It was a great idea. It was a beautiful day. But “RVA Streets Alive” was something of a disappointment.
It was the latest event from Richmond Sportsbackers and was billed as a day “to create a whole new healthy, sustainable and vibrant city street experience.”
While the 2.5 mile walk across the James River and back was a lot of fun, vendor experiences were a disappointment.
They were few and far between and limited to “a diverse mix of different sports organizations, active lifestyle groups, preventative health & wellness programs, and any other organization that wants to promote physical activity.”
That’s all great stuff, and there were great groups there. But when there were football field length (or more) sections of road with no vendors. And when there was only one, count ’em one, vendor with any type food or drink (at least that we saw), that’s just poor event planning.
My sons and I went and did the walk. We had the foresight to buy them some water at the beginning.
I regretted that I had not done the same because there was not another opportunity.
If you want to have a street party, then invite people to party. Invite food vendors, invite craft vendors or RVA vendors, or something.
I hope the organizers take a long hard look at this and next year that they don’t cancel the entire concept and instead, rethink who they invite next year to participate as vendors. I think if they do that and do some better advertising that they’ll have a better event with better attendance.
The concept of and all health, all fitness event isn’t a bad one. But it just didn’t work.
Food vendors are a great suggestion. We will certainly do a better job of that next year. Thanks for the feedback, and we’re sorry it wasn’t a better experience for you. Two and a half miles is a ways to cover, so even with more than 70 vendors they certainly were not packed in. For a first time event, we were really pleased with the turnout. Hopefully though, as the event gets bigger over the years, we will be able to pack the streets!
Even though you didn’t love the event, I hope you’ll agree that the concept of bringing a health fair (which are often held indoors) to the streets is a fun one! Again, thank you so much for the feedback. It’s through people like you that we can continue to get better!
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It was a great idea. It was a beautiful day. But “RVA Streets Alive” was something of a disappointment.
2 comments
Food vendors are a great suggestion. We will certainly do a better job of that next year. Thanks for the feedback, and we’re sorry it wasn’t a better experience for you. Two and a half miles is a ways to cover, so even with more than 70 vendors they certainly were not packed in. For a first time event, we were really pleased with the turnout. Hopefully though, as the event gets bigger over the years, we will be able to pack the streets!
Even though you didn’t love the event, I hope you’ll agree that the concept of bringing a health fair (which are often held indoors) to the streets is a fun one! Again, thank you so much for the feedback. It’s through people like you that we can continue to get better!
Author
Thanks for commenting. I do love the concept and the walk across the bridges was fun. I hope you’ll continue to do this and allow it to grow.