Alabama public power utility Riviera Utilities is celebrating 110 years of service this year through a campaign that will not only tell the utility’s story, but also the story of the communities it serves.
"110 years of Riviera Utilities serving South Baldwin County communities – this record makes all of our employees proud. The Riviera team looks forward to supporting record growth as our communities continue to expand and thrive," said Brian Skelton, CEO and President of Riviera Utilities.
“Last month, we kicked off an anniversary campaign for Riviera Utilities with a seemingly understated get-together for employees. We gave out hats, handed out patriotic popsicles, and gathered to talk about what 110 years of service means to the people who keep that legacy going every day,” noted Lily Jackson, Communications Coordinator for the utility in a recent LinkedIn post.
The United States celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2026, while Riviera Utilities celebrates its 110th. “Put another way: Riviera has been serving this community for 44% of our country’s history,” Jackson noted.
To commemorate these anniversaries, utility staff were given ballcaps embroidered with 110/250.
“The hats sparked conversations with customers and community members about Riviera’s history, and they gave our employees something tangible to wear that represented the generations of people who built this system before us,” Jackson noted.
The employee kickoff with the hats and popsicles was just the beginning. “We want the anniversary to be less about simply saying, ‘We've been here for 110 years," and more about giving people some perspective on what those 110 years actually looked like for Riviera and for Baldwin County,” she told Public Power Current.
On social media, “we'll be digging into our archives throughout the year with vintage photo collections, then-and-now comparisons, and stories told by current Riviera employees using historic photos as the starting point. We have a surprisingly extensive photo archive, so we're really excited to bring some of those images and stories back to life,” she said.
For some of the larger public-facing pieces, the utility is planning anniversary activities around Public Power Week in October.
The goal “is to take some of that history off the page and out into the communities we serve.”
The utility is envisioning opportunities for community members to see historic photos, compare familiar places then and now, hear stories from employees and retirees, and connect Riviera's 110-year history to the places they recognize today.
