34th Annual Heritage Day set for Saturday

Organizers hope second April festival will be twice as nice

By John Underwood / john@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 4/3/18

SILVERHILL, Alabama — Organizers hope this year’s Heritage Day will be twice as nice as last year.

After taking a year off, the festival, which was established in 1982 to celebrate the …

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34th Annual Heritage Day set for Saturday

Organizers hope second April festival will be twice as nice

Posted

SILVERHILL, Alabama — Organizers hope this year’s Heritage Day will be twice as nice as last year.

After taking a year off, the festival, which was established in 1982 to celebrate the town’s heritage, primarily Swedish and Czech, was moved from the third Saturday in September to April last year.

Only time will tell whether or not the move was successful, said Gerald Ardoin, owner of Café Acadiana and one of the festival organizers.

“I will say that we had triple the vendors and easily five to six times as visitors to the festival as one before,” Ardoin said. “I think this year will be the test to see if the festival can continue to be successful. We certainly want to continue to honor our past while looking toward the future.”

The town of Silverhill was founded in 1896 under the direction of Oscar Johnson, head of the Svea Land Company from Chicago. Early Swedish colonists celebrated the popular Scandinavian holiday Mid-Summer Fest, first-mention of which in the town’s history can be found as early as 1904.

Prior to the festival in 2016, the decision was made not to hold the festival in September and move it to the third Saturday in April. This year’s festival was moved to the first Saturday in April.

“We certainly want to be conscious of what everyone else is doing and don’t want to conflict with what anyone else is doing,” Ardoin said, “and we did take that into consideration when setting the date for this year’s festival.”

The festival now comes in between the April edition of the Elberta Sausage Festival (another Sausage Festival is held annually in October) and the Baldwin County Strawberry Festival, held the second Saturday in April and the following Sunday.

The festival encompasses all four corners of the park surrounding the gazebo adjacent to town hall, with dozens of arts and crafts vendors ranging from jewelry, art, pottery, crushed glass, stained glass windows, painted windows, wood crafts and more, Ardoin said.

This year’s festival kicks off with a fun run hosted by Christian Faith Assembly at 8 a.m., followed by opening ceremonies at 9 a.m. with a parade at 10 and all-day entertainment.

Lifelong Silverhill resident and former mayor Frankie Kucera will be honored during the festival and will serve as grand marshal for the parade. Cars from the Gear Jammers Car Club will also be on display during the festival.

The Silverhill Evangelical Covenant Church will be open from 8 a.m. to noon, serving Swedish coffee cakes and sweets with a presentation by local historian Creighton C. “Peco” Forsman at 11:30.

There will also be a Kids Zone with a petting zoo, knockerball, bounce houses, games and fun activities.

At 10:30, County Road 55 will be closed for square dancing in the street, which will be held from 10:30 to 11. Main Street (Alabama 104) will be closed to traffic throughout the festival, Ardoin said.

Café Acadiana will be providing food for the festival, along with additional food and drink vendors.

Entertainment begins at 11 a.m. in front of the gazebo with Yeah, Probably performing from 11 to 12:10 p.m. and local entertainer David Wiley of Wiley Pete will perform from 12:15 to 12:45.

At 1 p.m. there will be a historic presentation at the Oscar Johnson Memorial Library with Phil Owen and Mary Akklan portraying Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Johnson. Library director Shirley Stephens will also give a presentation on the history of the library.

Yeah, Probably will return to the stage beginning at 12:50 p.m., followed by Delta Smoke performing from 2:10 to 4 p.m.

Ardoin said he also wanted to thank town officials, employees and all the volunteers for their support of the festival, as well as event sponsors.

United Bank of Silverhill, located in the historic People’s Supply Building, will also be open for the festival and is serving as this year’s Diamond sponsor for the festival.

Additional sponsors include:

Gold sponsors: Café Acadiana, Johnson, Slaughter, Driver & Northcutt, P.A., Baldwin County Sewer Service and Citizens’ Bank.

Silver sponsors: Baldwin EMC, Advantage Business Solotions, Southern Grace Boutique/Joan’s Beauty Shop, Furniture City, K Mac Electrical LLC.

Bronze sponsors: Sheriff Huey Hoss Mack, Krob Landscape Inc., Harbison & Hoyt LLC.

Friends of Heritage Day: Racine Feed, Garden & Supply Inc.

“We want to keep building the festival and make this a place people will come back to year after year,” Ardoin said.

Anyone who would like to provide input or would like festival or sponsorship information, contact the town hall at 251-945-5198.