Residents of Birmingham often admit the city is not accustomed to blowing its own trumpet – still maligned and mocked by others, it tends to favour self-deprecating humour.
So the launch of the inaugural International Day of Birmingham (IDOB), celebrated with cheerleaders, confetti cannon and actual trumpets, is not what you would expect to see on a walk through the city centre on a Tuesday afternoon.
The day, to be held annually on 24 September, has been spearheaded by the Brummie comedian Joe Lycett, who travelled to 10 other Birminghams in the US and signed friendship agreements with each to create a not entirely serious United States of Birmingham.
The smallest Birmingham, in New Jersey, has just 32 residents, he said, while the UK’s Birmingham has a lot of similarities with the one in Alabama.
“They’re often overlooked, and people ignore them and say they’re not as good as the other cities around them,” he said, addressing a crowd of Brummies outside the city’s council house. “But they know they’re the best city, because we know we’re the best city.”
Representatives of the American Birminghams came to the UK city for the friendship agreements to be formalised in Tuesday’s event, and for a United States of Birmingham flag, designed by Lycett, to be raised. His journey will be documented in a TV series, Joe Lycett’s United States of Birmingham, to be shown on Sky next year.
The lord mayor, Ken Wood, who countersigned the agreements, said the event was the boost the city needed and he hoped it would lead to lasting relationships between the Birminghams.
“We just want to get a bit of fun and a bit of liveliness back into the city,” he said. “The thing about Brummies is they’re quite good at laughing at themselves. We like a laugh and we’re very welcoming, and this event underlines that.”
The city council, which helped advertise the event, was at pains to stress it had come at no cost to them. It in effect declared bankruptcy just over a year ago, and residents of the city are facing a 21% council tax hike over two years, while council arts funding will be cut to nothing.
“Yes, it’s doom and gloom inside the council house, but outside in the city people are doing wonderful things and they’re just getting on with life. And we need to celebrate that,” said Wood.
The IDOB celebrations included a parade with cheerleaders, dancers, dhol drummers, drag queens and stilt walkers, while the Birmingham-based artist Tat Vision created a Chinese dragon-style bull in tribute to the city’s Bullring.
There was a brass band, ceremonial trumpeters and a rallying cry of “All right, bab” (a common Brummie greeting).
“I can’t help but support silly concepts, being a big silly concept myself,” said the drag queen Ginny Lemon, who featured in the parade. “It has been so sad, what has happened recently, and I have been personally affected by the council cuts, so it’s great to see stuff like this coming back to Birmingham. It shows the city in the light it needs to be shown.”
Pip Bradley and Zoe Barry, local business owners, were among those in the crowd. They said the event provided some welcome light relief for the city.
“We were just saying what a wonderful, positive thing it is. There’s a real tide of support for what we do in Birmingham that has been building in the last 10 years but has really come to a head recently, but we never really shout about what we do,” said Bradley, the owner of Pip’s Hot Sauce.
“The council cuts are a living disaster, it’s horrendous at the moment,” added Barry, who runs the clothing company Punks and Chancers. “But stuff like this – it’s silly and it’s funny, and although it seems frivolous on the surface, you can reach people with a bigger message about the city.”
