by Amanda E. West | Jun 11, 2026 | Cover, Shelbyville
“DO YOU want fries with that?” was a question Mike and Holly Rittenberry frequently asked customers while working at the McDonald’s on Madison Street during the early 1980s. What began as a friendship escalated into a marriage that has withstood the test of time — 40...
by Amanda E. West | Jun 11, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
“When your pawpaw, Willie B. Davis, was younger, he used to make moonshine.” Michelle leaned closer, looking puzzled. “Are you serious, Nanny?” “Back in them days, ‘fore he worked at the highway department here in Bedford County, your pawpaw was what they used to call...
by Amanda E. West | Jun 11, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
TOWERING TREES hugged both sides of the narrow driveway as gravel crunched beneath the tires of my minivan. Each time I traveled Old Nashville Dirt Road, I had admired this two-story farmhouse with its wraparound porch and brick chimney poking through the center of...
by Amanda E. West | Jun 11, 2026 | Shelbyville, Stories
ON MAY 9, the aroma of fish fillets and hushpuppies sizzled and crackled inside deep fryers. Children played tag on the freshly manicured lawn. Others smiled joyfully as they gathered new friends at the petting zoo, enjoyed the bounce house, and had their faces...
by Amanda E. West | May 14, 2026 | Feature, Shelbyville
IN 1997, Susan Haynes had spent a decade working for Union Planters Bank, and though her husband, Andy, had a dependable job, one question kept circling inside his brain — “What if I started my own business?” “When Andy approached me in 1997 with the desire to go...
