Richmond Highway is the place where a favorite lunch spot becomes a weekly tradition, a family builds a business, and a familiar road leads to something unexpected. Now, those stories have a shared home.
SFDC’s ONE Richmond Hwy initiative brings the people, businesses, and experiences of the corridor into the spotlight. Introduced at the Mount Vernon Springfield Chamber of Commerce Business Breakfast in August, the campaign pairs a bold community identity with professional photography, video, storytelling, and marketing that gives people more reasons to visit—and more reasons to come back.
Start exploring at OneRichmondHwy.com.
From public art to a shared identity
The initiative grew out of SFDC’s work in placemaking, site development, and business development. Murals, sculptures, parklets, and community events help turn public spaces into places people recognize, enjoy, and remember.
Our Faces of 1 sculpture initiative and Richmond Highway murals helped make the corridor’s creativity visible. ONE Richmond Hwy carries that work forward by connecting the physical places with the people and stories behind them.
The idea is simple: each business has its own identity, but together we are part of ONE community. A shared brand helps residents see their neighborhood with pride and helps visitors discover how much is here.
Real businesses. Real people.
The faces in the campaign belong to people who make Richmond Highway special. The launch presentation features local businesses and destinations including Sherwood Deli, Mamma’s Kitchen, Della J’s, K-Pot, PJ’s Coffee, Woodlawn, and Huntley Meadows.
Professional photography and video put those people and places at the center of the story. Coordinated website features, social content, and advertising give individual businesses a stronger platform to introduce themselves to new customers.
A restaurant can catch someone’s attention with a signature dish. A local shop can share the person behind the counter. A visit to a historic site or a morning on the trails can become lunch, coffee, and another stop along the corridor.
Helping today’s businesses shape tomorrow’s corridor
Richmond Highway’s transformation creates an opportunity to strengthen the businesses that are already here. It also makes visibility and customer connections especially important as the corridor changes.
ONE Richmond Hwy puts business retention at the heart of the strategy: helping existing businesses stay discoverable, connected to customers, and part of the area’s future. Community engagement and a fresh understanding of the corridor support that goal.
The presentation identified a familiar challenge: Route 1 is widely known, but its full story is not. Local pride is strong, while outside perceptions can lag behind what residents and business owners experience every day. Authentic stories help close that gap.
A new front door to Richmond Highway
OneRichmondHwy.com turns a quick encounter with the campaign into a chance to explore. Readers can meet local businesses, find experiences, and discover connections between the corridor’s food, outdoors, history, and community life.
Browse Stories on ONE for inspiration, including dining discoveries, the farmers market, and birding, biking, and trails. Share a story with a friend, plan a new stop, or rediscover a place you have driven past for years.
Your business can be part of ONE
You do not have to wait for a professional photoshoot to participate. The campaign offers two ways for businesses to get involved:
Express interest in being featured. Visit the Get Involved page to tell us about your business and potential photo, video, and storytelling opportunities. Professional shoot capacity is limited, so participation in a particular round is not guaranteed.
Create your own campaign content. Take an authentic photo of your people, product, or place; pair it with the campaign’s shared identity and a short message; post it through your channels; and tag @onerichmondhwy. Send strong content to SFDC for possible sharing.
Make the idea your own. A restaurant might introduce a signature “The ONE” sandwich. A fitness studio could spotlight the place where confidence grows. A retailer could feature a weekly local find. The best ideas connect the shared brand to something customers can actually order, book, or experience.
Every visit helps tell the next chapter
For residents and visitors, joining in can be as simple as trying a new restaurant, shopping with a local business, exploring a trail, or sharing a favorite discovery. For businesses, it means adding your own story to a larger community identity.
We will look beyond reactions and likes to participation, website engagement, business visibility, and the connections the campaign creates. The goal is lasting: help the people and businesses that have carried Richmond Highway forward remain central to its future.
Discover your next favorite place. Share your story. Be part of ONE Richmond Hwy.