Upswing—a downtown Birmingham parklet
Have you seen the colorful swings (and other more stationary seating) at 3rd Avenue North and 19th Street? This parklet across from The Pizitz and McWane is a spot for you to rest a bit, sip a latte, have a conversation—and swing!
REV believes in the power of placemaking to make your downtown experience a little more vibrant and fun. Sometimes that can be as simple as a tiny park on the corner of a parking lot (which, by the way, is a paid public lot where you can start and end your day or night downtown). Stop by Upswing and hang out any time!
As a nonprofit, REV needs your help to keep projects like this going. Donations help us create more potential-proving, place-making, pop-up magic across the city. Give for the good of Birmingham!
Upswing's origins
Upswing was born in 2019 as a demonstration project—designed by REV Birmingham—to prove and improve downtown’s market for retail. Retailers popped up in three shipping container stores on the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 19th Street: Domestique Coffee, Hide & Hunter + Great Bear Wax, and Magic City T-Shirts + Urban Vintage.
Authentic, local retail is vital for a vibrant city, and Upswing brought it to an unexpected corner for three months in the fall of 2019. In addition, we partnered with a number of other businesses and organizations for a full calendar of programming that gave downtown residents and visitors fun reasons to spend time in what used to be an underutilized parking lot!
#UPSWINGBHAM
WHERE'S UPSWING?
Upswing is at 2nd Avenue North & 19th Street (across the street from The Pizitz).
Special shout-outs
A big thanks to Hamburger Creative for our awesome Upswing logo, to Allison Vosicky with Ladies, Wine & Design for helping us visually describe this dream early on with a rendering, to Ladd Real Estate for helping us elevate the Upswing lot for this project, to Apel Steel and Stewart Perry for the custom swing structures, and to Father Nature Landscapes for the new greenery on the lot!