By Scott Mims

Chilton County Commissioners and other leaders will have the opportunity to meet CEOs of several Scandinavian companies next month when Chilton County hosts a trade mission.
The businessmen plan to stay in Clanton from Oct. 13-15, leading up to the Thorsby Swedish Festival on Saturday, Oct. 16. They will attend the festival as well.
During their time here, the CEOs will look at property for the potential expansion of new industry.
“We’re looking for 10 to 12 companies. We’ve already got five confirmed,” said Tracia Bussey, chairwoman of the Thorsby Swedish Fest Committee and board member with CAWACO Resource Conservation and Development.
Bussey extended an invitation to commissioners during Monday morning’s regular meeting. She said participants would get to see a presentation of industry and technology the companies could bring to the area.
In a similar venture, she said, five companies came to the U.S. in 2009 to look at potential property in the Southeast, and one located to Louisiana.
“We thought if we could bring them in and concentrate their attention here–if we could get just one company it would open the door for others,” Bussey said.
Bussey is also a board member of the Scandinavian-American Economic Development Alliance, which has been successful in getting green tech companies to locate in other states.
The effort is sponsored by CAWACO and is being funded through sponsorships and donations, Bussey added.
In other business, Tax Assessor Rex Cleckler submitted a contract from The Atlantic Group for updated aerial photography of the county to be done this winter.
“It’s something that the state requires to be done,” Cleckler said, adding that money was available in the department’s budget.
Because the item was not subject to bid, the commission voted to go ahead and approve the contract.
The commission also:
•Voted to hire Chris Moore as chief appraiser at the request of Cleckler
•Voted to fill the position of personal property appraiser, after the retirement of Lynn White, at the request of Cleckler
•Allowed the hiring of an employee to fill a vacant slot in the Tax Collector’s Office at the request of Tax Collector Tim Little
•Voted 4-3 to fill a vacancy in the commission office as requested by Administrator Vanessa Hendrick (Allen Caton, Red Turnipseed, Bobby Agee and Tim Mims voted in approval)
•Entered into a contract with the Shelby County Detention Center for the housing of juvenile offenders.

By Mike Kelley

Working on the newspaper story for Thorsby’s first Swedish Festival in 1988, I was surprised when I received a call from one of the town’s first residents, M.Z. Thorson.

Mr. Thorson had heard about Thorsby’s plan to celebrate its Swedish heritage and called offering his editorial support.

Mr. Thorson shared with our readers his personal account of how his father and others moved to what became Thorsby in 1895. The Thorson family moved from Thorsby in 1910, and M.Z. Thorson went on to make his fortune in the paint manufacturing above the Mason-Dixon Line.

It is hard to believe 20 years have passed, but the town of Thorsby will celebrate its 21st Swedish Festival on Oct. 17 at Richard Wood Park. Festival events include beauty pageants (Monday and Tuesday, October 5-6 at Thorsby High School), a parade, arts and crafts, car show, area singing groups and much—more all on Oct. 17.

Mark your calendars now. The Swedish Festival will be a good way to spend a fall day.

– Mike Kelley is publisher of The North Chilton Advertiser. You can reach him at mike.kelley

@northchiltonadvertiser.com.

By Justin Averette

The town of Thorsby was featured Aug. 20 in a large Swedish newspaper.

The Nya Wermlands-Tidningent, which has a readership of more than 150,000, highlighted Thorsby’s history and hopes for the future.

Thorsby officials met with Per-Erik Person, a representative from the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, in July about ways to strengthen business and cultural ties with its ancestral homeland.

“I’m really excited that this much interest is being stirred up and about all the possibilities this is presenting,” said Tracia Bussey, a member of the U.S. Swedish Chamber of Commerce. She also coordinates the Swedish Festival.

The article detailed Thorsby’s history and what the town is like today. The story also talked about the Swedish Festival in October and the town’s efforts to start a sister city relationship with Torsby, Sweden. Bussey and Mayor Dearl Hilyer are also mentioned.

 Another Swedish publication, a business journal, is scheduled to run an article about Thorsby on Sept. 15.

Torsby leaders are researching the city sister relations and hope to be contacting town leaders soon, Bussey said.

Thorsby was founded around the turn of the century by Scandinavian immigrants who had originally settled in the North but came south looking for a milder climate and good soil, from the town’s Web site.

Thorsby also hopes to host some Swedish leaders and families during its festival in October.

One of those earliest settlers was Theodore T. Thorson, for whom the town was eventually named.