Inspired by the Project Alabama annual picnic, Natalie, along with photographer Robert Rausch and designer Billy Reid, conceive of a collaborative event called Alabama Adventure Weekend—a three-day celebration of art, music, film, culture, food, and fashion. Events include an expanded picnic, gallery shows, community tours, lectures, coffee and cocktail hours, plus an event at the Shoals Theater featuring famed musician Spooner Oldham and hosted by the Oxford American magazine.
The following year, in collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, renowned chefs Frank Stitt, Scott Peacock, and Martha Foose host a dinner at Robert Rausch’s GAS Design Center. This becomes the first of many dinners in collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, bringing together a long list of James Beard award-winning chefs and The Shoals community.
Learn more about Billy Reid and follow along @billy_reid.
Experience Frank Stitt’s James Beard Award-winning cuisine at his Birmingham, Alabama eateries: Chez Fonfon, Highlands Bar & Grill, Bottega, and Bottega Café.
Learn more about the James Beard Foundation and follow along @beardfoundation.
Learn more about the Oxford American here.
Learn more about Robert Rausch and GAS Design Center here.
Learn more about our beloved Scott Peacock here.
Learn more about the Southern Foodways Alliance here.
Slide 1: Photo and film screening during Alabama Adventure weekend, photographed from the mezzanine at GAS Design Center, 2005, photograph by Robert Rausch
Slide 2: Guests, family, and friends captured during Alabama Adventure Weekend, 2005, photographs by Rinne Allen (hear from Rinne—artist, photographer, inspiration, and friend—here)
Slide 3: Photos hanging inside Fame Studio during Alabama Adventure weekend, 2005
Slide 4: Spinning records during Jay Leavitt’s tour of legendary FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 2005
Slide 5: Still of the historic Forks of Cypress ruins, a nineteenth century cotton plantation outside of Florence, Alabama and destroyed by fire in 1966, GAS Design Center, 2005
Slide 6: Woven shirt by designer Billy Reid, photographed at the flagship’s original location, Pickett Place, Florence, Alabama, 2005
Slide 7: Project Alabama picnic during Alabama Adventure Weekend, 2005
Slide 8: The Hollywood Inn, a favorite “meat and three” among locals, Florence, Alabama, 2005, photograph by Robert Rausch (read an entry on The Kitchen Project to learn more)
Slide 9: Inside the Hollywood Inn at lunch, Florence, Alabama, 2005, photograph by Robert Rausch
Slide 10: Chefs and culinary hosts of a dinner at GAS Design Center during Alabama Adventure Weekend, Tuscumbia, Alabama, 2005, including Josh Quick, Angie Mosier, Johnny Mosier, John T. Edge, Sherry Campbell, Frank Stitt, Pardis Stitt, Scott Peacock, and Steven Satterfield, photograph by Robert Rausch
Slide 11: Dessert preparation for the dinner at GAS Design Center, Alabama Adventure Weekend, Tuscumbia, Alabama, 2005, photograph by Robert Rausch
Slide 12: Pardis Stitt—known, by so many, as the world’s most gracious and lovely host—tending to dinner guests at GAS Design Center, Alabama Adventure Weekend, Tuscumbia, Alabama, 2005, photograph by Robert Rausch
Slide 13: Chefs Steven Satterfield and Scott Peacock, Alabama Adventure Weekend dinner at GAS Design Center, Tuscumbia, Alabama, 2005, photograph by Robert Rausch
Slide 14: Looking down from the mezzanine at GAS Design Center, Tuscumbia, Alabama, 2005, photograph by Robert Rausch
Slide 15: Still of Mick Jagger and famed music journalist Jerry Wexler during the Rolling Stones’ legendary recording session at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in December, 1969 (when they famously recorded the first three tracks from their album Sticky Fingers), photographed at GAS Design Center, Tuscumbia, Alabama, 2005
Slide 16: Jamie Barrier and the The Pine Hill Haints—beloved local bluegrass band which describes their unique sound as “Alabama Ghost Music”—performing at GAS Design Center during Alabama Adventure Weekend, Tuscumbia, Alabama, 2005, photograph by Robert Rausch
Slide 17: Clippings of Alabama Adventure Weekend feature from the local newspaper Times Daily, written by Cathy Wood Myers, 2005, photograph by Robert Rausch