CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – After being talked about publicly for months by city leaders, the itinerary for the 50th birthday bash for the Downtown Mall on July 3 has been released by Friends of Downtown Charlottesville.

“The final brick was laid on July 3, 1976 as a project inspired by the bicentennial, and this lines up also with the nation’s 250th” Friends of Downtown Executive Director Greer Achenbach told Cville Right Now. “You know, 89% of pedestrian malls fail and ours has been successful, so we think that’s something the community should really celebrate.”

The day will begin at 10 a.m. when the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society will hold the first birthday event, a historical walking tour of the Mall.

This will be followed by a tour of ACHS’ exhibit titled “Then and Now: Charlottesville in the 1970s” at Vault Virginia from noon to 2 p.m. The exhibit, which highlights figures who shaped the city in 1970s, opened earlier this year.

Afterward, a celebration with free ice cream from Chap’s and live entertainment starts at Central Place at 4 p.m.

That segues into Fridays After Five at the Ting Pavilion at 5:30 p.m. with Baaba Seth in concert.

Another concert will occur at 7 p.m. at the Paramount Theater — Don Flemons and the Traveling Wildfires, hosted by Monticello.

Finally, a community lantern parade will round out the day at 8:30 p.m. Attendees can bring lanterns, pick one up at the venue or make one for the glowing march down “the historic brick path” of the mall.

“Lantern parades have been really successful community initiatives in a number of other peer cities we look at,” Achenbach said. “We wanted to do something that was designed to be very multi-generational, and we’ve been doing lantern workshops at a number of arts organizations around town through May and June.”

She added there are at least ten of these workshops left for people who desire to jump in an make a lantern.

“A big piece of it is that the arts are such a competitive advantage for Downtown Charlottesville. We are an arts destination. We have an incredible amount of performing arts venues and visual arts galleries,” Achenbach said.

The lantern parade ends at the CODE Building, where there will be a special 50th anniversary light show.

“The light show’s being designed by Jeff Dobrow, who does all of the lights for The Looking Glass at IX Art Park,” Achenbach said. “It includes historical images of the Mall and kind of takes us through the last 50 years, but in a much more upbeat, electronic music party vibe than you might imagine a historical society presentation to be.”

The city’s been making some infrastructure preparations for the event by sprucing up, and even removing, some trees throughout the Mall. The refurbishments of the 2nd and 4th St. Mall motor crossings have also been going on since March in preparation for these events.

In reflecting on the mall’s success, Achenbach highlighted three reasons why nine out of 10 downtown malls come and go, but Charlottesville’s has sustained.

“The architecture is a huge piece, as a lot of pedestrian malls were too big and then they kind of constantly felt empty, while ours was very intentionally designed by Lawrence Halprin for people to meander and spend time together on the Mall,” Achenbach said. “It helps we’re here in a sort of right-sized university community, and I think the arts are something that continues to bring people downtown as the nature of work and offices changes.”

She said it’s also helpful Charlottesville is a tourist destination.

“The Downtown Mall is the number-three tourist attraction after the University [of Virginia] and Monticello, and we benefit greatly from those partnerships,” Achenbach said.

For the full event schedule, workshop registration, and additional information about the 50th Anniversary celebration, visit www.downtowncville.com/50th-anniversary.