Craigslist has word of a lost camera:

Lost Camera in Camera Bag (Fountain Lake, Byrd Park) Lost on Saturday afternoon, 28 August, a Canon Power Shot Camera in a small carrier case with a shoulder strap. The pictures are more important than the camera. Reward.

The other day, I was walking with my wife and child around Fountain Lake, when we struck up polite conversation with a fisherman. As he cast his line out, he explained that only the little fish were biting, but not the great big monster fish that lives in the lake. Huh? There’s a big fish in there? He simply pointed out toward the center near the geyser of water.

“See the fin poking up?”

And I did. This was no turtle’s nose. It was a black triangle about the size of a man’s hand.

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Sally Belle’s has been open in The Landing at Fountain Lake since just before Memorial Day, selling many of their standards, as well as ice cream, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. There’s a grill outside some of the time. Have they been cooking the grub outside? If so, nice touch.

It seems clear that they got the operation up and running so they could work out details as they go. And thank goodness they acted so quickly. The added activity at The Landing is a welcome addition.

Does anyone have any positive or constructive feedback they’d like to share? If there are any Sally Belle representatives reading this, please feel free to forecast what we can expect throughout the summer.

So says Sally Belle’s twitter account. They’ll be opening their restaurant in The Landing at Fountain Lake this weekend and paddleboats should be available then.  More details available from The Boulivardizen.

Richmond’s long-standing provider of lunchtime comfort food, Sally Bell’s Kitchen, has been awarded the contract to open at The Landing, the new building at Fountain Lake.  According to Style Weekly, after opening by Memorial Day, “the concession stand will be open Tuesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. to park closing, through October.”  Such a familiar name from Richmond’s food scene is bound to draw more people to Fountain Lake, not to mention the new construction and the addition of picnic tables.

Here’s a bit more from Style Weekly:

Sally Bell’s at the Landing will offer those famous boxed lunches along with baked goods and some new products. The operation also will be responsible for managing the pedal boats.

“We haven’t really offered anything new anytime in the past 30 years that I know of,” Jones says, but the concession stand will serve as a test market for additions to the menu while offering standard fare such as hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream.

Byrd Park/Texas Beach anyone?
Cruisin Byrd park, shelters, maybe take a walk down toward Texas Beach? The new restrooms are open at fountain lake also…..any action happening there yet? Let’s meet up and get off together.
richmond.craigslist.org/m4m/1706169612.html

The Pepsi shed has been gone for a year now and in its place we now have this newly constructed building called, “The Landing.”  Since it appears to be completed, plenty of people are wondering when it will begin operating and what it might have to offer.  I emailed a few questions to Larry Miller with Richmond City Parks and Recreation and here’s how it went:

Larry Miller: Thank you for the email.  We’re excited about the new concessions stand and comfort station and are really looking forward to opening it!!

Byrd Park: When will “The Landing” be open?

LM: We hope to open in mid May for concessions.

BP: Who is going to operate the concession stand? The city? A private business?

LM: The concessions procurement bid process is underway and provided we find a suitable private business to operate the stand, we will contract with them for the operation.

BP: What will they sell? Hotdogs and sodas? Something a little more unique?

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Bike-riders from all over will descend on Byrd Park on Friday, April 2nd at 2:30pm before scattering all over the city in search of their pirate booty.  Please be extra careful of the colorful bicyclists as you drive through the neighborhood and around the park on Friday.  The scavenger hunt is a bicycle race hosted by Cutthroats bike club in support of their upcoming 7th installment of Slaughterama which is held on Belle Isle this weekend.  The event has been increasing in popularity in recent years, putting bike-punks (punx?) in the local media limelight.  Though Slaughterama is generally characterized by drunken rowdiness, the participants are typically conscientious and friendly.  Be not afraid.

The good folks at the Boulevardizen (formerly, 10 South Boulevard) have a pair of stories up about wintery happenings in and around the lakes of Byrd Park.  On January 11th, they shared the news that a sheet of ice had covered Fountain Lake, causing the geese to disperse to places unknown.  The next day:

An elderly man’s walker tipped causing him to fall into Swan Lake at Byrd Park. Lt. Shawn Jones with the Richmond Fire Department tells Boulevardizen that two Department of Public Works employees came to the rescue after observing the man in the bitter cold water signaling for help.  According to Jones the man is alright and ” was complaining of being cold only.”

The story goes on to mention tips for staying safe near the Byrd Park lakes, including a NBC 12 report that warns against walking out onto the ice, which may be weakened form fluctuating temperatures.

Whether it will open in mid-July remains to be seen, but there’s progress.

Will Jones has a few more details on the new concession building in today’s T-D.

The photos come from VCU Library’s digital collection and show an amusement park adjacent to what appears to be Fountain Lake. We’ve been able to find very few references to Idlewood Park except for these photos, which seem to show it on the east side of the lake where the condominiums now stand.  Does anyone have more information?

We weren’t real sure where to go with this post, so we thought we’d just open it up for conversation. How have Sundays been in the park been this spring? We noticed last Sunday was the first day the gates were closed, and the crowds were modestly smaller from a few weeks ago when there were traffic jams on every road in the park. Neighbors have told us about street racing on Westover Road and gunfire. And we noticed quite a bit of trash in Fountain Lake on Monday Morning (though the city cleaned it up promptly). With the starting point being that all of us want the greater community to enjoy the park as much as we do, we’d like to get a lively conversation going here, which we want to share with the city. Speak your mind, share your opinion, air your grievances.

Construction crews began preparing the western end of Fountain Lake this week for a long-awaited and permanent concession and restroom building. Brooks & Co. General Contractors, the same company making repairs to the Belle Isle vehicle bridge, is handling the $420,000 project. John R. Pope Jr., the city’s director of parks, recreation and community facilities, said the building is designed to resemble the Round House and should be finished by mid-July.

Construction is being funded by the City of the Future program, which also includes funding for future construction of a restroom facility in the Shields Lake shelter area.