Posts by davidsher:
Big Loss for Birmingham: Our Old Alabama State Fair
September 8th, 2026
By David Sher
When I was a child growing up in Birmingham in the 1950s, there were four things I looked forward to all year: my birthday, Christmas in downtown Birmingham, the Iron Bowl, and the Alabama State Fair.
Fortunately, I still have a birthday.
But the Christmas downtown of my childhood is gone. The Iron Bowl left Birmingham. And the Alabama State Fair I remember is gone too. Read the rest of this entry “
Birmingham Was Destined for Greatness. It’s Not Too Late
September 1st, 2026
By David Sher
Editor’s note: Much of this article draws on research by Walker Beauchamp from his time as a student at Samford’s Cumberland School of Law.*
In 1872, iron master Abram Hewitt predicted Alabama would become “the manufacturing center of the habitable globe.”
In 1906, speculator John Gates said Birmingham would become “the largest American city not on navigable waters.”
In 1919, industrialist Henry Clay Frick predicted Birmingham would surpass Pittsburgh by 1940.
None of it happened. Read the rest of this entry “
Irondale Exposes One of Metro Birmingham’s Biggest Flaws
August 25th, 2026
By David Sher
I want to make this perfectly clear: I am not an enemy of Irondale.
I’m impressed by a small municipality that keeps stacking up economic wins while so much of the rest of Jefferson County struggles.
But that’s exactly the problem. Read the rest of this entry “
Huntsville, for The Love of Everything Holy, Stop Building before It’s Too Late
August 20th, 2026
By Prioleau Alexander
Editor’s note: This column appeared recently in the Huntsville Real-Time News coordinated by Doug Martinson. I think it’s important for people in Birmingham to know what ‘s going on with our Alabama neighbor to the North.
Residents of Huntsville, Alabama don’t understand how much they have—and as a result, how much they have to lose.
As a native of Charleston, SC, I grew up in a city far more like Huntsville today than the place I call home. Read the rest of this entry “
I Got a Job Offer in Birmingham. Should I Take It?
August 18th, 2026
By David Sher
Before people ever set foot in Birmingham, they are making decisions about us.
Should I move my family to Birmingham?
Should I relocate or start a business there?
Should I visit? Read the rest of this entry “
The Birmingham BBQ Restaurant That Changed America
August 11th, 2026
By Wayne Rogers
Say “Birmingham BBQ” and the names come rolling out like smoke from a pit: Full Moon. Jim ‘n Nick’s. Bob Sykes. Carlile’s. Golden Rule. Dreamland. SAW’s in all its glorious forms — Juke Joint, Soul Kitchen, and beyond.
Birmingham barbecue means hickory-smoked pork, low and slow, where the smoke does the talking and the sauce just listens. Read the rest of this entry “
Alabama Sabotaging Birmingham Healthcare
August 4th, 2026
By David Sher
I’m currently watching The Pitt, the hit Max series that follows life and death, hour by hour, in a crazy-busy emergency room in a large fictional Pittsburgh hospital. Read the rest of this entry “
Leaving Birmingham Wasn’t Rejection—It Was Survival
July 28th, 2026
By David Sher
There’s a moment in life when you meet someone and you understand why you get out of bed every morning.
I had one of those moments recently when I ran into a man who told me he’d been reading ComebackTown for years. He was genuinely excited to meet me. But I was more excited to meet him — because he personified everything this column has been about since it was first published in 2012. Read the rest of this entry “
Birmingham Days Away from One of World’s Biggest Action Sports Festivals
July 21st, 2026
By Hunter Williams
Shanghai. Montpellier. Budapest. Hiroshima. Birmingham.
Read that list again. That’s not a typo — that’s the 2026 stop list for the FISE World Series, one of the largest action sports festivals on Earth, and this August, our city joins it. Birmingham is the only U.S. stop on the entire tour. Read the rest of this entry “
8 Ways Alabama is Stupid
July 14th, 2026
By David Sher
I love Alabama. I’ve spent my life trying to make Birmingham and Alabama better.
But love doesn’t mean blind. And some of what our state does to itself isn’t conservative, isn’t cautious, isn’t Southern tradition. It’s just plain stupid. Read the rest of this entry “