Mom’s Basement is kicking off Mardi Gras celebrations with the inaugural Run Chicken Run Almost 5K Saturday, Feb. 18 beginning at 11 a.m. This is not just any ordinary race – the course includes mandatory stops at four local breweries to receive special race-day beverages. Racers will make their way down the Rotary Trail, first stopping at Good People Brewing, then Ghost Train Brewing, followed by Avondale Brewing and ending at Cahaba Brewing. Participants will meet at Good People Brewing to pick up their race packets at 10 a.m., with the race to begin promptly at 11 a.m. The first 100 racers to sign up will receive a free race t-shirt. To sign up for the race, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/run-chicken-run-almost-5k-tickets-526703001857.

Following the race, Birmingham’s largest Mardi Gras parade will take place in Avondale starting at 6:30 p.m. lasting about an hour. The procession will start a block behind Mom’s Basement on the 4400 block of 2nd Avenue South and finish back at Mom’s, all led by Birmingham’s own Chad Fisher, member of St. Paul and the Broken Bones, with his Brass Band playing jazzy music. Current parade participants include Crestwood Community Band, Tragic City Rollers, Space Chickens, Redemptive Cycles, Idle Hands Balloon Co., Samacca Sounds/Upsidedown Collective, Taylor Hollingsworth, Mark & the Critters, Cahaba River Society, TVs of Terror, Alabama Women on the Fly, Cahaba Brewery, Magic City Brigade, Native Fish Coalition, Good People/ Avondale Brewing, Southern Vintage Fire Apparatus Association and the Mystic Knights of Poulet.

The parade will finish at Mom’s Basement (4411 3rd Ave. S.) and lead into the Post Chicken Parade Party presented by Budweiser. Held in the parking lot of Mom’s from 7:30 p.m. until 1:30 a.m., attendees will be finger lickin’, fried chicken eatin’ and can enjoy other options from Stumpy’s BBQ food truck, along with a variety of beers from the Budweiser draft trailer while supplies last. 

Sponsors of Mom’s Basement’s Mardi Gras celebrations include: T.L. Hospitality (Nicky’s Sammies Shack, Tuff Love Provisions, Porky’s Pride Smoke House, ICE-C’s), Connect IT, Budweiser, Avondale Brewing Company, Cahaba Brewing Company, Ghost Train Brewing Company, Good People Brewing Company, H2 Real Estate, Rougaroux, Crestwood Pharmacy, Sanctum Tattoos and Comics, Ore Mercantile, Dr. Dank/Weatherford, Otey’s, Total Fitness Consultants, Wes Frazer Makes Photos, Switchblade Comb Vintage and Hunky Kitty Designs.

For more information, visit https://www.momsbham.com/chickenparade. To contact Mom’s Basement, email chickens@momsbham.com.