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By J.R. TIDWELL / Editor

People in Chilton County who are looking for a place to hold a special event may not have to go very far to find the right place.

The Back Forty event venue officially opened for business with a grand opening Oct. 11. The Chilton County Chamber of Commerce was on hand to hold a ribbon cutting in honor of the venue opening up.

The property includes a nice, big barn sitting in the middle of 40 acres.

“We can do anything here,” said Trent Martin, who co-owns the venue with his wife Cindy. “We can do indoors or outdoors. We have a patio on either side where we can fit 50 to 60. We can accommodate birthday parties, gender reveals, board meetings, whatever you need. We have already had one of each of them. We have a banquet area where we can do balls and proms.

“I have a military ball booked in November from Marion Military Institute. We have two big weddings booked that will be 250-plus people. Any big event people want, we can accommodate.”

The Martins said they had the idea to build an event venue after being a part of several weddings themselves.

“We have married three children, and then we got married,” Trent said. “We realized how much we had invested in that. We had bought this property several years ago and decided we would build a barn. From there it wound up getting bigger and bigger and bigger until it was what you see now.”

The Back Forty began taking shape last fall in September when the first dirt was moved.

“We were right at a year,” Trent said. “We drew the initial layout one night on a napkin. We went from that to architect drawings.”

The Back Forty sits a little over a mile from Exit 212 on Interstate 65 at 611 County Road 448. The venue offers many amenities and has a seating capacity of 300.

“We have been all over the state of Alabama and then some looking at different venues,” said the Martins. “We wanted to be able to accommodate handicapped and elderly people. We made sure we have indoor bathrooms that are all handicap accessible. Everything is heated and cooled. We have dressing rooms inside the actual venue itself for the bride and groom. They have their own suites.

“We have a catering kitchen and a master suite upstairs that is 1,600 square feet. We have a two-person walk in shower. The way we do our weddings, they can use this place as much or as little as they want. They can have it from Thursday through Sunday, and if they need to stay out here they can.”

One major feature of The Back Forty is its location in Clanton. Prospective clients have another option right here in Chilton County to hold these types of events.

The Martins have also made sure to keep other aspects local as well.

“We started asking vendors if they would be interested before the venue was finished,” Cindy said. “We told them it wasn’t your ordinary barn and it would appeal to a lot of people. The DJ and photographer are local.”

“We try to use everybody here locally,” Trent said. “Neighborhood Grill is one of our main ones.”

The Martins did not have to wait long after the grand opening to host an event at The Back Forty.

“We got to do our very first wedding the next day, which happened to be my father-in-law,” Trent said. “It was great. He is 79 years old, and his wife is 78. They got to have the first wedding, so we christened it with family.”

For more information on The Back Forty, look up the venue by name on Facebook and Instagram or call 205-217-0446.