TheHomewoodStar.com
February 2013
The Homewood Star Volume 2 | Issue 11 | February 2013
neighborly news & entertainment for Homewood
Flavor frenzy
Burgers on
Broadway
Taste of Homewood returns By MADOLINE MARKHAM At JoJo’s Diner on Broadway, serving a Hot Burger or Rueben is all in the family. Learn more about their menu and new expansion in this issue. Photo by Madoline Markham.
There is only one night each year that gathers the best Homewoood eats in one room. And this year it’s set for Feb. 21. The 12th annual Taste of Homewood event will take place on that Thursday from 5:308:30 p.m. at Rosewood Hall in SOHO. “I look forward to everyone enjoying the food of Homewood and all the many tastes of the different restaurants,” said Homewood Chamber of Commerce Director Tricia Ford. “We feature something for every palate.” Ford said several new restaurants are among the 30 vendors participating this year, including Little Donkey and Full Moon BBQ. Entertainment will be provided by Alan Barlow, and like always, the event will feature a Mardi Gras theme. The Chamber started Taste of Homewood 12 years ago with only a few restaurants participating, but it began to grow after finding a new home at Rosewood Hall. This year the Chamber anticipates hosting around 500 guests. Ford said there is also
See TASTE OF HOMEWOOD | page 9
Food page 11
The shoe
still fits
Pastry Art Owner Dennis Gregg helps a Taste of Homewood participant select the right flavor of Baby Bite at last year’s event. Photo by Keith McCoy.
New shopping spots on the horizon
Since 1955 children have visited Sikes in downtown Homewood for a pair of Mary Janes or tennis shoes. Meet the family who has owned it all these years inside. Photo by Keith McCoy.
Business page 13
By MADOLINE MARKHAM
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Birmingham, AL Permit #656
Fresh Market, DSW, two Dunkin’ Donuts and other retailers are coming to Homewood this year, Mayor Scott McBrayer announced in his State of the City address on Jan. 15. Fresh Market, an upscale grocery store, and DSW, a large shoe retailer, will locate adjacent
to the new Target on Lakeshore Drive next to Colonial Brookwood Village. Target is slated to open March 10. A Dunkin’ Donuts will be located nearby beside the Shell station on Lakeshore Drive in front of the Target development. The second will be located at Oxmoor and Greensprings in the former Rally’s Hamburgers location. A Restaurant Depot, a wholesale foodservice supplier, will fill the 53,000-square-foot former Bruno’s in Wildwood. When The Homewood Star posted this development news to Facebook on Jan. 15, readers responded with an overwhelmingly immediate positive response.
“We were just saying that Homewood should have a Fresh Market,” Meredith Schaumburg Husnik said. “It’s so exciting!” One reader voiced concern about the traffic, especially near Homewood High School, that the new developments on an already congested Lakeshore will create. Also slated for construction in Homewood in 2013 are a Pep Boys auto parts and car repairs, Moretti Apartments on Valley Ave. and a 66bed nursing facility near Brookdale Place on University Park Drive off Lakeshore. Read The Homewood Star in print and online for more details on these new developments and any measures to be taken to address traffic concerns.
A Father and Sons Operation Mon-Thur: 7-7 Fri: 7-6:30, Sat: 9-4 1915 Oxmoor Rd. • 871.6131 hunterscleaners@gmail.com
INSIDE
Sponsors ................. 4 Celebrations ........... 5 City ........................... 6 Food ......................... 11 Business ................. 12 Community ............ 14 School House ........ 18 Sports ..................... 22 Calendar ................ 23 Opinion ................... 23
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We Love Homewood Hunter Payne and sons Winston and Collier