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UPDATE: Pride of Atmore officials announced today the construction kickoff slated for tonight has been postponed, and will be made up at a later date. Officials said the event has been postponed because of an electrical issue inside of the Old Hardware Store. 

The Pride of Atmore’s construction kickoff wine and spirits tasting at the Old Hardware Store has been postponed.

This is the first event the local organization has held since 2019, and will serve as the kickoff to construction of the Strand Theatre and the hardware store.

Tickets are $10 each, and includes four samples. Bourbon glasses and stemless wine glasses will be available. Cost is $20 for a limit of two refilles, and $40 for a limited edition cup and unlimited refills.

Pride of Atmore Executive Director Foster Kizer said the hope is to begin construction in either June or July.

“We hope to have our bridge loan in place for construction at that time,” Kizer said. “We’re just waiting on the appraisal to come back. We met our initial goal of $3.2 million, but since building materials have gone up 300 percent, we now have to make up the gap.”

Kizer said the new goal is $4.2 million.

“Prices are going up as fast as we can raise the money,” he added. “We met with (Special Projects and Grant Coordinator) Ms. Patty Etheridge from Senator (Tommy) Tuberville’s office (recently) to give her a tour of the buildings and discuss grant and funding opportunities. 

“We have multiple grant applications into several agencies and are hopeful that we will continue to receive positive responses from those requests,” he said. “We continue to ask for support from the Atmore community and encourage everyone to attend our upcoming fundraising events.”

Kizer said the organization wishes to relay that the project is for Atmore and that it is a non-profit. 

“Atmore has been amazing in backing this project, and we would like to extent our heart felt thank you to everyone and hope to inspire everyone to continue their support,” he said. “We realize that it seems that we have been raising funds for years, and it has been four years now. This is the largest nonprofit project in Atmore’s history and it has taken time to raise the necessary funds to make this happen. We are more than anxious to start construction and expect it will take nine months to complete.

“We would also like to remind Atmore that together we can do great things to make our town a better place to live, work and play,” he said.