Hoover Mayor’s Minute By Frank V. Brocato - January 2024

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you and your family had an enjoyable holiday season. In 2024, I look forward to us experiencing great wins and dynamic experiences that will add to our wonderful city’s quality of life! We already have several national and local events lined up for the year that will help to make this a reality.

In February, we will host the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama Kids Marathon at Spain Park High School. For years, this event was part of the Mercedes Marathon held in downtown Birmingham. Last year, organizers chose to end that race. But after receiving an overwhelming response from parents, Blue Cross and Blue Shield decided to continue the children’s portion. It’s one of the largest kids’ marathons in the country, and we’re excited to partner with them in this new venture. 

Late last year, the SEC chose to continue holding the SEC Baseball Tournament at the Hoover Met. This agreement extends until 2025 and will allow us to continue a tradition our city has come to cherish for the last 20-plus years. We couldn’t be more honored!

July will be an especially busy month as two national events head to Hoover. We will once again be the host city for The Hartford Nationals, hosted by Move United. This is the largest national sport championship event for athletes with a physical disability, visual impairment and/or intellectual disability. Also in July, we’ll host the tennis competitions that are part of The Transplant Games of America. This national multi-sport event brings together nearly 10,000 organ transplant recipients, living donors and donor families to compete in amateur sport competitions.

In September, firefighters from across the world will return to Hoover to take part in the U.S. Firefighter Challenge Nationals. This thrilling event, in which firefighters compete in simulations of their everyday experiences, will be a lead-in to the World Police and Fire Games that will be held in our area in 2025.

These are just a few of the events coming this year. There are dozens more that you can locate by going to our website and checking the events calendar at hooveral.org. I hope to see you out and about as we share that Hoover hospitality!