Alabama State Games return to Wiregrass in June

The Olympic-style games were held in Huntsville in 2018 and 2019 after a three-year stint in the Wiregrass and then cancelled last year due to COVID-19 in what was supposed to be a return to southeast Alabama.

Like before, the event will be a regional one — hosted by the cities of Dothan, Ozark, Enterprise and Daleville in partnership with Houston, Dale and Coffee counties.

Dean Kelly, the vice president and executive director of the Alabama State Games, was in Dothan on Thursday to promote the event.

“This is our 38th games – this is actually our 39th year,” Kelly explained. “Last year was the first time we’ve ever missed a game.

“We’re excited about the Games coming back and finally being able to have them again this year. We missed them last year, but that’s over and we’re moving ahead full blast.

“The facilities here in Dothan, and in all of the Wiregrass, are amazing. I can’t say enough about all of the cities, the counties and rec departments that have gone out of their way to try and help us.”

Registration is currently ongoing for the 28 sports offered this year in the games, which attracts athletes from throughout the state. Four events – golf, shotgun, karate and mountain biking – will be held June 4-5, but the remaining sports will be held the weekend of June 11-13.

“We’re going to add adult volleyball – outdoor grass volleyball – and it’s going to be in Daleville,” Kelly said. “That’s another one of our new events that we’re excited about. We wanted to have volleyball in the games for a long time, and this is exciting to me that we’ve been able to do that.”

“You need to check with each individual sport, because registration ends at a different time,” Kelly said. “We have some registrations that won’t end until the week of the games, and others that will end at the end of May.

“Just go to the website and click onto whatever sport you’re interested in and you can find out all of the information on the website. If you have any questions, you can contact us.

“We’ve had one who called the other day who said, ‘I’m 82 years old. I have a telephone, don’t like computers and don’t have a computer and you’re going to have to do something for me,’ so we did. We’ll help you.”

Opening ceremonies will be held at the National Peanut Festival Fairgrounds on June 11. Gates will open at 3 p.m. and there will be food vendors, games and informative booths for the athletes, families and public. There is no admission charge for any of the opening ceremony activities.

The opening ceremony will begin at 7:30 p.m. and conclude with a giant fireworks show.

“The opening ceremony is a major event,” Kelly said. “It’s an Olympic-style opening ceremony. We start off by having all of the athletes walk in. It will be broadcast live on public television throughout the state.”

Kelly stresses that volunteers are needed.

“We need volunteers at our venues during the games and at our opening ceremony,” Kelly said. “You can go online at our website and find out where to register to be a volunteer. We can’t function without volunteers and it’s a very, very important thing for us.”