HALEYVILLE - For the first time in over a decade, Haleyville residents, business owners and others with ties to the city have the opportunity to leave their mark on the city - literally.
The City of Haleyville is currently accepting orders for pavers, which will be placed within the sidewalks in downtown Haleyville. The pavers - which are decorative bricks placed in patterns throughout the downtown sidewalks, come in two sizes - 4x8 and 8x8, with 4x8 pavers including three lines of inscribed type and 8x8 pavers including six lines of inscribed type.
The cost for a 4x8 paver will be $100 and the cost for an 8x8 paver will be $150. Pavers can be inscribed in memory or in honor of someone.
While downtown’s sidewalks have numerous pavers already, there is an abundance of room for others to leave a permanent mark on the city by having their names or the names of their loved ones - past and/or present - placed on pavers. For Haleyville City Council Member Blue Russell - who initially brought up the idea of taking more paver orders during a council meeting in late 2022 - the wish to see more pavers is not only philanthropic, but personal.
“Even when my mother and dad (the late George and Mary Russell) were still alive, I liked the idea to leave a legacy. Since they have passed, we elected per their choice to have them cremated. We do not have a cemetery or a tombstone our grandkids and generations to come can look to and say, this was your great-grandparents, etc. We needed something to memorialize them,” Blue said. He plans to have a memorial ledger stone paver placed for his parents.
“It will be something that I will really enjoy. I know the whole family will,” Russell said.
Mayor Ken Sunseri also feels like now is a good time to accept new paver orders.
“I think it’s a tribute to loved ones within our community to memorialize the time they spent here on Earth. I have two pavers, one for my daughter, Jennifer (who passed away in 2009), and one in honor of my father-in-law, James Whitt, who has since passed away,” Sunseri said.
The city must have a minimum of 12 applications in order to place an order with the company that makes the pavers, so the March 31, deadline to turn in an application should provide residents plenty of time.
Sunseri said that the existing pavers need to be re-grouted, and the city is looking for the right company to do that work.
“As long as it has been since we have taken orders, there will be people who want to honor somebody. Honestly, I don’t think we will have a problem f getting 12 orders. I believe we will get more than that,” Blue said.
To place an order, go by Haleyville City Hall Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. to fill out an application and make payment. Checks need to be made payable to the City of Haleyville. Order forms are also available to download from the City of Haleyville’s mayor’s office’s Facebook page. A copy of the order form is included with this article. For more information, call Haleyville City Hall at (205) 486-3121.
Once the order is placed, it is expected to take 5-6 weeks to get the pavers back. Then, the city will have someone come in to install them, with a total expected time frame of two months once the order is placed.
See complete story in the Northwest Alabamian.
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