Congratulations to Dr. Jimmy Shaw, Dr. Roderick Sheppard, and all of the NW-SCC Black History Month Award Recipients!
Northwest-Shoals Community College (NW-SCC) hosted an awards reception and concert to commemorate February as Black History Month featuring notable alumni from the College: Dr. Jimmy Shaw, Florence City Schools Superintendent; Kenneth Brackins, Retired NW-SCC Psychology Instructor; Nellie Eggleston, Retired Vice President of Card Services for TVA Credit Union; Dr. Roderick Sheppard, Florence High School Principal; Michele Hamilton-Gholston, NW-SCC Admissions Counselor. To view pictures from the event...
The Shoals Economic Development Authority: Remote Shoals Program Update
Why is the Remote Shoals Program Important for growth?
Global Workplace Analytics' estimate (in 2020) is that about 75 million U.S. employees could work-from-home at least part of the time. Nine months into the pandemic, 41.8% of the American workforce remains fully remote. By 2025, 36.2 million Americans will be remote, increasing 16.8 million people from pre-pandemic rates.
Florence Lauderdale Public Library Celebrates "The Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott"
Come to the library to learn more about the history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. From now through March 25, you can explore the exhibit on the library's 2nd floor. The history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott is incomplete without examining the many women who stopped riding the buses after they were harassed. The exhibit highlights the courage and leadership of these women who were essential to the success of the boycott long before Rosa Parks became its national symbol!
Shoals Scholar Dollars Presents: 2022 Student of the Year Representatives!
Congratulations to the 17 students from Colbert and Lauderdale County High Schools that have been selected as this year's Student of the Year Representatives!
Shoals Symphony: My Lucky Day
Shoals Symphony: It's your lucky day!
We have just 11 tickets left to our special Saint Patrick's Day themed event, My Lucky Day. If you follow the rainbow (or, visit shoalssymphony.org) you'll find your pot of gold at the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts. Join us for heavy hors d’oeuvres and colorful libations during this spectacular performance on March 19 at 7pm! • 21 and older only, please. Purchase Tickets
Kennedy-Douglass Art Center Volunteers announce Arts in Education Grant Awards for 2022
The Kennedy-Douglass Art Center Volunteers and Florence Arts and Museums (FAM) announce grant awards for art supplies for teachers for 2022. Congratulations to these teachers and schools!
Lauderdale County art teacher Dusty Farris travels among four county schools: Brooks, Central, Underwood, and Waterloo. She requested funds to purchase materials for her elementary grade students to learn embroidery to create a tapestry depicting an animal from Australian aboriginal art. The students will learn a new medium for creating art while exploring the life and art of a different culture.
Muscle Shoals Middle School art teacher Anna Grinnell uses her art projects to integrate art with other academic learning. This year she will use her grant to work with the English Department, instructing the students in making clay sculptures and writing Japanese Haiku poetry. She also hopes to make “empty bowls” to donate to the Salvation Army fundraiser.
Congratulations to these talented and dedicated teachers. We look forward to seeing the results of their labor. The Kennedy-Douglass Volunteers have been serving art education in the Shoals since 1978. The non-profit organization raises thousands of dollars annually to fund art and humanities programs in area schools and at the Kennedy-Douglass Art Center.
REMEMBERING ELIZA CROOM COFFEE
On August 18, 1879, Camilla Madding Coffee and Captain Alexander Donelson Coffee became the proud parents of a beautiful daughter whom they named Eliza Croom Coffee. Eliza’s roots ran deep in the history of Florence since her grandfather, John Coffee, along with Ferdinand Sannoner and Hunter Peel, surveyed the original 5,515+ acres of woodland and created the layout of the City of Florence. As expected, Eliza became a favorite of the young people in the City, but serious illness – diagnosed at the time as malaria – attacked her while still in her youth. Various types of treatment were attempted over a lengthy period of time, including an extensive stay in Brevard, North Carolina, in hopes that a change in climate would restore her health. But it wasn’t to be. At the young age of 25, she passed away on September 5, 1904, while in Brevard, but her remains were returned to Florence. Following a local funeral, she was interred in the Coffee family cemetery on the Hickory Hill plantation. (Today, the cemetery is located at the intersection of Cox Creek Parkway and Cloverdale Road.) Her mother, Camilla, gave a sizable donation to the City for the establishment of a hospital to bear Eliza’s name. It was initially located on the southeast corner of Walnut and Tuscaloosa Streets, then relocated to West Alabama Street. The West Alabama Street building was recently razed and the hospital, located on Veterans Drive, is now known as the North Alabama Medical Center.
--Billy Warren, City Historian
Master Gardener Plant Sale
DATES HAVE CHANGED
Friday April 29th, 8a-5p
Saturday April 30th, 8a-3p
451Fairground Road (Corner of Cox Creek Parkway and Chisholm Road)
NEXT COUNCIL MEETING
SPECIAL LOCATION & TIME
The Mayor and Council members will hold the next council meeting on
Annual Youth & Government Day
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
9:00 a.m. Work Session
10:00 a.m. Council Meeting
Florence-Lauderdale Coliseum
702 Veterans Dr, Florence, AL 35630
