FAIRHOPE, Ala. — During this weekend’s Arts and Crafts Festival, finding a place to park in Fairhope is not for the faint-hearted.

With past crowds estimated at more than 250,000, some visitors park more than a mile away and walk to the festivities. And many pull wagons loaded with supplies, carry chairs, or tote heavy backpacks, so they can stay all day.

But for other people that’s not an option.

“The handicapped parking will be in the lot next to Julwin’s Restaurant,” said Sherry Sullivan, director of senior services for the city. “It will be barricaded off and manned by volunteers. Once the lot is full, we will refer them to the Bruno’s shopping center to ride the BRATS bus. The volunteers will have constant contact with a police offer in case they need assistance.”

The handicapped parking lot is located at the northwest corner of Fairhope Avenue and Bancroft Street, across from the public library and behind the Welcome Center on Section Street. There will be handicapped parking signs in place at the lot, but not any directional signs pointing to the lot, Sullivan said.

“There will be about 20 to 25 handicapped spaces available,” said Fairhope Police Department Sgt. Craig Sawyer. “We really encourage everyone to park at the three major shopping centers at Greeno Road and Fairhope Avenue. The shuttle service drops them off right at the festival entrance. This creates less congestion and fewer parking problems downtown.”

Gail Phillips, the Fairhope resident and volunteer who has worked the past few years to make downtown streets and buildings more accessible for those with special needs, thinks this year’s handicapped parking services have been improved.

“Last year, people who weren’t handicapped were parking in there, and we couldn’t get them out,” Phillips said. “This year, all the parking will be in the lot, and we will have barricades to manage the area. Our volunteers will also be wearing vests and monitoring the lot. We have also received wonderful assistance and support from the police department, and if we need to, we can call them and have a ticket written, or get help with any other problems.”

Phillips said she has a group of more than a dozen volunteers, many recruited from her Sunday school class at Fairhope United Methodist Church, who will be working in shifts during the city’s three busiest days of the year.

Those volunteers, some who started working as early as Thursday to get the lot ready, include: Will Carlton, Bob Cooper, Linda Florence, Betty Jobe, Carl Martin, Charlie Newcomer, Bob Oberg, Gail Oberg, Sue Oberg, Cookie Ogden, Gerald Ogden, Bob Phillips, Sandy Stewart and Julia Yow.

“Mrs. Phillips has been the force behind this effort and has been a valuable resource to the city,” Sullivan said. “She has recruited the volunteers and made it her mission to make sure handicapped folks have parking during all our special events, not just at Arts and Crafts. She is to be applauded for her efforts. It is important to the city’s leaders that we provide this service for our residents and visitors, and she has made this possible.”

Phillips said Mayor Tim Kant and Public Works Director Jennifer Fidler have been very helpful in several projects regarding handicapped accessibility issues in the downtown area.

“We all want our handicapped visitors to know that the city is welcoming them and for them to be able to get around to where everybody else can,” said Phillips, who became attuned to the needs of the disabled when her husband suffered a stroke four years ago.

“He’s fine now,” she said. “But it made me aware of how hard it is just to get in and out of some bathrooms and to travel some city sidewalks in wheelchairs.”

Phillips said several local people have volunteered the past few years on these issues, and that she, Jobe and Stewart are now working on a project to determine which city streets and sidewalks are most handicapped-accessible, and which ones need to be modified. She said past volunteer efforts have made the new public library more handicapped accessible.

“We are also working with Mrs. Phillips to help us identify areas in downtown that need repair or places that are not truly handicapped-accessible. We hope to include a blue-line on the merchant’s map next year identifying a handicapped route in downtown, and have it available in a copied format at the Welcome Center in the near future, in case it is requested by someone.”