Former Azalea Trail Maid, locals react to movie coming out next year
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — A documentary about Mobile’s Azalea Trail Maids is set to be released next year, and locals are excited for a film to come out that will highlight Mobile’s most prominent ambassadors.
Louisiana-based production company Brown-Bear Productions is producing a documentary called “A Trail Maid.”
The documentary will include first-hand accounts from former Trail Maids.
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Former maid Daelyn Dunagan said she wasn’t aware of the film’s production but is excited for one to showcase the maids.
“I think that, like, if you were a trail maid, we all deserve a movie made about us because it’s such a big part of Mobile’s history,” Dunagan said. “Because I was on the 90th year court and it’s just been such a tradition for our city. I think it’s good to showcase the ambassadors of Mobile.”
The film will tell the story of the city’s longtime ambassadors, including the controversy surrounding their inclusion in President Obama’s inauguration, the “original” decision to exclude the Trail Maids from last year’s Senior Bowl festivities, and the dresses’ design.
“I think the controversy is because a lot of people may be offended by what the dresses stand for because they represent the antebellum times, the Civil War times,” Dunagan said. “And so they automatically assume these dresses stand for a really bad time.”
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Even though the film is expected to highlight controversies, locals say they’re excited for the release.
“I believe that they — like any landmark downtown or in the city, represent the culture that and the history where we started from and remind us that we’ve been through a whole past that leads to now,” Alex Brown, a Mobile resident said. “So maybe we could contemporize them, and but I think keeping them traditional is a way to remind people what we’ve been through and that we can still push through.”
“I’m kind of indifferent about it,” Dylan Brunson, a fellow Mobile resident, said. “Maybe it’ll be educational. Maybe I’ll learn something from it.”
We reached out to the film’s executive producer for a release date, and she said one has not been determined yet.
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