By Staff
Melissa Cason
HODGES-The Town of Hodges celebrated its 100th birthday as its residents kicked off the first-ever Spirit of Hodges festival Saturday.
The festival brought in a crowd from across the county. Residents of Red Bay, Vina, Russellville, Hackleburg, and Phil Campbell flocked to the small community to participate in the celebration.
"According to the door prize tickets and head counts from several people, about 2,000 people attended the festival," Town Clerk Lisa Howard said.
There were 18 vendors from all over selling a variety of food and craft items, and all of them did well at the festival,
"Swamp John had to make three trips for more fish," Howard said. "They said they didn't know what he was going to do because they were out of fish."
Several of the other food vendors sold out of items as well.
While the vendors were popular, the entertainment was the main attraction. Entertainers performed one after another. The genres of music ranged from Christian to country. Entertainers for the event included Joseph Baldwin, Brianna Lawler-Dean, Locke 6, the Burney Children and many others.
The town sold books depicting the history of Hodges at the event for $10 each. A copy of the book can be purchased at town hall. In addition to the books, the festival had t-shirts for sale.
"We completely sold out of t-shirts at the festival," Howard said.
After the festival was over, the town received another surprise when a flag was delivered to the town hall. According to the certificate, the flag was flown over the capitol building in Washington D.C. on September 27, 2007 in honor of the 100th birthday of the Town of Hodges.
The flag was flown at the request of Representative Robert B. Aderholt.