Summer is off to a warm start, but we had some windy weather on Friday. Many experienced trees or tree limbs down all over St. Clair County and some had wind damage. A large portion of us were without power most of Friday night and part of Saturday. When the power goes off for an extended period, we don’t really know what to do with ourselves because none of our gadgets work. My cell phone battery was nearly dead so there was no use in trying to communicate. I was so glad that Alabama Power got us back up and running before the freezer began to thaw!

LadyBUGS, the Leeds Moody Professional Women’s Organization, hosted their monthly meeting last week at The Livery and announced the Leeds and Moody High School Scholarship Recipients who each received $1,000 scholarships from LadyBUGS: Danielle Nicole Spiker, Jailyn Simone Swann, Courtney Purkey and Sydney St. John. The Moody High School Scholarship Winners, Danielle and Jailyn, attended the meeting with family members. Congratulations to each scholarship winner and best wishes on your plans for the future.

Everyone had a great time at Chick-fil-A Leeds for the Miss Leeds Area Spirit Night with the newly crowned Miss Alabama – Haley Barber, Miss Leeds Area – Briana Kinsey, Outstanding Teen – Reagan Handley, Rising Star – Maggie Youngblood, Miss Bulldog Teen – Zoe’ Champion and Miss St. Clair County Teen – Sydney Slaughter. There were plenty of photo ops and everyone had a great time and best of all, this was a fundraiser for the Miss Leeds Area Pageant Scholarship Fund.

Jeremy Arthur, IOM, President & CEO, Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama (CCAA), was the guest speaker at the Leeds Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon last week and gave a brief history of chamber of commerce organizations and discussed some of the accomplishments achieved, as well as the purpose of these organizations.

Sandra McGuire, Executive Director for the Leeds Area Chamber of Commerce, and I had the privilege of attending an ACE Community Reunion Event at Alabama Power in Clanton on Friday. ACE is an acronym, which stands for Alabama Communities of Excellence. Leeds went through the process of becoming an ACE community several years ago. The topic of this conference was retail development and we heard some great speakers on this subject. For more information about ACE, please visit their website: AlabamaCommunitiesOfExcellence.org.

As you have already heard, Leeds is also in the process of qualifying for Main Street Alabama and has been accepted as a 2017 Participating City. For more information about Main Street Alabama and to read about exciting things that have taken place in other historic areas in the state, please visit their website at mainstreetalabama.org.

Don’t forget the 2017 Miss Leeds Area and Outstanding Teen Pageant, which is scheduled for at 7 p.m. this Saturday, June 25 at Leeds High School Auditorium. Miss Leeds Area was founded in 1980 and is an official preliminary to the Miss Alabama Scholarship pageant. Scholarship money and prizes will be awarded to the winner. For more information, please visit missleedsarea.net or contact Sandra McGuire, Director, at (205) 699-5001 or Sandra@LeedsAreaChamber.com.

Bethel Baptist Church will be hosting Vacation Bible School June 26-30 from 6 – 8 p.m. Their theme this year is “Submerged” so take to the deep sea with them. You may re-order a VBS t-shirt and pre-register at bethelnet.com/events.

Moody City Council is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 27 at Moody City Hall.

The Masonic Lodge Community Breakfast is scheduled to be served Saturday, July 2 at 8 a.m. Breakfast is free, but donations would be appreciated. All donations stay in the City of Leeds community involvement programs. Contact T. V. Weaver for more information at (205) 699-6742.

Carolynn Thomas Jones is the Leeds Arts Council’s featured artist in July. The public is invited to the opening reception at Leeds Theatre & Arts Center on Sunday, July 3 from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. to view her beautiful paintings. Admission is free and Carolynn’s work will be on exhibit through July 28. For more information, please call (205) 699-1892.

The Moody Area Chamber of Commerce is currently working with Partners by Design to publish a new Moody Magazine. This publication is content-rich, promoting Moody as a destination point to live, work and raise a family and is distributed throughout the county and at rest areas all over the state. Ad space is available to promote your business. Please contact Andrea Machen, Executive Director, at (205) 640-6262 for more information.

Attention: Local Businesses, Arts and Crafts Vendors and Entertainers! The Moody Area Chamber of Commerce is currently accepting Oktoberfest corporate sponsorships, applications for vendor booth space and looking for awesome talent for entertainment spots. For more information, please contact Andrea Machen, Executive Director, at (205) 640-6262 or chamber@moodyalabama.gov.

Job Openings: St. Clair Animal Hospital and Great Beginnings Preschool.

Quote for the Week: “Hate; it has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet.” ~Maya Angelou

I truly appreciate each of you who read my column and I really love sharing news, so please remember to send your Leeds and Moody news to me at leedsmoodynews@gmail.com. See you next week!