For a generation of Magic City dwellers, the December holiday season was a rose-tinted time downtown.
Holiday decorations in department store windows. Seasons’ carols. Christmas sales wars for the perfect present. All were ingredients to lure shoppers and revelers to Birmingham’s sidewalks.
Now a slate of events being planned by REV Birmingham is hoping to conjure up more merriment for the 21st century.
“We have been talking for years about wanting to inject a little more magic into downtown Birmingham for the holiday season,” said Julie McKinney, vice president of people and places for REV Birmingham.
Tucked away in REV’s downtown economic vitality report released this week is a list of events that are scheduled to kick off in mid-November to rekindle some of those memories, and create new ones.
Jackson Dean, a data and research manager for REV, said there’s still a great many people who venture downtown for holiday events, such as the Alabama Theatre with its Holiday Film Series. The BJCC, Lyric Theatre and Red Mountain Theatre also attract visitors, as well as events like the menorah and tree lightings.
The Alabama Theatre by itself drew more than 30,000 visitors last December, Dean said.
But it’s also the slowest month for downtown workers and students. Even though the city center sees five times as many people as, say, Homewood during the holidays, much of that foot traffic is spread out among events, he said.
“We know there are some really good holiday traditions that exist downtown,” McKinney said. “But there’s not a ton that’s festive to do, so we wanted to fill in that experience.”
Visitors to the Pizitz Food Hall can already see local artists working on fixtures for an ornament trail planned for 20th Street North to Linn Park.
Other efforts planned include:
Lighting along 20th Street North medians.
Live music along 20th Street.
Surprise carolers dropping in high foot traffic areas.
Window and facade decorations at underused storefronts.
A scavenger hunt for “children of all ages.”
More social media promotion of downtown shops.
The events are being paid for through the Downtown BHM Business Improvement District (BID), an organization of downtown businesses.
“We’re wanting to give people some connective tissue, to give people some options of things to do,” McKinney said. “It’s an extra dose of festivity.”
Some events will roll out ahead of the annual Birmingham tree lighting Dec. 7.