April is flying by so fast, y’all. Has anyone invented a time machine so we can enjoy this spring weather even longer?

April 19th.

If You Ain’t First, You’re Last
The Honda Indy Grand Prix weekend is FINALLY here! Join Producer Wade as he covers the event this weekend on Bham Now and through our social channels (Facebook. Instagram. Twitter). If you want to experience in the flesh, I would recommend that, too. Barber Motorsports Park is the place to be.
Here is all the ticket deal info on VIP, parking, and special attractions.

Dolla Dolla Bills (or lack thereof)
I like to eat food. I like to save money. I like to spend time with my boyfriend. Add these three things together, and you’ll find that I am a cheap date. Not ashamed. Because of this personal characteristic, I’m a (self-proclaimed) expert in finding the good deals—especially when it comes to pizza and dessert. And I don’t mean the mega-chain pizza restaurants or ice cream from Walgreens. I’m talking Avondale, Five Points, Lakeview, and Homewood-bred goodness. Go on a pizza + dessert date with your S.O. and spend less than $20.

Taking the “pain” out of “campaign”
Birmingham’s first mayoral forum let a panel of seven potential candidates for mayor answer questions from the moderator and the audience. Topics included crime and violence, education, budget, neighborhood revitalization, and public transparency. Audience members got pretty invested into the Q&A, as well, having to be shushed on more than one occasion. Incumbent Mayor William Bell wasn’t in attendance.

Since the last time I included potential candidate interviews in the newsletter, Bham Now’s JH Daniel has been busy publishing more interviews.

Chris Woods for Mayor
Kimberly Jeanty for City Council District 2
Rowan Henderson for City Council District 3

Click here to catch up on all the interviews for Mayor and City Council Candidates so far.

Civil Rights Monument Dedication
Last weekend, the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument was dedicated. If you remember back to a few months ago, President Obama declared the District a National Monument right before he dipped out of office. Mayor William Bell, members of the Birmingham City Council, U.S. Park Service officials, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and “foot soldiers” from the Civil Rights Movement were all in attendance. See photos.

Bham Now’s Kristina O’Quinn had the opportunity to interview Janice Wesley Kelsey, one of Birmingham’s foot soldiers during the Children’s Crusade. She was moved to tears.

We’re All Urban Here
Coffee lovers, this one’s for you: Urban Standard is reopening this upcoming Monday, April 24th. Urban suffered extensive damage from a fire at the beginning of this year. With overwhelming support from the community and fellow coffee shops like Lucy’s and Crestwood Coffee, Urban will be opening back up just four months after the incident. See if you can use your flex time at work Monday morning, ‘cause I have a feeling the line is going to be super long (and well worth it).

We Want the Funk
The historic BEBCO building on 2nd Ave S is about to undergo a huge reno, thanks to Ward Neely of SRS Real Estate partners. The old battery warehouse and engine service shop has tons of potential, as a restaurant slash brewery could inhabit the space with retail and office space to fill out the rest. A block away from the east side of the Rotary Trail, and just three blocks from Midtown Publix, the location is prime and is sure to bring a diverse crowd. Whatever it ends up being, Neely and SRS want it to be “funky”. I concur.

A Bushel and a Chicken Named Pecks
Our #SmallBizSpotlight is on Grace Gardens in Roebuck Springs. The small, urban flower farm and floral design studio is owned by Kelly Wood and specializes in “farm to vase” flowers. Wood grows the flowers with joy, and hand picks every single bloom that is included in a bouquet. Grace Gardens has been in business for about 6 years, and the inventory grows more each year, with different types of flowers available year-round. Most of all, Wood enjoys the relationships with her clients. “Flowers make people happy,” and that makes it all worth it to Wood. She also has a pet chicken named Pecks, and the photo of them together is the most adorable thing.

Poop Water
Like to swim in creeks? Sorry to break it to you, but there’s probably sewage in there. Hundreds upon thousands of gallons of sewage, and there is no way for you to have known that, because there are no warnings or signs near the creeks or reporting on the news. Nine water protection groups have put together a petition urging the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to start developing rules to better notify the public about sewage spills. These sewage spills happen all over the state, and often go unreported (which is illegal, btw). Read more about the petition to treat our water like the beautiful, natural resource it is.

Can I Kick It?
Kickball isn’t just for the kids. When the sun goes down, the kickball league cult comes out, revved and ready to dominate the diamond. GO Kickball is currently registering for the eight week long summer season. Ball with friends, get a cool team t-shirt, and party with teammates at the League Bar—a designated local bar to hangout at after games. The sound a rubber ball makes when kicking it is forever ingrained into my brain. DINK!

UAB Always on the Forefront
UAB works day in and day out on researching and discovering cures for all kinds of diseases. But finding a cure still means having to diagnose people with the disease. Two UAB doctors are focused on preventing, rather than all-out curing, Alzheimer’s disease, so the diagnosis will no longer have to be made. It’s been 111 years since the first Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and by year 200, this disease could be extinct thanks to the research being done as we speak.

Top 3 Events This Week

Alabama Environmental Council’s Annual Green Tie Affair @ Clubhouse on Highland. April 20th. 6-9:30PM. $35-50.
15th Annual Student Jazz Band Festival @ Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. April 20-22. FREE.
St. Elias Lebanese Food and Cultural Festival @ St. Elias Church. April 21-22. FREE.

PLUS: Check out Producer James’ top 10 picks for the week.

Want more? We’ve been busier than honey bees in spring adding over 2,200 events to the Bham Now calendar.

Bite-sized
Quiz: Are you a true Blazer fan?
Weather: Highs in the high 80s through the end of the week and comfortable lows in the mid to low 60s. There’s a chance of rain on Sunday, but it’s back to spring weather early next week.
Eat: Try Producer Liz’s recipe for Southern Pesach. We like to call it Southern-Jewish fusion.
Job: Full Stack Web Engineer by MOXY. Apply.
Adorable and Adoptable: Meet Nitro, the super cute Australian Cattle Dog mix that you can foster-to-adopt.

Last week for #ProducerHunterdoesBham, I went to our BOLD Speaker Series with David Sher (because, duh) and learned some very interesting statistics about our city, like the fact that we are the 3rd most generous/giving city while only being the 48th largest metro. I also tried Cookie Fix in Homewood, and immediately got addicted. Thanks to newsletter subscriber Anna for the suggestion!

There are tons of events this weekend and I’m sad that I won’t get to attend nearly as many as I would like. I hope you all can make it out, though! Have a lovely rest of your week, friends. As always, thanks for reading Bham Now.

Hunter Holland, Producer
Let me know what’s up – hunter@bhamnow.com