Golden Knights return for 250th Army Birthday party

By Marian AccardiMarch 26, 2025

Staff Sgt. Ben Hall is the first Golden Knight to jump at the 247th Army Birthday celebration at Redstone in June 2022.
Staff Sgt. Ben Hall is the first Golden Knight to jump at the 247th Army Birthday celebration at Redstone in June 2022. (Photo Credit: Jonathan Stinson) VIEW ORIGINAL

Redstone’s annual Army birthday celebration returns this year with music, food, a car show, vendor shopping, fireworks and a special treat to commemorate the 250th birthday is a performance by the U.S. Army Parachute Team, called the Golden Knights.

The Redstone event is on Saturday, June 7, a week before the Army’s birthday on June 14, from 3-9 p.m. at Redstone Gateway, next to Gate 9. The schedule of activities during the event will be announced at a later date.

“It’s going to be the biggest birthday party of the year,” said Gaylene Wilson, chief of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation’s community recreation division.

“We’re encouraging folks to come out and join us and help celebrate this momentous occasion. It is an opportunity to see the unique assets that the Arsenal has to offer,” she said.

The celebration will start at 3 p.m. for vendor market shopping, and the car show and restaurants at Redstone Gateway will be open. Food trucks will also be on site.

“We are super excited that the Golden Knights will be performing.” Wilson said. “We do not have an exact schedule yet, but we expect that show to be around 4 o’clock.”

The Golden Knights last performed at Redstone’s Army birthday celebration in 2022.

The official cake cutting ceremony will be at 5:15, Wilson said.

“There will be some Army assets out there as well,” she said. “We have some partners here on post that we’re currently working with to determine what those will be.” The celebration will also feature a kids’ zone with inflatables, a band and a DJ.

“We have partnered with COPT and the city of Huntsville,” she said, with the city of Huntsville providing the band which is coming from Nashville. “They have been incredibly supportive of this event and partnership.”

COPT Defense Properties is the managing partner of the Redstone Gateway joint venture development.

Parking will be available, starting at 2 p.m. “We are going to open up parking earlier this year because it will have to be closed off during that 4 to 4:30 time frame when the Golden Knights are performing, Wilson said. “People will want to arrive early and be parked and in the event area before 4 o’clock. If they wish to see the Golden Knights performance.”

Parking will open again as soon as the Golden Knights have landed.

The celebration will end with a 25-minute fireworks show presented by Lynn

Broad of Pyro Shows of Alabama.

The event is free and open to the public. Wilson said the birthday celebration starts earlier this year than in past years to give people plenty of time to shop at the vendor market, enjoy the car show and partake in food and drinks.

Moving the party from the Army’s birthday on June 14 to June 7 “helped us secure” the Golden Knights appearance, according to Wilson. “They are in big demand.”