Fairhope is a charming and unique city nestled on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay that has become a well desired tourist destination so fabulous you want to visit again and again. Nix decided to run for Fairhope City Council to help make Fairhope a better place to live for its citizens. The city's infrastructure was in horrible shape and businesses were leaving the downtown part of Fairhope to mo
ve east on Greeno Road or to the malls of Mobile and Pensacola. Nix decided in order for Fairhope to be a place that businesses wanted to stay in and thrive and if Fairhope was going to be a desired place to live as it once was when the first settlers came for its appeal at the bay area he needed to make some significant changes. Nix became Mayor Nix of Fairhope and remained the Mayor of Fairhope until 2000, seven terms as mayor with the last five terms being unopposed. When Nix decided to retire from the City of Fairhope he left a lasting legacy of beauty that is unmatched by any other city of its size in America. Nix was a businessman and looked at Fairhope with a new set of eyes from its previous leaders. He saw an opportunity to bring Fairhope out of its empty store fronts, poor quality electrical services, dilapidated water and sewer services, improve its city gas department, clean up the overgrown growth of vines, shrubs and trees blocking the bayfront view and fill the city with floral beauty to provide quality of life to Fairhope citizens unlike anything they had known before. He had to work on the infrastructure first, establish a city budget, and get the city in good standing operationally. This was all noticed by the business leaders and citizens who were enjoying clean drinking water for a change from the the reddish-brown water that stained their clothing! Nix worked with local business owners and together with the council, citizens and interested parties they started recreating Fairhope as a place you wanted to live and shop in all of the time. The employees of the City of Fairhope were the most critical part of the Fairhope improvements and Beautification Program Mayor Nix envisioned. Nix made two game changing decisions: to hire a horticulturalist for the City of Fairhope in the early 80's and to restructure an abandoned shopping center turning it into the current City Hall and Civic Center. Fairhope has been a city with hope of being successful from its beginnings with its attraction to people in the arts and crafts industry. Nix helped to enhance the natural beauty of Fairhope and through his leadership gain assistance from local, state and federal help to improve Fairhope year after year. It was through Nix's traveling that he wanted to bring back the best and most unique aspects of quaint towns to Fairhope for its citizens to enjoy on a daily basis. This beautification program Nix established was extremely successful and gained national and international attention. Nix is delighted today in his retirement to sit back and enjoy as the beauty of Fairhope continues to grow. In 1994, Fairhope: 1894-1994 A Pictorial History, was written by literature professor Larry Allums, and it is still available in the local bookstore. Dr. Allums was part of the Fairhope Centennial Steering Committee when this book was being created. In 2004 after Nix's retirement, his oldest daughter, a local artist and educator at Fairhope Middle School, decided to use her talent to tell a visual story of her dad's Beautification Project with the assistance of Suzanne Hudson, a Fairhope Middle School Creative Writing teacher and author. The result was Fairhope Watercolor Sketches. The paperback book was sold for the benefit of the Fairhope Educational Enrichment Foundation's program and to showcase the most significant highlights of Nix's administration. Limited copies are available in the Fairhope Museum of History. In 2010 the film The Utopian Fairhope was produced to showcase the uniqueness of Fairhope and its attraction to locals and visitors alike. Featherhead and Scovil Productions created the film which continues to sell in the local bookstore and Fairhope Museum of History. There is a currently a documentary in the works 2015-2016 by Scovil Productions about Mayor Nix's administration and its importance to Fairhope that will be available in the late spring of 2016. All of this goes to show that Fairhope has been a city of great HOPE in people's lives that live and visit here. Fairhope is the birth place of the Bags of HOPE by Vivi. The artwork on the special bags are from the book Fairhope Watercolor Sketches by Vicky Nix Cook and from the words of Suzanne Hudson. These designs are the beginnings of the line of Bags of HOPE by Vivi. Needless to say, people living in Fairhope and visiting here have big hearts and are willing to help those in need, and these bags will help those children and families in need with proceeds from this project. A special place in Fairhope, In the Company of Angels, owned by Diane Douglas, has been a vital part of inspiring this special, compassionate project of HOPE for the children in need in our area. Thank you to all for your support in getting this launched in 2016.
