Fourth of July fireworks show returns to the Hoover Met Friday night

The city of Hoover this Friday night, July 1, is putting on a fireworks show at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday.

The show is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. and last 18-20 minutes, said Brittany Callaway, the city’s events coordinator. Music to accompany the show will be broadcast on 87.9 FM, she said.

The Hoover Met stadium itself won’t be open to the public, but people are invited to park their vehicles in the parking lots around the Hoover Metropolitan Complex to watch it, except in the lower parking lot between the stadium and the soccer fields. That parking lot will be blocked off because the fireworks are being fired from that area, Callaway said.

There will be no other organized activities and no food or drinks sold on site, but people are welcome to bring their own food, non-alcoholic drinks and lawn chairs, Callaway said.

“We just ask that people pick up after themselves when the show is over,” she said.

Hoover police will be there to help direct traffic into and out of the complex, Callaway said.

The city hired Pyro Shows of Alabama to put on the fireworks show at a cost of $26,000, she said. That’s an increase from $20,000 for a 15-minute show last year.

This is the second year the city has had only fireworks at its Fourth of July celebration. From 2013 to 2017, the city held a music festival along with the fireworks show, but the budget for that event had escalated to about $98,000, so the entire Fourth of July celebration was canceled from 2018 to 2020, with city officials citing cost concerns.