Richmond, Virginia: Confederate Capital, Flying Squirrels, and a Town That Really Wants You to Like It

So you're thinking about visiting Richmond, Virginia. Good news: it's a genuinely fun city with great food, a pretty river, and some of the best minor league baseball attendance in the country. Bad news: RoastMyTown.com just got its hands on it, and the locals are going to be insufferable about it. Let's go through the charges.

The Flying Squirrels: Name by Committee, Stadium by Miracle

Let's start with the squirrel in the room. Richmond's Double-A team is the Flying Squirrels, a name chosen through a Richmond Times-Dispatch readers' name-the-team contest. The other finalists? Rock Hoppers, Hambones, Rhinos, Flatheads, and Hush Puppies. Look at that list and tell me "glides from tree to tree because it can't be bothered to fly" doesn't start to sound like the winner.

The joke is on us, though, because the squirrels are a smash hit. Officials have noted the team has some of the best attendance in AA baseball, and the team finally got a new home. Thousands of people funneled into the new CarMax Park for the home opener. The park came after a long wait for a new ballpark, with the old Diamond still standing nearby. That's the most Richmond thing imaginable: the old thing is still standing right there, and everyone's emotionally attached to it.

The Confederate Capital's Glow-Up (Please Clap)

Yes, Richmond was the Confederate capital, and yes, the city knows you know. These days its answer to the baggage is a booming Scott's Addition neighborhood, a historic district turned brewery-and-restaurant playground. Locals are so proud of it that the city is adding new trees, sidewalks and benches. Nothing says "we've moved on" like a participatory budgeting process for shade.

And there's something to the glow-up. The ballpark is the centerpiece of the Diamond District, an ongoing mixed-use development that includes retail, residential buildings, public green space, restaurants and a hotel. Now people stroll over for games. The roast card says Richmond is desperately explaining it's different now. We'd say the evidence is mostly on its side, but we're still going to tease it.

The numbers back up the transplant stampede, too. Richmond has roughly 230,000 people, and the metro area now holds well over a million people. The median age is young, which is roughly "has opinions about IPAs."

Ukrop's Rainbow Cookies and the Peak of Local Cuisine

Ah, Ukrop's. Richmond is the only city I know of that holds a decades-long emotional attachment to a grocery store bakery cookie. Locals will tell you a rainbow cookie is a whole love language, and it's true that the grocery chain's departure still stings. The roast says these cookies are your entire personality. We'd gently note that the personality also includes a very good food scene.

Case in point: one of Richmond's best-loved spots is the New York Deli, located in Carytown. That's a deli in Virginia named after New York, which tells you Richmond has been confusing outsiders on purpose for generations. Beyond that, the city runs on craft beer, nouveau Southern cooking, and brunch lines that could qualify as a form of cardio.

Virginia's Middle Child Has Questions

Finally, the identity crisis. Virginia is a famously purple state, with Northern Virginia on one end, beach country on the other, and Richmond in the middle insisting it is "the South," with southern hospitality, thank you very much. Nobody asked, but Richmond is going to tell you anyway.

The demographics tell a more interesting story than the stereotypes do. The city is roughly as White as it is Black, with a growing Hispanic population. The poverty rate sits well above the national average, which is a reminder that the brewery glow-up isn't reaching everyone. Meanwhile, the city has been growing steadily. So whatever Richmond is, people keep showing up. The commuters who work downtown and flee to the suburbs at 5 p.m. are making their own statement, but the transplants are voting with their U-Hauls.

The Verdict

Richmond is a city with a goofy mascot, a heavy past, a surprisingly great present, and a cookie obsession it will never explain to your satisfaction. Come for the baseball, stay for the food, and don't bring up the squirrels' name unless you're prepared for a defensive 20-minute speech.

Think we were too nice? See the full roast on RoastMyTown.com.