Next week, your Demopolis Times will introduce a new magazine – the second one in as many months.

Titled “Two Rivers Magazine,” it was developed by the Times staff to aid in the county’s tourism efforts.

As with most any publication here at the Times, copies will be made available to our subscribers. However, Two Rivers Magazine has a much broader audience.

As you read this, several thousand additional copies are on their way to the Alabama Department of Tourism, where they will then be placed at Welcome Centers around the state.

Think back to your vacations. I’m sure most of you have stopped to use the restroom and flipped through the selection of literature while you were at one of these centers.

You’ll find pamphlets about Dothan’s Peanut Festival, Clanton’s Peach Festival, the Blueberry Festival in Brewton, Foley’s Tanger Outlet Mall and a host of other local attractions.

Now, Demopolis and Marengo County will sit alongside those rest stop staples.

This county’s tourism is a great unknown to many people. Other than the several thousands people Christmas on the River attracts each year, many don’t see Marengo County as a tourism destination. I can assure you, if you check the books at Foscue Park, you’d be surprised.

The baseball tournament that’s had the SportsPlex hopping this month is another example and the list of conventions and drop in visitors that dot hotel reservation logs and chamber calendars is long.

As you flip through the pages of Two Rivers, we hope you will find the stories of our friends and neighbors entertaining.

The stories about our events and attractions you may already be well familiar with, but we also hope in those words you find a small piece of new information.

The staff here – including our adopted staff member, Michael Clements – has worked hard to make sure that this publication is a positive reflection of our community when the thousands of travelers across the state begin to thumb through its pages.

Michael’s photography goes a long way in showcasing the things that are great in our community. His cover shot – which I will not reveal here – will instantly be recognized by those of us who are familiar with the area, but it’s powerful enough to draw your attention to the magazine.

I expect Two Rivers to quickly climb the ladder as a popular pickup item in our state’s Welcome Centers.

It’s 20 pages of some of the best people and best events that this state has to offer. Who would want to miss out on that?

I hope you enjoy reading it and may it be just another contribution to those who work to bring tourists and industry to our little neck of the woods.