Staff photo
Andrew Hurst, 5, left, and Jacob Hightower, 6, hold salamanders as Jim Brown, a retired history professor from Samford University, talks about the types of salamanders they are holding during the annual Friends of Shades Creek Salamander Festival at Homewood High School in January 2023.
Homewood’s Salamander Festival will return with something new to shine the spotlight on the event’s namesake amphibian.
The Friends of Shades Creek will host the 22nd annual Salamander Festival in the practice gym at Homewood High School on Jan. 31 from 1-4:30 p.m. This free event will feature more than 20 different environmental groups from across the state that will provide educational information, demonstrations, and interactive games and activities for all ages, said Melonie McBrayer, board member for the Friends of Shades Creek.
Not only will attendees get to meet and interact with a variety of salamanders, but this year the festival will also show the “Salabama” documentary from Alabama Rivers Alliance’s Southern Exposure film fellowship program.
The film by Nicholas Hess showcases the state’s salamanders and all their charm, sharing how parts of Alabama can contain more salamander species than all of Africa, Australia and the entire Amazon rainforest combined. The film, which features several of the board members from Friends of Shades Creek, will run throughout the festival.
“We’re especially excited to show the new film because it highlights more salamanders than just the ones we have here,” McBrayer said.
Staff photo
A red salamander is seen in a container.
While the spotted salamander has become a bit of a mascot for the Homewood area due to its dynamic appearance, there are about nine species of salamanders that call the Homewood Forest Preserve home. In addition to salamanders, attendees can see other types of wildlife at the festival, such as snakes, turtles and birds.
“There will be a lot of animals for adults and kids to observe, and there will be some they can hold,” McBrayer said.
Attendees can also check out a wide variety of vendors at the event. They’re still finalizing the list of participants, but they hope to have the Alabama Wildlife Center, professors from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Samford, the Urban Turtle Project and many more.
Children can enjoy arts and crafts like drawing local fish and making clay salamanders, and there will be live music from the band Swinging Slythereens.
“Just seeing the whole number of kids who come who have never seen something like this before is enlightening and inspirational,” she said. “It’s fun and educational all at the same time.”
Sam McCoy with Freshwater Land Trust will lead a 30-minute hike to the Homewood Forest Preserve at 1:30 p.m., highlighting the nature, wildlife and importance of forest conservation.
McBrayer said she’s looking forward to seeing people of all ages from Homewood and the surrounding communities come together for the festival.
“It’s not just an opportunity to see the salamanders and share a love and interest in the environment, but there are also different vendors that are very diverse and dynamic. You might learn something that you didn’t know before,” McBrayer said. “It’s just an engaging, quirky little festival, but there’s a lot of community value.”
For more information on the festival and other events from the Friends of Shades Creek, visit Shadescreek.org.
