CarMax Park's First Winter Arrives Before the Neighborhood Around It Does

The Richmond Flying Squirrels finished their first season at CarMax Park with 468,961 fans across 66 home dates. That works out to 7,105 per game, and both figures are franchise records, according to NBC12. In mid-October, Minor League Baseball named the club its 2026 Organization of the Year. Starting Nov. 19, the ballpark tries something it has never done. It becomes WinterWorld, a holiday festival running through Jan. 3, 2027, with an ice rink, a Ferris wheel and more than a million lights.

Like the first season, WinterWorld takes place inside the gates of a district that mostly hasn't been built yet. Almost everything you will eat, drink, ride or photograph this December is inside the ballpark. Planning a good visit starts there.

The district around the ballpark is still mostly dirt

The Diamond District is the larger development planned around the ballpark on North Arthur Ashe Boulevard. So far, no restaurant or shop in its first phase has opened. The Gateway Retail Building is the project meant to put restaurants next to the park. The development team's own project page expects construction to start in spring 2027 and the building to be delivered in spring 2028. Here is what is lined up, with the timelines reported so far:

• Gateway Retail Building: EAT Restaurant Partners has signed for a sports bar and grill. Thompson Restaurants has leased about 4,000 square feet for its Makers Union pub, which plans lunch, dinner and weekend brunch, Richmond BizSense reported. Groundbreaking is targeted for the first quarter of 2027, followed by roughly 16 months of buildout.
• Dōma: This six-story building with 276 apartments and a 4,000-square-foot commercial space broke ground in July. It is targeted for completion in early 2028.
• The public park: It is planned for the land between Dōma and the ballpark. Plans call for an event lawn and stage, a play area that connects to the ballpark playground, sculpture, and a walking path named for Arthur Ashe. No completion date has been given.
• Office building: The plan is six stories and 98,000 square feet, with construction starting in early 2027 and finishing in late 2028.

None of these will exist by this holiday season. If you picture a WinterWorld night ending with dinner on a new block next to the rink, that block is still about two winters away. The ballpark has to cover all of it for now, and the festival is built that way.

Why the owners called year one a risk

When 804Live, the team's events company, announced WinterWorld in July, owner Lou DiBella showed up in a full Santa suit. Richmond BizSense quoted him calling the first year "honestly a great risk for us" and "a present to the fans that helped us get this ballpark built."

The numbers explain what he meant. According to BizSense, the ownership group is putting more than $3 million into the festival. Organizers expect more than 75,000 visitors, and DiBella said it would take at least that many to break even. Spread across the 39-day run, 75,000 is just under 2,000 people a day. The Squirrels averaged more than 7,100 fans a night this season, so the festival needs about a quarter of a regular baseball crowd every day for six weeks, in the cold, with nothing else nearby drawing people to the area.

That explains why so much is packed inside. According to the WinterWorld site, the lineup includes:

• an ice rink
• the Ferris wheel
• an ice slide presented by Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union 10
• a light tunnel and a tree maze
• Santa's Workshop, where families can take their own photos for free or buy professional packages
• Mrs. Claus crafts and storytime
• a Vendor Village of regional artisans
• the Below Zero Bar, a 21-and-older lounge in the Legacy Club

804Live president Chris Yancey also told BizSense that school and community groups will perform. To make room for the rink and slide, the ballpark's field is being removed and then replaced afterward.

Organizers have also said they will give 5,000 free tickets to the public through local nonprofits. The partner organizations haven't been announced, so if you work with a community group, ask whether it is taking part.

Getting in while the front entrance is a work zone

The festival comes with one more complication. In a Sept. 21 email, the city's Economic Development Authority told the team that public infrastructure work at CarMax Park's main entrance would start the next day, The Richmonder reported. The team's attorneys have since said the city allowed construction to begin outside the front entrance as soon as the season ended. Whiting-Turner is the Diamond District's infrastructure contractor. The team and the EDA have disagreed publicly over how much of the entrance should stay open during the holiday events. In that correspondence, the EDA suggested allowing more access on evenings and weekends, when crowds are largest.

The EDA's July access plan, as reported by BizSense, kept only about a third of the main entrance usable from Nov. 2 through Nov. 18. Extra access would come through the VIP entrance near Arthur Ashe Boulevard, with the work continuing into early February. The team rejected that plan. Whatever the final setup turns out to be, expect a construction zone near the gate for the whole festival, and leave yourself a few extra minutes.

Parking is laid out on the festival's plan-your-visit page. The address is 2929 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd. Parking costs $8 in advance or $10 on the day, in the Yellow, Green and Red lots. ADA parking is in the Black and Gold lots. Rideshare drop-off and pickup is in the Red Lot. According to the team's ballpark parking guide, the Red and Yellow lots are entered from Arthur Ashe Boulevard, and the Green Lot from Hermitage Road and Robin Hood Road. Because the work is at the main entrance, a Hermitage Road approach to the Green Lot may keep you out of most of the construction traffic.

If you take the bus, the team's directions page gives two options. Get off the Pulse at the Science Museum or Scott's Addition station and walk about a mile north, or transfer to Route 20 northbound and get off at The Diamond stop. In December, that mile is a walk in the dark, and the transfer will probably be the better choice for families with young children.

What a night actually costs

General admission gets you in. The rides and the rink are add-ons. Here is the pricing RVAHub reported when tickets went on sale in September 2026, before taxes and fees. Confirm current prices when you buy.

Children 3 and under get in free, and RVAHub reported discounts for seniors, first responders and military members.

For two adults and two kids ages 4 to 12, the day you choose makes a real difference. Admission alone is $49.80 on a weekday, $69.80 on a weekend and $89.80 on a holiday. Add skating for all four and advance parking, and a weekend visit comes to about $130 before taxes and fees, compared with about $110 on a Wednesday or Thursday.

Skating is booked separately, and the festival FAQ gives each timed session a 30-minute arrival window. Skaters 12 and under need an adult with them on the ice, and wheelchairs are allowed on the ice at the user's own risk. Skating also requires a signed waiver.

Picking your night

WinterWorld runs in the evenings only:

1. Wednesday and Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.
2. Friday and Saturday, 4 to 11 p.m.
3. Sunday, 4 to 10 p.m.
4. Thanksgiving week, Nov. 25 to 27, 4 to 11 p.m.
5. Dec. 18 through Jan. 2, 4 to 11 p.m. daily, except Christmas Eve, 4 to 9 p.m., and New Year's Eve, 4 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

It is closed on select Mondays and Tuesdays between Nov. 19 and Dec. 17, so check the calendar before you plan an early-week visit. Combined with the weekday pricing above, the early weeks give you the lowest prices and the quietest nights before school lets out.

The ballpark has two other off-season events. Squirrel-O-Ween is this Friday, Oct. 30, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. It is free and includes trick-or-treating around the stadium, pumpkin decorating and hayrides on the warning track. On Dec. 31, 804Live is hosting RVA NYE in the Atlantic Union Bank Lounge, with Three Sheets to the Wind, DJ Ron Manila and midnight fireworks. General admission was announced at $125.

Squirrel-O-Ween is also a chance to try the entrance before WinterWorld opens. You'll see which lot works best for you and how the walk through the construction zone goes at night, three weeks before the rink opens.

If you live near the Diamond District, or own a home there, and want to know how the next two years of construction might affect what your home is worth, Terri Brennan Homes can walk you through it. Request a free home valuation and we'll set your address against recent sales nearby, so you know where you stand before the neighborhood fills in.