If you’ve been paying attention to the goings on around town for the last several months the chances are you’ve seen the handiwork of a new group dedicated to improving the quality of life in our community — The Old Town Bay Minette Arts Council.

It was created by seven local women last spring and its impact in that brief span has only been outpaced by the positive response from people interested in seeing our downtown returned to a former glory. The group has been responsible for a myriad of events including Market Days in Blackburn Park, a Community Yard Sale and Candy Cane Christmas in Rex Courtyard. Now that initial group of seven has grown to include more than 30 members, each bringing their unique talents, creativity and perspective to the group.

Today I’m going to shine a spotlight on one of those new members, Nadine Schram. She has already been busy at work giving of her time to help promote Market Day and community yard sales and her enthusiastic creativity is a real benefit to the group. Her art form is children’s clothing. She makes children’s play clothes as well as a few for more formal dress. She has been sewing for 46 years but initially developed the children’s clothes as a hobby once her two granddaughters were born. That hobby sprang into a full-blown creative outlet.

Having sewn for so many years, Schram brings that experience and expertise to each of her creations. Her focus is principally on summer clothing, but she creates a few Christmas items as well. Schram said she enjoys making children’s clothing because it allows her to exercise a greater creativity in terms of color and pattern selection than you’d normally find in adult clothing lines. She added that she is especially fond of bright colors, which are perfect for children’s summer wear.

Living in Stapleton for the past five years, Schram says she truly enjoys the beauty of country living and the inspiration of the surrounding landscape. “There isn’t an inch that doesn’t have flowers,” she said of the property she now calls home. Needless to say, flowers are another passion for Schram. She is especially fond of daylilies. “People don’t realize how many varieties of daylilies there are.” Her favorites include ruffled daylilies and spider daylilies and she believes a house is not a home until there are flowers around and in them.

Schram joined the Arts Council after reading about it in the newspaper. She contacted founding member Judy Pimperl who told her all about the group. Liking the ideas that she heard, Schram decided to attend the first group membership meeting this summer and met quite a few people with similar interests and a love of the arts and creative focus. She decided to become a member in order to have an outlet for her particular creativity and to help make her husband’s hometown an even better place to call home.

“I put everything into something I feel passionate about,” Schram added. Even though her grandchildren are now grown, her passion for sewing hasn’t ebbed. She continues to makes her unique and colorful creations for others. “If someone wants something done, I can do it,” she added. She has quite the set up too, including four sewing machines, a serger and a monogram embroidery machine, which gives you some idea of how seriously she approaches her passion for sewing.

If you have a passion for the arts and what it can do for your community and want to be a part of this dynamic group, then join us for the next general membership meeting of the Old Town Bay Minette Arts Council on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 5:30 p.m. in the program room of the Bay Minette Public Library. For more information, call Judy Pimperl at 937-3572.

In other business, the North Baldwin Literacy Council is having a salad luncheon TODAY Friday, Aug. 16 from 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church. Plates are $6 per person and include salad, bread, dessert and a drink. To make it even easier for you, carry out plates are available.

Joanna Bailey is the director of the Bay Minette Public Library. She can be reached at baileyvolumes@gmail.com