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Communities to unite at Norwood 5K

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Photo courtesy of Natalie Isom Sansom.

Natalie Isom Sansom remembers a day last fall being “magical.”

“We started with Zumba,” she said. “It was amazing to see old and young, black and white, all shapes and sizes out there smiling.”

Sansom recalls watching neighbors from Norwood, a historic neighborhood north of downtown Birmingham, come out to cheer on runners in the Boulevard Blast 5K and lots of volunteers encouraging participants across the finish line.

This year she is looking forward to the event’s return on Sept. 26 and is hoping even more people are introduced to the neighborhood through it.  

“We want to bring people from other communities to see what Norwood is about and see what the Norwood Resource Center is doing,” said Sansom, whose dad Chervis Isom grew up in Norwood. 

The resource center offers educational activities and services to improve Norwood out of a home in the neighborhood. It offers a Junior Master Gardener Program for elementary students, runs learning gardens on vacant lots, provides tax assistance and helps residents with other needs. All proceeds from the event go to its work. 

Sansom is co-chairing the event committee with fellow Mountain Brook resident Graham Smith, whose mother-in-law Betsy first toured her around Norwood three years ago before she moved here from Long Island.

“I thought, ‘This is a very interesting community with the broad promenades and beautiful elementary school,’” Smith said. “It’s ripe for revitalization.”

Sansom noted that the community’s elementary school is currently being renovated to reopen and that young families are moving in and renovating homes in the area too. 

“You’ll see some that are spectacular,” she said.

The 5K event will feature music, vendors, cooking demonstrations and other festivities in addition to the run itself. It will also be the last week of the Trolley Stop Market that sells produce from the center’s gardens.

Through the event, organizers hope to help teach the community about the importance of eating better and exercising. Many community members are already preparing through a Couch to 5K program.

Birmingham City Council Rep. William Parker and four clergy members from St. Luke’s Episcopal, two who are over 65, are preparing for the run as well. St. Luke’s members, including Sansom and Smith, have long been involved in Norwood, but organizers hope others come out for the event as well.

“Anyone can feel the energy in Birmingham,” Smith said. “To not know about Norwood is to miss out. It is a hidden gem.”

To learn more about the Norwood Resource Center, visit norwoodresourcecenter.org. If you are interested in volunteering at the event, email nataliesansom@gmail.com or gmsmithwlu@gmail.com.

Boulevard Blast 5K 

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