Carytown New Year's Eve

Another sign of Richmond breaking from its mold and moving briskly from the 19th to 21st Century is the new New Year's Eve party being planned in Carytown.

Last New Year's Eve Demetrios Tsiptsis sat in a local bar, grumbling over his beer because there's no gathering place in Richmond to ring in the new year in a major way."

There's no Times Square," he said. "There's not even a town square."

So Tsiptsis, the new owner of the New York Deli in Carytown, started chatting up the idea of having a Times Square-style celebration in the eclectic and popular Carytown business district.

And so it will happen Sunday night beginning at 7pm in the blocks around the Deli and Byrd Theatre. The can do attitude is great; they are not even deterred by the city bureacracy about security and clean up.

And so what if the first year's ball isn't a corporate-sponsored, giant-sized spectacle, he added. "When they started in Times Square, they had a couple of guys pulling on a rope and pulley.

"A little foul weather shouldn't keep people away, both Tsiptsis and Harris said. There will be tents and awnings."If they can tough it out in New York," Tsiptsis said. "We can do it here."

He looked down the sidewalks of West Cary Street, which were crowded with pedestrians and shoppers, and wondered whether the idea will catch on."

This could be the start of something."