Party with a purpose

 Ensley held  a community festival October 1st. This festival was sponsored by Councilor Steven Hoyt who is the rep for that district. Below is a quote taken from the B'ham News website.


The four-hour event, headed by Birmingham City Councilor Steven Hoyt, is a combination job fair, educational initiative and community festival. (copied from al.com)

The article indicated that over 10,000 people attended, up 4,000 more than previous years. Originally the event was brought about in an effort to have residents more involved in their community after a number of homicides. In addition to wholesome activities, the festival allowed families to spend time together.

There was more than one group of dancers. Also, positive rappers with positive messages.

There were numerous community service tents available for the public to visit. Among them were Project Rebound, to help tornado victims with recovery. Various church and non profit agencies were also there. Hopewell Church will be sponsoring a Women's workshop next weekend which I plan to attend. The subjects that got me interested were edible landscapes and practical business skills. The seminar is free as was EVERYTHING at this festival.

McWane Center's rep in the children's area showed how to make slime or goo. In the container above is about 3 TBS of ordinary white glue that has been colored with food coloring.


To that is added a little water that has borax in it. When the two are stirred together you get the gooey slime you see above. I can see how this would be a fascinating activity for children. As the rep pointed out it was also a great, safe chemical reaction experiment.

There were also airbrushed tattoos. I stood in line to get one also. I wanted mine to be fierce.



Can't get any fiercer than this snake. I'd like to see what I'd look like with a full sleeve and the reactions I'd get?

Not sure what type of owl this is but it was also in the children's section.




 

If You Cook it, they will come. 

 Cooks prepare the tasty meal given to the festival goers.

Everyone is served by adults as well as a Boy Scout troop. I remarked to the den mother how proud I was to see young men performing community service without selfishness.
There were hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken wings, chips or cheese curls, ice cream, soda pop. The Scouts and their mentors had everything moving smoothly.



These kids are gearing up to play Simon Says. The winner gets a bicycle.

Not to be outdone, those over age 40 were challenged in a game of Red Light, Green Light. The prize was a new vacuum cleaner.

The statue of Vulcan in  Birmingham, Alabama was made of iron since iron and steel was the primary industry at one time in this state. The Vulcan statue was also a feature at the 1904 World's Fair. It is thelargest cast iron statue in the world. You can read more about Vulcan and his history as it pertains to Alabama . 

Strength and stamina were tested when partakers did as many chin ups as they could within a given amount of time. Before that it was weight lifting. 

The weather for this event was beautiful . Not too hot and not too cold. A perfect fall day.

THAT'S IT