BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Nov. 26, 2021 – Regions Bank announced the company’s headquarters tower will once again be transformed into Birmingham’s tallest holiday display with its annual Christmas illumination scheduled to begin Friday evening.

Over the last couple months, crews have been combing through the building making sure roughly 2,500 windows are ready to glow red, green, and white to form the giant Christmas trees, the massive wreath, and the huge stocking that adorn the Regions Center nightly during the holiday season every year. The tradition started over 40 years ago when the building was shared by the former First National Bank of Birmingham and a company called Sonat – or Southern Natural Gas.

“The details on how it all started have been hard to pinpoint, but the story goes that one of the executives for the Southern Natural Gas company traveled to Houston, Texas, during the holidays,” explained Michael Bianca, corporate property relationship manager for Regions Bank. “During that trip, he saw a building that had a similar ‘curtain wall’ design, and that building had a Christmas display created by lights in the windows. He came back to Birmingham and said, ‘We’ve got to do something like that here.’ And that’s what led to the Christmas display that’s been illuminating our skyline during the holidays for over 40 years.”