Music festival lovers will have the chance to step back in time a few years when the fourth annual Lee County Gathering is held from April 26 to 29. This old-time music festival is held in Pioneer Park, the reconstructed 1850s era historical village in Loachapoka, just west of Auburn.

The Lee County Gathering hosts hundreds of attendees each year. Guests can participate in jam sessions, attend lessons by local and guest instrumentalists or just enjoy the performances. The festival will also feature storytelling, dances, period re-enactors and even frontier food.

The main events at the festival include a concert Friday, April 27, featuring the Camp 1921 String Band at 5 p.m. and guest instructors at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the WireGrass Band is featured at 5 p.m. before the big Saturday Night Dance is held at the old schoolhouse at 7 p.m.

Bob Taunton, museum manager for the Lee County Historical Society, formed the idea for the Lee County Gathering after attending an old-time music festival in Port Allen, La. With the help of his wife Rose and friends Allen and Deborah McCord, the festival in Loachapoka got its start.

“When I was a junior in high school, I heard for the first time the Kingston Trio, three guys that played bass, banjo and guitar and sang old-time songs,” Taunton said. “When I heard that, I knew that that was the type of music I liked, not what I heard on the radio. I’ve been interested in old-time music ever since.”

According to Taunton, “old-time” music is different from bluegrass, a younger music genre, and includes old English and Irish ballads as well as colonial-era tunes. Instruments typically featured are banjos, fiddles, dulcimers, mandolins and harmonicas.

In addition to being an instructor at the festival, Taunton will also perform at concerts by playing bass fiddle for his bluegrass band WireGrass and his Civil War era band, Camp 1921 String Band.
Guest instructors that will be featured at the festival include Stephen Seifert from Nashville, one of the top dulcimer players in the nation; Marsha Harris from North Carolina, who plays the mountain dulcimer, bowed dulcimer, fiddle, tenor banjo and Native American flute; Guy and Sharrie George, jazz-influenced dulcimer players from Ohio; Gary and Toni Sager from Ohio, dulcimer and autoharp players; and TNT (The Nameless Trio) from Knoxville, Tenn., featuring dulcimer players Ginny Cliett, Linda Smith and Deby Libby.

Local instructors include Taunton, Earnestine Robinson, Marty Hoerr, Deborah McCord and others.

Throughout the festival, the instructors will offer classes at various levels in mandolin, fiddle, banjo, harmonica, mountain dulcimer, bass dulcimer, hammered dulcimer, autoharp, native flute, steel drums, penny whistle, bass fiddle and Sacred Harp and Negro Spiritual singing.

This year’s Lee County Gathering is sponsored in part by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and Auburn Guitar Shoppe. The festival will offer camping on the festival site as well as meals and snacks.

“We want to see people from the community who just love to hear music come to the festival,” Taunton said. “There will be music going on in four or five different locations on the site, and they can even look in on some of the classrooms. Maybe it will even occur to them that they might be able to play one of those instruments.”

Beer enthusiasts in the Auburn area can look forward to Friday, April 27, when the Hotel at Auburn University will host a celebration of craft beers at its second annual Aprilfest event.

Aprilfest, a play on Germany’s Oktoberfest, will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and will showcase a variety of independent microbreweries, including six from Alabama and several other national and international breweries.

Guests can enjoy live entertainment at the event, which will take place around the hotel’s outdoor pool and inside the Terrace Room. Several brewers and representatives from the breweries will be at the hotel to talk with guests, and a selection of small bite pairings prepared by Chef Leonardo Maurelli III and the hotel’s sous chefs and staff will be provided at various stations throughout the hotel.

Aprilfest will specifically highlight microbreweries, breweries that produce a limited amount of beer and are associated by consumers with innovation and uniqueness.

According to data released by the Brewers Association, a trade association that represents craft brewers, craft beer is catching on in the U.S. as its annual sales and volumes have increased from last year.

“The production of craft beer is blowing up, especially in this region,” said Mathew Mokler, a beer representative of Birmingham Beverage Co./Alabev. “In the last four years, six breweries have opened up in Alabama, which many people are not aware of.”

The six Alabama breweries that will be featured at Aprilfest include Straight to Ale and Yellowhammer Brewing from Huntsville, Avondale Brewing Co. and Good People Brewing Co. from Birmingham, Back Forty Beer Co. from Gadsden and Blue Pants Brewery from Madison.

Other breweries that will be featured include SweetWater Brewing Co. from Atlanta, Wild Heaven Craft Beers from Decatur, Ga., Clipper City Brewing Co. from Baltimore, Bell’s Brewery from Kalamazoo, Mich., and Innis & Gunn from Edinburgh, Scotland. More breweries may be scheduled to attend the event.

The founder of Wild Heaven Craft Beers and the two founders of Good People Brewing Co., the most popular brewery in Alabama, are all Auburn graduates, according to Mokler.

“Bell’s is the most popular brewery of the bunch, especially nationally,” Mokler said. “They have some of the highest rated beers in the world, and spring is officially here once you have your first Oberon Ale.”

The Hotel at Auburn University had its own Oktoberfest this past fall, but created Aprilfest to highlight the lighter craft beers that are offered in the spring and summer.

“As the seasons, change, so does the beer selection most people drink,” Mokler said. “During winter, you’re going to drink darker, heavier beer. We’re leaving the stout phase and going to the pilsners, the lighter beers, the wheat beers, the flavored beers.”

In addition to the wide variety of craft beer selections, guests can enjoy various hors d’oeuvres and finger foods at Aprilfest. Some food selections include famous Caja China roasted whole pig, Apalachicola raw oysters, tuna crudo, ceviche, brisket sliders on milk bread and homemade mustards and sausages.

Tickets for Aprilfest are $45 and may be purchased in advance in the executive office of the Hotel at Auburn University or on the day of the event depending on availability. For more information about the event, you may contact the hotel at 334-321-3179 or Mathew Mokler via email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Bicycling is truly part of Auburn’s culture. From the dozens of bike racks on Auburn University’s campus to the new bike lanes and paths being erected throughout the city, the prevalence of this sport is apparent.



The staff at James Bros. Bikes, formerly Golden’s Bicycle Shop, has recognized the growing importance of bicycling to the Auburn area, and they use their years of experience and love for the sport to serve the needs of the Auburn community.

About six years ago, Danny James recognized the need for a full service bicycle shop in the Auburn-Opelika area. After convincing the owner of the well-established Golden’s Bicycle Shop in LaGrange, Ga., to start a new shop in Opelika, James served as store manager.

Golden’s Bicycle Shop moved to South College Street in Auburn about three years ago. Shortly after, James had the opportunity to purchase the shop, and decided recently to change the name to James Bros. Bikes.

“One of our concerns when we changed the name to James Bros. Bikes was to communicate with our local customers that we still have the same team in place,” James said. “We have had the same full-time staff for the past six years, which is one of our major strengths.”

James prides his store on being able to build relationships with customers by having a staff that can connect to the needs of its customers, whether they are racing enthusiasts or leisure cyclists. The staff can provide information to customers about everything from what type of equipment is best based on their needs to how to train for races properly.

James said that he has seen an increase in new customers during the past few years as the biking trend in Auburn has grown. This rising trend has resulted from an interest in bicycling for health reasons as well as for an inexpensive means of transportation.

“Taking those first steps to try to lose a few pounds can be a lot easier when you’re on a bike as opposed to the pounding you get from running on the road or treadmill,” said James. “Bicycling tends to be a sport of choice for people who have weight loss goals, as well as for people who have been avid runners and want to mix up their workout with something more low impact.”

As the bicycling trend continues to grow in Auburn, cyclists and potential cyclists can look forward to new trails or improvements to existing trail systems.

A new trail was added near Ogletree Elementary School about a year ago, and a new trail is currently being developed in Chewacla State Park. James said there are also hopes of extending an existing trail system in Tuskegee National Forest.

“Having these new trail systems will be an asset to the community for health outlets as well as bring in races eventually, which will be an economic impact as far as more hotel and restaurant visits,” James said. “The bike lanes that have been incorporated in Auburn have also allowed the city to cut down on traffic, including reduced issues with parking downtown.”

As well as being a full service shop that carries several bike and accessory brands and can perform repairs on any bicycle brand, James Bros. Bikes also sponsors a racing team made up of local riders and hosts a group ride every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. beginning at their store.

The staff at James Bros. Bikes looks forward to working with each of their customers, from new riders to avid cyclists. As the bicycling trend continues to rise in the Auburn area, they plan to share their expertise and love for the sport to encourage the growth of the bicycling lifestyle even further.

“I feel like Auburn has done really well in catching on to the bicycling trend,” James said.
“We’ve got a long way to go to catch up to cities like Denver, Washington, D.C., and Seattle, but we really have some people who are pushing the ball in the right direction. It will take us a while to get there, but I really feel like we’re ahead of a lot of other communities, especially in the state of Alabama.”

For more information about James Bros. Bikes, visit their location at 1684 S. College St., visit their website at http://www.jamesbrosbikes.com, or contact them at 334-821-0555.

Did your parents meet at Auburn? Did you propose to your girlfriend in front of Samford Hall? Have you shared an amazing Auburn memory with your husband? AuburnArt is giving you the opportunity to share these stories in their Valentine’s Day inspired contest, “You Had Me At War Eagle.”

“We’re doing a follow-up on our ‘Legends, Traditions, Memories’ contest we had this past fall,” said Cliff L. Hare, owner of AuburnArt. “We received a lot of great submissions in that contest, so we thought we’d try it again for Valentine’s Day and get some more stories about Auburn and members of the Auburn Family.”

In the “Legends, Traditions, Memories” contest, Auburn students, alumni and fans submitted stories about their favorite Auburn legend, tradition or memory. AuburnArt created a video in which well-known members of the family told their own favorite stories. This video, which can be accessed at www.youtube.com/AuburnArt1, will also be featured throughout the “You Had Me At War Eagle” contest.

Submissions received in the “Legends, Traditions, Memories” contest served as inspiration to hold a new contest around Valentine’s Day.

One favorite story was submitted by Bob Crutcher, a 1954 Auburn graduate who proposed to his wife Harter at the lathe by Samford Hall. His future wife, who did not expect a large engagement ring, thought the proposal was a joke and knocked the ring out of his hand. After Harter was convinced the ring did not actually come “from a crackerjack box” and that the proposal was real, the couple finally found the ring and went off to celebrate their engagement at the old War Eagle Theater. The couple has now been happily married for 56 years.

Members of the Auburn Family can once again submit their favorite Auburn memories, this time telling about experiences they have shared with their significant other or even stories about their parents or grandparents. Stories submitted can describe how a couple met or got engaged at Auburn or just how they shared a special Auburn memory together.

Individuals can enter the contest by logging onto www.facebook.com/AuburnArt and then clicking on the “You Had Me At War Eagle” tab. Submissions must be received by midnight on Sunday, Feb. 12. The best submissions will be posted from AuburnArt’s Facebook page on Monday, Feb. 13. From there, the public can vote for their favorite entry by “liking” that post.

“If your story is selected as one of our favorites, you can encourage your family and friends to vote for you by ‘liking’ AuburnArt’s Facebook page and then the post with your story,” said Hare. “One grand prize winner and three runners-up will be chosen on Feb. 15 based on votes received and will receive prize packs from AuburnArt.”

For more information on the “You Had Me At War Eagle” contest, you may contact AuburnArt by visiting www.auburnart.com, visiting their downtown location next to Toomer’s Drugs or calling (334) 887-7788.