Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/1323883
19 19 In 2018, Stubbs, along with Dennis Fain, Main Street Wetumpka board chair, and the organization's volunteer design committee, got the idea to turn the alley, which links two major downtown streets, into a public park and community event venue. But work on the project had barely begun when an EF-2 tornado swept through Wetumpka in early 2019, destroying many homes and businesses across the community. "The tornado was a pivotal moment because it motivated us," Stubbs said. "When so many places had been wiped out downtown, we knew it was even more important for us to create a space where people could gather in the interim while other things were being rebuilt." Main Street Wetumpka, under the guiding hand of Stubbs, went to work in earnest, with the help of the Elmore County Commission, the city of Wetumpka and volunteer architects. The Alabama Power Foundation provided a grant that helped lead to the Alleyway project's completion, Stubbs said. "The grant made all the difference," she said. "We knew we needed this space, and we knew it would come at considerable cost. Having the foundation's buy-in and belief in our project is what allowed it to come to fruition." The focal point of the Alleyway is a 90-foot mural featuring well-known Wetumpka natives, including George Smoot, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, and William Benson Bryant, a former senior judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Signs throughout the venue trace the history of Wetumpka, which reaches back 85 million years to when an asteroid crashed into the Earth, causing an impact crater where dinosaurs roamed the area near what is now downtown Wetumpka. Native wildflowers and evergreens, along with plenty of lighting and seating, give the venue a warm, welcoming feel. The Alleyway is one of four stops on the Tulotoma Snail Trail, created by Main Street Wetumpka using art to tell about history. Wetumpka was designated as an Alabama Main Street community in 2016 and charged with revitalizing a derelict and dying downtown business district. That led to the creation of the trail, named for the Tulotoma snail that was thought extinct but still lives in the nearby Coosa River. Stubbs said despite the social-distancing restrictions caused by the pandemic, the Alleyway has become a A panoramic composite of the full mural shows many of the leaders of Wetumpka through the years. Photo by Phil Free. The Alleyway is in historic downtown Wetumpka. PHOTO BY JAY PARKER