Richmond is about to get very, very briny. The city's inaugural Pickle Party takes over the Arts District and historic Jackson Ward starting Friday, running three days and packing in everything from a pickle parade to pickle-flavored pizza, a pickle art exhibition and even discounted pickle tattoos.
The festival kicks off with the First Friday Block Party on Brook Road, with DJs scheduled from 6 to 10 p.m., according to the Richmond Moon Market, and continues through the weekend. As Axios notes, it's Richmond's first-ever pickle-themed festival, blending food, drink, art and entertainment across the neighborhood. The Moon Market's block party alone is expected to draw more than 40 vendors, food trucks and pickle makers to Brook Road, per RVAHub's reporting on the event.
A Parade, a Conga Line, and a Lot of Brine
The signature moment of opening night is the Pickle Parade, set to start at 7 p.m. outside GWARbar before winding through Jackson Ward. The Moon Market says the Athanor Dance Collective will lead the procession, which the event's organizers describe as a parade and conga line rolled into one. Buckville Hootenanny is also slated to perform its pickle-themed rock opera at Gallery5 that same night, while Fields On Fire is listed separately as another act, according to RVAHub's coverage of the festival.
Food and drink specials are scattered across the district for the full run of the festival. Bar Solita is serving its own Pickle Pizza alongside other specials, while GWARbar is offering fried pickles and Lillie Pearl has a pickle cocktail on the menu called the “What's the Dilly,” RVAHub reports. Field Day Boutique is getting in on the theme too, offering entry to win a vibrating pickle, per Axios.
Art, Awards and a Little Ink
Gallery5 opens its Art of the Pickle exhibition Friday, with an opening reception scheduled from 5 to 11 p.m. during First Friday, according to Gallery5. The gallery is also hosting the Best Pickles of Richmond contest, with categories for Best Pickled Cucumber and Best of Everything Else, plus four special awards for Most Creative, Sweetest, Spiciest and Most Unexpected pickles. For anyone looking to commemorate the occasion a bit more permanently, Moving Mountains Tattoo is offering discounted pickle flash all weekend, with both appointments and walk-ins welcome.
The event's scale depends on which source you ask. The Moon Market counts more than 20 local makers selling pickles, ferments, hot sauces, shrubs and snacks, while RVAHub puts the Friday block party's vendor count above 40. Richmond Magazine, meanwhile, reported the inaugural celebration overall was expected to feature nearly 75 businesses. However the final tally shakes out, it's a first-year event put together by Gallery5, Richmond Moon Market, the Arts District Business Alliance, Virago Alley and the Artisan Pickle Club, per RVAHub.
Roots Going Back to 2018
The Pickle Party isn't entirely new terrain for Richmond. Richmond Magazine reports it grew out of the Artisan Pickle Club's earlier Pickled & Fermented Festival, which went dormant in 2018 before this year's revival brought the concept back in a bigger, multi-venue form.
Getting There and Parking
Because the festival spans Jackson Ward's narrow streets, organizers are flagging parking as a hassle worth planning around. Gallery5 says it has no dedicated parking of its own, and notes that much of the surrounding neighborhood has restricted parking for anyone without a resident's permit, mostly capped at two hours. The gallery points visitors to a lot or garage at 319 N. First St., about two blocks away, or the Arts District stop on the GRTC Pulse, which sits one block south and one block east of the venue. The City of Richmond's own guidance on the Jackson Ward District similarly notes that parking on designated residential streets without a permit is reserved for district residents and their guests, though the full conditions go beyond that summary.
Organizers say the complete schedule and list of participating businesses can be found at rvapickleparty.com, according to RVAHub, for anyone looking to map out their own pickle crawl before the weekend wraps up.
