Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Hometown Tour - Gardendale

Hello Everyone,
I hope you enjoy reading about today's Hometown Tour brought to you by Maggie. Hop over to Life According to Maggie and check out her blog.
~ Valerie

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“Welcome to Gardendale, nice people live here!” that is what you’ll read as you enter our beautiful city. Gardendale is located approximately 20 miles north of downtown Birmingham, right off interstate 65. It is a quiet little city with so much to offer. Covering 57 square miles, Gardendale is home to over 470 businesses, 25 churches, and the Gardendale Rockets. With a population of around 13,000, it’s the kind of place where everybody knows your name.

The earliest settlers of Gardendale were veterans of the War of 1812. These veterans saw the lust woodlands as an area of opportunity. After the Civil War, surrounding coalmines began to open causing the population to double. Gardendale was originally named “Jugtown” after and old Jug and Churn factory that operated in the area. This name was embarrassing to a local teacher so she lobbied and fought to have the name changed. In 1906, Gardendale was chosen for this beautiful place.

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We have five public schools, three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. Gardendale Elementary recently received a renovation and features a state of the art library and media center. The new Gardendale High School is currently being constructed and is set to open for the spring semester of 2011. There are also two private schools, Tabernacle Christian School K-12, and Gardendale Christian Academy K-6.

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In the last decade, Gardendale constructed a new Civic Complex. Complete with 6,000 square feet of meeting space, a state of the art weight room, performing arts center, indoor and outdoor walking track, outdoor amphitheater and a Senior Center. In the last five years the parks and recreation department has added and new Soccer complex, Splash Pad, and Miracle League Field. As you can tell we are a city of growth and progress!

The Gardendale Arts Council is responsible for providing quality, theatre productions right here in our backyard. They put on a summer musical each year and have included titles like “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, “Cinderella”, “Fiddler on the Roof”, “The Wizard of Oz”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and many more.

The summer productions are a great way for the children in the city to be a part of one of their favorite stories! They also produce a dinner theater in the fall which has included “Steel Magnolias,” “ The Odd Couple” and this fall will feature ”Nunsense”. The fall usually casts more adults who want their shot at stardom! The Arts Council also hosts Friday Night MOOvies at the amphitheater. Every Friday night in June grab your blankets and children and head down to catch a movie under the stars!

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The Gardendale Magnolia Festival is an annual festival where all our local businesses invade the Civic Center to show off their latest products. The festival hosts a Classic Car Show, rides for the kids, and recently the Pooch Parade. The Pooch Parade has been a huge success. The first year there were over eighty dogs that showed up to walk and be judged. Prizes were awarded to the cutest dog, ugliest dog, best trick, best costume, best owner/dog team, and people’s choice voted on by the people. This year Gardendale has added the Miss Gardendale Magnolia Festival pageant, a preliminary to the Miss Alabama pageant.

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It’s a simple place, with simple people. Friday nights in the fall, most of us can be found down at Driver Stadium cheering on the Rockets. In the spring we’ll be at the baseball and softball parks. Summer, well, we are probably at the Splash Pad.

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At the start of winter everyone marks the calendar for the Christmas Parade. So, the next time you come our way stop in and meet some of the nice people that call Gardendale home!

Maggie's Introduction:

I've been married for almost a year (it'll be a year March 28) It is a big adjustment but it has been fun learning each other’s little quirks! I'm pretty easy going girl. It doesn't take much to entertain me. I am severely ADHD and didn't know it until a couple of years ago. I now know why easy things seemed so difficult for me! I am slightly OCD as well. I also have a slight social anxiety which is probably why I don't like crowds. I like to read and I love reality TV. My favorite color is pink it makes me happy. I love pictures. I hate rude people and the color orange. I hate those people that go slow in the fast lane on the interstate. I hold a grudge but I hate when people are mad at me. I have the best family anyone could ask for. They are my best friends. I love them with my whole heart. My parents are my best friends. I loved college but I hated the classes. ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

Thanks so much Maggie!If you would like to feature your hometown on Alabama Bloggers, please contact Rachel (rachel@alabamabloggers.com) or Valerie (valwonderfullife@aol.com) and let us know!

5 comments:

Carol ReMarks said...

Awesome!! Hey, I haven't forgotten about doing a hometown blog entry for Huntsville. I've just been really swamped and there is SO MUCH to say about Huntsville. I want to get it right!!! Thanks for understanding.

emariemax said...

Excellent post. Makes me want to visit. You failed to mention what wonderful parents live there & how great their kids are.

Rachel said...

I had never heard of the splash pad until yesterday when I got an email saying that our Mom's group was there, then I got this blog to publish! We went today, and it was a lot of fun!

KBeau said...

Thanks for the tour. I've passed the exit for Gardendale on I-65 on lots of occasions, but I've never really been to the town.

Stacey said...

I lived in Gardendale for a couple of years and really liked it there. :)

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