel walls and a steel roof. The initial investment was over $120 million, rising to $150 million with the new expansion.

Production at the Troy mill increased steadily in its first two years, and the company exceeded its forecast of 110 employees by 60 positions.

Caroline Dauzat, a fourth-generation co-owner of the company, estimates the expansion will be complete sometime in the second half of 2022.

“The final delivery of the equipment is in March, so maybe a month or two after that,” says Rex Lumber Troy General Manager Jason Gulledge.

Growing Strong

Rex Lumber depends on South Alabama and surrounding areas for the natural resources necessary to create its products. The company buys local timber from loggers, wood dealers and landowners. The mill removes the bark from the log, which is then converted into lumber, ranging from 2x4s up to 2x12s. The facility can also produce 4x4s and lumber up to 20 feet in length. State-of-the-art equipment throughout the operation creates a seamless, efficient process.

“That’s the Rex Lumber way,” Gulledge says. “Our owners realize that you have to invest back into the company, stay with the times and the technology to stay afloat in this industry. We’ve been lucky in that aspect. They’re willing to give us the tools that we need.”

Rex Lumber’s equipment and construction partner for the Troy expansion project is The BID Group, a Canadian company responsible for about a dozen similar facilities. Gulledge is confident BID can make Rex Lumber’s existing technology faster and smarter.

“We’re about to get into some artificial intelligence technology that’s pretty new,” he says. “There are only a few mills out there running that right now, so we’re excited for that to show up.”

That ongoing investment in technology will help Rex Lumber take full advantage of the strong base of the timberland

Dauzat says was one of the big draws for expanding to Troy. Sawmills generally procure their timber from within a 60- to 80-mile radius around the mill. And the Troy mill has a healthy supply of nearby timber.

“Trees are how lumber is made. You want people managing their trees properly and replanting for a healthy forest,” says Dauzat. “When you have a healthy forest products market, people manage their timber better and keep trees growing.”

Building a Workforce

Timber was not the only resource that made the Troy area attractive to Rex Lumber. Employee training through AIDT, a state agency established to recruit and train workers with the goal of bringing new employers to the state and growing existing businesses, also helped distinguish Troy from other potential sites for the mill.

Relatively few potential employees had previous sawmill training, but Rex Lumber leaders were pleased by how many people in the area had manufacturing experience. Also, the state incentives made Troy a standout option for expansion.

“Alabama is wonderful to work with as far as bringing new businesses to the state,” Dauzat says. “They offered a significant amount of incentives to come here. Then we have road improvements they did around that location that’s just very beneficial to the site.”

PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, South Alabama Electric Cooperative’s wholesale power provider, also built a new substation nearby to serve the added electric load for Rex Lumber. For Gulledge, the cooperative has been a great partner in getting the project started.

“They’re on the ball when things are wrong — which is not very often,” he says. “We need a certain amount of power and reliability. So they built a loop around our mill where, if something happens to one of the lines or one of the poles, they can break a switch and have us back up real quick. That is definitely comforting.”

Strong Footing

Anyone who has followed the price of lumber lately understands it has been a good time to be a producer. But Dauzat is keenly aware that what goes up can come down just as quickly.

“We’re a commodity market, and in this country people can forget that,” Dauzat says. “But just like the price of oil changes, our prices change from week to week.”

The current market has certainly set Rex Lumber up for success, though. The lumber market over the last year provides a strong footing to make the new expansion profitable right off the bat.

Rex Lumber in Troy runs 16 hours a day, Gulledge says. Its dry kilns run 24 hours a day with maintenance around the clock. It’s a manufacturing schedule unique to the area.

“This job’s hot when it’s hot and cold when it’s cold. It’s a tough environment, and it’s not for everybody,” Gulledge says. “You have to be willing to stay in there and learn it. It’s tough to find those people.”

As a result, the company represents an opportunity for those looking for steady employment, particularly those skilled in equipment maintenance.

“We’ll never say we’re not looking,” Dauzat says of the company’s willingness to employ Troy-area residents.

Brantley High School’s dominating softball program won its fifth state championship since 2014 this spring, with the Lady Bulldogs as hungry for victory as they’ve ever been.

Brantley, which finished as the Class 1A runner-up in 2019 and saw the 2020 season end in March due to COVID-19, again lifted the championship trophy in May. The Lady Bulldogs (32 to 12) swept through the state tournament undefeated and capped their title with a victory over Skyline in the finals.

“We were really hungry,” head coach Cindy Hawthorne says. “We lost 3 seniors off the 2020 team that didn’t get to finish the season. We hated that, but we also wanted to embrace that for them. We felt very fortunate to be able to play this season because there was a time that I didn’t know if we’d finish this season.”

With uncertainty surrounding the season, the players went into every game knowing it could be their last. Sophomore Ainsley Watts led the team with a .512 batting average. Junior Kayden Dunn hit .500 with 21 home runs and 64 runs batted in. Sophomore Kaylee Navarre pitched 152 innings and recorded 280 strikeouts. Senior Lauren Hudson had 122 strikeouts in 83.1 innings pitched.

Brantley’s title season joined championship-winning teams from 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018. The Lady Bulldogs also were state runners-up in 2017 and 2019.

That level of sustained excellence is hard enough to attain but may be even tougher in Class 1A, when a great senior class may graduate together or a key injury scrambles the lineup. Hawthorne, who has been the head coach throughout this period, credits that 2014 team for changing the culture of the program.

“I really think those kids just set the standard, and they set it pretty high,” she says. “We had some kids this year who were in the third and fourth grade when we won the first championship. Sheonte Barginere was probably in the fourth grade at that time. She was our starting shortstop. She was a huge leader for us on this team.”

Preparation is already underway for the 2022 season.

“They work really, really hard. It just doesn’t happen,” the coach says. “It starts in the summers with workouts. I really think championships are won in the summer. They prepare themselves, and they get mentally tough. They start depending on their teammates. It’s a great camaraderie throughout the entire season.”

Several things really hit home for second-year principal Matt Barton at Zion Chapel’s graduation ceremonies in late May. The first realization was just how rare a true community school is becoming.

“We’re one of the remaining few,” Barton says. “A lot of kindergarten through 12th grade schools have branched apart with a separate elementary campus and principal.”

The Jack community is practically synonymous with the school.

“Everything revolves around the school. If there’s an event, whether it be athletically or robotics club, you name it, we have tremendous parent and community support,” Barton says.

The other thing Barton reflected on is that many of the seniors who graduated started kindergarten 13 years ago on the same campus.

“Very few schools have that opportunity for a teacher to see that child through,” he says. “It’s just a very close-knit, very proud school that’s more like a family than anything.”

That senior class proudly upheld the school’s outstanding academic reputation. In a class of 63 graduates, 10 students earned full academic scholarships to four-year colleges and universities.

Zion Chapel has a young bass fishing program and a cross-country team, both unusual for Class 2A public schools. Barton cites outstanding parental involvement for bolstering those programs for students.

New LED lights were installed on the football field last year, and they made a big difference, the principal said. The extracurricular opportunities add to the student experience, but Barton says academics come first.

“We have fantastic teachers here. I would put our teachers here against anywhere I’ve ever been,” the Geneva native says. “I think part of that is the community aspect of it. They know the kids, they know the parents, they know the grandparents.”

Barton says the school values its relationships and partnerships with companies like South Alabama Electric Cooperative.

“Any time there’s been an issue, they’ll send somebody out immediately. Or if they can’t, they’ll talk us through it,” he says. “They’ve been a great company to work with. The football stadium lights are very impressive.”

Barton says it just reinforces the community buy-in the school enjoys.

“Parent involvement here is tremendous. We never have to beg anybody to help,” he says. “It’s a great community, and they’re very invested in the school and really care about it. It’s just a pleasure to work here with great people.”

3-peat

The Pike Liberal Arts baseball team defeated Bessemer Academy in May to bring home its third-straight AISA 3A state title. The Patriots bested the Rebels 6 to 2 in Game 1 and took Game 2 in just three innings after charging to a 12 to 0 lead.

“I think last season showed them to not take anything for granted,” says head coach Rush Hixon. “Regardless of whether things are going good or bad, you just have to enjoy every day you’re out here playing this game.”

Expectations for the Patriots were high, but a difficult schedule quickly rid the team of any illusions that the season would be a breeze.

“Things were hard throughout the year, and we had to get over some humps, but they worked extremely hard, bought into each other and what we’re trying to do as a program,” Hixon says. “And they were rewarded for it.”

Making History

Head coach Matt Brown knew the Pike Liberal Arts boys basketball team was likely to face Tuscaloosa Academy again if they made it to the state championship game. The Knights not only beat the Patriots in last year’s final, but also handed them 1 of 2 losses this season.

“Our whole theme for the year was ‘the last step,’” says Brown. “Three years ago we made it to the Elite 8 and then the Final 4, and last year we were beaten in the final. We’ve been taking that step every year, and this was the last one we wanted to take.”

The Patriots cleared that final hurdle in February, holding off a late push by the Knights to win 55 to 51 and earn the school’s first AISA 3A basketball state title. “All along we were mentally preparing, so it was incredible,” says Brown.

Nationally Recognized

The Pike Liberal Arts cheerleading squads held on to their crowns, winning their ninth-straight AISA cheer state titles last November. The varsity squad won the medium division while the JV squad won the large division, with each filming their routines and sending them in for the virtual competition.
“Being up in front of people, you know what you’re up against,” says varsity cheer coach Hannah Jordan. “You can look around and see this squad might be better than us in some places so where are we going to make up for that? This year we had no idea going into it.”

Both squads followed up their state title wins with even bigger wins at the 2021 National High School Cheerleading Championship in April. The varsity squad won Small Varsity Game Day Division II, while the JV squad won Small Junior High Game Day Division II.

Chase Cobb, the new president of Pike County Economic Development Corp., says he doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel after taking over for longtime president and recently retired Marsha Gaylard.

“The successes that we’ve had in Pike County recently have been unprecedented for counties our size,” Cobb says. “Probably the biggest part of that is the leadership. There are our industrial leaders who have actively recruited other industries, and then our local elected officials, like the county commission and the mayors of Troy and Brundidge.”

For Cobb, getting each of those players on the same page isn’t just a bonus. It’s essential to achieving the county’s economic development goals.

“It’s detrimental if you don’t,” he says. “Everybody’s pulling in the same direction. That’s just been key. The members on my board, including SAEC General Manager David Bailey, have been extremely active and helpful, whether it’s working with Lockheed Martin, Rex Lumber or Universal Precast.”

New Business & Old Friends

There has been much to celebrate in recent years. Since 2018, firearms manufacturer Kimber, Rex Lumber, Clyde May’s Conecuh Ridge Distillery, Universal Precast and Magnolia Vegetable Processors LLC all opened or announced plans to open in Pike County. Creation of more than 750 jobs was the result.

“Southeast Alabama is a fantastic place to do business, and hopefully we can continue to grow,” Cobb says. But his vision is not solely focused on recruiting new business to the area.

“I think probably one of the most important things I can do in my role is help assist the industries that we have — the long-term community partners that we’ve had,” he says.

Many companies already in the area — including Lockheed Martin, Sanders Lead, Cox Container, Golden Boy Foods and Southern Classic Food Group — added the potential for more jobs with expansions announced in the last couple of years. For those businesses, Cobb sees his role as being a conduit that can connect business leaders and local government.

“Whether it’s workforce development or infrastructure, we have to make sure we’re good partners with them and we help facilitate that communication,” Cobb says. “Recruiting new industries is great, and we’re going to do that. But helping our existing long-term partners that have been here for years is crucial.”

Staying Home

As Pike County continues to create new opportunities for businesses and the local workforce, Cobb faces a new challenge: finding people to step into those roles. Like many rural counties across the state, population shifts to urban areas have made holding on to talent a top priority.

“We’re trying to be creative — whether it is training opportunities at the local high school or getting people to move here or to stay here. That’s important, too,” Cobb says. “One of the things we’re trying to focus on is quality of life. I don’t think people in my role really thought about that 10 years ago.”

When it comes to highlighting what makes Pike County a great place to live, Cobb is able to draw on his own experience. A graduate of Pike Liberal Arts School in Troy, he graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and earned a juris doctorate from Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law.

Cobb worked for six years as director of government affairs at the Association of County Commissions of Alabama before getting the chance to return home. He and his wife, Rachel, couldn’t say no to raising their 2-year-old son, John, in Pike County.

“It’s not often you have an opportunity to move back to your hometown, especially in rural Alabama,” Cobb says. “We jumped at the opportunity.”

Some counties in the state have seen a talent drain due to a lack of opportunities. But it’s stories like his own that assure Cobb this is not the case in Pike. There are jobs for those who want them, as long as they have the training they need.

“Every industry here is looking for employment. By far the biggest issue we deal with is training and finding people to fill these positions,” Cobb says. “We’ve had so much success that we really have to catch up on the workforce issue. It’s a good problem to have, but it’s still a problem.”

It’s a problem without a quick fix. But Cobb believes an investment of time and commitment from the entire community, including educators, will pay off well for Pike County down the road.

“Our county school system does a really good job of creating a number of programs like welding or other manufacturing and technical programs to build a pipeline,” he says. “We also want to partner with Troy University for those four-year graduates and getting them to stay here. It’s not as easy as passing a piece of legislation and making it happen. It’s a long-term thing you have to stay on top of.”

For more than 80 years, South Alabama Electric Cooperative has prided itself on giving back to the community. One of the biggest ways this is accomplished is by awarding scholarships to deserving high school seniors.

This year was no different, as SAEC awarded 18 scholarships of $1,000 through the Electric Cooperative Foundation. The scholarships are awarded to students who are planning to attend an accredited 4-year college, junior college, technical school or vocational school.

“These students are the future of our area and our cooperative,” says SAEC General Manager David Bailey. “South Alabama Electric is proud to help them get a head start on the next chapter of their life.”

SAEC has numerous programs designed to help the community grow and thrive. For more information on these programs, and how to apply for scholarships next year, visit southaec.com/community-involvement.

Congratulations 2021 Recipients