By GWEN KELLEY

I am at a loss for words to describe how elated I am over the successful New Year’s Eve Domino Drop. It took the whole town working together to make it happen. The orchestration of the timing of the drop and the fireworks was excellent. The design and building of the domino phenomenal. For a first time, it could not have gone better.

There are so many people to thank for making this inaugural celebration a success until I hardly know where to start. I will begin with Mayor Earl Johnson and the city employees for allowing the Tourism and Relocation Committee to dream big, then giving us the tools and support to make those dreams come true!

Then Barbara Tyler who worked so tirelessly in coordinating the design and building of the Domino. Barbara exhibited a real passion for this project. Jeff Puckett and his crew with Andalusia Utilities who worked in the cold and after regular hours, for their help with the engineering, design, placement, and drop of the domino. We could not have done it with out them.

Then Tim Ramsden of CDG Engineering for his assistance in designing the domino and the mechanics of the drop. Chris Weaver of SQ Fabrications for building the domino. Larry Turman and Eddie Lindsey of Bama Boys Fireworks for the fabulous conclusion to the event. The Dixie Dandies for the beautiful jazz music prior to the event as the crowd gathered. Then Christian Wossilek and his band for their great performance leading up to the drop.

Then there are the city crews who set up the stage and made sure everything was in place and very timely, including hot water and drinks. Then, soon as the crowd cleared they jumped in, picked up the trash, removed all the equipment from the square and an hour later the square was clean and fresh, just like no one had been there.

I don’t want to forget Uncle Bob Brooks who was emcee for the evening and did a great job. Thank you, Bob.

The media supported us in a big way by helping us publicize the event. A BIG THANKS to WFXX, WAAO, WSFA, WTVY and The Andalusia Star-News. Great job from all of you. Thanks!

Then last but not least, I want to thank all my friends on the City of Andalusia Tourism and Relocation Committee for their many endeavors to make our city enticing to visitors while also providing entertainment for our citizens. This event was very special to me and I appreciate so much their help in planning and being host and hostesses for the event.

Knowing that New Year’s was a holiday for all the above people, and they chose to spend their much-deserved time off seeing to all the final details of this New Year’s Eve Celebration speaks volumes about each of them.

I will end by saying a BIG!!! THANK YOU!!! to all of the above for making this event one that will be remembered by Andalusians for a long, long time and hopefully the beginning to a new tradition for our hometown. One that will bring visitors to our city and in turn put money into our businesses.

Thanks again to each of you and I appreciate you so much.