Birmingham offers NCAA tournament fans historic sites to visit
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Thousands of fans are expected to arrive in the Magic City later this week for the NCAA women's basketball Sweet 16.
Landing the NCAA tournament is expected to generate $12.3 million for the Birmingham metropolitan area, according to the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau.
There are some places in Birmingham that can only be found in the Magic City.
CBS 42 News stopped by during batting practice at Rickwood Field on Tuesday morning. Visitors will be able to see the oldest professional baseball park in the U.S. for themselves. Rickwood Field was the former home of the Birmingham Black Barons and offers self-guided tours. For more information on the historic sports site, click here.
Visitors will also have the opportunity visit the historic 16th Street Baptist Church and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
Dry weather through Friday, Weather Aware Sunday night through Monday morning for strong to severe storms
'This city is a classroom,' said Tiffani Saxton, vice president of strategy and engagement for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. So between Kelly Ingram Park, A.G. Gaston Motel, 16th Street Baptist Church and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and all of the historic sites surrounding here, we have a tremendous opportunity to not just be entertained here in the Magic City but to learn to be inspired.'
For more information on how to visit the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, click here.
The Rev. Arthur Price Jr. is the pastor at the 16th Street Baptist Church. He talked about the significance of the terrorist attack Ku Klux Klan members caused that happened at the church September 15, 1963.
'Where a bomb went off on Sept. 15, killing four little girls, who lost their lives,' Price said. 'A fifth girl was blinded.'
Their names were Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Rosamond Robertson and Cynthia Dionne Wesley. For more information on visiting the 16th Street Baptist Church, click here.
'This was the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King mobilized young people to go out from this church 15 at a time to be arrested in Kelly Ingram Park, so he could talk about injustice, inequality and inequity that forced President Kennedy to bring his brother down to broker a deal,' Price said.
The Sweet 16, which starts Friday, will bring visitors to Birmingham from Maryland, Indiana, North and South Carolina, Texas and Tennessee.
The Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau will offer a fan zone at City Walk. There will be DJs and food trucks. It will be free and open to the public.
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