Boring, Alabama is true to its name. It’s a quiet little town in Brook County with one gas station that serves as general store, currency exchange, and post office.
In the center of town there’s a town hall that used to be the elementary school. In the town hall there is a small office and in the small office sits a mayor doodling on a scratch pad.
Jerry Jenkins is deep in thought with pencil in hand trying to figure out how they could swing it. He’s not thinking about the budget, and his mind is not fixed on a problem…for a change. He’s in full blown positive thinking mode. He just received an invitation to an event he would dearly love to participate in. The invitation is the answer to a prayer.
Jerry has been praying for a way to help the almost five hundred residents of Boring regain their civic pride. It may sound like an outdated concept. But old-timers like Jerry know the value of being proud of where you live. It’s important to feel good when walking around your town, chatting with your neighbors, or when someone asks you where you come from. Jerry is not only Boring’s leader, he’s its cheerleader and pep squad. And like we said in the beginning, Boring is a quiet little town, but when Jerry Jenkins decides to make some noise, people can’t help but notice.
The invitation Jerry is noodling and doodling with is from the Brook County Founder’s Day Committee. Boring has been invited to partake in a day of festivities celebrating one hundred years of the county’s incorporation. Boring annexed to the county in the 1950’s and Jerry thinks there are stories to be shared in a variety of ways.
He puts his pencil down, stands straight up, and without even grabbing his jacket from the battered coat rack next to his desk, he starts walking to the gas station to talk to Millie.
Millie Combes inherited the gas station from her Dad, who took it over from his Dad when it was just one pump in a cleared field serving the family farm and a few others in the area. Millie is Boring’s commerce hub. She’s one shrewd article, being the first and only business woman in town. She makes a living from the residents of Boring with help from a moderately successful online eBay store where she buys and sells collectible dolls. Her favorite doll is a cabbage patch kid she got as a kid in the eighties; Verna Jean.
Jerry talks to Millie and the two of them brainstorm. They come up with a 3-prong plan. 1. Design and build a float for the parade. 2. Man a “Boring” booth that is anything but. They will make a video depicting historic moments in their small town’s history, the highlight being when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. himself stopped in Boring to rally for voting rights. 3. They will launch a product they’re calling {anything but} Boring Brown Sugar Lemonade. That’s been a dream of Millie’s for years, and she figures now’s the time to get the town involved in production, promotion and sales of a hometown artisanal specialty.
Three hundred people show up to the first planning meeting Wednesday night in the old school gymnasium. Jerry gets the crowd excited. Millie delivers the pitch. They choose leaders for the three Founder’s Day projects. Committees form.
The following Wednesday something extraordinary happens. Four hundred people show up for the meeting. Spirits are high. Everyone is excited. The ideas take shape.
Momentum continues to grow. There is full participation from each and every townsperson, from the youngest baby posing for pictures to the eldest resident, Flora Curtis still vertical at 104 years young, supervising the coffee service for volunteers.
Jerry’s nephew Calvin puts up a “Go Fund Me” page for the {anything but} Boring Brown Sugar Lemonade. It rises to the top of the site with support coming in from all over the world. Mainstream media picks it up and Millie does the talk show circuit. Boring Alabama is trending on twitter.
Six months fly by since the day Mayor Jenkins received the invitation. A lot has happened, all of it good. The stage is set. It’s time for the show to begin. Borrowed trailers and trucks roll out of Boring, heading to the Brook County fairgrounds.
They see hospitality tents, food stations, and show booths. There are banners flying with the names of well-known corporate sponsors as well as local businesses. The local churches are represented, schools have their marching bands warming up, and sports teams are putting the finishing touches on parade floats. All this activity and among them, the good people of Boring are bursting with pride.
The 3-prong plan is fully executed. The Boring float is a wonder to see. The Boring city flag is waving proudly with a wind machine unfurling the 10 ft. of spun cotton. Twenty-five elders of Boring are seated atop the green turf at the base of the flagpole waving to the crowd. Fifty more of all ages are marching alongside waving small flags and tossing candy to the crowd. The crowd is cheering and clapping as they pass by.
We walk along to the exhibits and we see a brightly painted large lighted marquee framing the open flap entrance to the event tent. The Marquee reads: “Boring’s Legendary Visit with the late great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” The film clips, newspaper clippings and interviews came together in a nine minute video depicting the day Boring made history. No one leaves the tent without drying the tears from their eyes.
Finally we come round to the food booths where Millie reigns supreme with the largest staging area for the official launch of {anything but} Boring Brown Sugar Lemonade. With all the pre-launch press Calvin rounded up, the place is swarming with anxious customers, reporters and news cameras. Millie has a staff of over a hundred volunteers preparing and pouring the lemonade, serving the customers and collecting the hard earned money. All proceeds from sales goes to the town of Boring for infrastructure improvements and development. They sell out before the day is over but not before they reach their sales goal of $100,000!
It is exactly what Mayor Jerry Jenkins had been praying for and more. The town of Boring Alabama coming together for their own good cause. Civic pride is revived. The future of Boring is secured and better than ever. God is surely in this Boring place.
By Susan Diamond
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