Carytown lights up new sign for the first time
Hollywood has its iconic sign, Mayor Levar Stoney said Friday evening, and now Carytown does too.
"Light it up!," Stoney said as a crowd of onlookers gathered to see the shopping district's new Art Deco-style sign illuminated for the first time.
The roughly $100,000 sign, suspended over the street where Carytown begins, was funded by American Rescue Plan money meant to help businesses bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic. The sign project was spearheaded by the Carytown Merchants Association in partnership with city officials.
The new marker serves as a replacement for the old wooden welcome sign that, until recently, stood near the district's entrance as visitors come east on Cary Street.
"The merchants of Carytown have wanted a more permanent version of this kind of gateway for years," said Kelley Banks, the co-owner of Merrymaker Fine Paper and CMA board member who for two years has used her architecture background to see the sign project through to completion.
Banks said the design was meant to evoke Carytown's Art Deco vibe from its beginnings in 1938 with the opening of the Cary Court shopping center. The sign was created and installed by the Campfire & Co. design firm, manufacturer Wellcraft MFG and Messer Contracting.
"That’s a nine-pointed star to represent the nine blocks of Carytown," Banks told the crowd Friday as she pointed out the finer details of the design.
At the lighting ceremony, City Councilor Stephanie Lynch (5th District) said the sign was an example of "some of the greatest community teamwork in a project that we’ve ever seen.”
"Carytown faced so much during the pandemic," Lynch said. "The over 230 small businesses that are in Carytown have worked through and have overcome so, so many challenges. And the only reason that they have been able to do that is because of the team spirit that they all have for each other.”
The mayor offered a similar sentiment, saying Carytown business owners have endured so long because of "resilience."
"They’re still here because they believe in Richmond," Stoney said.
