Special Feature
Birmingham Christian Family (BCF) celebrated 25 years of sharing GOOD NEWS at the 5th Annual Celebrate the Family Expo presented by Benton Nissan of Hoover on September 14, 2024. Here are just a few of the highlights from the free day of family fun at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex’s Finley Center!
City of Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato and Benton Nissan of Hoover’s General Manager Ken Banks helped us kick off the day of fun. Special thanks to our Celebrity Chef Emcees WBRC-TV’s Janice Rogers and WERC’s JT and our Expo Emcee Mark Harvard who stepped away from his day job as associate pastor at Clearbranch Methodist to announce all the jam packed Expo activities for the 4th year in a row.
The first 200 families that arrived at the Expo received an Expo swag bag packed full of great giveaway items from Expo sponsors.
The Chick-fil-A Herd of Cows danced with Expo attendees and handed out plush cows.
Each attendee received a Birthday Bingo sheet when they arrived. Every booth had a special stamp and if attendees filled out six rows of stamps by visiting each booth, they were entered to receive great prizes like a $100 Walmart gift card courtesy of WAY-FM, $50 Publix gift cards from Alabama Credit Union, $50 Mark’s Outdoors gift cards courtesy Mark’s Outdoors, cases of Bud’s Best Cookies, and much more. Seen here is Mark Whitlock of Mark’s Outdoors who provided Bingo gift cards.
Live praise and worship music was enjoyed by all thanks to Kevin Derryberry who joined us for the 5th year in a row!
Children enjoyed getting their faces painted for free, courtesy of Painted Personalities.
The Hoover Belles joined us for the fun day and welcomed attendees to the Expo.
Inflatables, balloon animals, interactive games and free Bibles from River of Life Church were a huge hit in the Expo’s River of Life Kids’ Zone. Pastor Mike Woods explains, “We are committed to serving our community and sharing the love of Jesus every chance we get. Today more than ever we need to share and reflect biblical family values.”
A big thanks to Eugene’s Hot Chicken and The Lil Bougie Foodie for providing Expo attendees with delicious food.
Thanks to The Arc of Central Alabama’s RecylABILITY for providing free shredding services to Expo attendees. Sweet Heart Service Guild of Birmingham and the Birmingham Squadron’s Commander also helped with the shredding. RecylABILITY Director Letessia Penick shared, “It was such a success. We had lots of shredding and also lots of people asking us about the mission of The Arc of Central Alabama and how they can get involved.”
Adorable adoptable dogs and cats with Two by Two Animal Rescue enjoyed lots of attention at the Expo and Bam Bam, a four-year-old cat, even found his forever home!
The Sweet Grown Alabama Celebrity Chef Stage was a crowd favorite of the day. WBRC-TV’s Janice Rogers and WERC’s JT welcomed a new chef to the stage every 30 minutes. The line up of local chefs included Josh Schaff and Chef Chris Ippolito of Cayo Coco Restaurant; Julie Kimbrough of The Meal Prep Mamacita; Annie McDaniel of Miss Annie’s Home + Kitchen; BCF contributors Kathleen Phillips of Grits and Gouda, Danna Standridge, author of Happiness is Homemade, Y’all, and Katrina Adams of In the Kitchen with K Marie; and Food Network Star finalist Martie Duncan.
Special thanks to our Expo sponsors for making the event a reality and sharing great family resources, free entertainment and giveaways to attendees!
Title Sponsor: Benton Nissan of Hoover
Celebrity Chef Stage Sponsor: Sweet Grown Alabama
Major Sponsors: Avadian Credit Union, Children’s of Alabama and Jimmie Hale Mission
Event Sponsors: Alabama Credit Union, Jefferson Credit Union, Renewal by Andersen, Strickland Counseling, Verizon, and Vulcan Termite & Pest Control
To view more photos of the fun day, visit our Facebook page. Plans are already underway for the 6th Annual Celebrate the Family Expo- mark your calendars for free fun on Saturday, September 13, 2025!
