Good People

SNAPSHOT: Charlie Childers

• EARLY LIFE: Born in Cullman on July 7, 1962, to Elton and Jeanette Childers, both deceased. Siblings are Kathy Childers, who works at the Walmart Supercenter in south Cullman; and Steve Childers, an Air Force veteran who’s the IT director for the Columbus, Ga., school system. • EDUCATION: Graduated from Cullman High, 1980; then earned a technical degree from Herzing Institute, Birmingham. • CAREER: Walmart since 1982. “I came there when they were pouring cement for the new distribution center and have remained ever since,” he says. Today he oversees the computer system for the logistics supply chain and inventory. • PERSONAL LIFE: Married the former Cindy Pace, 1982; they’d known each other since middle school and started dating their senior year at CHS. Their daughter, Charis Childers, 21, graduated in May with a business management degree from Wallace State Community College. • ACTIVITIES: Youth Sunday school at First Baptist and Northbrook Baptist for about 25 years; currently member of First

Baptist. Cullman Lions Club member since 1990; served as president, 1998; along with his wife has directed the

Cullman Fair Pageant for last six years.

5questions

Story by David Moore Photo by Cindy Childers

First and foremost, the Cullman County Fair is fun and exciting. The rides, the clatter, the lights and smells. Winning ribbons and money for your apple pie or monster watermelon. Dressing up and competing in a beauty pageant. People watching.

The stuff from which memories are made.

From Joppa to Arkadelphia, Garden City to Battleground, going on 68 years, it’s probably safe to say most folks have memories of the Cullman County Fair.

As a member of the sponsoring Cullman County Lions Club since 2000, Charlie Childers has hands-on memories of volunteering annually at the long-running event, where he’s been president of the Lions’ fair association for the past five years and director of the various fair pageants for six years. But his earliest memories are of attending the fair as a youngster with his father, Elton, a Cullman milkman.

“I’d go to the fair with my dad as he delivered milk to the Lions Club concession stand. A memory I will never forget with my dad.

“After that, we’d play games and ride rides. Money was very tight so we probably didn’t go much other than that.”

Some people may associate the smells of popcorn and hot dogs with the fair, but Charlie recalls the smells of walking through the exhibits of prized farm animals and the wildlife that conservation officers put on display.

In later years, he exhibited photographs at the fair. For some reason, he laughs, he doesn’t recall winning any ribbons.

“Probably more than anything else, I remember the motorcycle ride that went round and round,” Charlies says. It was, perhaps, life changing. Today he loves few things more than taking weekend cruises on his Honda Goldwing with his wife, Cindy, on back.

Grown up and a member of the Lions, Charlie would take their daughter, Charis, when he worked at the fair, and she would sit and draw. Later, he and Cindy shared her excitement as she won awards at the fair for her artwork. Cindy, a painter, has also won awards for her art.

As a little girl Cindy fondly recalls riding the merry-go-round and the Ferris wheel. On other nights, her dad, Oscar Pace, a Lions member, brought her caramel apples and cotton candy after volunteering at the fair.

Cindy also holds a dazzling memory of the Cullman County Fair to which few others can lay claim. At night her dad, a pilot, sometimes flew her over the fairgrounds, ablaze in their electrically magical glow.

Charlie had worked at Walmart Distribution Center in Cullman about eight years and taught Sunday school about five years at First Baptist when a friend from church, Chris Griggs, invited him to join the Lions Club.

He’d never really given any thought to joining a civic club, but “We Serve” is the motto of Lions Clubs International, and that appealed to Charlie.

“I have always felt I’ve been so blessed and wanted to give back because of that,” he says. So he joined.

The club meets Monday nights at the senior center at Sportsman’s Lake Park, where the fairgrounds are located. Charlie likes the meals catered by Freddie Day. He soon learned about the comradery, about the Tail Twister, who’d start their meetings with a joke or two. He learned that Tail Twister can fine members 10¢ for bragging or if their phone goes off during a meeting. More than anything, he learned about that “serving” motto.

“Oh, we have some fun,” he says. But it is a serving civic organization. It’s not a good-time organization.”

The Lions are known for their efforts to provide eyecare. Diabetes is another project, as well as providing scholarships through Clubs at the schools. But, by and far, the Cullman County Fair is the club’s largest project, and putting on the huge, 10-day event requires all hands on deck. All 110 members volunteer.

Last year, the fair drew some 40,000 people, which Charlie says makes it probably the fourth or fifth largest of the 20 fairs in Alabama.

Interestingly, he thinks that all of that “serving” – and the satisfaction club members get from it is one of the reasons the Cullman Lions have remained so strong and viable during a time that many civic clubs across the country are struggling.

“Ours has stayed very strong and is probably one of the largest Lions clubs in Alabama,” Charlie says. “The fair has a lot to do with it – that and just the way the Cullman community is so strong.”

Though it’s a lot of work, Charlie – joined by wife and others – enjoys organizing the five beauty pageants held during the fair for girls 3-15, and Miss Pageant Fair, whose participants, all juniors, are determined by the high schools across the county. (Entry forms for the five pageants can be found on the Cullman County Fair website and must be turned in by Oct. 9.)

Winners receive trophies and cash. The top finalists in the high school pageant split $6,200 in cash scholarships to the

Cindy Childers shot this photo of her husband, Charlie, this summer while attending the Miss Alabama Gala at The Club in Birmingham. In addition to Miss Cullman County Fair, now a preliminary to Miss Alabama, the Childers are active in judging other beauty pageants.

Lions put pride, work, fun into making the county fair a big Cullman tradition

school of their choice. Also, Charlie points out, the high school pageant is now a preliminary for the Miss Alabama competition, which is a preliminary for Miss America.

As president of the fair association, Charlie, pageant emcee Chris Robinson and board members visit other fairs and state fair meeting during the year.

“You get good ideas and steal what you can,” he laughs.

Like civic clubs, many county fairs have struggled or even folded in recent years.

“You’re seeing these fairs slowly going away,” Charlies says. “Morgan County lost their fairgrounds in Decatur about three years ago. They were probably one of our biggest competitors locally for attendance.

“The fair is an annual Cullman tradition. I would hate to see it go away for the families in this community,” Charlie continues. “I think I speak for all the Lions that want to continue the fair. And I know from the board of directors that we want to continue it as an agricultural fair. That’s real big for all of us.” 1. How has the Cullman County Fair evolved over the years?

The look of the fair has changed from years ago. The large tent that housed the activities in the early years is now a permanent structure, the fair theater. There have been buildings added to house our arts and crafts and business booths to advertise.

The midway has also seen big changes. We have used several companies over the years to provide rides. For the past few years we’ve used Kissel Entertainment out of Clanton. They most definitely have been our best midway partner.

Kissel maintains their equipment to like-new conditions at all times and have had the best employees of any. They have the latest and greatest rides available.

Our midways certainly have gotten bigger, but still have some of the most popular younger rides that I rode as a kid.

Our initial intent of the fair back in the ‘50s was to create a fundraiser so we had money we could give back to the community. The fair has achieved that and grown to be much more. It has become a major, longstanding, communitywide event. I hope that never changes.

Another change is that we now have a couple of financial managers who are paid to audit our books annually. As a whole, we’ve always been good stewards of the funds we raise for the community, and that won’t change either.

Something that has not changed is that the fair has always been an agricultural fair, and I feel it will always will be. That’s what makes it a community event with the community involvement. We are still very much an agricultural community. 2. How much does the fair give back, and who are the recipients?

The fair is still the Cullman Lions Club’s largest yearly fundraiser. Our bylaws require that the proceeds from the fair be given back to the community.

We only have two part-time paid employees that are the fair managers. They maintain the property year round, plus they are responsible for the many different events the fairgrounds are used for during the year. All other Lion members volunteer their time with no compensation. That includes the fair board members.

Still, it is expensive to put on a fair. The midway rides are a big expense. Other expenses include $26,000 for utilities and $20,000 for insurance.

We make donations to groups such as the Peinhardt Farm, which brings their animals for show, the Cullman High School Leo Clubs, etc. Last year that was $9,800. We also award ribbons for entries of personal crafts, livestock, crops, along with prize money. That’s normally around $28,000 a year.

After all that plus maintaining and improving the fairgrounds, our proceeds go to the Cullman Lions Club and our Cullman Lioness Club extension. Over the past three years, we have donated $252,546.

Alabama Lions Sight is our largest recipient of money. It helps many individuals from Cullman County and our surrounding counties with eye exams and glasses. Just some of the other recipient agencies are: Cullman Caring for Kids, Good Samaritan Clinic, Distinguished Young Women, Grace Place, Cullman Farm City, Leader Dog for the Blind, North Alabama Agriplex, Foundry Farm, First Source for Women, Kids Expo and COPD shots for veterans.

Plus we pay out $6,200 for scholarships.

We are very proud that our 2021 Miss Cullman County Fair winner Abby Sosa finished in the top 12 in the Miss Alabama 2022 competition at Samford University in July. It was first time our fair winner participated in the preliminary for the Miss America program. 3. How does the Lions Club manage to produce an annual county fair?

With over 100 members and the help and cooperation of the community, it has been a very successful community event I hope that my grandkids get to experience.

The Cullman Lions Club and the Cullman Fair Association are the same members. But they each operate individually with a separate board of directors. Each board member is responsible for a part of the fair. They have their committee members that complete and work the fair.

The board of directors work all year to ensure the fair is ready on opening day and to make sure their responsibilities are completed and ready.

Every Lions member is very passionate about giving back to this great community. That passion drives each member to work hard. We all consider ourselves blessed to provide such a great community event that can be shared with family and friends.

And may I add there is no pay compensation for the members. The Lioness club and Lions wives also play a huge role in working gates, helping in the Lions’ and Lioness’ concession stands. Taking in exhibits are just some of the roles of each member.

The fairgrounds belong to Cullman County, but the fair association has a longterm lease on the property and we have built all the structures on the property. We also rent out the buildings and grounds during the year to help compensate for the yearly care of the fair grounds. 4. What’s been the key to the fair’s continuing success?

Like I said, the success of the fair falls on the members that are willing to give

back to the community through their willingness to work the fair as volunteers. But it’s not all us.

Fortunately, the community turns out in throngs every year for the Cullman County Fair. And, if the community did not bring their art, pictures, sewing, livestock, crops, etc., it would not be an agricultural fair, and that would be a loss for all of our communities.

The city council allows us to shut down U.S. 31 through downtown and start the fair with a big parade with all the pageant winners, churches, businesses and youth sports leagues displaying floats. The police do a great job making that happen and securing a safe passage for the parade.

The sheriff’s office sets up a command post at the fair and along with the city police provide a great safe place for the length of the fair. The schools let out for school day at the fair, which also is on the Columbus Day holiday.

Community help includes the Cullman Extension office, which really drives the livestock competitions from the youth entries to the adult entries.

A part of our success is our commitment to keeping it agricultural centered. That’s what our community is. The fair is not just a carnival. It’s a community event with livestock, crops and plants, arts and crafts, sewing to woodworking.

So you can see the county, the city and our strong community are great partners in making our fair successful. 5. What’s something most people don’t know about Charlie Childers?

I’m the son of a milk man. Growing up, a neighbor told Dad he should know that nearly every day after he leaves for work, a milk truck stops and stays at our home for a while. Dad explained he was the milk man. He started work every day at 2 a.m. then came home for breakfast.

He was the last home-delivery man in Cullman. Some people would leave him a key or leave the door unlocked, and he would actually go in and leave their milk in the refrigerator.

People are surprised to find out Cindy and I adopted our daughter, Charis, at birth. We have never thought of her as anything other than ours. She graduated with her associates business degree this year from Wallace State – proud dad.

Lastly, my friends are surprised when I tell them I judge beauty pageants. Cindy and I are the directors of the fair pageants and high school competition for Miss Cullman County Fair. Last year we had over 110 young ladies participate in the pageants.

But we judge other pageants. The last one I went to – it was in Greensboro – had 0-2-year-old category. We’ve also judged a college pageant at the University of North Alabama.

We actually get paid a little, but it’s not much. It’s more of a travel expense – and they feed you pretty well. I’m not sure it would work out to be minimum wage. I guess I could fall back on it, but where you make money is being a pageant coach. Maybe when I retire.

Good Life Magazine

Editor’s note: For more on 2022 parade and fair see “Good Fun” events on pages 13 and 14 and Out ‘n’ About on page 69; for complete information visit: cullmanfair.org

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