December 2024 | Volume 18 | Issue 2
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
RECORD HIGH GOLD PRICES
Cummings JEWELRY DESIGN
205-298-9144 THE 280 CORRIDOR’S COMMUNITY NEWS SOURCE 280LIVING.COM | STARNESMEDIA.COM
SERVING THE 280 CORRIDOR, HOMEWOOD, HOOVER, MOUNTAIN BROOK, TRUSSVILLE AND VESTAVIA HILLS
3166 Heights Village, 35243 Vestavia Hills/Cahaba Heights
cummingsjewelrydesign.com
Now is the time to sell!
OFF THE FIELD AND
INTO THE FIRE Chelsea softball player hired as Mountain Brook’s first female firefighter in over 10 years By SAVANNAH SCHMIDT “I’m just gonna go for it” is an unlikely phrase to come to mind when confronted with the danger of fighting fires. However, 22-year-old Brooke Burback’s words encapsulate the intelligence, fearlessness and strength needed to become the first female firefighter in Mountain Brook in over 10 years. Born and raised in Chelsea, young Burback was enamored by her father’s childhood wish to become a firefighter. “We used to be so nosy,” Burback laughed, remembering how she and her father drove behind fire engines to watch them work. “I remember knowing everyone in Chelsea. It was a very small town feel,” Burback said. “I spent my whole life playing sports, always outside, always working hard,” she added. “During Christmas break, I would go to the batting cages in Chelsea at midnight with my dad.
See BURBACK | page A24
Brooke Burback completes a search-and-rescue exercise at the Over the Mountain Regional Training Center in Mountain Brook on Oct. 1. Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
One last Christmas for trees at Lloyd’s lot By EMILY REED Every Christmas for the last 27 years, Chelsea resident Eric Turner has made the drive up U.S. 280 to the lot next to the now-closed Lloyd’s Restaurant to buy his Christmas trees. “For me, it is important to know the people I buy things from,” Turner said. “When my family moved to Chelsea years ago, we needed a Christmas tree, and we stopped by the Christmas tree
The Lloyd’s Restaurant tree lot on U.S. 280 is the last stop for Bobby D’s Christmas trees after a long journey from their roots in Boone, North Carolina. Photo courtesy of Bobby D’s Christmas Trees.
lot at the old Lloyd’s Restaurant on 280, and that is how it all started.” Turner has been buying his family’s Christmas tree from Bobby D’s Christmas Tree lot since 1997. “We became friends with the Daniels family and just really liked them,” Turner said.
INSIDE
See TREES | page A26 Sponsors.......................... A4 City.................................... A6
Schoolhouse.................... A8 Business.......................... A12
Real Estate.....................A16 Events..............................A18
Sports............................... B4 Community.....................B10 facebook.com/280living
Christmas Critters
Game Time
A Critter Filled Christmas returns to Oak Mountain State Park for a second year.
280 area high school basketball teams gear up for new season.
See page A18
See pages B4-B6