By CHRISTINE BOATWRIGHT / Staff Writer

CALERA – With “ready to open” posted from the Health Department on the wall, Calera’s new concession stand held its first trial run April 27.

City department heads cooked and served hotdogs, fries and drinks to city employees, park board members and the City Council during the trial run.

“Department heads are cooking and serving,” said Police Chief Sean Lemley as he, Fire Chief Sean Kendrick and Mayor Jon Graham foil-wrapped hotdogs and served fries to city employees.

The previous facility was used extensively, but the city’s need outgrew the small concession stand, Finance Director Roy Hadaway said.

About a year ago, Graham was approached to update the concession stand bathrooms to meet ADA requirements.

“We also needed to update the concession stand with a commercial kitchen, and the City Council was generous to approve $250,000 for the project.”

The concession stand sports handicap-accessible bathrooms, which will stay open even when the park isn’t in use.

“We’re having a trial run to test the kitchen and equipment,” Graham said. “We had a generous donation of food from Sav-Mor here in Calera.

“At least 90 percent of our employees had a hand in building this,” he added. “This is just a token of appreciation. They worked hard on this project.”