A rendering of the new Agriplex expansion show a rustic exterior.

The North Alabama Agriplex received a big financial boost to its plans for expansion on Friday, the same day the Cullman-based nonprofit shared a first look at architectural renderings for the “Community Hub” addition that’s slated for construction at its current site.

Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate visited the Agriplex’s Heritage Center Friday as part of the educational outreach’s holiday open house event, joking that state senator Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) and other local delegates did most of the legwork in bringing forward the $100,000 check he was there to present.

“Garlan is the one who really got y’all the money,” he teased. “I’m just the conduit.” In all, the Agriplex received three separate contributions on Friday: The $100,000 from Pate’s state agency, another $100,000 from the Alabama Mountains, Rivers & Valleys Resource Conservation & Development Council, and an additional $10,000 donation from Stan and Suzanne Wood, owners of Riverwood Farms, to help fund the Agriplex’s Farm Kids and Little Farmers program series as well as other ongoing educational programs.

“If anything, Cullman shows us that food security is national security and that we’ve got to be able, as a country, to feed ourselves,” said Pate. “… Places like the Agriplex help reinforce that message, because people don’t know where their food comes from anymore.”

Agriplex director Rachel Dawsey shared with open house guests a first public look at plans for the Community Hub, a new-construction project for which the center currently is fundraising to help cover the cost of the estimated $2.2 million addition. Renderings showed off both exterior and interior features of the forthcoming facility, which balances an open, modern interior design against a more rustic exterior aimed at complementing the existing historic structures at the Agriplex’s west Cullman property.

When completed, the Community Hub will expand the Agriplex’s instructional space with a new teaching kitchen, as well as adding office space that will be shared between the Agriplex and the Alabama Cooperative Extension service. An outdoor classroom also is planned.