Through the Parks, Recreation and Sports Tourism Department, the city of Cullman has expanded its annual festivals and has even created a new zoning district to accommodate its anticipated increase in sports tourism upon completion of the new civic center.

The city broke ground on its long-awaited multi-million dollar civic complex in late 2023. Once completed, the 115,000 square foot facility will be home to 10 indoor basketball courts and 19 indoor volleyball courts. Due to increased demand for the city’s limited number of pickleball courts, small tweaks were made to the original layout to include six additional indoor pickleball courts.

Thanks to its mixed array of recreational offerings and the wide variety of civic functions the space will allow for, the facility will be referred to as the OmniPlex Sports and Civic Center.

Even without the new facility, CPRST Director Nathan Anderson, has said that the city’s municipal parks have seen upwards of 700,000 visitors just within the last year. The OmniPlex will help to accommodate those visitors by anchoring the nearby facilities in a new 140-district which the city is calling the Omnisports District. The district will stretch from Heritage Park to the Donald Green Active Adult Center and will include the Wellness and Aquatics Center and WildWater waterpark.

“This district really will live up to that name. It will be a true testament to our city’s commitment, our park board’s commitment and our team’s commitment at CPRST to provide a space for all types of games, gatherings and community members,” Anderson said.

The district will also house another flagship CPRST facility, Field of Miracles, which has recently been given a facelift of its own. Believed to be the first facility in the nation to combine a field for special needs children and adults, with regular-use fields in the same complex, the Field of Miracles was the focus of 2023’s Dinner on First annual fundraising event.

Proceeds from the dinner were dedicated to updating the field’s unique surface which allows access for wheelchair bound players. According to Anderson, the surface was due for replacement five years ago, but the department was able to extend its lifespan through careful and dedicated maintenance. However, the wait will be well rewarded with the previous rubberized field now being upgraded to artificial turf.

Mayor Woody Jacobs said Field of Miracles had been a testament to the community’s inclusive and collaborative spirit.

“The original construction of this complex was a monumental effort that showcased the best of Cullman — our unity, generosity, and commitment to providing opportunities for all our citizens,” Jacobs said previously. This resurfacing project is a renewal of that promise, ensuring that the Field of Miracles continues to be a place where dreams are nurtured, and barriers are overcome.”

A near complete overhaul of Depot Park, on the opposite end of the city, will allow for the continual record-breaking success of each of the city’s annual festivals. The three largest city festivals were each expanded in some way last year.

In celebration of the city’s 150th anniversary — and its founder’s 200th “birthday” — this year’s Oktoberfest offered a much more immersive German experience, complete with a variety of street performers and musicians playing traditional German instruments such as alpine horns, lutes and the dulcimer-like scheitholt.

Cullman’s German heritage was celebrated again in December with the annual opening of its Christkindlmarkt, which in many ways was almost unrecognizable from previous years. The festival was expanded to 18 days instead of the four in previous years. Depot Park was transformed into an alpine village with vendors housed in pre-built buildings rather than booths or tents. The additions of a Christmas themed carousel and an engineered ice skating rink quickly became crowd favorites.

However, the biggest single-day event in recent history, has been the Cullman Strawberry Festival. The annual festival will be shedding that moniker however as the upcoming event will be the first Alabama Strawberry Festival thanks to a legislative act signed by Gov. Kay Ivey in June 2023. Anderson places the attendance of last year’s festival around the 25,000 mark and he expects that number to continue increasing as it becomes more widely recognized as a statewide event. Current plans are for the 2024 festival to begin one day earlier on Friday afternoon as the first year expansion.

Road paving projects throughout the north end of Cullman and a recently approved partnership with Crown Castle Communication Company, based in New York, will help accommodate the larger number of visitors each year.

The city approved a franchise agreement with Crown Castle in January which will allow the company to develop a fiber network of small cells throughout the city. This series of small, low-powered antennas will work in conjunction with existing cell phone towers to increase the coverage and capacity of wireless networks.

The small incognito antennas are often installed on top of utility poles or existing architecture to improve reception in a variety of public spaces without disrupting their natural aesthetics.