History
City Stages was started in 1989 by former Alabama Lieutenant Governor George McMillan and a group of civic leaders who wanted to start a downtown music festival that would promote Birmingham's City Center as part of that year's Alabama Reunion. By all accounts those goals were met, as the festival's early success is credited with reestablishing the downtown area as a vibrant and pleasant district. In the years since City Stages began, several other festivals have been launched downtown. McMillan's firm, McMillan Associates managed and promoted the festival.
City Stages grew rapidly in its first five years from a small regional festival to a world-renowned music event. At its peak, the festival featured 13 stages and performance areas over a 13 block area.
In 2001, organizers of the festival moved the festival to May to have more flexibility in booking acts that normally have their own summer tour plans. Unfortunately, rainstorms drowned out the failed three-year experiment, and the festival racked up nearly a half million dollars in debt. The organizers have since moved the festival back to Father's Day weekend, the third weekend of June, and scaled down the number of acts, focusing on bigger-name headliners. 2004's festival was a success, allowing the organizers to retire some of its debt. As of February 2005, City Stages signed the Vines & Waldrep law firm as the festival's first title sponsor, changing the official name to Vines & Waldrep City Stages. However in 2006, the name changed again to "Waldrep Stewart & Kendricks, LLC City Stages Presented by Lanny Vines & Associates, LLC".
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