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Photo by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Lord Berkley, left, Franklin Flanagan and Jake Weiss attend the grand opening at Velma’s in Trussville on Nov. 16.
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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Guests enjoy the grand opening at Velma’s in Trussville on Nov. 16.
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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Morgan King pours a draft beer.
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Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
A parking lot expansion and patio construction were some of the renovations Royce and Tammy Butler completed in advance of the opening celebrations.
It was midway through the soft opening of Velma’s on Nov. 14. Owner Royce Butler had finally taken a few minutes to eat some barbecue and macaroni and cheese, but then there was a noise behind him.
It might have been a neon light losing electricity. Maybe the Golden Tee arcade game was on the fritz. Perhaps it was a speaker not working properly. Regardless, fixing problems had dominated the last 13 months of Royce Butler and his wife Tammy’s lives, and his attention was caught by another potential issue rearing its head. The noise, however, quickly stopped.
“As we go through this night, we came in with the deepest, darkest unknowns about how this was really going to go tonight,” Royce Butler said during the soft opening, two days before the official opening. “Overall, even though there were days where we doubted that we could get it done even, we’re not quitters. Neither one of us is. We were bound and determined to get it open and make it the best we could for everybody, and I think we achieved that. It feels like it tonight.”
And with that, his all-too-brief break was over and Royce Butler was off to check the dishwasher, dry glasses and speak with the dozens of supporters who came to the reopening of Velma’s, the karaoke bar that previously operated in Trussville from 1938 to 2012.
Velma’s was opened in 1938 by Horace and Velma Willis, who owned the property and business until 1970. For the next few years, Sam and Annie Mae LaSalle owned the property and business. Horace and Dot Simmons bought the property and business from the LaSalles in 1974 and ran the business until the early 1980s, at which point Quinton Woodley leased the property and ran Velma’s until 1995. In 1995, Terry Simmons and Teresa Stryker took over the business. Stryker sold Velma’s in 1997 to Fran Salumn, who ran it until it closed in August 2012.
The Butlers have spent hardly a day away from 1911 Gadsden Highway in Trussville since they signed a lease in October 2022. Weed-eating, a parking lot expansion, patio construction, indoor renovations, painting, electrical work, new equipment and much more have consumed the couple’s lives over the last year. It’s been quite a ride to reopening one of Trussville’s most iconic businesses.
Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Guests enjoy the grand opening at Velma’s in Trussville on Nov. 16.
“We genuinely cared about making this good and not making it over the top,” Royce Butler said. “It’s not Velma’s, but it’s a new Velma’s. The 2.0 thing that everybody loves to throw on something. Looking at [the people here] smile, talking to people they haven’t seen in a long time, that’s what this is about. This is that place again where you can find your friends that you left behind when they closed 11 years ago.”
When Velma’s closed in August 2012, it became Parish Seafood & Oyster House and later SkyBear Confections. In 2022, the Butlers leased the property from Huynh Properties, LLC to reopen it as Velma’s.
“It was definitely the right decision,” Tammy Butler said. “I don’t think I ever doubted that.”
Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
Morgan King pours a draft beer.
She said the cool part about the night was seeing customers smiling when they realized they knew everyone at a table. All the stories she’s heard over the past year from previous owners, she finally got to see for herself.
I think it’s just a little surreal right now. It’s amazing that we’re finally here at this point.
Tammy Butler
“I think it’s just a little surreal right now,” Tammy Butler said. “It’s amazing that we’re finally here at this point.”
The karaoke room was quickly full of old regulars. The stage was backdropped by a large television. The screen was filled with the words, “Welcome Home To Velma’s, Where You Are The Star.”
Amber Clark, who met her husband, Chris, at Velma’s in 2009 while singing karaoke, was the first to sing. She sang “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool” by Barbara Mandrell, a 1981 country song about authenticity and longstanding traditions. It was fitting.
Photos by Erin Nelson Sweeney.
A parking lot expansion and patio construction were some of the renovations Royce and Tammy Butler completed in advance of the opening celebrations.
“This has made my night,” Clark said midway through the song while on stage.
Later, Clark said singing the first song at the Velma’s reopening was “fantastic.”
“It was awesome,” she said. “It was the best feeling in the world. I’ll do it any time they let me. It was great.”
What had become a quiet, dark spot along U.S. 11 is loud and bright again. Even two hours into the soft opening, memories among longtime friends hummed under the vibrating karaoke music. The building is small in square footage by today’s standards but large in recollections, in tradition. It’s meant to be this way.
“I have learned that this was the right idea in two hours,” Royce Butler said. “Just to see the people that are here. Some of them are regulars from before. Just to see them smile and give you the, ‘Hey, this was good.’ The acceptance.”
