On Friday, November 4, the bright lights of Toyota Field and the lively sound of the James Clemens High School Jazz Band welcomed local residents to Celebrate Madison, a celebration of Madison’s past, present and future.

Presented by Meta and organized by the Madison Chamber of Commerce and the Celebrate Madison Committee, major sponsors for the event included Huntsville Utilities, which provided the fireworks display, Redstone Federal Credit Union, Flourish, and Torch Technologies.

Silver sponsors were First Horizon, Hexagon, Huntsville Madison CVB, Industrial Properties of the South, Madison Hospital, Nola VanPeursem Architects, Polaris, The Port of Huntsville, Progress Bank, Rocket City Trash Pandas, and Toyota Manufacturing.

Bronze sponsors were Bank Independent, Investor’s Resource, Rocket City Mom Media, Rosenblum Realty, Super Duck Car Wash, Synovus Bank, and Virtuous Realty Group.

The event began with a Student and Community Showcase on the Concourse, allowing visitors to explore some of Madison’s local offerings while enjoying free hot dogs, soft drinks, and ice cream prior to the commencement of the Celebration Program.

Michelle Epling, Executive Director of the Madison Chamber, acted as emcee for the event, which was last held in 2020 under the title ‘Connect Madison.’

Following introductions, Madison Mayor Paul Finley presented his “State of the City” address, beginning with a look back at the city’s recent past.

“In 2010, the City of Madison broke ground on three $70 million projects–James Clemens High School, Madison Hospital, and the Shoppes of Madison. The neat thing for our community is all three of those opened on time in 2012, and all three continue to make a monster impact on our community,” Finley said.

Finley noted that two months after the 2020 Connect Madison celebration, Covid hit. “I’ll tell you one thing that it did for me: it solidified my belief and my realization of how important this community is, and when I talk about this community I’m talking about the Tennessee Valley, in coming together as a group to solve problems and help the community through areas of concern.”

Flnley expressed his admiration of Mayor Battle and his team for the continued awards that the City of Huntsville receives “and especially for being the #1 city in the nation to live in,” as well as Governor Ivey for her support of the area. He also recognized the efforts of the economic development team and the work of Redstone Arsenal: “We all work together to work for this community and I’m proud to be a team member with them.”

“In the City of Madison, we have a mission statement that we try to work on every day: To provide excellent services through the responsible use of public resources, enhancing the quality of life for our community,” Finley said, emphasizing the importance of the cooperative efforts of the Madison Council and his team to make that happen.

“It’s a part time job that truly is not part time, it’s full time. And they work hard to make sure that the monies that are invested in our city are spent wisely.”

Finley stated that by this time next year Town Madison will have double the amount of businesses along with significantly more housing. He also noted that the city has a sizable bank balance: “As a matter of fact, currently in our checking account–your checking account–there’s $32 million. Now, in fairness there’s about $9 million of that carried over from last year that we were trying to spend or getting ready to spend, but unfortunately couldn’t,” he said.

During his address, Finley highlighted a number of planned road improvement projects, including a planned $6 million renovation of Madison Boulevard from County Line Road to Zierdt Road that will include resurfacing and safety improvements such as the addition of traffic signals.

Previously completed projects include the construction of the Gillespie and Balch Road roundabout. “What we recognized, and what many of you told us couldn’t happen, but we’ve seen it can, is Alabama can make it through a roundabout,” Finley quipped, adding that the engineering budget includes designs for two additional roundabouts including one planned for the intersection of Burgreen and Brownsferry Roads.

Madison’s budget is based largely on sales tax revenue, which Finley stated has grown by over $12 million over the past three years, enabling numerous improvements to the city.

He also stressed the revitalization of the city’s businesses, drawing attention to the old Publix shopping center on the north side of the city. “If you’ve been by there in the last couple of days, you’ve seen something’s moving in there. As a matter of fact, it’s a place called Floor & Decor,” Finley said, attributing the entrance of this home improvement and decor store into the city as an offshoot of the booming new home construction in the area.

“Right next to it, where the old Books A Million is–a furniture store. That entire shopping center will be revitalized. That’s critical to our city and we continue to do wonderful things for you.”

Madison has grown by almost 13,000 people a decade since the 1980s, with people now moving into the city at the rate of a family per day. Finley attributed this to its high quality of life, citing Money Magazine’s ranking of Madison as the 12th best city to live in in the nation, its #1 Niche ranking as the best Alabama suburb, and especially its top-ranked schools.

“While we’re absolutely known for education in the City of Madison, the main thing for us is that we’re now also known as the home of the Rocket City Trash Pandas,” Finley said, adding that it began in 2018 with a vision of bringing minor league baseball together with a multi-use facility.

This year marked the Trash Pandas’ first full season of play, which included 69 home games and two playoff games. They led the league in attendance with over 327,000 people coming to games. In addition, they led Minor League Baseball in merchandise sales, with over $4 million in merchandise going to every state in the US and multiple countries.

“Rocket City Trash Pandas Baseball is here to stay, and it’s exciting for our community,” Finley said.

Madison Hospital recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, with 1400 births so far this year and over 53,000 ER visits. “Madison Hospital continues to make a big impact positively for the City of Madison,” Finley said.

Finley also announced four big projects in the works for the city.

The former Three Springs facility is destined to become the Madison Community Center, which will include services and programs for the city’s senior citizens, dedicated spaces for the special needs community, organizational and meeting spaces for local nonprofits, and specialty indoor and outdoor spaces available for community use including a ceramics room, a woodworking room, a game room, and a garden.

Finley revealed that the City of Madison has purchased Sunshine Oaks Farm, a 40-acre former horse farm with pastureland, located adjacent to the Bradford Creek Greenway. It will be transitioned over the next few years into a multi-use space open to the public and featuring gathering spaces, support structures, a playground, and a disc golf course.

On the Limestone County side of Madison, City Council recently approved the McKinley Homes project, a 100-acre property that will have approximately 350 units “of all kinds” for sale, as well as 33,000 square feet of commercial retail space directly on Brownsferry.

“Most exciting for Madison residents, especially on the western side, we secured 25 acres of green space that they will donate to the city,” Finley said. “Each time that Madison grows, we want to do it in a smart, controlled way and in a way that benefits our city and will give added homes of quality, retail and commercial space, and in this case, park space.”

The Town Madison area will soon benefit from the collaborative efforts of the City of Madison and Hexagon, who worked together to invest in the critical services and infrastructure necessary for its sustained growth.

“A lot of that future has to do with public safety and the need that we have for an additional fire station and a police presence here in the south side in the Town Madison area,” Finley said.

Projects planned for Town Madison in the near future include a new fire station and police substation, a parking lot that will support overflow parking at the venue, the addition of new field space for adult programs in soccer, softball, and baseball, and the construction of a pickleball complex that can be used for tournaments and daily use.

According to Mayor Finley, the biggest challenge the city has is managing its rapid growth, a task greatly helped by its focus on safety, health, and infrastructure.

“Madison, Alabama continues to thrive and we continue to be proud of all that we collectively do together,” he said.

That collective effort is enhanced by the city’s dedication to taking care of its employees. For the sixth straight year the city has instituted a step raise as well as a cost of living increase for its employees.

“We’ve also analyzed what we need to do to get better, and as our city grows we must add people in key positions that make the process better,” Finley stated, noting that the city is seeking 14 different positions to support the city’s growing needs.

Job listings can be viewed here.