Rollin’ in the Hay performs on the Chamber of Commerce stage at Saturday’s Founder’s Day Festival. The event featured live music acts across three stages.

By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



Mother Nature smiled on Fultondale Saturday as thousands attended the 12th-annual Founder’s Day Festival at Black Creek Park.

Organizers said pleasant weather and a bigger variety of entertainment were contributing factors to the large crowds at the six-hour festival. Last year’s festival was rained out and then rescheduled.

Early estimates indicate between 9,000 to 12,000 people attended.

“We couldn’t have asked for better weather,” said organizer Teresa Vise of the Fultondale Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t know that we’d ever be able to duplicate that kind of weather in August.”

Vise said it’s too early to know how much money the festival raised through booth rentals. Any profit accrued from the festival will be donated to local charities.

One of the selling points of this year’s event was the roster of live music spread across three stages. Organizer Randy Posey said the crowds seemed to enjoy the variety of music, which ran continuously through the festival.

“We designed the festival so we would have an influx of people at different stages, or at least that’s what our hope was,” he said. “We had as many people at the festival at 8 p.m. as we did at 2 p.m., so it worked the way we projected.”

Posey said targeting more of a live music audience made the festival unique and something organizers would build on for future events.

“We were able to accomplish what we wanted to do,” he said. “We’ve already got people wanting to be a part of this event next year.”

Gardendale resident Steve Mullins praised the festival and said he’d attend the festival twice a year. Mullins’ granddaughter, Abrielle Mullins, was one of the performers on the Chamber of Commerce stage.

“The whole thing was so good, but of course I’m partial,” he said. “Everywhere I went, all of the programs were good. The whole thing was just fabulous.”

Vise and Posey said planning for next year’s festival began as soon as Saturday’s event ended. Vise said some things may be done differently at future festivals, including traffic and parking.

Posey said other attractions, including the car show, may not return next year in lieu of increasing the amount of food vendors. Otherwise, he said the plan is to build on this year’s success.

“Everybody had fun and it was inexpensive entertainment,” he said. “We didn’t want the event to be a burden on the wallets of families and I think we accomplished that.”

Vise said an open planning meeting will be held at Fultondale City Hall on Sept. 8 at 8 a.m. for anyone who would like to offer feedback about the event.