SLIDESHOW

Richmond's first purple martin festival took wing in a big way last night as nearly 1,000 people packed North 17th Street in Shockoe Bottom to watch about 5,000 birds arrive from the twilight sky.

"This was definitely the most unusual festival I've been to down here," said Richmond police officer Aaron Grayson, who worked the event.

He applauded the family atmosphere -- adults and children wide-eyed and pointing as the birds swooped into a row of pear trees -- and added, "I've got a feeling it's only going to get bigger."

Business people, city officials and bird lovers quickly created the "Gone to the Birds" festival after the martins started arriving in late June.

"If they come back next year, I don't see a reason why we wouldn't have it again, because it was a big success this year," said city spokesman Jon Baliles.

Baliles estimated the crowd at 750; Grayson figured 1,000.

For about two hours, people swarmed after free purple sherbet, chatted with martin and wildlife experts, bought martin T-shirts and put down purple martinis in Bottom bars.

But the big attraction was the martins, which are using the Bottom as a stopover en route to their winter homes in South America.

Wild animals can be unpredictable -- they basically do what they want, when they want -- so planners of the fledgling festival were a little nervous.

But the martins held up their end of the deal, darkening the sky just before dusk, swirling like a living tornado, then dropping down in intermittent squadrons, just above celebrants' heads, to roost in the pear trees on 17th Street just north of the Farmers' Market.

Like fans at a pro wrestling match, the crowd booed when a red-tailed hawk snatched a martin from a tree and ate it on top of a utility pole. The hawk ultimately got a three-martin meal.

"He's got to eat, too," said Bruce Mann, 46, a Henrico County salesman.

Lyle Hardin, 15 months, of South Richmond pointed up at the arriving martins and made a sound that those around him agreed was, "bird."

It's unclear how long the martins -- a type of swallow -- have been returning to the Bottom, but they burst upon the public's consciousness last summer. Many people fell in love with the chatty, gun-metal blue birds, but some complained of droppings on cars and sidewalks.

If life gives you a lemon, they say, make lemonade. And if some otherwise welcome visitors leave bird droppings, a small band of organizers decided, you get the sidewalks washed and make a festival.

The birds will probably leave in midor late August. That means, even if you missed the festival, you can still see the show.
Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or rspringston@timesdispatch.com