Monday, February 8, 2010 | DeKalb County's Oldest Newspaper |
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It’s time to start your engines
Published October 30, 2009
It’s Talladega weekend, and many fans are gearing up and heading south for NASCAR’s fastest race.
Holiday Inn Express Manager Julie Mewes said she’s seeing familiar faces.
“We certainly do appreciate the ones we have this weekend,” Mewes said. “They are the ones who have stayed with us for the past several years.”
Mewes said many fans of Talladega like to stop off in DeKalb County to get a good look at the changing leaves.
“We do get some people who go to the race and also like the leaves changing, so they make a weekend out of it,” Mewes said. “They go up to the canyon and Mentone while they are here.”
Vacancy this year is affected by new hotels that opened in Birmingham this year.
“We have some traffic but it’s not as much as even three years ago,” Mewes said. “There are some hotels going up around Birmingham and one went up this year near Talladega, so it affects us.”
Some DeKalb County faces will be making an appearance at Talladega this year. Some will work and some will play.
The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Mounted Unit will be on hand to provide security for the crowd of more than 150,000 people.
“It is also the only fundraiser the Mounted Unit has each year,” Sheriff Jimmy Harris said. “None of the riders receive any money. These funds raised from working Talladega goes back into the reserve unit to buy whatever it takes for the reserve unit to operate, such as vests, uniforms and radios.”
Harris said the Mounted Unit will have 15-16 horses, 20 reserves and about five deputies on site.
Blackberry Smoke will provide entertainment on Saturday and Sunday.
Fort Payne native Paul Jackson and member of Blackberry Smoke said he’s ready for the excitement of Talladega race weekend.
“It’s amazing to get to play for thousands of people,” Jackson said. “It’s very exciting. We have a good time when we do things like this. There’s a lot of electricity at Talladega.”
Blackberry Smoke will be giving away 10,000 CDs to race fans over the weekend.
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The Fort Payne Times-Journal | Publisher: J.D. Davidson
811 Greenhill Blvd.NW, Fort Payne, Alabama 35967 | Tel: 256-845-2550 | Email
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