A Mobile Church Is Turning Its Parking Lot Into a Christmas-in-July Market With About 50 Local Vendors

Oak Park Church in Mobile is hosting a Christmas in July Small Business Bash on Saturday, July 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., bringing together roughly 50 local vendors for a single-day shopping event at the church’s Sollie Road campus.

The event, held at 3321 Sollie Road, is built around tax-free shopping on clothes and shoes, giving attendees a chance to knock out back-to-school and holiday-adjacent shopping in one stop while supporting small, locally owned businesses rather than national retailers.

Organizers have not detailed the full vendor lineup ahead of the event.

How the tax holiday works

The event falls during Alabama’s annual back-to-school sales tax holiday, which runs from 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 17, through midnight Sunday, July 19, 2026. During the holiday, the state sales tax is waived on clothing priced at $156 or less per item, computers and related supplies up to $1,173, school supplies up to $78 per item and books up to $47. Those limits are higher than in past years because a 2025 state law began adjusting them for inflation.

Cities and counties decide each year whether to waive their own sales taxes as well. The City of Mobile and Mobile County both announced they would take part in 2026, so qualifying purchases made in Mobile that weekend are free of state and local sales tax.