Henry Gonner was a delightful fixture in Richmond,
Virginia during the 50s, through the 70s and a bit beyond. He was executive
director of the Central Richmond Association, a group dedicated to reviving and
developing the city’s core into the
vibrant social, cultural, and business center we enjoy today.
And Henry did that to the hilt, never flinching at the
odds, constantly promoting, publicizing, and speaking about the great future of
downtown, while at the same time paying his due to our storied past – and what
it could mean to the future.
When he staged an event he pulled out all the stops.
From his ever-present “Bouncing Building Boom Belles” to live fireworks atop
downtown high-rise office buildings, he spread the word that Downton Richmond was
open for business and growing.
(Never mind that
the fireworks that last time prompted a stern reaction from the Fire
Department. Seems that explosives on high-rise buildings’ rooftops allegedly
violated a City ordinance -- Gonner’s point got made though, and there were
enough lawyers on his board to keep him out of hot water – plus the people
loved it.)
Henry Gonner is no longer with us. But his spirit is.
And it was present as the City – and the region – celebrated the recently
completed UCI World Cycling Championships – the first time an American city had
hosted the event in more than a quarter of a century.
It took years of planning, and the work of scores of
volunteers, as well as Richmond Region Tourism, state government, all of the
downtown business community and clearly the City of Richmond and the Counties
of Henrico, Hanover, and Caroline.
The planners estimated that as many as 450,000 might
visit the region for “The Worlds,” as the event is known … and that visitation
number was buttressed by a worldwide
television audience estimated at 300 million plus. Never had these parts seen anything
like the scope and impact of any similar event (outside of a certain war of
yore, anyway).
But, at the outset, “the Worlds” had detractors – negativists
that seem to infest our town – still. I was reminded that Henry Gonner knew
them in his day, too. He called them “Nattering Nabobs of Negativism” who were,
of course, always getting in the way of civic progress.
This time, they showed up at the beginning. First, the
Nabobs were upset that the world would actually see some of the city’s history
– specifically the dramatic statue of Robert E. Lee which the cyclists would
circle more than a dozen times. Next came an airplane trailing a large Confederate
battle flag and some words, one of which was mis-spelled, much to my glee.
But I could almost hear Henry laughing…for within days
the event one-upped all the naysayers. Enormous cheering crowds from all over
the world filled every possible niche to watch as the events proceeded.
And that 450,00 estimate of visitors? In all fairness,
it was presented in a way that made many think the planners meant 450,000
individuals would show. But the reality was that the number represented
visitations, for most folks came for one to three days.
And how about that number? Recently we learned that
there were more than 670,000 visitations.
I remember Henry Gonner’s perpetual smile. He never would have said “I told you so.”
But he clearly had laid the groundwork for our current generation of leaders.
Well done, “RVA.”
