Handy cuisine

Although this week's W.C. Handy Music Festival is all about the music and the man who made it, it's also the chance to sample some of the best food in the Shoals.

From barbecue to fried fish, from lemonade to champagne, food is almost as abundant as music during the festival that honors Florence native Handy, known as the Father of the Blues.

Restaurants offer music midday and at night, churches and nonprofit groups prepare their favorite recipes to raise money, and vendors sell cooling treats during outdoor concerts.

And don't forget the chance to pack your own picnic and enjoy it in a shady spot at a local park while listening to some cool jazz or toe-tapping Southern rock.

Everybody's involved

"The important thing about the Handy festival is the community involvement and the partnership everybody brings," said Nancy Gonce, of Florence, longtime director of the festival. "That includes the food. There's a wonderful variety available. It's the chance for people to sample food from restaurants that they've never tried before."

Handy was born in a log cabin in Florence in 1873. When he was growing up, his family probably ate garden vegetables, chicken and fish, said Selena Harden, assistant curator of the W.C. Handy Home and Museum.

"The Handy family would have eaten food that they raised themselves," she said. "We don't know for sure if they had chickens, but we do know that they had a big orchard."

You can eat similar homestyle cooking during the festival, such as today's fish fry, 1-4 p.m., $6 for dine in or take out, at Greater St. Paul AME Church, 141 S. Cherokee St., Florence -- Handy's home church -- before Handy's Church, the annual standing-room-only performance.

Or, you might try "Blues-N-Bread Pudding," 3-4 p.m. Thursday at the Sheffield Public Library, 316 N. Montgomery Ave., with samples of the signature dessert from Claunch Café in Tuscumbia. Or perhaps you'd like "Mimosas and Music," 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, at Café Le Crumbs, 118 W. Mobile St., Florence, with some of owner Lanette Grace-Langley's New Orleans-style specials such as shrimp and grits, gumbo, muffalettas and-chocolate-chip bread pudding, as well as wine, beer and mimosas.

Grace-Langley also sponsored "Music and Food Fest on North Court Median" on Tuesday evening, with family favorites such as hot dogs, ice cream and brownies as well as fruit tea and sodas.

Honoring the heritage

"I do all this to help honor the heritage of W.C. Handy," she said. "He brought so much to this area, and we're proud of that. It also supports the community and allows people to experience what you're about -- your food and your staff and your service. It allows me to be creative, too."

Another Handy Week tradition music and food fans alike look forward to is Handy's on the Plaza, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday and Friday, on Mobile Plaza in Florence.

There's no charge to wander downtown, sit under a tent, chat with your neighbors and listen to music. But for $7 the day of or $6.50 in advance, you also can enjoy a sack lunch from your choice of local restaurants Bunyan's Bar-B-Que, Jen's Café, Trowbridge's Ice Cream and Sandwich Bar, Old Chicago Café and Rivertown Coffee. Tickets are sold through Downtown Florence Unlimited, 765-0365, or the Handy Festival office, 766-7642.

And there's more. For other eating choices during the rest of the festival, visit the W.C. Handy-Music Festival Web site,-wchandymusicfestival.org.

Cathy Wood Myers can be reached at 740-5733 or cathy.myers@timesdaily.com.