SILVERHILL, Alabama — The Town of Silverhill held its 32nd Heritage Day Festival Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-20 celebrating the town’s cultural heritage with arts and crafts and family entertainment, centered on honoring the town’s volunteers.

“Without our volunteers we couldn’t do everything that needs to be done to make this town what it is,” said Heritage Day Festival Chairman Bert Jones.

One of the main focuses of this year’s Heritage Day was the Little Bohemian Hall, which was re-opened in December of last year after receiving extensive damage when a tornado ripped through the area in March of 2011.

The Little Bohemian Hall was built in 1920 southwest of Silverhill to serve as a school for the Czech children in the Silverhill area.

In 1928, after students were bussed to the new public school in Silverhill, the building was used as a community center for meetings, dances and social activities. It was also used to teach Czech language classes and church services.

In 1956, the newly established Silverhill Farmers Club merged with the Czechoslovakian Farmers Association and the building was sold to the Farmers Club for $1. For over 20 years the Silverhill Farmers Club and the Extension Homemakers Club used the building for meetings. The building was also used for martial arts club meetings.

In 1978, the building was sold for $1 to Silverhill School and was moved to the Silverhill School campus where it was used as a band room and an assembly hall. The building was later donated to the town of Silverhill and moved onto town property near the ballparks and water tank to make room for a new gym facility at the school.

Months of discussion followed the March 2011 tornado and plans were made to remove the structure and replace it with a Community Center, but a group of citizens, led by former mayor Frankie Kucera, came forward with a plan to save the structure.

In December of 2011, the town voted to establish the “Save the Little Hall Committee” and through volunteer work and fundraisers, they were able to raise the necessary funds to rebuild the structure.

Opening ceremonies for Heritage Day were held at 8 a.m. and the festival kicked off at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Members of the committee, led by Chairman Frankie Kucera, were honored as grand marshals for the parade, which began at 10 a.m.

Participants in last year’s Little Miss Heritage Pageant also participated in the parade. This year’s pageant will be held in October at Silverhill School.

In addition to the Save the Little Hall Committee and Heritage Day Committee, Jones said, the town also recognized all the volunteers for organizations and various committees which serve the town, including the town’s Volunteer Fire Department and Junior Explorers, volunteer reserve officers, Tree Committee volunteer Carolyn Koch, Central Baldwin Chamber of Commerce volunteer Mary deLaunay, Library Board, Planning and Zoning Board and Board of Adjustments, among others.

The Little Hall was open for residents, along with United Bank, home of the historic People’s Supply, which also included historic displays donated by local residents.

Entertainment for Saturday was provided by Tim Brown Entertainment with karaoke and music at the town’s gazebo.

A demonstration from Bob Kucera’s Martial Arts Academy in Silverhill was held at 11 a.m. with a pie eating contest at 1 p.m. and festivities wrapped up at 4 p.m.

This year, a second day was added to the Festival, Jones said.

“We’ve been discussing the possibility of adding a second day for years,” he said, “and we’ve decided this year to add a half-day to the festival, just to see what kind of response we will get.”

Arts and crafts, exhibits and other displays opened from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Live entertainment was provided by the Doc Johnson Band, providing a mix of rock and jazz music.

The town of Silverhill was founded in 1896 under the direction of Oscar Johnson, head of the Svea Land Company from Chicago. Early Swedish colonists celebrated the popular Scandinavian holiday Mid-Summer Fest, first-mention of which in the town’s history can be found as early as 1904.

Heritage Day was established in 1982 to celebrate the town’s heritage, primarily Swedish and Czech, and was held the third Saturday in September every year for the next 22 years before being postponed after the devastation caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

The festival resumed in 2005, but was moved to October in 2006 because of the loss of shade from the town’s famous oak trees, which were damaged by the storm. After a brief move to the town’s ballpark, the festival moved back to its original date and location along Highway 104 and County Road 55 in 2011.