HUNTSVILLE — An announcement Tuesday by Mayor Tommy Battle in his State of the City address was music to the ears of the sold-out crowd in the Von Braun Center’s Saturn Ballroom.
And it was, quite literally, music as he announced plans for a festival in John Hunt Park.
“One of the things we hear a lot about is ‘when are you bringing back Big Spring Jam?'” he said. “In October, our administration will present a contract to the city council that proposes a partnership agreement with C3 Presents, one of the best festival producers in the world. If you’ve never heard of C3, you’ve probably heard of some of the festivals they’ve produced, including Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo.
“If approved, C3 will bring a major two-day music festival to John Hunt Park that would recreate the Big Spring Jam experience – only on a much bigger, larger, and better scale.”
Also in his 15th State of the City address, Battle discussed a number of topics important to both the Rocket City and North Alabama. From the economic impact of visitors to a possible new music festival at John Hunt Park, the mayor touched on it.
Battle began by saying the year was “one of successes and hard fought victories, but did come with some challenges.”
He then talked about the role visitors to the city are playing in its growth.
“We welcomed 30.9 million visitors last year. That accounts for a $2.1 billion economic impact and more than 22,000 jobs tied to our hospitality industry,” said Battle.
“The people coming here helped us grow our economic base, which in turn allowed us to invest in capital projects that benefited our quality of life. That’s everything from new roads and green ways to more places to play.”
Battle also gave information on the amount of money the city is investing in such projects.
“In the past year we have invested $70 million in these type of capital projects,” he said. “We have reinvested $175 million over the last five years and will invest $200 million more in the next five years.”
Of course, the proud city father brought up Huntsville being ranked as the top place to raise a family.
“We are ranked first for raising a family,” Battle said. “As someone who has raised a family here and to see my grandchildren being raised here; that may be my proudest achievement.”
Then, perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year – the decision not to bring the U.S. Space Command to the Rocket City.
“Huntsville is a great place to live. Huntsville is a great place to work. Huntsville is a great place to play,” the mayor said. “The U.S. Air Force and Space Command thought so too, in fact they ranked us number one twice.
“The decision by the Ppresident to give it to the number five on the list was a deep disappointment.”
Battle then discussed Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal and Marshall Space Flight Center.
“This year marks the 70th anniversary of Huntsville being proudly know as the Rocket City,” he said. “There’s no way that our aerospace and defense pioneers could have predicted how Redstone Arsenal and Marshall Space Flight Center would shape our city.”
He also extolled the significance that Redstone has for all of North Alabama.
“Today, Redstone Arsenal is home for 44,000 workers. It accounts for 180,000 jobs across the Tennessee Valley with an average salary of $87,000 per year,” Battle said. “Redstone has an economic impact of $27 billion, which is nearly 10% of the state’s GDP.”
Battle closed his remarks by touting the city’s decades old spirit of innovation.
“We have an unequal and unsurpassed passion for innovation and we boldly march toward the future,” he said.
“We are Huntsville.”
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