Editor’s Note: This article is part of an annual series by The News Courier called “Progress.” This year, our team is returning to its roots with a classic Progress look at how far our county has come and what lies ahead for organizations, departments, officials and residents in the Athens-Limestone area. 

Limestone County and the city of Athens are home to several events throughout the year. From smaller gatherings like Athens Main Street’s Fridays After Five to large annual events like the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention hosted by Athens State University, the county offers a bit of everything.

Thanks to COVID-19 and the global pandemic it has wrought, many events have been canceled. Now that vaccines are being administered and people are becoming more comfortable living in a world with COVID-19, many are being placed back on the schedule.

Tourism and utility

Teresa Todd, president of the Athens-Limestone County Tourism Association, said she really hopes the vaccines will take care of COVID-19 soon, which will “not be welcomed back.” 

“I want this to be gone,” she said. “It has really been exhausting living with COVID-19. We are having to think of so many ways to change how we do things and get funds. Some things work, and some things don’t. I just want my normal back.”

Though tourism was down pretty much everywhere in the country due to restrictions surrounding coronavirus, Todd said her organization still saw many visitors come in last year, but fewer than she expected given the amount of growth in the county.

“We did have a lot of guests that still came and looked around,” she said. “We have a lot of people who have built or bought homes here and wanted to know what they could do in Athens.”

While tourism may have been down in Limestone County, some services saw an increase in use, like those at the Athens-Limestone Public Library.

Kris Reisz, director of adult services for ALPL, told The News Courier that overall use of the library was down during the yearlong span between October 2019 and September 2020, but the number of students and adults using online resources for schoolwork or job hunting increased.

In that time, the ALPL welcomed 50,600 visitors and ended with 8,269 registered patrons. 

“Some people have been hesitant to come out, but the number is ticking up,” Reisz said in January. “People have been coming in more and more. It has been a difficult year, and we have been reimagining how we serve the public.”

According to Reisz, the library held 429 individual programs — virtually and in person — which were attended by a total of 13,233 adults, children and teens across that span. Patrons borrowed 163,588 items, which Reisz said provided a value of $3,271,760.

The library lists a collection of assets including 77,306 books, 3,528 DVDs and 1,103 audiobooks in physical formats, along with 83,120 books and 9,718 audiobooks available online.

Canceled

Part of the reason tourism took a dip last year was the number of events that had to be canceled due to public safety concerns surrounding COVID-19. 

The tourism association hosts a number of events each year, including “Singing on The Square” concerts on the Limestone County Courthouse steps. These concerts coincide with Main Street’s Fridays After Five events, which are held once a month during the summer.

Todd said the first concert of the series was held last year, just after the pandemic hit, when “no one was expecting it to stay” more than a month or two.

Once the severity of the pandemic became clearer, all remaining summer events in the concert series were canceled.

Reimagined

As the months wore on and people began to get more familiar with social distancing and wearing facial coverings, the event calendar began to fill again, especially with events that took place outdoors.

“Like everybody else, 2020 was a challenge for us,” Todd said. “A lot of it was trying to learn new ways to do old jobs.”

Such was the case with the Athens fireworks show hosted by the tourism association for the Fourth of July. The association decided to promote the event as a “drive-in,” and people were asked to enjoy the spectacle from inside their vehicles.

“Not everyone did that, but overall, it went pretty well,” Todd said. “We decided to do it that way because its hard to control large groups of people.”

Another event hosted by the tourism association features haunt walks in the weeks leading up to Halloween. Tour guides take visitors on guided walks around downtown Athens and share some of the haunted history of homes and businesses in the area.

“I was concerned how we would manage our haunt walks, because they usually involve large groups,” Todd said. “We decided to make sure people were wearing masks and maintaining a reasonable distance, and the public was very cooperative. A lot of the groups were family members or coworkers that would stay in a cluster.”

As it was one of the few events not canceled by the pandemic, Todd said hosting the annual haunt walks “lifted her heart.”

Another annual event that went on as scheduled was the North Pole Stroll in December. Companies are asked to sponsor and decorate Christmas trees put on display in Big Spring Memorial Park throughout the month.

Visitors can then take a walk among the decorated trees as a way to get in the holiday spirit.

“We had a wonderful time with the North Pole Stroll this year,” Todd said. “We had more trees sponsored than ever before with 72 (trees).”

Todd said most of the events or attractions currently being promoted by the tourism association are outdoors, similar to the haunt walks and North Pole Stroll. 

Rescheduled

Now that vaccines have arrived and people have become familiar with living in the world of “new normal,” Todd hopes to put events hosted by the association back on the calendar for 2021.

These include historical walks through downtown Athens in April and the summer Singing on The Square concert series.

“I am so looking forward to having Singing on The Square again,” she said. “So many people of all ages come out for that, and a lot of them are not even from Athens. That is one of the things we can do and know we are a step back towards being normal.”