HANCEVILLE — As the thermometer ticks toward springtime’s warmer weather, the outdoor events — and even some air-conditioned indoor ones — are heating up at Hanceville.

March marks the return of the city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Irish festival, which this year will take over the city’s downtown on Saturday, March 19. The celebration of Hanceville’s Irish heritage (established by original city founder Hance Kinney) will convert downtown into an all-day, pedestrian-friendly venue, closing off Bangor Avenue and Commercial Street to make way for food vendors, arts and crafts, traditional dancing, and music from festival regulars Black Market Haggis.

Farther down the calendar, Hanceville will also host the new Cotton Tails Arts & Crafts Festival, staged by local business owners. The all-day event is set for the Hanceville Civic Center on Saturday, April 9; watch for more details as the festival date draws closer.

In May, the city will host a Gospel-themed concert event at the civic center, featuring Cullman’s own Bama Blu-Grace quartet and bluegrass entertainers the Cotton Pickin’ Kids. The indoor show is slated for May 14; ticket information will be announced in the coming weeks. Later in the month, streets will close once again for the return of the annual Grilled Cheese Festival, a free, food-friendly celebration of (what else?) the versatile grilled cheese sandwich.

Though more details will come later, Hanceville’s biggest outdoor event will saddle up the following month, when the city’s first-ever bullfighting and riding exhibition will descend on C.W. Day Park (as well as downtown streets) on the second weekend in June. Billed as the Hanceville “Running of the Bulls,” the two-day event will bring professional cowboys to town for a closed-course bull run right through the streets on Friday, June 10, followed on Saturday, June 11 by a ticketed bull riding and non-violent bullfighting exhibition at the practice fields at C.W. Day Park.

“The bullfighting is humane; it’s more of a cat-and-mouse game they play with the bulls and there’s no violence like the kind of bullfighting people see in Spain,” said mayor Kenneth Nail. “It’s completely new for us, and it’s going to be something no one around here’s really ever seen before — and it’s definitely family-friendly.”