CityFest returns to downtown Prattville for 38th annual celebration

Downtown Prattville is set to absorb another wave of foot traffic when the 38th annual CityFest returns May 1-2, bringing the city’s signature weekend event back to the streets where it first took root. After last year’s festival was moved to Mac Gray Park because weather forced the event into July, the return to downtown gives the celebration a different meaning this time: it is also a public test of how much the city center has changed.

Brooke Glover, marketing and communications director for the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce, said the community is being welcomed back downtown for the 38th annual CityFest. Friday night will feature a free concert at the Spillway with The Fuego Band, while Saturday will bring live music, arts and crafts vendors, food trucks and a children’s area. That lineup keeps the event centered on the same mix that has carried it for decades, drawing residents for music, shopping, food and family activities in one place.

The move back downtown also comes as Prattville has added new pieces meant to make the riverfront and city center more usable. Spillway Park along Autauga Creek opened over the past year with a boardwalk, shaded seating, pedestrian walkways and a children’s play area. Together, those additions extend the downtown footprint and give the festival a larger setting than it had in years past.

For Prattville, CityFest is more than a spring weekend on the calendar. Its return to downtown places one of the city’s most visible events back in the heart of the community, where merchants, visitors and city leaders can see whether recent investment in public spaces is pulling people back into the core. After a year of adjustment and a previous move away from downtown, the 38th CityFest will be watched as both a celebration and a sign that Prattville’s center is once again built to gather crowds.