Don’t tell me this town ain’t go no heart: How Danville got its shake back

Normally when I hear The Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street,” I think of the Medieval Knights scene in “The Cable Guy.” While the two seem, and really are unrelated, they do share a few loose connections in the sense they both are best enjoyed under the influence, and that Jim Carrey singing “down, down, down, Red Knight going down,” doesn’t sound like the opening notes of “Shakedown Street…”

The hOME sign sits illuinated on a wall in downtown Danville back in December. The lettering was taken from the iconic Welcome to Danville: Home of Dan River sign on the city’s infamous White Mill. PHOTO: Davin Wilson/River City Sports.

Normally when I hear The Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street,” I think of the Medieval Knights scene in “The Cable Guy.” While the two seem, and really are unrelated, they do share a few loose connections in the sense they both are best enjoyed under the influence, and you can’t tell me that Jim Carrey singing “down, down, down, Red Knight going down,” doesn’t sound like the opening notes of “Shakedown Street.”

Sitting in my Richmond hotel room after the Kitchen Dwellers’ show at The Broadberry back in November, I thought about something completely different when I heard the song. I thought about my hometown of Danville, Virginia.

The term Shakedown Street has several different meaning in the realm of Deadhead-dom. First, it’s a traveling, unofficial market place at concert venues where fans peddle band merchandise, food, drinks and other items, just remember kids, drugs are bad, ‘mkay. Second, it refers to a sketchy part of town where things other than grilled cheese sandwiches, patchouli and hacky-sacks are being sold.

That’s where Danville enters the picture.

Over the years, I’ve watched my hometown become a brackish memory of the Industrial Revolution. Buildings that once stood tall and proud and full of cotton looms, dye machines and Bright Leaf tobacco turned into empty buildings — ghostly reminders of vulture capitalism, globalization, outsourcing and the failure to plan for a time where American manufacturing and tobacco would no longer rule the roost. With the city’s textile and tobacco markets — the first of its kind and once the largest in the world — gone, the same streets that housed the textile and tobacco executives and the mechanics, skilled tradespeople, artisans and laborers, turned into little Shakedown Districts, the dubious kind, of their own. Places where the world’s oldest professions were practiced and practiced quite lucratively.

Members of the Danville Police Department take a turn in the flight simulator at George Washington High School at an open house to celebrate the completion of major capital improvements at the school this past summer. PHOTO: Davin Wilson/River City Sports.

In the spirit of Bobby Dylan, though, things got to changing, and 20-plus-years after the River City was close to drying up, it’s now become the “Comeback City,” as coined by Danville City Council member Lee Vogler.

The 500 block of Craghead Street, once a ghost town with a dubious nickname, has been completely renovated, thanks to the initial investments from Danville natives Rick Barker and William Gentry, turned into a bustling block home to unique restaurants, stylish apartments, a brewery, Airbnbs, a science center and retail spaces to name a few.

In addition, city, county and regional leaders have secured the two largest economic deals in Southside Virginia history in the announced arrivals of Microporous — a Tennessee-based company that makes a lithium battery for electric vehicles — and Avio — an Italian rocket manufacturer — for a total of roughly 3,500 jobs and approximately $1.8 billion in investments. Not to mention the paint is still fresh — even if the wallpaper is no doubt yellow from smoke by now — on Caesars Virginia in the Schoolfield District along with the over 1,200 jobs it created in Southside and $70 million it’s brought the city since opening in 2023.

The Dan River White Mill, once the city’s biggest ghost of the Industrial Revolution, is now known as Dan River Falls and completely renovated, with over 275 residents and the Danville Office of Economic Development & Tourism and Danville Parks & Recreation calling them home. The rest of the River District is full of retail shops, restaurants, a dance studio and luxury apartments, and other capital improvement projects are in the making in the Mechanicsville, Northside and Schoolfield districts.

A Bright Leaf Brewfest volunteer (left) and a customer complete a transaction at the Brigh tLeaf Brewfest back at the Danville Community Market back in November. PHOTO: Davin Wilson/River City Sports.

A 1% increase in the sales tax has brought major capital improvements to George Washington and John M. Langston — now home of Galileo Magnet School — high schools and the birth of a new elementary school in Arnett Hills Elementary. Monies from the sales tax increase and casino revenue have been invested in improving CTE (Career Technical Education) programs such as aviation and culinary arts and partnerships between Danville Public Schools and local businesses and higher academic institutions have been formed, including the Bisbee Honda Automotive Technician Youth Apprenticeship and an immersive flight program led by Averett University’s Aeronautics Department to name a few.

If that’s not enough, major restaurant brands such as Panda Express, Popeyes Chicken and 7Brew have opened in Danville and national pizza chain Mellow Mushroom is on its way. In addition, the city is home to some of the best restaurants and breweries in Southside Virginia and to the Danville Otterbots and Danville Dairy Daddies — collegiate summer league baseball teams that have proven major draws to the city for residents and visitors alike. Virginia International Raceway (VIR) purchased its own property from its original leaser, further cementing the iconic raceway’s spot as a major regional, national and international draw to the city.

If that’s not enough to get your eyes popping out of your head Tex Avery cartoon style, a whitewater channel designed by an Olympic kayaker is in the works along with a riverfront park complete with an observation deck leading out over the Dan River. There’s the indoor skate shop/park on the corner of Craghead and Colquhoun streets that will soon open. And we can’t forget, the inaugural Three Sisters Marathon which was held back in October and was a Boston Marathon qualifier.

And then there’s the music scene. While Danville is home to Mojo Nixon, Tony Rice, Camilla Williams, Janis Martin, Marty Key and Mike Meadows, to name a few, the region hasn’t been home to a respectable music scene since the late 1990s/early 2000s when it was home to a surprisingly robust, D.I.Y. music scene heavily rooted in punk, garage rock, heavy metal and rock ’n’ roll. Coincidentally, many of these shows took place blocks away from the places the city’s music scene is currently making its return.

A sticker for the soon-to-be-opened Grind Bike and Skate Shop sits on the door at the shop’s future location on the corner of Craghead and Colquhoun streets. It will also house an indoor skate partk, the first of its kind in the city. PHOTO: Davin Wilson/River City Sports.

Another Grateful Dead song, “One More Saturday Night,” creeped into my head Saturday night as I walked from the Danville Community Market to Golden Leaf Bistro, a nice little buzz from the Modelo and herbal remedies I’d enjoyed earlier in the evening. The Dead’s tune celebrating the carefree and chaotic energy of a Saturday night ran through my mind because that’s exactly what I was enjoying. A pretty solid, stoked party that started with Remedy at the Cabin Fever Music Series at the Community Market, continued with Josh Adkins at Golden Leaf Bistro and a cool walk past the still festively lit back porch of the former Mucho Taqueria, the red elephant that sits a few buildings down and across the track to River District Social for Stomping Ground of which I narrowly missed.

The real kicker? I went to all three without even moving my car.

Yup, gone are the days where our city was full of Shakedown Streets of the dubious variety, districts dealing in uppers, downers, papers, powders, whatever you want to try, replaced by vibrant Shakedown Streets, districts that deal in foodstuffs, spirits, vintage clothing, activewear, dance studios, photography studios, delis with “Presidents are Temporary, Wu-Tang is Forever” stickers on its doors and lofty apartments to name a few. Our city has gone from a ghost town of the Industrial Revolution to a mini-fried, chicken-fried Silicon Valley served with a hamburger steak with gravy and two sides, and like that meat and two veggies, it comes from the character, determination, heart, love, resilience and soul of its leaders and residents alike.

We have gone from being a failed model of the Old South to an exemplary model of the New, a place willing to bravely face and map a future for a diverse community that embraces the new while staying true to its small town and Southern hospitality roots.

“Don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart

You just gotta poke around.”

— Grateful Dead “Shakedown Street”

Danville native and multi-instrumentalist Greg Wampler plays a tune at the Bridge Street Food Truck Rodeo back in October. PHOTO: Davin Wilson/River City Sports.