Former Climax Mayor Gene Dunlap, a charter member of the Climax Community Club, which hosts the Swine Time festival the Saturday after thanksgiving each year, and a Realtor with Dehildren Realty, talked to the Bainbridge Lions Club Wednesday about his days as a small town mayor and the Decatur County real estate outlook.

“Festivals like Swine Time are very important in small communities. They help keep them together,” he said. “Currently on the Swine Time grounds, there is the old train depot where the city offices are housed and the old rural voting district precinct buildings.”

The reason small town festivals like Swine Time have prospered through the years is that people from many different walks of life who live there have stepped up and done their part through the years, Dunlap said. Climax also has a very active volunteer fire department.

Turning to the county’s real estate market, Dunlap said that it continues to fluctuate between a buyers market and a sellers market.

“Farm land and housing are up some months and down some months,” he said. “Right now it is difficult to sell a home for what the owner paid for it. Farmland is selling for a pretty descent price right now.

“In conclusion, I would just like to leave you with a thought that I try to live my life by. It is amazing all the things people can accomplish if they don’t care who gets the credit for it.”