RICHMOND, Va. -- A beloved and long-standing tradition continued in the form of a parade for the second year Saturday.
The Armstrong-Walker Classic, a football game between the two Richmond schools the Saturday after Thanksgiving, drew tens of thousands of people for decades. But the tradition ended in 1978 when schools were reorganized.
"This great reuniting of one of the unity events that took place in the city of Richmond for 40 years," Howard Hopkins, an alum of Armstrong and Walker High School, said in 2021. "This represents a lot for the community in more than one way."
Friends Jacquelyn Chandler, Armstrong Class of 1978, and Antoinette Warren, Maggie Walker Class of 1979, said they had been looking forward to the event.
Seeing everyone come together brought up cherished memories for Chandler.
"My mother went to Armstrong on Leigh Street. She graduated in 50," Chandler said. "My daddy came out of Walker. My dad would walk my mama to school and run up to Walker and then run back and pick her up. And they grew up in Jackson Ward."
Warren said she was delighted for the "two Black rivalry schools to come together for the community and in the joy that Richmond has something to offer."
"I love to see the young children getting involved in it, walking and waving and dancing and having a good time," Chandler said.
The Armstrong alumna said the parade, which stepped off at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and continued down Mosby Street before turning onto Cool Lane and ending at Armstrong High School, sends an important message.
"We can still do things together and have fun out of love," Chandler said. "That we can still have love for each other. It's not all about the violence in Richmond. It's about trying to show the young children the things that we used to do. We can still do it and we can do it safely."
"We can be rivals and have fun and be together at all times," Warren added. "We don't have to shoot each other, but we can just come together in love."
Chandler hopes the parade, which she said was "bigger than what it was last year," continues to grow and that more businesses support the event.
"We just hope that it gets bigger and bigger, and we hope more people will get involved," Chandler said. "It don't have to be a Black thing. It can be all different colors and races, because we all need to come together to try to do something about the violence."
While Chandler said completely halting the violence may not be possible, she said "we can go against it" and "pull it together."
"We are right down here in Mosby area where you always hear about the shootings," Chandler said. "You don't hear about the good stuff. And you don't hear about the parade that was happening. We need to get together as a community and do more for each other."
Both are planning to attend next year's parade.
FULL INTERVIEW: Richmond tradition proves 'its not all about the violence,' Armstrong-Walker alumnae say
