vol. 313 / A Pickle-Perfect WeekendLarkin Garbee provides her tips on how to enjoy this place we love to call home.
VOL. 313 / A PICKLE-PERFECT WEEKEND
Meet this week's guest editor, Larkin Garbee. As many Richmonders know, Larkin is a longtime civic instigator, problem solver, and community builder. She has spent two decades connecting people and ideas in this place we all love to call home. From 804RVA to Lighthouse Labs, Startup Virginia, and the Startup Champions Network, her work supporting entrepreneurs even took her to the White House to share her vision for a more connected commonwealth for startups.
These days, Larkin's passion for bringing people together has taken two very different forms. After her husband's Huntington's disease diagnosis, she founded Huntington's Disease Virginia to connect and advocate for families affected by the disease, securing proclamations from Virginia's governor and Richmond's mayor along the way.
But Larkin also knows that community can be built around life's simple joys. Her other passion project? Pickles. That's right, she's the co-organizer of the Richmond Pickle Party. While her work with Huntington's Disease Virginia was born from life's challenges, both passions reflect her belief that connection through community makes life better – and what better way to celebrate that than with a neighborhood full of pickle lovers?
This weekend, November 6–8, we encourage you to tag along with Larkin for her perfect pickle-filled adventure through Jackson Ward and the Arts District.
Take it away, Larkin ...
Friday: Dressed to the Dill
Years ago, Ashley Ray and I became friends over a shared jar of pickles. That friendship led us to launch the Pickled & Fermented Festival in Ashland, drawing thousands. This weekend, we're bringing the brine to our own backyard in Jackson Ward, teaming up with Richmond Moon Market, Arts District Business Alliance, Gallery5, and Virago Alley. Nearly 75 pickle partners, from restaurants and galleries to tattoo shops and florists, have jumped into the jar. Together, we're turning Jackson Ward and the Arts District into a giant pickle-themed playground, where every corner offers something delicious, creative, or wonderfully ridiculous. Here's where you'll find me pickling through the neighborhood. I hope you'll join us!
Friday kicks off with pickle fingernails at Image Enhancement Center with my fellow co-organizers, because we're going all in! Then it's off to Noel Customs for my official Richmond Pickle Party hoodie before swinging by Odd Bird for a pickleback and, hopefully, a pickle ornament. By then, I'll be in full pickle costume, so if a giant walking pickle waves at you on Broad Street, wave back! My niece and I will head to Glass Eye Studios for a portrait inside their larger-than-life pickle jar. Because what's better than one pickle in a jar? Two!
Next, pickle pizza at Bar Solita (trust me, it's shockingly good) before joining my fellow pickle people for the 7 PM pickle parade from GWARbar. If I can squeeze onto the Art Trolley for Michelle Livigne's Dolly Parton drag queen pickle trivia, I may have officially peaked. Then it's off to Black Iris for live music before heading to Gallery5 for The Art of the Pickle, more music, Belle Isle Moonshine pickle lemonade, and the crowning of the pickle competition winners with green ribbons. I'll wrap up exploring Little Wish Toys and the vendors at Moon Market's Pickle Paradise on Brook Road before a fried pickle nightcap at GWARbar. Because apparently, there's always room for one more pickle.
Saturday: In a Pickle (the Good Kind)
Saturday starts at the Black History Museum to pick up my pickle bingo card before heading to Gallery5 with a jar to share at the Pickle People's Potluck from 11 AM–1 PM. Then I'm assembling the ultimate Jackson Ward picnic: pickle soup from Mama J's Market and pickle chicken salad from Urban Hang Suite, enjoyed in the Fuchsia Freedom Garden. Brandon Fountain, aka Lord Bumblebee, transformed this once-empty lot into a hidden oasis. It's a reminder that Jackson Ward is full of people who see possibility where others see empty space.
Next up: free jerk beef sliders with spicy homemade pickles at Jamaica House (2-4 PM). If they're a hit, they might earn a permanent spot on the menu! Then it's a pickle scavenger hunt at Virginia Rep and treasure hunting for vintage Heinz pickle pins at The Veiled Mirror's Vintage Pickle Parlor.
From there, it's the Pickle Flash Tattoo Event at Moving Mountains Tattoo, where my pickle partner in crime, Ashley, is getting Snorkel Pickle, a mascot designed by RVA Coffee Stain from our Pickled & Fermented Festival days, tattooed for life. We've been preserving our friendship in pickle brine for years, but Ashley's taking the commitment to a whole new level! While she's getting inked, I'll bring her a pickle flatbread from Penny's Wine Shop before heading to Sweet P's for pork belly with house dills.
For the evening's entertainment, I'm heading to Coalition Theater for the 9 PM performance of Pickle Famous, a special edition of its Richmond Famous improv series inspired by Ellen Kidd, the Jackson Ward suffragette who turned Pin Money Pickles into an international business. A woman championing women's rights while building a pickle empire right here in Jackson Ward more than a century ago? Ellen, I think we would have been friends.
Sunday Funday: Brined & Brunched
By Sunday, I should probably be 90% pickle. I'll start my morning with a toasted everything sourdough bagel smothered in dill pickle cream cheese at Sunday Bagel before heading to Pickles & Pilates at The Pink Mat (11 AM, make sure to pre-register) to work off some weekend eats and make room for the Briny Brunch Variety Show at Gallery5, Bloody Mary in hand, from 1-4 PM.
Then comes the real challenge: finishing my pickle bingo card. I'll zigzag through Jackson Ward and Monroe Ward, stopping for pickle sorbet at Deeper Dive before joining the Richmond Pickle Party crew at Tarrant's to toast a weekend that's been kind of a big dill — with fried pickle chicken sliders and a Big Dill Whiskey Sour in hand.
A Neighborhood Worth Preserving.
Jackson Ward has always been home to entrepreneurs, artists, dreamers, and people willing to try something different. From Ellen Kidd's pickle empire more than a century ago to nearly 75 businesses and creatives jumping into the jar this weekend, that spirit is alive and well. Whether you discover a new favorite restaurant, wander into a gallery for the first time, or strike up a conversation with someone dressed as a giant pickle, I hope you leave loving this neighborhood the same way I do. And if you leave with a new friend and a jar of pickles? Even better. Wear green. Bring a friend. Come find the pickles.
