County's First Birding Festival Takes Flight Next Month
De Armanville, AL · September 30, 2026
September wraps up today with an unseasonably hot afternoon before the county rolls into its fresh fiscal year tomorrow.
The Lead
Calhoun County is turning its skies into an official destination. Visit Calhoun County announced the inaugural SkyTrail Festival yesterday, establishing the area’s first dedicated birding festival for the weekend of October 9–10. In partnership with Alabama Audubon, Jacksonville State University, and the Alabama Trails Foundation, the event spotlights the county's place on the Appalachian Highlands Birding Trail, where field observers have tallied more than 188 documented species across the valley ridges and creek bottoms.
The weekend schedule pairs educational workshops at the Anniston Museums & Gardens Longleaf Center on Friday evening with guided field walks Saturday morning along the wetlands and tree lines of Choccolocco Park. Local tourism director Cher Dulaney emphasized that the outing is designed equally for lifelong birders and curious families. Complete field session rosters and registration details go live through the county tourism bureau later this week.
Local Pulse
- Commission Adopts Balanced Budget for Fiscal 2027 City Hall The approved spending plan funds road paving projects and implements an updated employee pay scale starting tomorrow.
Today's Outlook
- High 90°F · Low 58°F — Overcast
- Keep short sleeves handy once early morning chills fade under the overcast afternoon sky.
What's On Around Town
Today
Lunch Munch Movies Jacksonville Public Library (200 Pelham Rd S), Jacksonville, Noon · Free Pack a lunch and enjoy a relaxing midday community screening.
Trivia Night Buffalo Wild Wings (50 Profile Dr), Oxford, 6:30 PM · Free Test your general knowledge and compete for weekly house prizes.
Tomorrow
- Calhoun County Chamber Breakfast Webb Concrete Showroom (1021 Snow St), Oxford, 8:00 AM
- Dionne Warwick with ATL Pops Strings Oxford Performing Arts Center (100 Choccolocco St), Oxford, 7:00 PM · Paid
Friday
- The Unknown Tour Oxford Civic Center (401 McCullars Ln), Oxford, 7:00 PM · Paid
Spotlight & Story
- DeArmanville Methodist Church
- Before paving reached the old valley road, nineteenth-century circuit riders gathered here under Benton County pines. Today, the brick structure at 370 DeArmanville Road doubles as Precinct 12-1, where neighbors cast paper ballots in the fellowship hall beside centuries-old family headstones.
De Armanville Daily Digest — compiled from local sources as of 6 AM. For breaking updates, follow your local newsrooms.
Sent with care by MailerDot — your city, every morning.