ROBERTSDALE, Alabama -- A pair of events in Central Baldwin will be held to honor our fallen heroes on Memorial Day weekend.

On Saturday, May 25, the Gear Jammers Car Club will host its annual Memorial Car Show from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the town square along Highway 104 and County Road 55.

On Memorial Day Monday, May 27, beginning at 9 a.m. the City of Robertsdale will host its annual Memorial Day observance at Gordon Coley Park on Highway 59.

Following a short program with guest speaker Aubury Fuller, a Vietnam veteran who serves on the Board of Directors of Baldwin EMC, the city will hand out Bibles to 14 recipients.

This year’s Silverhill Car Show is dedicated to the memory of Eddie “Papa” Denk, who died Sept. 18, 2012. Denk was a veteran and he worked for Baldwin EMC for 32 years. He had a lawn care business and was also a vegetable farmer.

The car show will feature cars from the 1900 era and a big turnout of cars from five different states is expected. Food will be prepared by the Silverhill Covenant Church.

United Bank will be open to visitors and the new Silverhill Furniture Company will have its grand opening on Saturday. The Oscar Johnson Memorial Library will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will have on display the original desk, typewriter and adding machine used by Silverhill founder Oscar Johnson at his Silverhill Land Office in 1896. The land office is now home to the library.

Registration for the car show begins at 8 a.m. A Memorial Day ceremony begins at 10 a.m. Saturday to honor our fallen heroes. There will also be an information van available from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to answer questions for veterans pertaining to their benefits and other options. Judging for the show begins at 11 a.m.

Door prizes and goody bags will be available. Dash plaques will be given to the first 100 entries. Food and drinks will be served, including early morning coffee and doughnuts. There will also be a 50/50 jackpot drawing.

Save the Little Hall Committee will also be hosting a bake sale.

The event, sponsored by Baldwin EMC, will once again serve in part as a fundraiser for Save The Little Hall. This year, the show will also benefit Catholic Social Services, Project C.A.R.E. Food Pantry and Silverhill Boy Scout Troop 42.

Last year’s event raised over $8,000 that went toward repairs for the structure, said event organizer Frankie Kucera in an interview in June of last year.

Show-day registration costs $25. Second and third vehicle registration costs $15 per vehicle For more information contact Frankie Kucera, show coordinator, 251-215-9630.

According to www.usmemorialday.org, Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.

While there are many stories relating to its origins, Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by Gen. John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic and was first observed May 30, 1868 when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

The South refused to acknowledge the day -- honoring their dead on separate days -- until after World War I, when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war.

Congress passed the National Holiday Act of 1971 declaring Memorial Day the last Monday in May. Several Southern states have an additional separate day for honoring Confederate war dead. Alabama’s Confederate Memorial Day is observed on April 26.