The Meaning in the Skyline

If you’ve made your way into one of our shops outside of our hometown of Birmingham, you may have wondered about the murals on the walls. Specifically, the brawny silhouette of a man holding his pop courageously to the sky may have caught your eye. Many customers have just as many questions about who he is as they do about why we would put jalapeño or sour cream in our pops. Before I reveal his identity to those who are not from Birmingham, let me tell you about the skylines of which he is a part.

Each and every Steel City Pops location is CAREFULLY chosen and designed around its unique place in the city it is in. We are very proud of the local communities of which we are a part and the local farmers with whom we partner. Whether its our original Homewood, Alabama shop (initially designed to be the one and only), our shops in Texas, or our newest shop in Huntsville, Alabama, each city has a distinct character that we want to embrace and celebrate.

So next time you are in one of our shops, observe the layers in the skyline on the wall. The closest and darkest is the skyline of the city in which the shop resides. We love highlighting the unique architecture of these cities. In Dallas, you will notice Reunion Tower and Renaissance Tower and in Fort Worth you can see D.R. Horton Tower and the Pier 1 Imports world headquarters. The second layer consists of the less iconic buildings in the perspective cities. You might even see a building in which you live or work!

The most distant and lightest layer in the skyline is the skyline of our hometown, Birmingham, AL. As I mentioned earlier, we opened our first shop there in 2012 and we always want to remember where we came from while fully immersing ourselves into new cities as we expand. In that layer of the mural you will see things like Sloss Furnace, the City Federal building, and the god of fire and forge, Vulcan (the buff guy with the pop…).

The Vulcan statue is the largest cast iron statue in the world, and is the city symbol of Birmingham, Alabama.  Vulcan reflects Birmingham’s roots in the iron and steel industry. The 56-foot tall statue depicts the Roman god of fire and forge. It was created as Birmingham’s entry for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri.

Now you know! So the next time you come in the shop feel free to snap a picture of you and your friends posing as Vulcan and tell your friends all the cool facts you learned about him. They will definitely be impressed.