By By Kerry Whipple Bean – publisher
The Brewton Songwriters Festival kicked off at Burnt Corn Creek Park Saturday - a place organizers of the first-time event hope will be improved thanks to proceeds from the event.
Local singers and songwriters were among the first performers of the day, singing cover songs as well as original music.
Later, the festival was forced to move indoors to the Ritz to avoid the threat of bad weather.
But Molly Ruzic, a member of the Brewton Quality of Life Committee that helped organize the event, said improvements to Burnt Corn Creek Park can help benefit the entire community.
Nashville acts performing in the festival included Hank Adam Locklin and Grayson Capps, as well as Rusty Golden, Jerry Salley, Larry Cordle, Carl Jackson and Jayron Weaver.
During the day Saturday, several families stretched out on the grass at the park, enjoying warmer temperatures and partly cloudy skies as local acts took the stage one by one.
Both the Rotary Club and Kiwanis Club sold food, and other activities included a children's carnival, Harley ride-in and silent auction featuring local artists.
The event is the first major fundraiser for the Burnt Corn Creek Park improvement project, which Quality of Life Committee members are organizing.
Carol Gordy, chairman of the committee, has said the group hopes improvements will draw more people to the park - and to downtown Brewton.
The committee based its designs for the park improvements on a similar park in Lepers Fork, Tenn., which uses log-cabin style buildings.
Committee members said the style of the buildings would work well in Brewton, which has benefitted so greatly from the timber industry.
Sponsors who have signed on so far include: D.W. McMillan Hospital, Ed Leigh and Ann McMillan, pergola plaque acknowledgement; The Securance Group, Pat Peace, Wayne and Wilodyne Frazier, Charlie and Kandy McDaniel, Ted and Susan Jennings, Harry and Helen Hill, Hermine Downing, Raulerson and Raulerson, Horton's Insurance Agency, BankTrust and John David Finlay, bench plaque acknowledgement; Kelly Grosso, Molly and Will Ruzic, Mike and Ann Marie Sasser, Sean McNeal, Will McNeal, The Frame Shop, Earl and Becky Lambert, Russell and Margaret Ann Smith, Mabry and Marty Cook, Steve and Carolyn Nelson, Coastal Gateway Authority, Roy and Bobbie Stokes, Michael and Harriet Godwin, Timberline Homes Inc., Mack Billy, Carolyn Trimble, Emily Wesley, Betty Jean Low, Reid and Susan McBride, tree plaque acknowlegement; Lee M. Otts, Diamond Gasoline stations, Brewton Dance Studio, Thad and Leigh Moore, park donation.
Anyone interested in donating to the park fund can make checks payable to the ACE Quality of Life Committee, P.O. Box 847, Brewton, AL 36427.