Editor’s Note: Springtime in Richmond
I have to go full Carrie Bradshaw over here, because springtime is Richmond’s most enchanting season, it nearly has me skipping down Broad St in heels or some s***.
While, in official seasonal terms, spring starts on March 20(ish), in Richmond, I consider its real start to be whenever the Irish fests kick off around town. Often, if you’re like me, that’s the first weekend you’re truly psyched to be outside again after a long winter — and it doesn’t even have to be above 50 degrees yet.
From there, all the city’s best festivals and events follow suit: A Million Blooms, Monument Avenue 10k, Riverrock, Friday Cheers… Friday Cheers!: A music fest on Brown’s Island, where you’re but steps from food trucks, IPAs, and the GD James River — a few of Richmonders’ favorite things. Richmond is literally budding with things to do outside after we’ve all spent months mostly *inside* wondering if it’s actually going to snow and make January’s and February’s (and even some of March’s) frigid-af temps feel worth it.
Of course, there’s the actual budding happening around town, too. We’ve already gushed over it a few places here and there, but we truly do think the florals for spring around here are groundbreaking. There are tulips at Agecroft Hall & Gardens; like I mentioned up top, a *million* blooms at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden; and, of course, dogwoods and cherry blossoms dot so many of the city’s streets. Check with your doc and double that antihistamine dose — you’ve got to see this.
Then, there’s the al fresco dining-and-drinking of it all. Whether you’re spontaneously grabbing a drink (and apps?!) after work on the patio at Union Market, Jardin, or elsewhere, you’re enjoying nearly-perfect temps and something(s) delish, and it’s putting you in such a good mood, that, You know what? Maybe this season of The White Lotus hasn’t jumped the shark!
So, soak it all in. It’s going to be in the 70s this weekend, baseball (and the Big Dill Dog) is gearing up for next weekend, and the sun’s ending her shift later and later until her longest day of the year, in June, when we’re still in the thick of hamburger-slinging and fireworks blasting, but we start inching, ever so slowly, to Richmond’s second-best season: fall.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kelsey is RVAx co-owner and editor-in-chief. She moved to Richmond in 2018, settling(ish) first in Scott's Addition, then in Church Hill, before finding a suburban spot that gives her and her family just a bit more room to grow. You can usually find her reading yet another thriller or rewatching whatever Friends episode she rewatched least recently.
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