With the promise of a new industry in Franklin County comes the undeniable truth that our corner of Alabama is continuing to grow and flourish.

We celebrate with Red Bay city officials, Franklin County officials and Girard Systems the decision to locate Girard’s newest location in the West Franklin Regional Industrial Park. According to its website, Girard was the first in the RV industry to develop a motorized lateral arm retractable awning. The industry has been a custom awning manufacturer for the RV and Specialty Vehicle Industry since 1996, creating automatic patio awnings, door awnings, window awnings and slide awnings and boasting a management team and product engineers that are constantly working to provide the latest and greatest innovative shade and electronic control products.

Tiffin Motorhomes uses Girard exclusively for its awning needs, so a location for the industry in this area just makes good sense. The motorhome business is a hallmark of Franklin County, an industry that continues to thrive and provide numerous jobs, so having another aspect of motorhome production here is certainly positive news for our communities.

As Red Bay Councilman Brad Bolton explained at Girard’s groundbreaking last week, there are still approximately 40 acres available in the West Franklin Regional Industrial Park, located off Highway 24, where other industries can set up shop.

We can hope that means more good news for Franklin County in the future.

Growth often spurs more growth, and Girard being the first industry to call the West Franklin park home is likely to draw attention from other industries looking for a place to put down roots.

Welcome, Girard Systems, to Franklin County. We’re glad you’re here.