For most of the year, Dadeville residents keep two calendars in their head without thinking about it. One is the printed schedule of chamber events, Saturday markets on the square, and whatever band is playing at Martin's. The other is unwritten and older: when the water comes up, when the coves get quiet again, when the trails at Cherokee Ridge dry out enough to run.
2026 is the year those two calendars visibly line up. Lake Martin is marking the 100th anniversary of the Tallapoosa River impoundment, and BASS opened the year by bringing the Bassmaster Elite tournament to Wind Creek State Park to test top pros on the 44,000-acre lake. If you already live here, the value isn't a bucket list. It's knowing which centennial dates are worth rearranging a weekend for and which ones the tourists will handle without you.
The centennial dates most residents haven't circled yet
The Bassmaster event ran in February and is done. The pieces still ahead are the ones locals tend to under-plan for, because they slot into weekends that already feel busy.
| Date | What | Where | Why it matters locally |
|---|---|---|---|
| Through June 9 | 100-day virtual fishing tournament | Anywhere on the lake | OGS Tournaments and the Lake Martin Resource Association kicked it off March 1 on "Plug Day" and end it June 9, the anniversary of the dam closure |
| May 24 | Shake The Lake 2026 | Martin's at Lake Martin, 10207 CR-34 | Portion of ticket sales goes to Dadeville's PFC James J. "Spanky" Harrelson American Legion Post 143 and Service Dogs of Alabama |
| June 26 | Confederate Railroad, live | Martin's at Lake Martin | Full-band night booked into the same venue running the smaller weekly shows |
| July 4 | Enhanced Fourth by Russell Lands | Around Kowaliga / Russell Crossroads | Russell Lands is running an enhanced Lake Martin Fourth of July as part of the centennial slate |
| Last week of July | Lake Martin Songwriters Festival, 6th annual | Rotating venues, Dadeville and Alex City | Saturday evening includes a special centennial benefit concert with the Marcus King Band raising funds for the Lake Martin Arts Council |
The one that quietly rewards residents is the virtual tournament. Its structure honors "Plug Day" on March 1 and the dam closure anniversary on June 9, which means anyone who fishes the lake on a normal Saturday is already eligible to participate without traveling anywhere.
Read this if you skipped the February headlines
A short version of what actually happened on the water in February, because it changes what the rest of the year looks like:
Twenty-one-year-old Elite Series rookie Fisher Anaya of Eva, Alabama, won the four-day tournament with a total weight of 54 pounds, 6 ounces, earning the $102,000 top prize, edging out runner-up Brock Mosley at 52 pounds, 14 ounces.
The takeaway isn't the winner. It's that the 44,000-acre lake is known nationally for its spotted bass population, which is exactly what the virtual tournament running through June is built to celebrate. If your neighbor has been fishing more Saturdays than usual this spring, that's why.
The other February footnote worth carrying into summer: the inaugural dragon-boat race ran April 18 at Wind Creek as a promotion with Alabama Tourism and the Dadeville and Alexander City chambers, and it slots alongside the enhanced Russell Lands July 4 and the four-day Songwriters Festival at the end of July. Three anchor events across three different corners of the lake.
Where the celebration meets a regular Saturday
Most centennial coverage points visitors at marinas. What it misses is that the downtown Dadeville dining bench is deeper than it was five years ago, which matters when you're the one hosting the out-of-town family who showed up for a festival weekend.
The renovated block by the courthouse is the anchor now. Miller's on Broadnax opened as the newest restaurant in downtown Dadeville, located right next to the Tallapoosa County Courthouse, and the space sits next to the new Miller Hotel, with the old Miller Hotel area completely redone. The menu is close to what regulars will remember from the old Fusion Grill on Hwy 49, with burgers, sandwiches, wings, and steak.
A short list residents actually rotate through:
- The Funky Goat. Specials most nights and live music on Fridays, which makes it the default answer when Martin's is sold out.
- Camellia Cafe. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the Southern side of the spectrum, useful before a Cherokee Ridge morning.
- Mama T's Place. 211 N Broadnax St, closed Mondays, with the shortest Saturday hours in town at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Plan around that or miss it.
- Poplar Dawg's Eatery. A local and lake-goer favorite serving hot made-to-order sandwiches, handmade salads, and specials ranging up to hand-cut steaks and lobster tails.
- Bob's Fine Foods. New owner and lead cook. If you wrote it off during the closure years, it's worth another Saturday morning.
For a festival weekend, the parking hack still works. Downtown Dadeville has a public parking lot you can walk from to reach everything, which becomes relevant the weekend of the Songwriters Festival.
The trail side of the centennial, and why the name change matters
The centennial isn't only a music-and-fishing story. Alabama Power adjusted a piece of the shoreline map for it. The park six miles west of Dadeville, developed in 1997 in cooperation with the local community as part of the Martin license, was renamed Centennial Park to celebrate the centennial anniversary of Lake Martin.
If you've been calling it by its old name, that's the update. It sits down Young's Ferry Road, covers 30 acres, and includes a beach, boat launch, restrooms, an amphitheater, grills, picnic tables, pavilions, and docks. Worth knowing the seasonal rhythm before you drive out: open weekends only from the first weekend in May to Memorial Day, daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day, then weekends only until the last weekend of September.
The hiking is doing what it always does, with one useful reminder for residents who default to the same three-mile loop:
- Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail. Moderate hike at 3.9 miles, 485 feet of elevation gain, roughly 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. The footpath-only trail system runs along the southeast shore of the lake in Tallapoosa County and is maintained by the volunteer group CRATA.
- Deadening Alpine Trail. A more challenging 3.6-mile loop along the cliffs of the Tallapoosa River, past the Needles Eye and Jasmine Bluff. Different feel entirely from the main loop.
- Smith Mountain Fire Tower. An uphill trek with roughly 108 stairs at the top. The one to save for out-of-town guests who think central Alabama doesn't have views.
One flat detail that keeps catching newer residents: there's no restroom on site at the trailhead, so plan the stop before you leave Highway 280.
The chamber calendar, which nobody prints on their fridge but should
The centennial events sit on top of the chamber's steady annual rhythm, and the steady rhythm is what actually structures the fall.
The Dadeville chamber hosts family-friendly community events throughout the year, including the Annual Banquet, Summer BBQ Social, Dinner on the Square, Fall Festival, and Holiday Open House. Dinner on the Square is the sleeper of the group. It's the closest thing Dadeville has to a working-downtown ritual, and it reads differently in the year the courthouse square is anchoring so much centennial foot traffic.
The Miller Hotel side of the block will keep evolving. The old Miller Hotel is being rehabbed and will eventually rent rooms upstairs. Nothing about that changes anyone's Saturday yet, but it's worth knowing if you're the person friends call about where to put visiting family in-town versus at a rental cove.
Putting it into one summer
If you already own here, the honest use of a centennial year is picking two anchor events, not eight. A reasonable local shortlist looks like this: the June 9 close of the virtual tournament, one Songwriters Festival night at the end of July, and a Saturday at Centennial Park before Labor Day cuts the daily hours back to weekends. Everything else, the dragon-boat photos, the Bassmaster leaderboard, the tourist crowd at the Fourth, is already covered by someone else's schedule.
Ready when you are
Dadeville doesn't need a centennial to be worth living in, but 2026 is a good year to bring visiting family here and let the lake do the introducing. When your household plans start including a move up the shoreline, a lake-adjacent lot, or a change of view in either direction, Christie Hayes and the Hayes Team know this stretch of Tallapoosa County and the Georgia side of the drive. Schedule your free consultation and home valuation, and we'll build the timeline around the calendar you already keep.
