By J.R. Tidwell / Editor

The Chilton County Chamber of Commerce will be hosting two big events coming up soon.

The first will be the Chamber fall supper, which will take place on Oct. 25 from 6 p.m. to about 9 p.m.

The supper will be set up on the lawn of the house next door to the Chamber office, located at 500 Fifth Ave. N in Clanton.

“This is a new event for the Chamber,” said director Francine Wasden. “I am excited about hosting that here in Chilton County. We have been blessed to be able to use the lawn next door, which I understand was the Moore house, which the city now owns. We are going to put our tables out front. We are going to have a trailer for our stage. Hopefully, if the weather cooperates, we will have a good turnout.”

Tickets are $25 per person, and while the event is open to the public, the event is meant to be a good opportunity for adult members of the Chamber and prospective members to be able to get together and network.

“We want people to come and enjoy the evening and networking with others, mixing and mingling,” Wasden said. “We have some door prizes. It will be a fun night, nice night for the adults to get to come together. With it being a work night, most people can come and enjoy the night and be home at a reasonable hour. We wanted to keep the tickets reasonable. It’s not a moneymaker for the Chamber; it’s for our members and prospective members to have a chance to come together and talk about their businesses and what’s going on in their world.”

The event will be catered by Wintzell’s Oyster House and include live music.

“Walon Smith of Cotton Bird and a friend of his will be performing,” Wasden said. “We will have a great meal: low country boil (which is traditionally made with shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes), oysters, bread pudding for dessert and Conecuh Sausage and roasted peanuts as an appetizer. I want to thank Walmart, Conecuh Sausage, all of our board members helping to sell these tickets and promote the Chamber, the City of Clanton and Sally Wall and her team for getting the area ready for us.”

The next event the Chamber of Commerce will be hosting is the annual Trick or Treat the Streets on Halloween night (Oct. 31) from 5 to 7 p.m.

The event will be set up in the area near city hall and the courthouse in Clanton.

“I think this is our fourth year doing it,” Wasden said. “I want to remind everyone that the streets will be blocked off for Trick or Treat the Streets. We will have the same route as we have had in the past. It will culminate at the stage, which will be across from city hall and the courthouse. There’s where we will have our DJ. Alabama Power Service Organization will have a group there helping with the costume contest. We will have a bounce zone. It is a good, safe way to bring your kids out to trick or treat. We want to keep our kids safe and happy and healthy.”

It is $10 for vendors to register for the event but free to all trick or treaters.

“We have already had 45-50 local businesses and churches that have stepped up to the plate that said they love this event and that want to set up a table and pass out candy,” Wasden said. “October is a busy month for the Chamber, but it has been fun.”

The costume contest will begin with signups at 5:30 p.m. There will be three age groups in the judging: newborns to 4 years, 5 years to 8 years and 9 years to 12 years old.

“I would ask that people not come and park their car and leave it in the area until they come back that night,” Wasden said. “We want our kids to have plenty of space to walk around. We have groups that have been gracious enough to sign up to come pass out candy to the kids, and we want them to be able to come set up along the sidewalk. If they are going between cars that are parked at an angle there, it makes things more difficult. I encourage people to park behind city hall or somewhere off of that area to keep the kids safe.”

While children are trick or treating, parents and adults will have the opportunity to take a historical tour of Clanton Cemetery

“Billy Singleton is in charge of that,” Wasden said. “The drama team from Chilton County High School is going to come out and talk about some notable people buried there. The tour will last about 40 minutes, and it will make its way around the cemetery. If it is a cool night, we’ll have some hot chocolate available. This will be something we hope the parents can do. I think that will be a nice night for that. That will be from 5 to 7 p.m.”