The Moss Rock Festival returns Nov. 7-8 to the Hoover Metropolitan Complex, where more than 100 artists, a tree-planting initiative and the Beer Garden’s 15th anniversary are among this year’s offerings. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free parking is available on-site.
The festival is organized by the Foundation for Arts and Cultural Connections, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that also operates as Find Art Birmingham, according to Hoover Sun. Chase Bank is presenting sponsor for the 21st year, the festival’s event listing says. Last year’s 20th edition brought more than 100 artists working across media including clay, fiber, painting, jewelry, furniture, wood, metal and glass, Hoover Sun reported. It was the festival’s first year at the Hoover Met Complex, according to ABC 3340. The 2025 event ran Nov. 1-2 and featured Hoover artist Inés Orihuela.
Meet 2026's Featured Artist: A Painter Who Signs With a Penny
Penny Dobson, a mixed-media painter from Tuscaloosa and a retired art teacher, is the festival’s featured artist, according to the Hoover Sun. Her work pairs oil-painted animals, birds and flowers with vintage objects, and may incorporate seed beads, gold leaf and handmade paper. The festival’s artist profile describes her use of second-hand and vintage finds as canvases and components of her work.
Rather than signing the front of a piece, Dobson places a penny minted in the 1970s—the decade she was born—on each work, the Hoover Sun reported. Her festival poster, Songbird, shows a goldfinch painted on a violin. The festival will also feature an exhibition of Dobson’s work and a design exhibition from bDot Architecture.
Take Root Adds a Printmaking Workshop to Its Tree Legacy Project
Take Root: A Tree Planting Initiative & Legacy Project is part of the festival’s Nature Enclave, according to the festival’s ticketing site. This year’s project adds a printmaking workshop and exhibition led by Collin Williams, a professor of art and director of new media at the University of Montevallo, Hoover Sun reported. Cool Green Trees and the Jefferson County Greenways Commission, which operates Ruffner Mountain, Red Mountain Park and Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, are partners. The outlet reported that visitors can enter a drawing for a tree sapling and pick up pollinator seed packets at the Take Root booth.
Take Root and the Moss Rock Preserve
The festival’s Take Root project is distinct from Moss Rock Preserve: the City of Hoover describes the preserve—not the Hoover Met festival grounds—as a 349-acre natural area that is home to six rare plant species. The City’s preserve information documents those features but does not identify a citywide urban-forestry or tree-planting target, or establish a formal connection between municipal goals and Take Root.
Other festival offerings include the Nature and Smart Living Market, The Sweetery, live music and dance on the Crescent Stage, food trucks at the Festival Cafe and children’s art workshops at Wonderkid Studios, according to the Hoover Sun. The festival’s Planet Project school outreach effort is focused on insects this year, with the challenge title “Small Wonders, Big Impact: Insects Above, Below and All Around.” Students are making large-scale sculptures from recycled materials for display on the festival grounds, the outlet reported.
Beer Garden Marks 15 Years With a New Commemorative Glass
The Beer Garden’s 15th year brings tented and open-air areas, a commemorative 13-ounce Belgian glass, brewery samples, homebrewer specialties, wine, beer floats, snacks and college football broadcasts. According to the Hoover Sun, it will be open from 12:30 to 3 p.m. both days. Saturday admission costs $40 in advance or $45 at the gate, Bham Now reported; guests must be at least 21. Advance Beer Garden orders are due Nov. 6, and the ticket includes festival entry for the weekend, Hoover Sun reported. Advance buyers are guaranteed the glass design, while supplies last for gate buyers.
General admission is $13 in advance or $15 at the gate, and one ticket covers both days, according to the Hoover Sun. Children and students 18 and younger enter free. Free parking is available adjacent to the festival grounds at the Hoover Met, the outlet noted.
