Alabama’s 200th birthday and Veterans Day land in the same week this year, and South Alabama is marking the pairing with flag ceremonies at the Battleship, a bicentennial exhibition on the Eastern Shore and a full run of history lectures heading into the holidays. Here’s what’s coming up.
Saluting Alabama at 200
The Daphne Civic Center hosts “Alabama’s 200th Birthday” Thursday, Nov. 7, from 5 to 8 p.m., a Baldwin County bicentennial exhibition featuring three epic historical paintings: Dean Mosher’s commemorations of the Battle of Fort Mims and Rick Reeves’ depictions of Fort Blakeley and Fort Bowyer. Baldwin County Heritage Families documentaries will screen, with commemorative books available.
Veterans Day itself opens early Monday, Nov. 11, at Battleship Memorial Park: a 6:45 a.m. flag-lowering ceremony at the Vietnam Memorial, a LifeSouth blood drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., an American flag delivered by parachute at 2:45 p.m., a Parade of Flags at 3 p.m. and a Mobile Symphonic Pops Band concert at 7 p.m. Fort Whiting Armory follows at noon with a luncheon honoring Vietnam-era veterans, featuring keynote speaker Robert W. Doubek — the Vietnam veteran whose work led to the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.
Through it all, more than 250 full-size American flags will line the central roadway of Mobile Memorial Gardens starting Sunday, Nov. 10, as the Flags of Glory tribute opens with an awards ceremony; residents can sponsor flags in honor of veterans or service members.
History Beyond the Battlefield
Historic Blakeley State Park packs the week: Saturday brings Civil War weapons demonstrations and a special cruise retracing the combined-forces campaign that captured Mobile, then on Nov. 15 Dr. Ian Brown — longtime professor and curator of Gulf Coast archaeology at USA — gives a free evening lecture at the Wehle Center on Bottle Creek, the Gulf Coast’s largest Mississippian mound center, with its remarkable 18 mounds rising from an island deep in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.
Literature gets a turn Nov. 13, when novelist Jill McCorkle — six novels and four story collections, five named New York Times notable books — reads at USA’s Marx Library ahead of her spring 2020 novel Hieroglyphics.
Holiday Season Ramps Up
The Junior League of Mobile’s Christmas Jubilee fills the Convention Center Nov. 15-17 with more than 100 merchants, Santa’s workshop and entertainment. OWA lights its tree Saturday, Nov. 16, with fireworks downtown, and Hank Aaron Stadium hosts the UCP Nights of Lights 5K on Nov. 14, letting runners pass through the light show while raising money for United Cerebral Palsy of Mobile.
Moe’s Original Bar B Que on Springhill Avenue hosts the Boots & BBQ Barn Bash Nov. 14 for Children’s of Alabama’s pediatric rheumatology clinic — $40 gets barbecue and live music, cowboy boots encouraged. Toys for Tots collections are underway through Dec. 2 at EXIT at East Bay Realty in Silverhill, and LoDa Artwalk returns downtown Nov. 9 alongside the Market at The Pillars and Gulf Coast Ducks’ craft-cocktail “Flocks on the Rocks” tour.