By By Emilie Mims
Saturday, May 5th was a busy day at Tom Byrne Park as the Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce held the 34th annual Mayfest. The park was full to overflowing most of the day as folks crowded around the Gazebo Stage to enjoy the Mayfest Littlest Idol Contest, a.k.a., Beautiful Baby Contest, and a new event, the Mayfest Idol competition.
On behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, thank you to our festival sponsors, Gulf Winds Federal Credit Union and Pepsi, and our 2007 Corporate Partner, United Bank. Your financial support makes this event a success for the community and the chamber.
More than 80 babies competed for the title of Mayfest Littlest Idol in the Beautiful Baby Contest. Thank you to this year's new sponsor, Atmore Community Hospital and the parents and extended family members who turned out for this contest…. in which every baby was beautiful!
Cathy Lowrey and her volunteers did an incredible job orchestrating registration, as did Haley Murph, who acted as Master of Ceremonies.
This contest was judged by Phyllis Ship, Nick Baggett and Krishanda Lyons.
For the better part of the afternoon, 16 pre-selected contestants vied for the Mayfest Idol title which included a $500 prize. This first time event was a tremendous success thanks to sponsor, The Atmore Advance, and competition judges; Lewis Banks Jr., Ken Harrison and Marci Hughes and Justin Hall, who acted as Master of Ceremonies. Congratulations to Felicia Bishop, winner of this inaugural Idol contest.
For the remainder of the afternoon, the audience enjoyed the music of Willie Hawthorne, Lana Langford, Carlee Hetrick and Haley Murph, as well as the talents of Twirl Time, Expose, Lil Expose and Atmore's Elite Allstars. Thanks to all of you.
The Student Photography Contest sponsored by The First National Bank &Trust is a great event offering students in Grades 6-12 the opportunity to display their work and compete for prizes. Winning photographs will be on display this month at Annie's Community Cup. Thank you to Mark Clayton who chaired this event and Captured Moments Photography for offering free photo sessions to the honorable mentions.
The Gulf Breeze Zoomobile was a real crowd pleaser with an alligator, python, redtail hawk and hedgehog on display for viewing and touching. The Chamber wishes to thank Peggi Byrd and Alabama Power Company for sponsoring this event.
Always popular, the Williams Station Express Train was manned by a team of volunteers with Cereal Daniel and Tim Manning leading the charge. Over 500 children and adults made the trip around the park! Thank you to the many volunteers at Pepsi wagon, chamber booth and office who gave of their time on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to make this community event a success. A special thank you to Tammy Graham and Ross Terry with the Atmore YMCA who coordinated the 5-K Run.
The chamber would also like to thank the City of Atmore, Mayor Howard Shell, Street Supervisor Don Whatley and Police Chief Jason Dean who contribute city resources in giving us a beautiful and safe setting at Tom Byrne Park. Also, thank you to Alabama Power Company, H&H Electric and Swift Supply for their support and donations.
Emilie Mims is executive director of the Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at 368-3305.