Planning for the annual Depot Days is moving forward, with members of the Hartselle City Council Tuesday saying they intend to permit the Hartselle Area Chamber of Commerce to hold the festival.

Last year’s event was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The special event permit that was requested by the HACC was denied by action of Mayor Randy Garrison, who cited several reasons for the decision – among them, his concern for the safety of the citizens of Hartselle and city employees, as well as the lack of liability coverage held by the City of Hartselle had a lawsuit been filed.

At the time, Morgan County was at moderate risk, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. Even so, Garrison’s decision was met with pushback by some citizens and business owners in the community.

At its regular meeting April 13, members of the city council agreed their intent to permit the HACC to hold the yearly event, while holding off on issuing the event permit until more details can be worked out.

“We submitted the same request and proposal for the blocking roads that we had last year with the intention of being able to provide extra room for vendors and the other modules that we have,” said HACC President Missy Evans. “I have been in contact Jeff Johnson and Daryl Fox and been talking through some of those logistics.”

Evans said her organization will resubmit to the council the required secondary revised road closures 30-60 days before the event, scheduled for Sept. 18, so the council can move forward with the special event permit this summer.

The next meeting of the Hartselle City Council will be held April 27 at City Hall.