That Richmond is opening up to reclaiming its public spaces is a sign of encouragement for me. Whether it's Broad Appétit, the Richmond Folk Festival, or even stalwarts like the 2nd Street Festival, the 43rd Street Festival, the Watermelon Festival and, of course, the Monument Avenue Easter Parade. And there's a whole slew of ethnic-food events and musical offerings scattered from spring into fall. This is nothing but good.
Street celebrations such as these get the participants out of their cars and sometimes preconceived notions and into the city streets for purposes of sheer enjoyment, to be out and about in good weather, among all varieties of our citizenry, and eating many different kinds of food, including, in my case crickets. Crunchy, kind of like peanuts, I thought.
Broad Appétit was produced in conjunction with the Dowtown Neighborhood Association (and a slew of other supporting groups and businesses, including my employer). And that's important to note because when you're physically in the street, instead of trying to wade through traffic or wondering why the driver ahead of you won't go when the light turned green, you actually see the city. You can admire the architecture and the quality of the designs. And people are living in those above-shop apartments, more and more of them in the past few years than ever before. And nearby is Jackson Ward, with its contingent of residents, too.
And also, at most of the events I've listed, I've seldom heard or read of terribly bad behavior — drunken brawls or purse-snatching and the like. (I'm sure now I'll get a flurry of comments disabusing me of my naiveté.) For all those who sit outside and grouse about the threat of crime and dangerdowntown, I just wish they'd come to one of these things.
The splendor of seeing those white tents marching down the center of Broad Street, the ice sculptor, the photo booth at the Metro Gallery, the satellite gallery for Church Hill's Eric Schindler Gallery — with pieces from the Chris Chase sculpture show I didn't get to see — were all welcome additions to the experience. And let's not forget the shrimp and grits or the Key-lime pie, too.
So summer's started. Get out there and participate in the place where you live.
