Carytown (Richmond)
Encyclopedia
Carytown is an urban retail district lining Cary Street at the southern end of the Museum District in Richmond
, Virginia
. The district includes over 300 shops, restaurants, and offices. Located near The Fan District
, the district is known for having a bohemian
flair. The area has become a center for high-end, independent retail shops and boutiques, and is also home to one of the city's beloved institutions, the Byrd Theatre
, a restored movie palace that has operated continuously since 1928 and shows second-run films for a $1.99 ticket price. There is also home to the annual Carytown Watermelon Festival, which is the biggest in the United States.
Some Carytown shops are open seven days a week, but most are opened from 10:00 am to 6:00pm Monday through Saturday.
The Cary Court shopping center was built in the 1930s and opened for business in 1938. It was Richmond's first strip shopping center and took hold of the people of Central Virginia very quickly. This group of stores was especially popular due to the "park and shop" nature it had. As more shops developed on the surrounding property, the entire area became bustling with customers and even tourists. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources gives recognition to the Cary Court shopping district for its major influence in Virginia's commercial development in the Twentieth Century. This gives Carytown an older feel to it , and it also shows preservation of history. The buildings are in constant need of repair and restoration, after decades of damaging time.
and Ska
event on those same Thursdays at night. Other events are listed below.
May
August
October
December
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. The district includes over 300 shops, restaurants, and offices. Located near The Fan District
Fan district
The Fan is a district of Richmond, Virginia, so named because of the "fan" shape of the array of streets that extend west from Belvidere Street, on the eastern edge of Monroe Park, westward to the Boulevard....
, the district is known for having a bohemian
Bohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
flair. The area has become a center for high-end, independent retail shops and boutiques, and is also home to one of the city's beloved institutions, the Byrd Theatre
Byrd Theatre
The Byrd Theatre is a cinema in the Carytown neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. It was named after William Byrd II, the founder of the city. The theater — the first in Virginia to be equipped with a sound system — opened on December 24, 1928 to much excitement and is affectionately referred to as...
, a restored movie palace that has operated continuously since 1928 and shows second-run films for a $1.99 ticket price. There is also home to the annual Carytown Watermelon Festival, which is the biggest in the United States.
Some Carytown shops are open seven days a week, but most are opened from 10:00 am to 6:00pm Monday through Saturday.
History
Many of the shops in Carytown are located in historical buildings.The Cary Court shopping center was built in the 1930s and opened for business in 1938. It was Richmond's first strip shopping center and took hold of the people of Central Virginia very quickly. This group of stores was especially popular due to the "park and shop" nature it had. As more shops developed on the surrounding property, the entire area became bustling with customers and even tourists. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources gives recognition to the Cary Court shopping district for its major influence in Virginia's commercial development in the Twentieth Century. This gives Carytown an older feel to it , and it also shows preservation of history. The buildings are in constant need of repair and restoration, after decades of damaging time.
Events
Month long sale events take place in different stores in Carytown throughout the year. Certain seasons bring annual sales or festivals. Other events are monthly such as the Knit Night at the Yarn Lounge! from 6:00 to 8:30 on the last Tuesday of every month. As for seasonal sales, Fashion First goes on from February until June on every first Thursday of the month. Alongside Fashion First there is a ReggaeReggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
and Ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
event on those same Thursdays at night. Other events are listed below.
- Virginia Commonwealth UniversityVirginia Commonwealth UniversityVirginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...
French film festival
May
- Carytown 10k Run/Walk
August
- Watermelon Festival
- This is the event Carytown is most known for. It is a big deal for not only those in Richmond but also for those in the surrounding counties or areas of Virginia. In 2012 Carytown will have its 29th Watermelon Festival.
October
- Wine Festival
December
- New Year's Eve Event
- In 2006, 2007 and 2008, the merchants association held a New Year's event, much like Times SquareTimes SquareTimes Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, except a ball would rise from the Byrd Theatre, as opposed to falling. In 2009, the association decided it was too expensive to continue for a fourth year.
- In 2006, 2007 and 2008, the merchants association held a New Year's event, much like Times Square