Photo by Ron Burkett
Celebrate Hoover Day 2016 20
Kids take rides on ponies at the 2016 Celebrate Hoover Day at Veterans Park in Hoover, Alabama, on Saturday, April 30, 2016.
The city of Hoover has moved its Celebrate Hoover Day festival from this Saturday, April 24, to Sunday, April 25, due to inclement weather expected Saturday.
The National Weather Service is predicting possible thunderstorms in Hoover Saturday, with an 80 percent chance of rain (some heavy) and wind gusts as high as 25mph.
But Sunday is supposed to be sunny with a high near 75 degrees, according to the weather service.
The change in date for Celebrate Hoover Day also comes with a change in time. The celebration now will be 1:30-5:30 p.m. instead of 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
This year’s event won’t look exactly the same as previous years, due to social distancing and other precautions to help people stay safe, but city officials are eager to bring the celebration back after having to cancel it last year, city Events Manager Erin Colbaugh said.
The event, scheduled to take place at Veterans Park, will include a stage with live entertainment and a large children’s entertainment area with plenty of space for people to enjoy the event while maintaining distance, Colbaugh said. There also will be hand-sanitizing stations throughout the park, she said.
The entertainment will include the jazz duo of Melody Turnbow and Chadwick McDowell, a Christian and contemporary pop singing group called One Step Closer and other students of Turnbow at her Tuned and Brave studio off Valleydale Road, events assistant Brittany Toole said.
The children’s area won’t have inflatables this year, but activities will include pony rides, viewing areas for both farm animals and exotic animals, martial arts demonstrations from Action Martial Arts and Tiger Rock Martial Arts, and carnival rides, with equipment sanitized in between each ride.
The Dixie Vintage Car Club will hold a car show with a $20 fee to enter vehicles and an award ceremony around 5 p.m.
A ceremony to honor veterans with new brick pavers in the Veterans Plaza at Veterans Park will kick off the day’s festivities at 1:30 p.m., but it will be in the grassy area in front of the main stage to allow more social distancing than typically is possible at the Veterans Plaza.
There won’t be a 10-foot-wide apple pie served to the public this year as usual, but organizers do plan to give away prepackaged ice cream treats for free, Colbaugh said. Businesses with the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce once again will be able to put up exhibition booths, but each business or organization will have its own 10x10-foot tent rather than all being under a single giant tent, Colbaugh said.
The Hoover police and fire departments also will have personnel on site, displaying some of their specialty equipment.
Food truck vendors will include Eugene’s Hot Chicken, Krazy Good BBQ and Kona Ice, Toole said. People will be able to sit under pavilions to eat and rest in the shade, and city workers will clean the seating areas in between visitors, Colbaugh said.
Shred-It will offer document shredding services in the Spain Park High School parking lot.
Celebrate Hoover Day
WHERE: Veterans Park on Valleydale Road
WHEN: Sunday, April 25, 1:30-5:30 p.m.
COST: No admission fee, but attendees must pay for food they order
