In my three years of covering news for Franklin County, I have come to realize that when the city of Red Bay sets out to accomplish something, they set the bar high and usually exceed those already high expectations.

The upcoming Smithsonian Institute exhibit that will be housed in the city for six weeks is no exception.

When the project was first announced in October 2012, Thomas Bryant, with the Alabama Humanities Foundation, said the city would have a lot of work ahead of them to make this project a success, and the citizens gathered at that meeting took him seriously.

They could have coasted through the past 10 months and only completed the bare minimum in preparation for the exhibit, but it was evident at Wednesday’s large planning meeting that “the bare minimum” was the farthest thing from the minds of the volunteers.

In addition to the actual Smithsonian exhibit, there will be multiple exhibits organized by city residents that will showcase Red Bay itself, from the city’s business background to town history and church history and everything in between.

Sitting in the meeting and listening to all the ideas, I couldn’t help but be impressed with the creativity that went into planning for the project, and I found myself getting excited for when the exhibit would actually be here.

Red Bay is one of only six towns in the state selected to house this prestigious exhibit, and it’s little wonder why. They have gone far above and beyond what was necessary to make this project possible, and I dare say the other five towns will have pretty big shoes to fill when the exhibit comes their way.

This is a great opportunity for this area and something that doesn’t come around everyday, and the volunteers helping with this project, namely event coordinator Rosalyn Fabianke, are to be commended for making the most of this chance to shine.

The exhibit, which is discussed in detail in today’s issue of the Franklin County Times, will officially open on Sept. 14 and will be open on weekdays through Oct. 25.

Let me encourage all of our readers to mark these dates in your calendars because this is something that you definitely will not want to miss.