Alabama State Spring Fair 2024

CoolKay and Countyfairgrounds interviews the Alabama State Spring Fair taking place this year at the Birmingham Race Course. I talk to Jan Hamilton, Program Director about what is going at the fair this year. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
County Fairgrounds in cool. Kay.Here, I'm talking to Jen Hamilton,
who is the director of the AlabamaState Spring here. That's coming up right,
yes, March twenty nine through Aprilseventh. Okay, Now, a
lot of the state fairs in thecountry don't have State Spring Fairs, so

(00:20):
I was Alabama had this for along time, several years. When we
were there in the fall some timeago, people mentioned that why do we
only do this once a year?It has been a great success. Okay,
all right, well, so whatare the first things? I always

(00:42):
like to ask, is the peoplewonder because they go to these things?
How's the parking? Parking is free? It is all paved. Of course.
We are at Birmingham race Course,one thousand John Rogers Drive, Birmingham,
so working is a breeze okay?And what about handicap facilities? And

(01:03):
is it easy for handicapped people toget in? Oh? Yes, very
easy. And we also have ofcourse, you know, this is an
outside event, so we have poorto potties. We have handicapped poor to
potties. Also we try to makeit accessible to everyone. Okay, all
right, So I'm coming in thegates. What should I do? First.

(01:27):
Well, first, you're going tocome through security, as you know,
that is very important these days,so please do not bring any sort
of pocket knife, nail file,metal hair picks, you know, anything
that could be considered a weapon.No mace, no pepper spray, of

(01:49):
course, no weapons. We aregoing to look through your bags. You're
going to walk through full body scannersand then we will wand everyone that walks
through. Then you go purchase yourtickets. We have a great no contact
system this year that people are welcometo use are Kiosk, where you just

(02:13):
walk up and put in your creditcard, buy your tickets, and you're
ready to go. Of course,those people that are paying cash will still
come to the ticket trailer to buytheir tickets. Okay, all right,
so I am in the gate.Now what do I do? First?
Oh, you want to go tothe petting zoo. Everybody loves baby animals

(02:35):
and party animals brings everything from sheepgoats, camels, alpacas. They have
over one hundred year old toward us. They just have every kind sometimes cute
little baby pop belly pigs. Andyou can feed these animals and put them.

(02:57):
Oh that's cool. The kids mustlove that. Well, you know,
we're all about families because we wantto provide a great environment where families
can come out to a traditional fairand have a good time. What about
food when I come in to gate, what's around? Oh my gosh,
anything from a delicious turkey, leg, grilled chicken, fried chicken on a

(03:23):
stick. You've got to have acorn dog, funnel cake, cotton candy,
ice cream. We have all thewonderful fair foods, all right.
So and what about exhibit buildings?Now we don't have exhibit buildings. We
bought Alabama State Fair back in twothousand and eight. It was over one

(03:51):
hundred and fifty years old when itwent bankrupt and we wanted to continue this
great tradition. So when we boughtthat, that's when we moved it to
the Birmingham Racecourse where we're able toput on the fair. We're working towards
getting back to where we will haveexhibits, but at the time we don't.

(04:15):
Do you have grounds acts walking aroundperformers? Are they performers walking around?
Oh no, no, no,we have actual attractions for people to
come see. We have sea LionsSplash that is a great show with sea
lions. We have a steamer's thrillshow where they are walking on this huge

(04:41):
twill up in the air, They'reusing dogs, they have balancing chairs.
I mean, it is just thefunniest show you will ever want to attend.
We have a new thing this yearcalled be a Star Karaoke. You
can make their own video. Andof course we have a hypnotist. No

(05:05):
fares complete without what we used tocall the side shows, and Ben Ramie
puts on a great hypnotist show.Well, that sounds like a lot of
fun. What specifically for the kids, would you suggest We have a ton

(05:25):
of kitty rides. Mitchell Brothers outof Louisiana does our carnival rides. We
have the spectacular, breathtaking rides.For the young people, we have the
traditional ferris wheel and all of those, and then we have kitty rides by
age level. All of the sideshows are available from the time we open

(05:53):
into the early evening. I thinkour latest show is like eight o'clock.
I would like to direct everyone toour website Alabama Statefair dot com and if
they go to that they can signup and receive a free admission ticket for

(06:15):
Monday or Wednesday of the fair tocome to Alabama State Fair on our website.
Oh, that sounds like a lotof things, so we'll make sure
we let people know that, soyou don't have you don't when when is
the fair closed in the evening?Then during the week we close at ten.
Okay, we open at four o'clockand close at ten during the week

(06:39):
Monday through Friday. On Saturday,we open at noon and close at eleven.
And Sunday we open at noon andclose at ten. Now on Easter
Sunday, which is March thirty first, you know, the fair is from
March twenty ninth to April seventh.On Easter Sunday, we have a special

(07:00):
guest, the Easter Bunny is gonnabe there for your family to take pictures
with. Ooh, he's gonna getmibbed. You know that's good. He
likes children. Okay, So we'vepretty much covered everything here, and so

(07:20):
do you have other events that comeup with this facility after this? Now,
the Fall fare is in September,and dear, I didn't grab those
dates for you, but we cantalk about that later in the year,
okay. And then of course ourLights of Nowell is from the middle of

(07:43):
November it's a drive through Christmas showand it's from the middle of November till
January. First. We do threeevents a year at Birmingham Racecourse. Okay,
Jain, Well, we'll get thisposted on our front page and we'll
see what happens. I see ifI get you some attendance. We do
lots of events, dear. Okay, well, I'll be talking to you

(08:05):
again then, I'm sure. Okay, thank you much, Bye bye bye