OWA Parks & Resort in Foley has announced a full slate of entertainment for Labor Day weekend, anchored by the fifth annual OWA Labor Day Car Show and capped with a Saturday night fireworks display. The lineup packs car culture, live music and family activities into three days at one of Baldwin County’s busiest entertainment destinations, as the summer visitor season reaches its traditional close along the Gulf Coast.
The holiday weekend is one of the most competitive stretches of the year for South Alabama attractions, and OWA’s schedule is built to hold visitors on the property from early morning until the fireworks fade. From a dawn car show registration to a music-synced fireworks finale, the events are staggered so that families can move between activities without leaving the resort’s main corridors.
Fifth Annual Car Show
The car show returns Saturday, September 3, with more than 100 classic cars, hot rods and custom builds displayed throughout the streets of Downtown OWA, the resort’s walkable shopping and dining district. Registration opens at 6:30 a.m., giving owners time to stage their vehicles before the public arrives, and the show begins at 9 a.m. with spectators free to wander among the rows of polished chrome and restored bodywork.
Judging culminates in an awards ceremony at the OWA Island Amphitheater at 4 p.m., where trophies will be handed out for every vehicle decade from the 1920s to now. The decade-by-decade format means the field spans a century of automotive history, from prewar classics to modern custom builds, and it gives owners of nearly any era of vehicle a shot at recognition.
Proceeds from the event benefit Foley First Baptist Church, continuing the car show’s tradition of pairing a community gathering with a local cause. Car shows across Baldwin County have long drawn owners and spectators from both sides of Mobile Bay, and the OWA event has grown into one of the larger annual shows in the county during its first five years.
For downtown Foley, the show brings an early morning crowd to streets that usually fill later in the day. Visitors arriving for registration and the 9 a.m. start often stay for lunch in the district’s restaurants and spend the afternoon in the shops before the awards ceremony, a pattern that local merchants have come to count on during holiday weekends.
Music and Family Activities All Weekend
Kids’ activities run through the weekend, including complimentary hand-print T-shirts and an interactive scavenger hunt across Downtown OWA’s retail and dining spots. The scavenger hunt works with printed maps that can be picked up at Paint Party Studios from 2 to 6 p.m. and turned in for a patriotic surprise, sending families through the district’s storefronts in search of hidden clues.
Live music takes over OWA Island on Saturday, September 3, with Brandon Giles opening at 6 p.m. and The Chee Weez headlining at 8 p.m. The evening slots position the concerts as the bridge between the afternoon car show awards and the night’s fireworks, keeping crowds gathered on the island as the sun goes down.
Sunday’s lineup shifts the mood toward a slower holiday pace. The Gulf Coast Saxophone Ensemble performs at the Downtown OWA Splash Pad at 3 p.m., followed by Colby Swift at 5 p.m. and Austin Forman closing out the night at 7:30 p.m. The Sunday schedule gives visitors who spent Saturday at the beach or at the car show a full second evening of entertainment without repeating the same acts.
The three-day format reflects how OWA has positioned itself since opening in Foley’s growing tourist corridor. The park sits along the Beach Express route that carries visitors from Interstate 65 toward Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, making it a convenient stop for travelers heading to and from the coast. Holiday weekends bring heavy traffic through the area, and attractions that can hold families for an entire day have become central to Baldwin County’s visitor economy.
Foley itself has grown rapidly as the gateway city between the interstate and the beach communities. Downtown Foley has undergone its own revival in recent years, and OWA’s development added a theme park, hotel, waterpark and entertainment district to the city’s portfolio. The combination has made the area a destination in its own right rather than a pass-through for beach-bound traffic.
Fireworks Finale
A fireworks show timed to music launches Saturday, September 3 at 8:50 p.m., visible across the entire property. The synchronization is designed so that guests wherever they are standing, whether at the amphitheater, in Downtown OWA or near the rides, hear the same soundtrack as the bursts overhead. Fireworks have become a signature of OWA’s major holiday events, and the Labor Day display serves as a farewell to the summer season.
The Saturday timing concentrates the weekend’s biggest moments into a single day: cars on display from morning, awards in the late afternoon, concerts from 6 p.m., and fireworks just before 9 p.m. Visitors planning a single visit get the fullest experience on Saturday, while Sunday offers a second day of music for those staying through the holiday.
Admission to the entertainment events is part of OWA’s broader ticketing structure. Visitors can round out the holiday with combo day passes or season passes to Tropic Falls, which recently opened its indoor waterpark, and a non-rider ticket is also available for the theme park. That last option matters for groups split between thrill seekers and family members who prefer to stay dry or skip the rides altogether, allowing everyone to enter the gates together.
Tropic Falls marked a major expansion for the resort, bringing a large indoor waterpark under a roof so that water attractions can operate regardless of weather or season. The addition turned OWA into a year-round destination in a market where many outdoor attractions historically went quiet in the off-season, and it gives holiday weekend visitors a second full day of activities if a single day at the park is not enough.
The waterpark’s indoor hall includes slides, wave features and play structures aimed at a range of ages, while the surrounding theme park offers rides and coasters that anchor the resort’s outdoor footprint. Combo passes bundle both sides of the property, and season passes have been marketed to Baldwin County and Mobile area residents who return repeatedly through the year.
Labor Day weekend traditionally ranks among the busiest stretches of the Gulf Coast tourism calendar, capping a summer that brings millions of visitors to Alabama’s beaches. Events like the OWA car show and concert series give travelers a reason to extend their stays or add an inland stop to beach-focused itineraries, spreading visitor spending into Foley’s restaurants, hotels and shops.
Hours and event details are subject to change, and the full schedule is posted at VisitOWA.com, the resort’s official site. Organizers recommend checking the schedule before traveling, since holiday weekend programming can shift with weather, and the resort updates event times and ticket information online as the weekend approaches.
Planning a Weekend Visit
For families mapping out the holiday, the practical rhythm is straightforward. Saturday rewards an early start with car show registration at 6:30 a.m. and the show at 9 a.m., builds through the 4 p.m. awards ceremony and evening concerts, and ends with the 8:50 p.m. fireworks. Sunday leans on the Splash Pad ensemble performance at 3 p.m. and two more acts through the evening, with the waterpark and kids’ activities available throughout for filling the gaps between shows.
A Growing Entertainment Hub in Baldwin County
OWA’s rise as an events venue mirrors the transformation of the land around it. When the resort opened, Foley was better known for its antique shops, the Foley Railroad Museum and the heron-filled preserves along the Wolf Bay watershed. The theme park’s arrival added thousands of daily visitors to that base, and the city has continued to invest in streetscape improvements and event programming that tie the downtown district to the resort corridor just off Highway 98 and the Beach Express.
The Labor Day schedule also shows how the resort layers free-access entertainment with ticketed attractions. The car show, concerts and fireworks take place in the open streets and amphitheater areas that visitors can reach without a park ticket, while the rides and waterpark draw the guests who want the full experience. That mix lets day-trippers join the crowd for an evening of music and fireworks while annual pass holders move between the coaster lines and the Splash Pad at their own pace.
Regional car clubs and cruising groups have become a fixture of the Gulf Coast event calendar, with shows running nearly every weekend from Pensacola to Mobile during the warm months. The OWA show’s decade-based trophy classes set it apart from the usual best-in-show format, and the church partnership gives participating owners an added reason to register, since entry proceeds flow to a local congregation that supports community programs in Foley.
Visitors coming from Mobile or Pensacola have an easy drive into Foley, with the Beach Express providing a straight route from I-65 that avoids much of the summer congestion on Highway 59. Parking at the resort surrounds the entertainment district, and the walkable layout means families can park once and reach the car show rows, the amphitheater stage and the waterpark entrance on foot, an arrangement designed for exactly the kind of packed holiday schedule the Labor Day weekend delivers.
As the summer season closes, the weekend serves as both a celebration and a preview of the fall events that follow. OWA typically keeps its calendar full through the autumn with seasonal festivals and holiday programming, and the crowds that turn out for the car show and fireworks give organizers a read on attendance heading into the quieter months. For now, the fifth annual edition of the Labor Day car show, three days of live music and a music-timed fireworks finale give Baldwin County one more reason to end the summer close to home.