After the last pitch at The Diamond is thrown on July 4th, from what location will you watch the big fireworks show?

Like many in the Richmond area who love baseball, I was happy to see the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s front-page article that said it looks like the Atlanta Braves Triple A farm team is going to stay in Richmond and play its games somewhere on North Boulevard.

The pitch to keep the Richmond Braves on the Boulevard turned out to be a hit.

James L. Jenkins, chairman of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority board of directors, said the R-Braves will play either at a renovated version of The Diamond or in a new ballpark nearby.

“That issue has been resolved,” Jenkins said yesterday. “It took two years to get that straight.”

Why Jenkins is talking about this problem having been solved, while the R-Braves’ general manager Bruce Baldwin remains in a no-comment mode is a little puzzling. Hopefully, that will change soon and we’ll understand why the delay.

Thus, the best solution for what has been a problem now for several years seems to be be at hand. None of the plans to move baseball to Shockoe Bottom, or the other close-to-the-river locations ever held water in my book. That isn’t to say I’m against any baseball stadium on the river. It’s simply that the plans that were offered didn’t make sense.

Meanwhile, the location of The Diamond has always made sense.

Now with the flowering of the concept of making the Boulevard, between Broad Street and Westwood Avenue, into a sports district, of a sort, it seems all is well.

This is bound to soon spawn interesting development situations in Scott’s Addition, a neighborhood that has been ripe for such for a long time. A movie mulitplex is going in on the Boulevard just south of The Diamond.

It’s all about location.

To have a sports/entertainment district adjacent to the already thriving Museum District, with Carytown and the Fan District nearby, all makes plenty of sense to me. Reestablishing the middle of Richmond as a primo point of destination is not only cool, it’s smart.

Back to the R-Braves (at 46-36 on the season): tomorrow (July 4th) they open a four-game series with the Syracuse Chiefs. And, the Braves annual fireworks extravaganza will follow Wednesday’s game, as well as Thursday night’s game. The Diamond will be sold out, as it always is.

But thousands of Richmonders have favorite spots outside the confines of the ballpark from which to watch the fireworks show. Some folks put lawn chairs on the grass near the Lee Monument. Others tailgate along Hermitage Road, near the SPCA. Still others will have fireworks-watching parties in spots that have a good view of the light show.

So, dear reader, where’s your favorite location to see the fireworks that fill the sky over The Diamond each year?

words and photo by F.T. Rea