CULLMAN, Ala. – The North Alabama Agriplex is moving closer to the completion of its new Community Hub, which it began raising funds for in late 2022 and broke ground on this year.
Director Rachel Dawsey said February 2026 is the target move-in date for the 8,525 square-foot facility that will feature a fully equipped teaching kitchen and workspace shared with the Cullman County Extension Office, the North Alabama Agriplex and farm technical assistance providers. The Community Hub is located on the Agriplex’s current property in Cullman just off U.S. Highway 278 and Interstate 65.
“The windows and door frames, as well as internal walls will be the next to be installed,” Dawsey said. “We are out of space at our current facility. We host over 6,000 on-site participants annually and are limited to one field trip or scheduled program at a time. This expansion will allow us to host multiple events simultaneously.”
Dawsey said there is just $200,000 to go to reach the Capital Campaign funding goal for the project.
“Our Capital Campaign started at $2.3 million and due to the raised construction costs, we had to bump up to $3.2 million,” Dawsey said. “The Community Hub will be adjacent to our current John T. Williamson Heritage Center, with a sidewalk connecting the two facilities. We will still utilize our current facility for programming.”
Dawsey said the teaching kitchen will be one-third of the building. One-third will be Agriplex offices and the last third will be the Cullman County Extension Office for regional agents. The Agriplex will also be home to 4-H and the Cullman County Master Gardeners.
“We will also teach garden-to-table programming and do not have a proper kitchen space,” Dawsey said. “The new kitchen will have four wall ovens, a dishwasher, a washer and dryer for linens and actual kitchen work stations for kids and all ages to prepare fresh food to eat. Also, having the Extension staff on campus will allow us both to expand our programming and outreach to the community. We hope to offer more field trips, cooking classes, nutrition and diabetic education classes. We can host workshops on topics like breads from around the world, canning and preservation, ServSafe and so much more in the new kitchen facility. We will also teach value-added product classes and Cottage Food Law classes in partnership with Extension for our growers and farmers. The teaching kitchen space will be multipurpose and able to hold workshops and classes on all topics not just kitchen related.”
Dawsey expressed her appreciation to all the donors who have made this project possible.
To get more information and updates on the project, visit www.agriplex.org/WPtest/capital-campaign.
