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The Shelby County Chamber celebrated winners of the 2024 Tourism and Recreation All-Star awards during the month of October at a special luncheon. (Reporter photos/Alec Etheredge)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Publisher

COLUMBIANA – To kick off the month of October, The Shelby County Chamber held is annual Tourism and Recreation All-Star awards luncheon in Columbiana on Thursday, Oct. 3.

Held at the Grande Hall in Old Mill Square at the Shelby County Arts Council building, the event celebrated local tourism and recreation businesses who are going the extra mile to make Shelby County one of the top places to not only call home, but for visitors and tourists as well.

Shelby County Manager of Tourism and Events gave a breakdown of how important the tourism side of Shelby County is to the success of the county.

“We have identified that there are three types of tourists we try to attract,” Williams said. “The first is you, our residents. We want to get people to go to other communities in Shelby County and experience them. The next type is the leisure traveler, people coming in for a purpose for entertainment, outdoor recreation or to visit friends and family. The biggest portion of who we attract are the people who are told to come here, whether invited for a sporting event or conference, so we are challenged with recruiting events to get them here.”

She then showed Discover Shelby’s first-ever commercial to those in attendance, which will be played in the state of Ohio to help entice people to visit Shelby County while on the way to the beach traveling down Interstate 65.

The commercial, titled “Find your trail” is meant to get people to check out the incredible mountain bike trails, hiking trails, coffee shop trail, winery trail and much more.

Williams also highlighted that each of the nominees and winners at the All-Star Tourism and Recreation awards were responsible for helping make a difference in both local and tourist success.

“Working with the local businesses to know what is going in is crucial,” Williams said. “We have to be in good communication with our partners.”

The 2024 winners for the awards included, the Birmingham Bulls, Tinglewood Festival, Oak Mountain State Park, Leaders’ Corner Coffee and Tea and The Farm Company.

The Birmingham Bulls earned the 2024 Attraction and Recreation of the Year award, Tingelwood Festival took home the 2024 Event/Festival of the Year honor, Oak Mountain State Park earned the top lodging award, Leaders’ Corner took the top spot for Restaurant of the Year and The Farm Company earned the honor of Advocate of the Year.

Other nominees included the following:

-Calera Main Street

-Adventurer’s Coffee Co.

-American Village

-Just a Tish Wine & More

-Birmingham South RV Park

-The city of Columbiana

-Edgar’s Bakery & Café

-Collectivus Church

-Main Street Columbiana

-Corbin Farms Winery

-Fairfield By Marriott Pelham

-First Friday Calera Main Street

-Mama Coco

-Cowboy Day in Columbiana

-Discover Shelby Fest

-El Agave

-Half Shell Oyster House Pelham

-Full Moon Bar-B-Que

-The Shelby County Arts Council

-The Pelham Civic Complex & Ice Arena

-South City Theatre

-Hyatt Regency

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