Parade featuring Sabans and city officials part of Nick's Kids Avenue naming celebration

A ribbon cutting ceremony is set for next month to officially declare 28th Avenue as “Nick’s Kids Avenue.”

The city of Tuscaloosa will be joined by the Nick’s Kids Foundation at 9 a.m. Aug. 5 to ceremoniously rename the street between Jack Warner Parkway and 12th Street, which the City Council approved last year.

The renaming was approved in honor of the Nick’s Kids Foundation’s donation the Saban Center project.

A parade featuring the University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band, UA cheerleaders, Nick and Terry Saban and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox among other dignitaries will proceed from the corner of Seventh Street and 28th/Nick’s Kids Avenue to the parking lot of The Tuscaloosa News building at 315 28th Ave.

After the parade, a short ceremony will be held in the parking lot of the Tuscaloosa News facility at 9:30 a.m.

The celebration is free and open to the public, and balloons, soft drinks and snacks will be provided, officials. More information is available at Tuscaloosa.com/jubilee.

The idea of renaming 28th Avenue for the Nick’s Kids Foundation first came before a council committee in February 2020, when the council was told that doing so was part of the negotiations that led to the Saban family agreeing to contribute $1.25 million to the construction of the Saban Center.

This new, state-of-the-art interactive learning center is planned to take over the building now occupied by The Tuscaloosa News. Once complete, it will offer science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs, theater and literature as well as outdoor recreation.

City officials initially proposed renaming 28th Avenue between Jack Warner Parkway and Sixth Street to minimize the number of businesses affected by the change, but the public safety committee opted in April 2020 to rename more of the street to make it easier to know when Nick’s Kids Avenue starts and stops.

The Nick’s Kids Foundation, which contributed $250,000 of the $1.25 million donated by the Saban family, was named after Alabama head football coach Nick Saban’s father.

Reach Jason Morton at jason.morton@tuscaloosanews.com.