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economic
impact and health values of poultry and eggs and to recruit new poultry
industries in Lawrence County. Over 12,000 people attended the festival
in 2005.
The
Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that it has
received a grant of $5515 from the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA),
the state arts agency, for the 2006 Alabama Chicken and Egg Festival.
ASCA
grants are awarded through a multi-faceted competitive review process.
This grant signifies that the Alabama Chicken and Egg Festival provides
programs of artistic quality, serves the needs of the community and
demonstrates high-level administrative standards, as well as enhancing
education of students at all levels.
This
grant awarded by the Alabama State Council on the Arts is made possible
through funding from an annual appropriation from the Alabama State
Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. This public support
enables the Alabama Chicken and Egg festival to reach new audiences,
foster community development, provide the highest quality programming,
and demonstrate the importance of arts as a component for quality of
life in north Alabama.
New
for the 2006 Alabama Chicken and Egg Festival is a live Bantam Chicken
Display by master exhibitor Glen Cryar. On April 8 and 9 at the Lions
Club Fairgrounds in Moulton, attendees will have the opportunity to see
over 100 chickens representing 25 different varieties. One of only four
in Alabama, Mr. Cryar is an American Bantam Association licensed judge
and has been showing chickens for approximately 35 years.
According
to Larry Lang, Chairman of the Live Bantam Chicken Committee,
"Having live chickens at the festival was the #1 request from last
year’s festival. So, this year we have chickens." The live
chickens will be on display in cages under a tent at the fairgrounds.
Attendees will not be allowed to handle any of the birds.
While
there has been an outbreak of avian influenza in the Far East, there is
no reason to be concerned with having live chickens at the festival.
"The state of Alabama is free of avian influenza, and the poultry
industry and state officials are vigilant in preventing this disease
from entering the state," said Donald Conner, Professor & Head,
Department of Poultry Science, Auburn University. "There is no risk
of contracting bird flu from visiting the Alabama Chicken and Egg
Festival."
"The
Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries has strict testing
guidelines for the poultry industry for the purpose of disease
prevention and protection of citizens," explains Ray Hilburn,
Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture and Poultry Programs Director.
"The National Poultry Improvement Plan became operative in 1935
with the objective to provide a cooperative State-Federal program
through which new technology can be effectively applied to the
improvement of poultry and poultry products throughout the country. The
provisions of the Plan establish standards for the evaluation of poultry
breeding stock and hatchery products with respect to freedom from
hatchery disseminated diseases. For an individual flock owner to join
the NPIP, all of their birds used for breeding stock must be tested and
banded. Each flock will be visited one time a year to test any new
breeders and to spot check old breeding stock and other birds on the
farm."
In
addition, the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries is
testing for avian influenza. Five samples per NPIP flock are tested each
time for avian influenza. Furthermore, most commercial broiler flocks
are testing 11 birds per broiler flock before processing. According to
Deputy Commissioner Hilburn, "Counting our state labs and private
labs in 2005 over 100,000 samples were tested for avian influenza from
Alabama poultry. Alabama has a written procedure manual for initial
outbreak of avian influenza whether that occurs in Alabama or another
state in the United States. Our industry operates entirely different
from the poultry industry in the Far East. We feel as though our
biosecurity and safeguards are effective enough to prevent avian
influenza here, but if we do get it that we have programs in place to
control the spread of it. It is very rare that avian influenza passes
from birds direct to humans even in the Far East. The last known case of
avian influenza in Alabama was in 1974 and it was H4N2 type avian
influenza. To my knowledge we have never had the H5N1 strain that has
caused some deaths in the Far East."
Other
activities scheduled for the Alabama Chicken and Egg Festival include:
chicken clucking contest, BBQ chicken cooking contest, motorcycle ride,
beauty pageant, chicken-wing eating contest, hard boiled egg eating
contest, Karaoke for Big Chickens, United Way chicken bowling, gospel
egg-straganza, and the Alabama Farmers Cooperative Agriculture
Photography Contest.
Sponsors
already committed for the 2006 festival consist of Alabama Department of
Agriculture and Industries, Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel,
Alabama Farmers Cooperative, Alabama State Council On The Arts, CBS
Bank, Gold Kist, ALFA, Pepsi Cola, The Citizens Bank, KFC, City of
Moulton, Pilgrim’s Pride, Family Security Credit Union, Southern
Printing, Joe Wheeler EMC, International Paper, Lockheed Martin,
Marshall Durbin, RE/MAX, and Rocket Harley-Davidson. Education Partners
are Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Auburn University Poultry
Science Department, and UAH Engineering Department. Media sponsors
include WAFF Channel 48, WALW 98.3, Moulton Advertiser, WDRM 102.1, and
WTAK.
Festival
organizers are also seeking additional sponsors and arts and crafts and
food vendors to display their goods. Special consideration will be given
to vendors with chicken and egg themed products and food. Sponsors will
be listed on all printed materials, included in the advertising
campaign, and listed on the Chamber’s website. For a sponsorship or
exhibitor package, contact the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce at
(256) 974-1658 or send an email to [email protected].
For general information on the festival, visit www.lawrencealabama.com
and click on the Alabama Chicken and Egg Festival icon or if out of
area call toll free at (800) 974-1658. |
