October 2022 | Volume 16 | Issue 2
FALL IN LOVE with YOUR NEW HOME in HOMEWOOD, 30A and Beyond!
The Wade Team Call THE WADE TEAM for your perfect match. THEHOMEWOODSTAR.COM
HOMEWOOD’S COMMUNITY NEWS SOURCE
Danielle Wade 205-966-9600
Billy Wade 205-283-0698
Cindy Wade 205-283-2349
50 YEARS OF MUSIC Homewood Patriot Band celebrates 50th anniversary By NEAL EMBRY
T
hey called it the “death march.” Years ago, before the Homewood Patriot Band switched its focus to Friday nights and parades, the legendary band took part in regional and state
competitions. It usually ended with the band lifting the first-place trophy. Cindy Wade, the founder and longtime leader of the Star-Spangled Girls, an auxiliary group to the band, said the band would march into competitions single-file, very “austere.” “Every other band got quiet,”
Wade said. The message to the judges was, “We’re here to play,” Wade said. And for 50 years, the band has played: in Homewood, in competitions, in Dublin, in multiple Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades, multiple Tournament of Roses Parades — wherever there
has been a need for an elite high school band, the Patriot Band has probably been there. “The band has been such a unique animal for the city of Homewood,” Wade said.
See PATRIOT BAND | page A22
The Homewood marching band performs the national anthem at the start of a game against Calera at Waldrop Stadium on Sept. 8. Photo by Erin Nelson.
Mayfair, Hollywood residents share love of neighborhood
Upton Moorer, 4, rides his scooter along the sidewalk as his older sister, Lillian, 9, walks their dog Gabby, 15, in the Mayfair neighborhood on Sept. 16. Photo by Erin Nelson.
By NEAL EMBRY and ERIC TAUNTON Multiple neighborhoods in Homewood are known for their walkability, sense of community and centrality to shops and other institutions in the community. For some neighborhoods in Homewood, however, it wasn’t always that way. When Denise Vail and her husband moved to the Mayfair neighborhood in 2003, the community had small cottage houses that were “a little overpriced at the time,” she said. When families in Mayfair decided to have more
INSIDE
Sponsors............... A4 News....................... A6
Business...............A10 Community.......... A12
Events...................A18 Schoolhouse........A19
children, they would move to other cities in the community that still had a small-town feel but bigger houses with better prices, such as Vestavia Hills or the Brookwood Forest area in Mountain Brook, she said. Vail and her husband, on the other hand, decided to risk investing in the community. “We understood why people were leaving, but we also understood that investment into Homewood had to start somewhere,” Vail said.
See NEIGHBORHOODS | page A20
Sports.................... B4 Opinion.................. B8
Metro Roundup... B10 Calendar............... B12 facebook.com/thehomewoodstar
Haunted Library
Home & Garden
Homewood Public Library staff shares spooky stories of ghostly encounters at the library.
Browse through our annual section for advice and resources on seasonal home improvement projects.
See page A14
Sell FASTER & for MORE MONEY 205.601.4148 I KeteCannon.com
See page B13