Kiwanis Club spearheads $4M overhaul of Vulcan Park and Trail

Vulcan, the Magic City’s legendary cast-iron statue, is “an enduring icon of the can-do spirit” of the city, according to Tom Thagard, president of the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham.

That icon and the park where he resides will soon get a much-needed 21st-century makeover.

Birmingham Kiwanis — set to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2017 — plans to raise $4 million to make major improvements to Vulcan Park and extend the Vulcan Trail jogging and bike path two more miles to Green Springs Highway.

Thagard and Birmingham Mayor William Bell announced the Kiwanis Centennial Project at the Harbert Center on Nov. 15, and Thagard made a presentation to the Birmingham City Council on Nov. 22.

“We hope to reinvigorate Vulcan as the heart of our new, dynamic Birmingham (and to) reconnect Vulcan with Birmingham visually, physically and spiritually,” Thagard said. 

The project has three components:

► The first phase will include improvements to the north side of Vulcan Park, including landscaping, renovation of the lower piazza entrance and the building of steps for walking access to the statue. This municipal and event space will be known as Kiwanis Centennial Park. 

The goal is to reconnect the park to the city, according to Guin Robinson, board chairman of the Vulcan Park Foundation.

“The front yard of the city is about to get a major renovation,” Robinson said.

► The second component will be the jogging and bike trail, which will serve as “the backbone” of the planned 750-mile Red Rock Ridge and Valley Trail System, according to Jim Proctor, board chairman of Freshwater Land Trust, another project partner.

► The third component will be a multicolored light show, designed by well-known lighting design firm Schuler Shook, to be projected onto Vulcan each night to enhance the statue’s image. The light show will feature the same fixtures and computer system used on the Empire State Building, according to Thagard.

The Centennial Project is “designed to project Birmingham’s new, vibrant image regionally, nationally and — with the coming of the World Games in 2021 — even internationally,” Thagard said. 

Ralph Cook and Drayton Nabers will serve as co-chairmen of the fundraising effort, according to Thagard. 

A groundbreaking is planned for May 2017, the KCOB’s centennial month.

“The experience of walking along (Vulcan Trail) and having beautiful views of downtown Birmingham will be highly improved by the work that’s going to be done,” Bell said in November.

Connecting Vulcan Park with a new sidewalk on Green Springs Highway and walking trails in George Ward Park in Glen Iris is a major step forward, according to Councilor Valerie Abbott.

“We’re finally getting a network of trails where you can get some real exercise,” she said.

Kiwanis helped create Vulcan Park in the 1930s, making it appropriate that the club get involved with the facility again, according to Thagard.

“Invigorating Vulcan’s role as the unifying symbol of Birmingham is fitting for our club’s Centennial Project,” he said.