“We’re building a new station for the future,” said Dan Hopkins, fire chief of the Hollis Crossroads Emergency Services District.
“We’ll have the opportunity to have bedrooms in case we one day become a paid
volunteer fire department, and someday
maybe have an ambulance in-house.”
The new station will cost $1.3 million dollars,
to be paid for by a combination of financing,
the department’s already successful haunted chicken house and annual Rajun Cajun
Festivals, should the first event go well.
in $5,000, and last year we took in more than
$100,000,” said Hopkins, noting that the
event is a Cleburne County tourist attraction
that has pulled in up to 10,000 visitors.
The new building is a massive project to
take on for a department that only pulls in
$24,000 per year in government funding
thanks to its volunteer status, according to
Hopkins, an amount which leaves nothing
to repairs or purchases after building insurance, utilities and fuel costs are paid.
Moving to a new location will pull the nearby communities of
The festival will feature Hicks headlining,
Abel and Five Points
along with performances by Buck Wild,
into a five-mile radius
Young Sullivan, Joshua Travis Band and Ryan around the new station, which will lower
Robertson Band, local Alabama bands that
insurance rates thanks
represent rock and country stylings that will
to the closer proximity to emergency sersupport Hicks’ blues and rock style.
vices, and also keep
emergency vehicles
The festival will feature Hicks headlining,
from having to rush onto the intersection
along with performances by Buck Wild,
of Highway 431 and State Route 9, which is
Young Sullivan, Joshua Travis Band and Ryan
a dangerous location to approach at high
Robertson Band, local Alabama bands that
speed, says Hopkins.
represent rock and country stylings that will
Pre-sales have already started for the event,
support Hicks’ blues and rock style. There will
which has brought the attention of Taylor
also be a range of foods, including boiled
Hicks fans from across the Southeast to the
peanuts, barbecue and cajun delicacies like
festival, according to Hopkins, including fans
gator on a stick.
who say that they’ve seen Hicks perform
Hopkins is banking on the experience from
more than 150 times over the eight years
bringing the haunted