Mayor Ashley Curry
March certainly kept us guessing about the weather. Regardless of that, I hope you were able to attend some of the Dogwood Festival events last month.
The weather was threatening on March 3, but I hope you were able to attend the Spring Fest event at Wald Park. I suspect the fashion show held in the new Civic Center on March 9 was well attended.
April events will include the Dogwood Prayer Breakfast, featuring guest speaker Lindy Cleveland from Unless U, an organization that provides services for adults with developmental disabilities and their families. With job training and life and social skills, they promote independence for their clients. What a great service they provide. We are glad to have Unless U in Vestavia Hills.
Let’s talk about April. According to Dictionary.com, April comes from the Latin verb aperire, which means “to open.” Many like to believe the name of the month describes the flowers and trees opening in springtime. Accordingly, there are numerous observances held in the United States that celebrate the spring of the year. There is National Garden Month, Keep America Beautiful Month and National Wildlife Week.
Of course, April 1 is well known as “April Fool’s Day.” You will need to be mindful of jokes and pranks that are orchestrated that day. The best-known prank occurred on April 1, 1957. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcast a current affairs program purporting to show Swiss farmers picking freshly grown spaghetti, in what they called the “Swiss spaghetti harvest.” The BBC was flooded with calls of citizens wanting to purchase spaghetti plants.
On a more serious note, some major religious events take place in April:
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection and community. Starting on March 22, it lasts until April 21.
Passover, also called Pesach, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt. It begins on April 5 and lasts until April 13.
Easter is Sunday, April 9, and Christians will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Regardless of your religious preference, I hope you will reflect on the many blessings we have.
Another significant event in April is National Volunteer Week. It will be recognized the week of April 17-21. This is an opportunity to recognize the impact that citizen volunteers make for our quality of life in Vestavia Hills. Volunteers have a huge effect on our various boards and commissions as well as our parks and recreation leagues and clubs. Let’s not forget the Beautification Board, our garden clubs, the Sybil Temple foundation, our civic clubs, our recently revitalized Arts Council and many more.
I’ll leave you with a quote from Mark Twain:
“In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.”
