Williams Station contestants happy with local hospitality
Published 1:29 am Wednesday, March 12, 2003
By Staff
From Staff
Press Reports
On Feb. 9, Atmore held its Third Annual "Miss Williams Station Pageant," with women and their families coming from Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery, Troy, Tuscaloosa, Greenville and Mobile to participate in the Miss Alabama Pageant preliminary.
The Atmore Arts Council sponsors the annual event to give young women the opportunity to compete for big money in scholarship funds. This year, Arts Council Member Torrey Swift opened her lovely home for a luncheon for the contestant's families and a dinner for the contestants later that evening.
The Swift home was perfect to represent Atmore in this "Open House" event, and was the ideal setting for the lovely affair. A buffet was set in the beautiful formal dining room, and the guests were entertained through the spacious rooms. The Swift home on Pensacola Avenue is one of Atmore's oldest remaining homes.
Page and Susan Swift, Torrey's daughters from Mobile and Tuscaloosa, assisted their mother in making Atmore's guests feel welcome. Thank you notes have been very complimentary of both the area and the hospitality.
"Of all the cities we have traveled to in the past year, Atmore was the most gracious," wrote Judith Lanford from Lanett, whose daughter competes in Miss Alabama preliminaries several times a year to pay for her college tuition. "Being invited to a private home for a luncheon was such a nice touch.
"Usually, the families of the contestants are expected to spend the day in a strange city basically on their own. Miss Williams Station was the nicest pageant our family has been involved with.
"Congratulations to the Arts Council for a first-rate pageant and for your hospitality. We will remember Atmore fondly."