Church Hill's December, From the Candlelight Walk to Metzger's Final Service

Where will a Church Hill evening out start after Dec. 19? Metzger Bar & Butchery and the Pink Room cocktail lounge next door close that night at 801 N. 23rd St., after 12 years in Union Hill. The newest businesses on the north side of the hill keep the opposite hours. One is a cafe and flower shop that opened its doors in the morning. The other is a bagel window that plans to start serving at 6:30 a.m.

That change happens alongside the busiest stretch of Church Hill's year. The Church Hill Association's Holiday Weekend comes first, and Metzger's final weeks follow.

The first weekend of December pays for the rest of the year

The Church Hill Association calls Holiday Weekend its longest-running celebration and its largest annual fundraiser. The money goes to the Association's grants for neighborhood schools, parks, tree planting, historic preservation and community events throughout the year. That's also why the historic street lamps get red ribbons every first weekend in December.

Friday, Dec. 4, is the Candlelight Walk. It's free and open to the public, and you can join it from three places:

1. St. Patrick Catholic Church, 6:45 p.m., for the community Vespers service
2. St. John's Church, 7:00 p.m., for Vespers, after which you join the walk as it passes
3. Jefferson Park, 7:30 p.m., where the walk starts

The Greater Richmond Pipes & Drums leads the walk from Jefferson Park. It stops at St. John's to pick up the Vespers crowd and then follows the gas-lit streets to Libby Hill Park, arriving around 8 p.m. for caroling, live music, and food and beverage vendors. Bring your own candle or pick up a battery-operated one at the park. The Association also posts a route map PDF.

Sunday's tour is sold through the neighborhood's shops

The 60th annual Holiday House Tour runs Sunday, Dec. 6, from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets are $40 through the Association's ticket page, which opened Nov. 1. Four neighborhood businesses also sell them at the counter: Union Market, The Hill Cafe, Glue Craft Studio and Second Bottle. On the day, tickets cost $45 at St. John's Church Parish Hall at 2401 E. Broad St., which is also where you pick up tickets bought online.

This year's ticket comes with two new extras, and both run through local institutions. One is a free "Liberty or Death" tour from the St. John's Church Foundation, valid from Dec. 6 through Jan. 31, 2027, for online purchase. The other is a free ornament you make yourself at Glue Craft Studio's "Ornament Bar." The St. John's tour is good until the end of January, so a ticket bought for the first weekend of December can still be used in the new year.

The Association lists these stops, among others:

• St. John's Church Parish Hall, 2401 E. Broad St.
• Richmond Hill, 2209 E. Grace St.
• St. Patrick's Catholic Church, 215 N. 25th St.
• 2600 E. Grace St. Condominiums, three units, including one at 207 N. 26th St.
• Glue Craft Studio, 401 Chimborazo Blvd.
• Richmond Fire Station #1, 308 N. 24th St.
• Private homes at 2501–2503 E. Grace St., 2600 E. Franklin St., 115 N. 26th St., 2715 E. Grace St., 305 N. 30th St., 3601 E. Broad St., 623 Chimborazo Blvd., 3112 E. Marshall St. and 316 N. 24th St.

The Association provides transportation, though it says many guests walk the route. Restrooms and refreshments are at the St. John's and St. Patrick's parish halls, and there's a port-a-john at Libby Hill Park. Most of the stops sit along East Grace, East Franklin and East Broad, between North 24th and North 30th. The farthest ones are out on Chimborazo Boulevard and at 3601 E. Broad.

Two weeks later, Union Hill's evening anchor closes

Metzger opened on June 25, 2014. Pink Room, the small cocktail lounge next door, followed in May 2024. Owner-chef Brittanny Anderson told Richmond Magazine that both will close on Dec. 19 as she moves on to other projects. The magazine reports that the restaurant's German and wider European menu caught national attention. The Washington Post called it "the future of German restaurants" in 2018, and in 2021 Esquire put it on a list of 100 restaurants America can't afford to lose.

In her closing announcement on Instagram, which the Richmond Times-Dispatch reprinted, Anderson asked people to come in before the end:

"Please join us in these last few months at Metzger and help us end our run on a high note. The team right now is stellar and they would love to cook for you before we say goodnight."

Metzger's influence on Richmond restaurants will last past the closing. Richmond Magazine lists its alumni at places all over the city: Olivia Wilson of Two Sum, James Kohler and Mike Ashley of Stanley's, Max Sayer of Pizzeria Delores, Katrina Johnson of Helen's, and Karen Negvesky of Alewife. Laine Myers, another alum, is the chef behind Oro. The Times-Dispatch lists Oro among the restaurants coming in 2026, at 2000 Venable St. in Union Hill.

The newest spots keep daytime hours

Here are the hours side by side. The figures come from Richmond Magazine and Richmond BizSense reporting in October and November 2026.

Sleepover Coffee shares a storefront with Fable Flowers in Church Hill North. Angela and Carl Simakoff and Alex Welch run it as a cafe in the front and a flower shop in the back. Richmond Magazine noted the tile and cutlery wind chimes when it opened on Oct. 30 with morning hours, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A week later, the magazine's Nov. 5 food news said it was open Friday through Sunday, with a tight menu in a room that "feels as if it could double as a friend's living room." An earlier Richmond Magazine feature on cafes that share space with shops reported that the pour-overs would use Little Waves Coffee.

Baltik's Bagel is putting its second shop in the pastel-orange former Alamo BBQ building at 2202 Jefferson Ave. Owner Yero Rudzinskas bought the building over the summer, and Richmond BizSense reported in October that the shop was aiming for a November opening. The building dates to 1950 and is about 500 square feet, so most of it will be used for production, and customers will order at a walk-up window with covered outdoor seating outside. Rudzinskas told BizSense the space came with "a hood, a walk-in and a grease trap," which he called "the holy trinity of restaurant infrastructure." It will carry the same name and menu as the Forest Hill Avenue original. The plan is to start with that shop's 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. hours and possibly open earlier for the many VCU Health employees nearby. Baltik's already wholesales its bagels to about 50 markets and restaurants around the region.

How the season fits together

December opens with an evening walk on Dec. 4 and closes with Metzger's last dinner service on Dec. 19. The new cafe covers weekend mornings, and the St. John's tour carries over into January.

• Weekend mornings, Friday through Sunday: Sleepover Coffee and Fable Flowers on North 25th Street.
• Friday, Dec. 4, evening: Vespers at St. Patrick or St. John's, then the walk from Jefferson Park to Libby Hill Park.
• Sunday, Dec. 6, noon to 5 p.m.: The 60th House Tour. Pick up your ticket at St. John's Parish Hall, and stop at Glue Craft Studio on Chimborazo Boulevard for the ornament.
• Tuesday through Sunday evenings until Dec. 19: Dinner at Metzger. Pink Room is open Thursday through Saturday.
• Into the new year, through Jan. 31, 2027: Book your free "Liberty or Death" tour at St. John's online with your House Tour ticket.

The Association is still looking for volunteers to hand out candles on Friday night and serve as docents on Sunday. Sign up through the links on its Holiday Weekend page.

For 60 years, Church Hill homes have opened their doors for this tour. If you're wondering what your own house is worth this December, Search RVA Homes can show you how Church Hill homes are pricing right now. Get Your Instant Home Valuation and see where your place stands before the new year.