The Kiwanis Club of Birmingham celebrated its 100th anniversary by hosting a late-afternoon groundbreaking at Vulcan Park and Museum on Friday, May 19, to mark the beginning of construction for the $4.66 million Kiwanis Centennial Park.
About 75 to 100 people – including club members, local politicians and other dignitaries – braved the summer-like heat and late afternoon sun to attend the event, held on the north side of the statue facing the city skyline.
The new park, referred to as the club’s Centennial Project, will involve substantial improvements to the long-neglected north side of Vulcan, as well as a new two-mile walking trail connecting the park to Green Springs Highway.
Photo by Jesse Chambers
Tom Thagard
Kiwanis Club of Birmingham president Tom Thagard
December 2017 is the estimated completion date, according to a Kiwanis news release.
Vulcan Park and Museum and Freshwater Land Trust are the club's project partners.
The Kiwanis Club and its partners seek “to reconnect Vulcan to downtown Birmingham,” said club president Tom Thagard.
The first phase will include improvements to the north side of Vulcan Park, which the club said to be in disrepair. Work will include landscaping, renovation of the lower piazza entrance and the building of steps for walking access.
A jogging and bike trail will be the second component.
A third component will be a multi-colored light show, designed by internationally known lighting-design firm Schuler Shook, to be projected onto Vulcan each night to enhance the image of the city’s icon.
One purpose of the improvements is to “project Vulcan nationally and internationally as the symbol of Birmingham,” Thagard said.
Darlene Negrotto, president and CEO of Vulcan Park and Museum, said that the old pedestrian access to Vulcan that formerly existed on the north side of the statue was taken away during a renovation of the park in the 1960s, leaving only vehicle access off Valley Avenue.
“Now we reconnect Birmingham to the city, both physically and visibly,” she said.
Libba Vaughan, executive director of Freshwater Land Trust, said that she “can’t wait” to see Vulcan lit up or to see people using the new trail.
She said the two-mile piece of trail between Vulcan Park and Green Springs Highway will serve as a “key connector” and the “central backbone” of the new 750-mile Red Rock Ridge and Valley Trail System.
Birmingham city council members Jay Roberson and Valerie Abbott were among the attendees at the event, and Thagard credited Abbott with years of work to help create a full-length Vulcan Trail.
“Valerie has been working on this for about 25 years,” Thagard said. ”She was the original inspiration for this.”
Abbott, during her remarks, wished the Kiwanis Club a “happy birthday” and called the groundbreaking “a big day for Birmingham.”
“I don’t know of anybody who’s been to Birmingham who doesn’t know that Vulcan is the symbol of our city,” she said.
