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Bub Gideons announced his candidacy for the District 5 seat of the Atmore City Council on Monday.

Gideons was born and raised in Atmore. He attend his family’s church at Bethel United Methodist Church in Atmore.

“I believe Atmore is on the cusp of great things,” Gideons said. “Over the last eight years, I have been blessed to work with many different organizations working hard trying to make a positive difference.

“In 2014, we launched Pride of Atmore, a non-profit with the mission of restoring and renovating the Strand Theatre (and now the Old Hardware Store as well),” he said. “We have raised $3 million of our $3.5 (million) goal in our very small town. We amassed a small army of volunteers who have executed events such as Ribs on Ridgeley, Myrna’s Salad Luncheon and more. We asked Atmore what they wanted. We convened six groups consisting of 500-plus citizens including the high school students. The Strand complex will contain a movie theatre, venue hall, flex space for dance lessons and foreign language classes. We also will have resident artist residences where various artists can stay, have gallery shows while teaching our youth art classes. We may be most excited about our recording studio where our young folks can record, learn from musicians about the industry and the behind the scene opportunities. I must note here this idea came from a focus group at our Escambia County High School.”

In 2016, while president of the Atmore Are Chamber of Commerce, Gideons said the chamber moved the office to downtown Atmore.

“We joined the downtown community to share in the anticipated revitalization,” Gideons said. “This has been a winning combination. Downtown has begun to flourish. All this was possible with help from innumerable volunteers, donations, business donations and collaboration, but most of all the young entrepreneurs and existing steadfast businesses.”

Currently, we are taking another step forward, he said.

“(This) Friday we make a final presentation to Main Street Alabama to become a designated Main Street community,” Gideons said. “With Main Street comes much direction and many resources. This has been a year long challenge, however worth every hour spent. We had many partners, the city, Pride of Atmore, Atmore chamber, Pepsi and a huge number of volunteers.”

Gideons said a big part of leadership is participating.

“A local leader has to have a complete understanding of what Atmore citizens want, need and enjoy,” he said. “I was humbled being voted Best Community Leader from 2014-2019 by The Atmore Advance. I think this shows it’s not possible to be an effective leader from afar.

“My goal is to bring community to the council so we can all work together for the results we deserve,” he said. “I ask for your consideration and your vote on August 25.”.