The numbers speak for themselves.

In the roughly 14 months since the U.S. Department of Commerce tapped southwest Alabama as one of its 12 designated manufacturing communities, the eight-county region has announced the creation of 860 new jobs via 23 new and expanding capital investment projects totaling $860 million.

"Southwest Alabama is a model of everything this program is about," Chris Masingill, federal co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, told a small crowd Wednesday gathered at the AIDT Maritime Training Center in Mobile.

In its first outing, the government-backed initiative known as the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership attracted some 70 applicants from cities, universities and local development agencies across the nation, with the University of South Alabama-led southwest Alabama tapped in May 2014 alongside only 11 other entities - representing the likes of Milwaukee, Wis.; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Rochester, N.Y. - for the inaugural class.

Tournaments like this one make a huge economic impact in the host city and surrounding areas, bringing in money and exposure to local businesses and beyond.

With 166 teams from more than two dozen states in town for the Bass Federation High School Fishing World Finals, Florence, Alabama is once again being thrust into the national spotlight.