Riviera Utilities Marks 110 Years With Free Coffee Mornings and Interactive Baldwin County History Map

FOLEY, Ala. — Riviera Utilities is marking 110 years of service in Baldwin County with two customer appreciation events next week and a new interactive history website that maps the utility’s past across the communities it serves.

The anniversary celebration, announced Friday, invites customers to stop by for a free cup of coffee or tea at local coffee shops in Foley and Daphne, while the online experience lets residents explore more than a century of photographs and stories pinned to familiar places around the county.

Customer Appreciation Events: When and Where

Riviera is hosting two morning gatherings where customers can enjoy a complimentary coffee or tea and help celebrate the milestone:

• Foley: 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, at The Drowsy Poet
• Daphne: 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, at Press & Co. in Olde Towne Daphne

The early-morning timing makes it easy for customers to drop in on the way to work or school. The events also serve as the kickoff for Riviera’s broader 110th anniversary celebration and the launch of its new digital history project.

A History Built From Old Photo Albums

The interactive website grew out of a discovery in Riviera’s own archives. According to the utility, the project began with decades-old photo albums filled with pictures and handwritten notes documenting Riviera employees, projects and places across Baldwin County.

Those handwritten notes turned out to be key. They helped identify where many of the photographs had been taken, which allowed Riviera to connect each image to a real location. That work became the foundation for an interactive map linking the utility’s history to the places where it happened.

Since its founding in 1916, Riviera says, it has grown alongside Baldwin County, leaving behind more than a century of history in familiar roads, neighborhoods, businesses and community landmarks.

Handwriting Turned Into a Custom Font

One of the more personal touches of the project comes straight from those old albums. Riviera recreated the handwriting preserved in the archives as a custom font, which is used throughout the website. The result carries an original piece of the utility’s records into the digital experience, so visitors see the past presented in the same hand that first labeled it.

What Visitors Can Explore

The new history website lets users:

• Explore stories pinned to locations across Baldwin County
• Browse archival photographs from Riviera’s collection
• Follow key moments in the utility’s history
• See how familiar places have changed over the past 110 years

For longtime residents, the map may offer a chance to recognize streets, buildings and neighborhoods as they once looked. For newcomers, of whom Baldwin County has many as one of Alabama’s fastest-growing counties, it offers a window into how the area developed before they arrived.

110 Years of Growth in Baldwin County

When Riviera was founded in 1916, Baldwin County was a largely rural, agricultural area. Over the following decades, the expansion of electricity, natural gas, water and sewer service helped make possible the homes, businesses and towns that define the county today.

Utilities often leave a quiet but lasting mark on a region. The lines, pipes and facilities they build shape where neighborhoods can grow and where businesses can locate. Riviera’s anniversary project aims to make that story visible by tying archival photos to specific places residents pass every day.

A Locally Owned, Not-for-Profit Utility

Riviera Utilities is a municipally owned, not-for-profit public utility serving communities throughout Baldwin County. Today it provides:

• Electric service
• Natural gas service
• Water service
• Wastewater service
• Appliance services

Although much has changed since 1916, Riviera says it remains a locally owned, not-for-profit public utility focused on serving its customers and investing in the communities its employees call home.

As a public power and municipal utility, Riviera differs from investor-owned utilities in that it does not answer to outside shareholders. Not-for-profit utilities of this kind generally reinvest revenue into their systems and operations rather than distributing profits.

Part of a Nationwide Public Power Tradition

Riviera is one of many community-owned utilities across the United States. Public power utilities, which are owned by cities, towns and other local government entities, serve communities in nearly every state, ranging from small towns to large cities. They are generally governed locally, which gives the communities they serve a direct stake in how the utility is run.

Many of these utilities were formed in the early 20th century, when electricity was spreading across the country and private companies were not always eager to extend service to smaller or rural communities. Riviera’s founding in 1916 places it within that era of early electrification.

Why Local History Projects Matter

Archival photographs held by long-standing local institutions often capture everyday scenes that were never recorded anywhere else: road construction, line crews at work, early storefronts and neighborhoods before they filled in. By pairing those images with a map, Riviera’s project turns a collection of old albums into a resource that residents, students and history enthusiasts can explore from home.

How to Join the Celebration

Customers who want to take part can stop by The Drowsy Poet in Foley on Tuesday morning or Press & Co. in Olde Towne Daphne on Thursday morning, both from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Residents who cannot make either event can still explore the anniversary through Riviera’s new interactive history website, which the utility is launching as part of the celebration.

For a utility that has been part of Baldwin County life for 110 years, the anniversary is a chance to thank customers and to share the photographs and stories that show how far the county has come.