MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, Ala. — The volunteers who answer fire and rescue calls in Magnolia Springs will trade their turnout gear for aprons and grill tongs later this month as the town’s fire department hosts its biggest community gathering of the year.
The 7th Annual Magnolia Springs Firefighter Festival is set for Saturday, Oct. 17, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Magnolia Springs Volunteer Fire Department, 14809 Gates Ave. Admission is free, and so is on-site parking.
A day under the oaks
The festival takes place in the heart of Magnolia Springs, a small Baldwin County town known for its scenery and its close-knit character. Festivalgoers can settle into the shade of the community’s well-known oak trees, which arch over the town’s streets and have long been one of its defining features.
Organizers are planning a full day of food, music and family activities:
- Live music: Local bands will perform throughout the day.
- Food: Firefighters will cook on site.
- Arts and crafts: Local artists and crafters will set up booths across the festival grounds.
- Beer and wine: Available for purchase.
- Kids’ zone: A dedicated area with activities for younger guests.
At past festivals, the department’s volunteers have served plated lunches, and the kids’ area has included inflatables along with a chance to see fire trucks and gear up close. Public safety agencies from around Baldwin County have also set up displays in previous years.
A fundraiser for a volunteer department
The Magnolia Springs Volunteer Fire Department serves the Town of Magnolia Springs and the surrounding area. Like many fire departments in rural and small-town Alabama, it depends on volunteers and community donations to operate. The annual festival is one of the department’s primary fundraising and community outreach events.
In past years, revenue from the festival has gone toward the department’s needs. In 2024, for example, the department designated festival proceeds for its training center and specialized forcible entry training equipment, the props firefighters use to practice breaking through locked doors and other barriers to reach people trapped inside buildings.
Volunteer departments typically face the same costs as paid departments: fire engines that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, protective gear that must be replaced on a schedule, breathing apparatus, hoses, radios and ongoing training. Events like the festival help close the gap between those costs and what public funding covers.
Six decades of service
The Magnolia Springs fire department dates to April 1961, when a group of local citizens organized it. Before then, residents had to wait for the Foley Volunteer Fire Department to respond to fires in the community.
According to the department’s own history, its first station was a small building on County Road 49 at Gates Avenue, and early equipment included surplus military vehicles converted for firefighting. The department later moved to its current Station 1 on Gates Avenue in the early 2000s. A station built in 1963 now serves as Magnolia Springs Town Hall, and the old station bell, once used to summon volunteers, was refinished in 2021.
The sponsors behind the festival
This year’s festival has drawn support from a long list of local businesses.
Specialty sponsors
- M&N of Alabama, band sponsor
- 4th Shift Seamless Gutter, LLC, beer and wine sponsor
- Cowabunga Inflatables & More, kids’ zone sponsor
- Creekside Family Fun Center, T-shirt sponsor
Captain-level sponsors
- The Ebert Agency
- Talladega Superspeedway
- Phillips Frame & Truss
- Fairhope Building Company
- Sunbelt Fire
- Freeman’s Collision
- Cleverdon Farms
- Magnolia Springs Dental
Firefighter-level sponsors
- Blue Water Exteriors
- Hadley Termite & Pest
- Benchmark Homes Group
- The Tin Top Restaurant & Oyster Bar
- Riviera Utilities
- Custom Truck
- Cactus Cantina
Vendor and volunteer applications for this year’s festival are open through Oct. 15. Businesses interested in sponsoring future events can contact the fire department.
About Magnolia Springs
Magnolia Springs sits along the Magnolia River in south Baldwin County, between Foley and Weeks Bay. The community incorporated as a town in 2006, but its history as a riverside settlement goes back much further. It is widely known for its river mail route, on which mail is delivered by boat to docks along the Magnolia River, a practice often described as the last year-round route of its kind in the continental United States.
The town’s canopy of live oaks, its spring-fed river and its historic homes draw visitors who want a quieter alternative to the busier beach communities to the south. A free festival on the fire station grounds fits comfortably into that small-town rhythm.
If you go
- What: 7th Annual Magnolia Springs Firefighter Festival
- When: Saturday, Oct. 17, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Where: Magnolia Springs Volunteer Fire Department, 14809 Gates Ave., Magnolia Springs
- Cost: Free admission and free parking
- Highlights: Live local music, food cooked by firefighters, arts and crafts vendors, beer and wine, kids’ zone
- Vendors and volunteers: Applications open through Oct. 15