(SPANISH FORT, Ala.) While dropping the MoonPie ushers in the New Year in Mobile, it's black-eyed peas and turnip greens that make sure things get started on the right foot.
"It's just the kind of food you're looking forward to when you get up a little bit slower-moving, typically on New Year's Day," Blue Gill Restaurant General Manager Jeff Bacon said.
It seems turnip greens, a symbol of good fortune, has been a side of choice for Mobile City Leaders throughout 2012 as 2013 and beyond look very promising for The Port City.
In July, Mobile solidified its union with Airbus-EADS bringing to Brookley Aeroplex a new airline assembly plant and future Airbus suppliers like Safran.
The construction of a multi-million dollar intermodal container transfer facility will soon be the best friend of Airbus and other Alabama companies. The facility, half of which was funded by federal grant money, is expected to make Mobile a transnational shipping powerhouse.
Officials with Austal announced in December they will have several years of solid backlog after snagging a billion-dollar, ten-ship contract with the U.S. Navy.
Other noteworthy events affecting the new year include Congress passing the Restore Act, promising billions of dollars in BP fines to the Gulf Coast for economic development, and the reopening of the Michigan Avenue Bridge.
"It's really cool seeing my hometown blossom and flourish when so many other parts of the country you just hear sad stories," Bacon said. "Things around Mobile are on the up and up."
Bacon said he hopes for the continued success of the Blue Gill Restaurant, and resolves to drop a few pounds in the new year. But not before a few helpings of turnip greens for Mobile's Cruise Terminal in 2013.
"For us, here on the causeway, the cruise ship coming back would be one of the coolest things," Bacon said.
