Well Good morning my Fort Payne Main Street family and friends, all I really have to say is “for the love of Pete!”

Fort Payne Main Street’s first annual Pete the Cat Day and festival was an absolute groovy success! This week’s article will be all about who made it happen so here goes and I hope I can get everyone in. I have to start with Pete and his best friend James Dean, what a cool and groovy guy to come back to his home town and spend the day with us and show his love for Fort Payne, and the kids he loves so much. I have to give props to Lynn Brewer for coming up with Pete the Cat Day. It is a great way of honoring Pete and his creator James Dean and of course Main Street was happy to sponsor it.

The first Pete the Cat day was truly a community effort from our very first meetings to the final product. It was a Fort Payne Main Street project which the committee included Connie Fuller, Lynn Brewer, Darlene Rotch, Jennifer McCurdy, Sharon Barnes, Steve Malcolm, and yours truly but along beside us was The Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce, DeKalb Tourism, Fort Payne City which includes the mayor and city council, Fort Payne Police Department, Tim Williams and his team, Buck Keef and his crew for placing the star and Buck showing up early on Saturday morning for an electrical emergency, Governor Kay Ivey for her proclamation recognizing James Dean and his best friend Pete. Fort Payne Main Street is very pleased and excited about Pete’s Alley, the big Pete prints and our awesome downtown map that just brings downtown all together.

Any event like this cannot be pulled off without a huge volunteer effort, Val Barnes sent us some Fort Payne High School Key Club members, The Lions club, The Rotary Club, Bobby Ledbetter, Chick-fil-A, Wal-Mart vision center, Kids and Kin, DeKalb County Library, Help Me Grow Alabama, Dr. Steve Brewer, Marcie Davis and Lindy Vizzinia for their help with art in the park, Sonya Maynard for her Coal and Iron Building, Addie Kate’s, Katherine’s Framing, Ben Everett and his groovy VW bus, Fort Payne Fire Department and a big thank you to John and the Accel Graphics team. The first annual Pete the Cat Day was one cool day with one cool cat!