LETTER FROM THE MAYOR

Welcome to Gardendale!

As the mayor, I’d like to personally welcome you to the beautiful city of Gardendale. Located only fifteen minutes from downtown Birmingham our unique location allows our residents to enjoy the benefits that a big city offers, such as sports, entertainment, and exquisite dining while living in a small town that is known throughout the state for its charm and sense of community. As a born and raised, lifelong resident of Gardendale of almost 65 years, it’s a great place to live, work and play. And, it’s a place that I chose to raise my children and now watch my grandchildren grow up.

Our business community is growing rapidly. Just this year alone, we are adding national brands such as Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Chipotle, Jiffy Lube, Chicken Salad Chick, Jersey Mike’s, Dunkin Donuts, Taziki’s, Taco Mama, Sonic and our latest, Ulta Beauty. This momentum continues to spread and we plan to capitalize on it. Our Gardendale Chamber of Commerce does a great job in helping every business, both large and small, be successful year in and year out. If you’re looking to start or open a business there has never been a better time or a better place to choose.

There are many reasons to choose Gardendale for your personal or business needs. First, we are a very safe city with a low crime rate and we have excellent employees in both our police and fire departments, all who dedicate their lives daily to serve and protect you.

On the education side, we offer two private schools and four public schools that we are very proud of. On the public school side, we are very proud partners with JefcoEd and we are both committed to make our local schools the very best they can be.

Our city is proud to offer several facilities designed to enhance the quality of life that our citizens expect and deserve. Our Civic Center serves as the hub of our city providing opportunities such as a gymnasium, walking tracks (indoor and outdoor), weight rooms, meeting rooms and an exhibition hall. There’s also an amphitheater and lots of green space that allows us to offer special community events on a regular basis and our yearly Magnolia Festival that attracts 40,000 visitors from across the southeast in the spring. Also, adjacent to the Civic Center, we have a first class Senior Center that provides unique offerings for our senior community. Just down the road is our recently renovated Library that we are very proud of; located in a peaceful, serene setting it a great place to read, study, or socialize with many activities designed for those of all ages.

On the recreation side, our parks are second to none. We are nearing completion of a major renovation of Kenny Clemons Park where we offer soccer fields, playground, splash pad, dog park, biking and hiking trails, flag football fields, and a disc golf course.

Additionally, other parks are located throughout the city with more playgrounds, athletic fields and a field dedicated to those with special needs, Pate Field our “Field of Miracles”.

But our crown jewel of all our parks just opened this year - Bill Noble Park is a community park designed to meet the needs of all ages. We invested $32 million to build the nicest park in the state of Alabama that is a half mile off of I-65. The park consists of 9 baseball or softball fields and a football/soccer field (all synthetic turf), 2 concession stands, a huge playground with pavilions, 8 tennis courts, 11 pickleball courts, an event center and even a putting green. During the week, Bill Noble Park is designed to meet the needs and expectations of the local community. Then, on the weekends it serves as an economic development engine attracting sports teams from across the Southeast which helps all of our local businesses.

Everything that I have mentioned above would not be possible without the cooperation and teamwork of our city employees and city council. This team of approximately 200 is here for one reason and that is to serve the residents and visitors of our community. I hope you check us out on your own and just see for yourself that Gardendale, truly, is a great place to live, work and play.

In closing, it’s an honor to serve as the Mayor of our great city. If I, or any member of our team can help you in any way, please feel free to reach out to us. As I’ve said many times before, “Greater Things Are Yet to Come in this City!”

Mayor Stan Hogeland