An Egg-ceptional day! Big crowd comes to downtown for Rooster Day 2024
Published 12:02 pm Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Alyssa Rios, a member of 4-H, watches as Lily Cannon pet a rooster during Rooster Day 2024 in downtown Demopolis on April 13. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Tim Hall holds his 1 ½-year-old grandson, Adam Turner, as they enjoy Market Street Jazz during Rooster Day 2024. Hall said Turner enjoys the drums. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Deeya Fitzgerald plays an alto saxophone solo during a performance of the Market Street Jazz at Rooster Day Saturday. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Ryan Rowden, 6, holds a duck at the petting zoo at Rooster Day. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Caroline Davidson, a member of the Demopolis High School’s community service endorsement, paints a snake on the face of 6-year-old Tucker Ross during Rooster Day 2024 in downtown Demopolis on April 13. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Will Roland plays guitar with the rest of the Market Street Jazz at Rooster Day on Saturday, April 13. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Market Street Jazz drummer Scott Kratzer keeps the beat going during their performance. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Dale Foster plays with Market Street Jazz at Rooster Day. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Ed Rush performed with Market Street Jazz. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Ken Bausano and Linde McAdams plays trumpet for Market Street Jazz. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
From left, Lauren Goddard, Richard Grecu and Ken Bausano perform with Market Street Jazz during the Rooster Day festival. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Richard Grecu performs with Market Street Jazz during the Rooster Day festival. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Aslan Foster plays tenor saxophone with Market Street Jazz. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Noah Charleston, 7, and Ryan Rowden, 6, enjoy the Rooster Day festival. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
A rooster was sitting at the 4-H booth at Rooster Day. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Nikki Rios holds a rooster while it's being petted at Rooster Day. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
The Rooster Day sign welcomes visitors to the festival. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Festivalgoers relax underneath the trees while enjoying ice cream and entertainment at the Rooster Day festival. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Karl and Michele Hagood have been coming to Rooster Day for many years. They said they have experienced a lot of success coming to the festival year after year. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
Market Street Jazz drummer Scott Kratzer keeps the beat going during their performance. | Brent Maze, The Demopolis Times
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Rooster Day finally got near-perfect weather to line up with the date of the festival for the first time since the first year of its eight-year history.
That’s something that Kirk Brooker, operations director for the Marengo County Historical Society, didn’t forget about when they had the opening ceremony Saturday morning. The first thing they did was take time to thank God for the good weather.
“That’s the first thing we did this morning was welcome everybody and then thanked God for the great weather because that’s something we can’t control,” Brooker said. “We’ve had years where it rained that morning and then cleared up, and we were good. We’ve had years where it started nice, and then it rained. It is a rain or shine event, so we keep going. Obviously days like this bring bigger crowds.”
Brooker said it was probably the biggest event they’ve ever had in terms of vendors and attendance at the festival. They had more than 50 vendors and a lot of great entertainment.
One vendor in particular sang the praises of the festival. Karl and Michele Hagood who own K.C. Soaps for Life brought their selection of all-natural soaps to the event. Karl, who holds a degree in organic chemistry, said he uses all natural ingredients when they make their soaps, and the soaps are all made in their home, not a laboratory.
Michele said they have been coming for about six or seven years, and they said it’s one of their more successful events.
“This is one of our favorite places to come,” Karl said. “We always sell a lot and have a great time.”
“We really love getting to talk with people and making friends out here,” Michele said. “And I really like that all of the vendors are all making their own items.”
On the entertainment side, one of the festival favorite groups was Market Street Jazz, a locally organized band that features mostly local instrumentalists. They played a wide variety of music from crowd favorites like “Sweet Caroline” and even hip-hop hits such as “Uptown Funk.”
Richard Grecu, a director of the band, said they play several shows throughout the year around Demopolis, but this is one of their favorites.
“We always have a great turnout out here,” Grecu said. “We always have a lot of fun playing our music, and it has been a fun day out here.”
Brooker said they had a lot of people come out to the event promotions for the event, but he also noticed that several others just happened to be traveling through town and stopped to see what was going on.
“They stopped and they hung out for a couple hours. So we’ve had people that have shown up and didn’t realize it was going on,” Brooker said. “We’ve also had people that showed up because they did see it in Selma, Montgomery, The Demopolis Times, on-line and elsewhere. So we get people from a nice radius, probably a 50 mile, 60 mile radius.”
With that kind of crowd, Brooker knows it has a big impact on the local economy.
“It’s a community event, but it’s also an economic boost for the town as a whole in so many ways,” Brooker said. “ You’ve got to get gas, you’ve got to get food/ Everybody in our downtown shops are open, but not just the downtown stores. Those on 80, off 80 and on the outskirts as well. People are shopping at and spending time and spending dollars. So yeah, it’s a community builder, but it’s also an economic boost.”
