The weekend has arrived, and here are several events happening in and around town:
SATURDAY & SUNDAY, NOV. 9-10:
There’s a Fall Craft and Vendor Market at the Riverchase Galleria on Saturday (11 a.m.-8 p.m.) and Sunday (noon-6 p.m.). Hometown Vendor Market is hosting the fall market, offering shoppers a variety of options from local, independent businesses. Find fashion accessories, clothing, art, decor, crafts, handmade gifts and more. Visit hometownvendormarket.com/birminghamfall for more information.
SUNDAY, NOV. 10:
The Mountain Grass Unit, a band made of three bluegrass pickers from Birmingham (Drury Anderson, Luke Black and Sam Wilson) is playing two concerts at the Hoover Library Theatre on Sunday at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Expect traditional bluegrass and songs from other musical genres performed with a unique bluegrass twist. Tickets are $38 and can be obtained at thelibrarytheatre.com/mgu. Only a few tickets remained for each show as of Thursday night.
WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY, NOV. 6-10:
The Christmas Village Festival started Wednesday at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex north, south and east exhibition halls and continues through Sunday. Times are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Visitors can shop more than 700 booths, with hundreds of handcrafted artisan items and yuletide food. Families can have pictures taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Tickets are $15 for adults and teens, but children ages 6-12 can get in for $5, but there is a $1.50 service charge per transaction. Children ages 5 and younger are admitted free. For more information, go to christmasvillagefestival.com.
SPORTS
There also are several sporting events happening around town:
Friday, Nov. 8
The Spain Park Jags football team enters the first round of the playoffs, facing off against McGill-Toolen at Jaguar Stadium at 7 p.m. The Jags are 10-0, while the Yellow Jackets are 6-4. See the preview story.
Friday-Saturday, Nov. 8-9:
USA Developmental Wheelchair Rugby Invitational. Visit the Lakeshore Foundation in Homewood on Friday or Saturday to catch a glimpse of the USA Wheelchair Rugby team compete against Canada and Great Britain. The games are taking place at Lakeshore at 4000 Ridgeway Drive, and admission is free. The USA team plays on Friday at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and on Saturday at 1 and 4 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 9:
The UAB Blazers football team takes on the University of Connecticut at Protective Stadium at 1:30 p.m.
The Birmingham Squadron basketball team plays the Mexico City Capitanes at 7 p.m. at the BJCC Legacy Arena.
Sunday, Nov. 10:
The UAB men’s basketball team takes on Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m. at Bartow Arena.
WEEK IN REVIEW:
If you think you may have missed out on some of the news this week, here’s a recap of some of our stories from Nov. 1-7:
A Trader Joe’s grocery store is under construction and scheduled to open in Riverchase next year.
The Hoover school system’s chief information officer, Bryan Phillips, is retiring after 22 years in the district.
Spain Park High School’s Law Academy won its sixth straight state championship at the Alabama High School Mock Trial Championship.
Hoover’s City Council held up payment for the forensic auditors the city hired, seeking to let residents ask the auditors questions in a town hall meeting regarding the problems they found with the city’s finances.
See photos from the 2024 Moss Rock Festival held in the parking lot at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium this past Saturday and Sunday.
Hoover retailers are gearing up for the holiday shopping season, and experts are wondering how the election and inflation will impact buying decisions this year.
Taylor Bright provides an update on the city's efforts to turn aging office parks in the U.S. 280 corridor into a high-tech corridor.
The Hoover Bucs football team surged past Fairhope in the first round of the playoffs Thursday night.
