State Department of Tourism taps Boom Days as ‘Event of the Year’

Boom Days has been selected as the state’s top event for 2015.

The City of Fort Payne announced Thursday that the Alabama Tourism Department has selected the Boom Days Heritage Celebration as the “Alabama Tourism Event of the Year.” The 2015 festival also sees Boom Days celebrating its 10th anniversary.

State Tourism Director Lee Sentell announced the award after a selection process that evaluated and considered a huge variety of events all over the state of Alabama. Previous winners have included events in the magnitude of the Talladega 500, W. C. Handy Music Festival in Florence, the opening of the Mercedes plant in Vance, and the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores. Members of the Boom Days Festival Committee will receive the physical award on Aug. 3 in Mobile at the Governor’s Conference held at the Battle House Renaissance Hotel in Mobile, Alabama.

Festival Communications Director Daron Harris stated “This definitively acknowledges the last 10 years of hard, dedicated work from the Boom Days committee, city government, civic and volunteer organizations, the Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce and the DeKalb County Tourist Association, along with many other individuals and groups at every level! What could be better to celebrate our 10th year than by being selected as the state’s top tourism event for 2015?”

Boom Days will present some of the most accomplished names in music to help celebrate the news, including Grammy Award winners Delbert McClinton and Norman Blake. Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section Swampers Jimmy Johnson and Will

McFarlane, along with a special band of Muscle Shoals musical elite, will honor Mr. McClinton’s appearance by performing immediately prior to his show on the Cheerwine / Donohoo Chevrolet Rotary Pavilion Stage starting at 3pm. These Swampers will feature a very special young entertainer, Jackson Nance who, at 16, is the youngest singer-songwriter ever signed by Warner Chappell Music. Music on both outdoor stages begins at 10am. An exciting performance by New Orleans funk band Flow Tribe will top off the day’s festivities with a concert at the DeKalb Theatre at 8pm.

Boom Days will be held in downtown Fort Payne on September 19th, 2015. In addition to the musical acts, some of the most accomplished visual artists from all over the South will display their work at the Holiday Inn Express City Park Art Show. A 5K run, a pancake breakfast, museum exhibits, a quilt show, demonstrations featuring Frisbee dogs and herding dogs, arts and crafts vendors, an aerial act, a pet parade, a vintage car show, a motorcycle cruise-in, a children’s entertainment area, and other fun-filled events will round out the day.