On Sunday, September 5, 2010 Huntsville will come alive with the hosting of the 5th Annual Caribbean Day at the Park. The purpose of the event, which is hosted by the Caribbean Association of North Alabama (CANA), is to introduce the public to the Caribbean culture, cuisine and lifestyle, in a family-friendly atmosphere.

The event will take place at Stoner Field Park, off Spring Field Road in Huntsville, Alabama,  and will begin at 1pm until 7pm. The general public is invited to a panoramic display of an amazing assortment of Caribbean culture and experience.

Renowned music spinners from Nashville and Birmingham will be wooing the public with old school reggae, calypso, soca and steel pan music appropriate for this family, fun experience.

The highlight of the day will be a staple of Caribbean favored games like lime and spoon, sack race,

tug-of-war, musical chairs, domino, and soccer will be part of the mix.

A vast number of people are expected to come and feast on the scrumptious delicacies of the day and bask in the atmosphere of ONE LOVE - southern style.

Attendees and Caribbean cuisine enthusiasts as far as Atlanta, Georgia and Memphis, Tennessee will come to participate in the event activities. Participants from Nashville, Tennessee and Birmingham, Alabama will be there to exhibit their talents.

The general public is encouraged to bring lawn chairs - relax and have an uplifted afternoon.

So, you are invited to a day of Food, Fun, Fellowship, Friends, Family and warm Faces.

Admission is FREE

For more information please visit www.CANAonline.com or call 256-361-9080.

Directions to Stoner Field Park

Kimberly attended and received her fashion design degree from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. New to the Huntsville area, Kim’s plan is to launch a small line of dresses with simple silhouettes and unique details in Spring of 2011. She states “dresses can be thrown on in the morning to wear to work, then transition into a dinner date with husband/family.” The Kimberly Noland Brand will be sold exclusively at The Pink Pelican later this year.

For more information about Kimberly Noland Designs, call 256.529.1697, send email to kimberly.noland@gmail.com, or become a fan of the label on facebook.
For information on the Creative Business Alliance, please call 256.585.4452 or visit www.creativebusinessalliance.com.

The Rogers Agency is a ministry who book for Christian/Family oriented events. We have artist who will minister through their God given vocal, musical & speaking talents. It is our goal to book artist who will be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and allow God to use them to bless the people at your particular event. Leading up to each event, we recommend our artist spend quiet time in prayer and fasting to allow God to prepare them to minister to the body of Christ.

The Rogers Agency provides artist who will minister by way of Instrumentalist, Smooth Jazz, Contemporary Praise & Worship, Comedy, Hip-Hop, Rock, Southern Gospel and Rap; we even have speakers who will minister through their testimonies and directly from God‘s word.

Our mission is to allow God to use this agency to fulfill the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark 16:15, “Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to all people”.
Please take time to visit our website at www.rogersagency.net to read and listen to our artist.
God bless and we look forward in hearing from you soon!

Rogers Agency
Ph. 256-786-9901
1148 Parrish Street
Alexander City
Alabama 35010

The designer will debut her 2010 Fall Collection, which will be showcased by local runway fashion models. LeJeune House of Fashion will also be a featured exhibitor, where designer fashions can be viewed and purchased by attendees.

For more information, please contact LeJeune at 256.325.6253 or visit online at www.lejeunehouseoffashion.com.

SLS Exprrres was founded in 1996 by Sherman Sterling to provide opportunities for local artists to showcase their talents. Being a visionary and assigning himself the task of helping the needy and downtrodden, Mr. Sterling saw a way for all to lend a helping hand, and expanded services to include disaster relief, offering school uniforms and work clothes to families displaced by disasters including, evacuees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The American Red Cross, SLS Exprrres’ partner in its outreach efforts, has referred more than 150 families over the past three and a half years, and SLS Exprrres has clothed more than 3,000 students and families.

Based in Birmingham, Alabama, SLS Exprrres and Sherman Sterling, once again identifying the needs in the community, noted the lack of Caribbean cultural events and information and resources regarding the Caribbean culture. In his dream of providing Education through Entertainment, The Caribbean Heritage Reggae Festival was borne.

THE CARIBBEAN HERITAGE REGGAE FESTIVAL

The Caribbean Heritage Reggae Festival (CHRF) provides entertainment in the hopes of increasing interest in and of Caribbean culture in Alabama, primarily among Birmingham youth, through reggae music and educational activities. Recently, they now provide reggae music and cultural information in the schools as part of the school curriculum. The ultimate goal of CHRF is to provide a permanent performance venue housing a Caribbean culture museum on or near the space currently occupied by the festival.

CHRF is non-profit organization with a 501(c)3 status and encourages donations and volunteer support. All monetary donations are tax deductible and are assigned accordingly to the greatest needs identified.

For more information: www.iuniformplus.com. www.caribbeanheritagereggaefestival.com

Guests will enjoy lite hor d’oeuvres and beverages courtesy of The Furniture Factory. Featured guests will be conceptual fashion designer, LeJeune, who will debut her winter collection for ladies, fashion preview by 5 Point’s Mes Amis Boutique, Jennifer Searles - poetry writer and performer, Rodney of Xuiite Photography Studio. Live entertainment will also be part of the evening’s festivities.

Invitations can be picked up from Attitudes Day Spa & Salon or Mes Amis Boutique, or by sending an e-mail to lejeune111@lejeunestyle.com. For additional information, call 256.534.7001 or 256.837.3938.
About Attitudes Day Spa & Salon

Providing an atmosphere of encouragement, the experienced staff at Attitudes Day Spa &Salon provides the customer with a unique selection of services including Hair and Hair Extensions, Skin, Body & Nail Care, Make-up/Cosmetics and Massage Therapy. Attitudes Day Spa has been in business for over 10 years.

www.creativebusinessalliance.com
www.lejeunestyle.com

Public Relations Contact: Ellena LeJeune
256.837.3938 or info@lejeunestyle.com

The Eighteenth Annual Irondale Whistle Stop Festival will be held on Saturday, September 26th. This year the festival will be celebrating Irondale’s history and rich artistic community. The Festival is going to “step back in time” with- historic costumes and demonstrations. Also new this year, we are working with Studio By the Tracks to return fine art to the festival. In the spirit of “stepping back in time” we are adding “old time” children’s activities like checkers, hopscotch and cake walk on Irondale’s historic North side, as well and more kids activities the South side.

For applications, please click here. Be sure to check back frequently for Entertainment and Vendor updates!

If you have any questions about The Whistle Stop Festival 2009, please contact Christopher Crews at (205) 297-9897.

Jamaica Veteran Performer Freddie Mc Gregor Headline this years Event

The Caribbean Heritgage Reggae Festival is a family celebration of Caribbean Culture and music. The event will feature diverse multi-culture talent on one main stage. Talent will include national and local upcoming artist, community dance and college steppers will be featured, other attractions will include arts and crafts, story telling, and book reading. Souvenir vendors will display their goods. Please join in and support this family event that is being developed to expand cultural awareness and encourage our community to come together and appreciate the Caribbean people’s culture, food and music.

The festival is sponsored by SLS Productions and Phase 11 Production, Caribbean Shipping Services, Brand Energy and Infrastructure Service, R&M, Equipment Rental Inc. The festival is held annually downtown in Author Shores Park, between 11 ave North and 12th Ave. North and Shuttlesworth Drive. Attractions includes Jamaica Dance Contest, the crowning of the Festival King and Queen, and Saturday Morning Health Fair and Walk-a-thon.

A weekend pass is $25 in advance and $35 at the gage. For more information call 205-520-0668

Children 12 and under $2.00

Gates open Friday 6:00 PM; Saturday 3:00 PM

visit Caribbean Heritage Reggae Festival

Visit www.shelbyhumane.org for more information or to register your pet for the Bark in the Park photo contest!

The musical event
The Big Spring Jam 2009 is a grand 3 day outdoor musical festival that has plenty to offer for the music fans either young or old. A number of downtown streets would be closed down for vehicle traffic as it would be used as the pedestrian walkway. Hundreds and thousands of music fans come out to stroll around the park while making their way through the tactically placed stage to listen and watch their favorite bands perform on their favorite tracks. For most of the music fans and even the casual performance watchers it is like a weekend dream come true. The popularity of the show is confirmed by the increasing attendance number of fans every year. it is quite common for a 3 day long event to find attendance number reaching to nearly 200,000 to 300,000 people. Apart for just music performances this event also provides a variety of drinks, food, conversation and music.

If you have ever visited the Big Spring Jam musical festival, then you would have surely enjoyed watching your favorite bands perform live in concert for the first time. You would love the opportunities of choices that Big Spring Jam 2009 offers. Every year it has constantly offered an astral line of top performance names and among those performers are Sara Evan, Akon, Bradley Walker, Cage the Elephant. However these are just a few of the top classic rock genre performers as there are several other music genres historically performed at the Big Spring Jam which include Alternative Rock, Country, Hip-Hop and Contemporary Christian.

There is also a mesmerizing food stand that offers a huge variety of tastes and they are lined up all through the park. Radio stations, televisions and local businesses have also set up booths where you can find all sorts of freebie stuffs such as bumper stickers, pencils, pens, beverage holders and lots other stuffs are available free for taking. You can even find plenty of Tee Shirt stands while the beverage stands range from alcoholic to carbonated any everything in between. This three day Big Spring Jam 2009 Huntsville Annual Festival is surly worth the trip and the admission prices are also affordable. As there are all kinds of music genres available and represented it would surely be worth going the distance to avail your favorite music fix. Therefore you can just log on to the official Big Spring Jam 2009 website and find out information about your ticket booking and getting there.

Big Spring Jam 3 Day Pass Tickets

Big Spring Line Up
Akon
Bradley Walker
Cage the Elephant
Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers
Framing Hanley
Heidi Newfield
Honor Society
Huey Lewis & The News
Jason D. Williams
John Anderson
Jonathan Singleton & the Grove
Manchester Orchestra
Moon Taxi
Nash Street
Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Cha’s
Paul Thorn
Pop Evil
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Sara Evans
Saving Abel
Silversun Pickups
The Black Crowes
The Carter Twins
The Fray
The Kentucky Headhunters
The Lost Trailers
Tonic
Trace Adkins

FREE admission. 

For detailed information, please visit our website @ www.buckcreekfestival.com or contact 205-296-6153,

It is sponored by the Auburn University Multicultural Center/Access And Community Initiatives , units of the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs.

The festival will be on the grounds of the Jules Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art and will be 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. each day.

The free event wil celebrate the history and culture of southeastern indigenous peoples with traditional singers, musicians, dancers and storytellers from Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Living campsites will be set up on the grounds and traditional Native American food, artifacts and souveniers will be available for purchase.

To find out more, call 334-844-1484.

Take that to mean “taste all the barbecue you want,” says Neal Porter of Huntsville, an organizer of the event, which he describes as “a day of good food, music, fellowship and fundraising.”

Set up much like the WhistleStop Festival held each spring in downtown Huntsville, the Unity Festival features grilling stations from which ticketholders can browse and sample.

Last year’s Unity Festival, with eight grillers, offered pork barbecue, whole chickens, Cajun dishes, chicken wings and smoked bologna. This year’s event promises even more with almost twice as many grillers.

Porter, himself a weekend grill master, will cook Boston butt and sausages on Saturday. Homemade desserts, courtesy of Latham Church members, are also on the menu.

Adding to the festival atmosphere will be three bands - two contemporary rock and one bluegrass - and children’s activities. A silent auction will offer chances to bid for items such as quilts and antiques.

Money raised from the festival goes to the Latham United Methodist Church Hands of Christ Fund, a ministry that helps people who need financial assistance during catastrophic illness.

Last year’s festival was organized in just six weeks to help the family of a man suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. With about 200 people attending the festival, the Hands of Christ ministry raised $15,000.

“The fund doesn’t just help our church members,” Porter says. “It’s a community thing.”

Last year’s beneficiary wasn’t originally from Alabama, although his wife and children still live in Huntsville.

“He died the day after the festival,” Porter says. “The money helped move him back home.”

Right now, the ministry is helping four local families. “It’s strictly for families who have a terminal illness,” Porter says.

Festival organizers hope to recreate the success of last year’s event. At $10 per person or $30 for a family, Porter adds that participants can count on eating their money’s worth - and then some.

“You get enough variety that you leave full.” And, he reiterates, “We don’t want to take any home with us.”

Featured presentations during BirdFest will include a slide show by ornithologist and photographer Greg Harber and a lecture by University of Southern Mississippi researcher Frank Moore.

Saturday’s Bird and Conservation Expo at Faulkner State Community College in Fairhope features the screening of a new Discovering Alabama episode by Alabama Public Television host Doug Phillips, and demonstrations with live owls, raptors, snakes and other critters.

At Thursday’s opening reception, at the Five Rivers Delta Resource Center on the Causeway in Spanish Fort, Harber will make a large-screen presentation of photos set to music called “Through the Delta and Beyond.”

The photos follow a variety of birds and their annual migrations, beginning in the farthest reaches of north Alabama and following through to the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and the Gulf of Mexico.

Harber said he hopes the exhibition will convey “the magic and wonder of Alabama’s birds and their incredible journeys.”

Hundreds of bird species move through coastal Alabama each fall, traveling along the Dauphin Island Trans Gulf Migration Flyway, one of the most important bird migration corridors in the world, Harber said.

Since 2004, the BirdFest has raised more than $40,000 toward the purchase and protection of bird and wildlife habitat in Baldwin and Mobile counties.

Eighteen guided bird-watching trips during this year’s Bird Fest required advance registration and pre-payment. Registration for those trips is now closed.

Moore is set to speak at a barbecue and seafood dinner Friday at the James P. Nix Center in Fairhope. Moore, an ornithologist, said that he and his USM team have spent years documenting and studying migration.

“Some biologists speculate that long-distance, land-bird migrants experience the best of two worlds, breeding in food-rich, competitor-poor areas in the summer in North America and spending the winter in the tropics,” Moore said.

But migration is also an exhausting, high-risk event, he said, taking a toll on the bird population and killing many younger birds.

www.alabamacoastalbirdfest.com.

Date: October 18, 2008

The 2008 Hoover Invitational Marching Band Festival will feature the University of North Alabama Pride of Dixie Marching Band in exhibition at 7:45 pm following an exhibition performance by the award winning Hoover High School Marching Band at the close of competition.

The competition will feature school bands from AL, MS, FL, and TN. Regions Park provides a great venue for an enjoyable day of band entertainment. Competition will begin at 11:30 am and conclude with the awards ceremony at 8:00 pm. Tickets available at the entrance. Concessions will be available during the event.

Phone Number: 205 439-1228
Other Event Features: Kid-Friendly; Outdoor Event; Handicap Accessible
Location: Regions Park
Stadium Trace Parkway
Hoover, AL

The two have been going together for the past 30 years and visitors are expected once again to shop on Water Avenue high above the Alabama River or listen to America’s most popular tale tellers a few blocks away.

Riverfront Market began in the late 1970s as a way to attract people to one of the South’s most historic riverfront districts, a place that once attracted the likes of the Marquis De Lafayette and Jesse James.

Although the five-block market area has declined in appearance in recent years, Selma leaders continue to look for ways to rebuild dilapidated structures that have been an embarrassment to the town because of their condition.

Vendors from throughout the Southeast line both sides of Water Avenue, offering everything from food to fashions.

Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. The event gets under way at 8 a.m. and lasts throughout the day.

The Tale-Tellin’ Festival was the inspiration of Selma native Kathryn Windham, Alabama’s legendary storyteller who returned home this week from Jonesborough, Tenn., where, once again, she was the star of the nation’s largest storytelling festival.

A crowd estimated at about 15,000 listened to tales during a long weekend highlighted by a surprise birthday salute to Windham, who turned 90 earlier this year.

“They kept it from me,” she said. “When I walked into the big tent where I was to tell some tales, 1,600 people took out combs and wax paper to play ‘Happy Birthday’ to me,” she said.

This year’s festival will be held at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Pickard Auditorium on Washington Street, just across the street behind the Selma City Hall.

In addition to Windham, who serves as host once again, storytellers will include the Birmingham-based Dill Pickers, Doloris Hydock and Donald Davis, whose Appalachian experiences have made him one of the most popular storytellers on the national circuit.

“It’s amazing that this thing just keeps going on year after year,” Windham said. “We don’t have any major sponsors. It operates mainly on faith and volunteers.”

Good storytelling isn’t a performance, said Windham, who prefers to see as a way to “relate stories in a relaxed, informal setting.”

At 5:30 each night, just prior to the appearance by professional storytellers, a “Swappin’ Ground” event allows amateurs to try their hand at telling a story or two

For the answers to these and a multitude of other agricultural questions, Wiliam Holman, executive director of Landmark Park, invites the residents of the area to attend the Wiregrass Heritage Festival, which will be held at the park on Saturday, October 25.

“The Wiregrass Heritage Festival, which is a combination of our Pioneer Days and the Fall Folk Festival that we held in years past, takes a look at many of the traditional fall farming activities,” Holman said. “Most of the activities are harvest-related.”

This year’s festival will feature an all but forgotten art - sugar cane grinding.

“One of the highlights of this year’s festival will be a demonstration of grinding sugar cane and cooking syrup,” Holman continued. “This was a very common activity years ago. It has all but disappeared today. Fortunately, we have a few people who will bring it back to life at the festival.”

Holman also noted that, with this area known for its peanut production, it would not be a harvest festival without peanuts being involved.

“We will demonstrate how the harvesting of peanuts was done 50-60 years ago or more,” Holman said. “Peanuts were stacked on poles to dry. We’ll demonstrate the digging and stacking of peanuts. Peanut stacks were once a sight all over the Wiregrass.”

Holman added that modern technology has definitely eased the harvesting of peanuts today. A task now performed with machinery was once done with hand-held implements.
Today’s peanut pickers move through the fields to gather the crops. That is not how it was done in the 1850s.

“(Peanut) pickers were stationary,” Holman said as he described the process used in days gone by. “The stacks were brought to the picker. It was hard, dirty work. It took a tremendous amount of labor to do it.”

Aiding in the demonstration of peanut harvesting this year will be members of several local FFA groups. Holman says their involvement helps the younger generation of farmers see how far technology has brought farming.

“One of the neat things is that the local FFA groups have gotten interested in this event,” Holman said. “Some are volunteering and helping run the equipment. They are learning how much agriculture has changed.”

An antique farm equipment show will allow festival visitors to see the tools and equipment many of their ancestors used as they turned the Wiregrass region from wilderness land to profitable farming property.

“We have folks coming from all over the Southeast to display their antique equipment,” Holman said. “They will bring antique tractors and equipment that they have restored. That event will be held near the Stokes Activity Barn.”

The festival, which begins at 10 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m., will be filled with activities for the entire family.

“We will have activities for all ages,” Holman said. “We will have demonstrations of blacksmithing, butter churning, all the typical events associated with farm life. Some of those include quilting, cooking on an open hearth, washing clothes in a kettle and making soap.

“These are activities that were once part of everyday life. We hope kids come out and see how life was back then.”

There are also activities specifically for children.

“We will have wagon rides, a maze and The Barnyard playground will be open,” Holman said.

A variety of entertainment will be held throughout the day.

“We will have continuous music,” Holman said. “We will have bluegrass, the Wallace Community College choral group will perform folk songs, and we will have cloggers, from Performing Arts Spectrum, on stage as well.”

As an added attraction, the Wiregrass Beekeepers Association will be in the Interpretive Center with an observation bee hive. Visitors can see how a hive works without the threat of a bee sting.

“We will have some of our local honey for sell at the Heritage Festival,” Holman added.

“The Wiregrass Harvest Festival is a great family day filled with hands-on activities for children,” Holman continued. “It also serves as a great lead in for the National Peanut Festival (which begins October 31), which is a sponsor of this event.”

The Shelley General Store and Martin Drugstore will be open, selling ice cream, candy and old country items. The “King Cotton: Growing Cotton in Alabama 1850-1962” exhibit will be on display at the Alabama Agricultural Museum.

Admission to the Wiregrass Heritage Festival is $8 for adults, $6 for senior citizens, $4 for children, and free for members and children 3 and under.

Landmark Park, home of the Alabama Agricultural Museum, is a 100-acre historical and natural science park located on U.S. Highway 431 North in Dothan.

For more information, contact Landmark Park at 794-3452.

It adds up to a bargain in a time of high gas prices and economic woes, organizers said. Admission is free to the festival site and all musical acts. The Gulf Shores Public Beach Area opens at 10 a.m. today through Sunday.

“We pull people from 250 miles out — Birmingham, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida — and there is plenty of gas down here, and our prices are a lot better than other areas,” said Don McPherson, special-events coordinator for the Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the event.

With Hurricane Gustav blowing through on Labor Day weekend, the shrimp festival provides another chance at a “last hurrah” at the beach, McPherson said. The forecast through Sunday calls for no rain and highs in the lower 80s.

The event that began in 1971 with six booths is now expected to draw more than 300,000 visitors.

Remaining true to its roots as a cooking contest, this year’s event includes the Chefs’ Challenge.

In September, 21 chefs from restaurants along the Gulf Coast competed to see who could come up with the best shrimp dish. The judges’ decision will be announced at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Louisiana seasoning company Zatarain’s is the presenting sponsor of this year’s festival, the first such arrangement and one that will continue in coming years, organizers said. The company will provide products for seafood preparation and give financial support, McPherson said.

“They saw the connection between this market and the products they make,” he said. “We’re a seafood festival, and shrimp goes hand-in-hand with Zatarain’s.”

More of that shrimp should be Alabama-caught this year, McPherson said. The Organized Seafood Association will be a major festival presence, promoting and selling pink, brown, white and Royal Red shrimp from the Gulf Coast region.

McPherson said that doesn’t mean all dishes will feature shrimp that has not been imported.

“We’re working with local shrimpers and trying to promote that there is no comparison between their product and what is imported,” he said. “We don’t provide the supply for all the festival food, so some folks may bring in some other shrimp. … But we’re supporting Bon Secour, Bayou La Batre and Alabama shrimpers and showing why shrimp pulled out of the Gulf is so much better.”

Jo Dee Messina will take the Re/Max of Orange Beach East Stage at 8:30 p.m. Friday. Organizers urged fans to show up early Friday.

“We’re expecting record crowds,” McPherson said. “She fills up arenas.”

Local and regional performers abound, including Lisa Christian, Elaine Petty, Catfish Flats, the Tip Tops, Savana Lee, Adam Holt and Brent Burns.

Southern rockers Molly Hatchet will play on the Cellular South West Stage at 8:30 Saturday night.

By Joe Watts on October 6, 2008 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)