25 in '25: Sally Holzgrefe started the Fan Arts Stroll

It started with a pile of leftover steel. It's become one of the highlights of Richmond’s arts calendar.

While visiting his cousin’s salvage yard years ago, Greg Holzgrefe came across sheets of steel that had been used for industrial purposes. Intrigued by patterns that had been cut from the metal, Holzgrefe paid the going rate for the steel and began making art from it. Every year, just before the Richmond Folk Festival, Holzgrefe and his wife Sally would host exhibitions of his work at their home on Hanover Avenue in the Fan.

When the pandemic hit, social distancing considerations led the Holzgrefes to move their annual art exhibition outside, and they invited neighbors to host artists as well. That effort has since blossomed into the Fan Arts Stroll, an annual event that sees homeowners on Hanover and Grove avenues host dozens of artists in their front yards.

“So many artists and vendors tell me it’s their best show of the year,” said Sally, organizer of the event that hosted more than 120 art exhibitors and 35 musicians this May.

Those who know Sally say the event’s success is no surprise.

A master event organizer, she grew up on the campus of a boarding school in western Massachusetts where her father was assistant headmaster. Sally was 16 when she and her family moved to Richmond after her father was hired as the new headmaster for the Steward School.

“That was a bit of an adjustment for sure, but Richmond was just fabulous and I loved it,” she said.

After graduating from Collegiate School, Sally played lacrosse and studied philosophy and religion at James Madison University. She also holds a master’s in counseling from VCU. Her career has bounced back and forth between conducting leadership development for counselors and overseeing events, including as Collegiate’s alumni director, manager of development for the VCU Brandcenter and manager of events for VCU.

“No matter what profession I was practicing, it was always about managing events and making them fabulous,” Sally said.

Much of her counseling work has involved supporting recovery, which she was drawn to because of her family history of alcohol use disorder on her father’s side.

A longtime resident of the Fan, Sally has been involved with various community boosting efforts, including the Fan District Association and the Fan Women’s Club. She led an effort to paint the interior of what is now Dogwood Middle School (previously Binford Middle) and co-founded the theater program at Fox Elementary. For years, Sally convened a group of Black and white Richmonders to discuss issues of race.

“We’re doers,” said Greg, who has also been involved with numerous Fan-centric efforts. “We’re passionate about the neighborhood that we live in. We want to be good stewards of the neighborhood.”

Under Sally’s leadership, the Fan Arts Stroll has grown to the point that this year’s event had a waiting list of 60 artists and vendors. While the event was previously held twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, Sally said the work became too much to handle. At one point, the Fan District Association asked if they could run the event. That lasted one year.

“It was a lot more work than they expected, and they’re all volunteers,” she said. “So, they hired me.”

Sally has firm ideas of how the event should be run: no tents for vendors and no closing off of streets.

“To me, that changes the dynamic of the whole thing,” she said. “If you’re on the sidewalk you have to [engage with] the artists.”

Sally is proud of the fact that at least one vendor decided to pursue their art full time after finding so much success at the Fan Arts Stroll.

“She’s very passionate about an event,” explained Greg, who works by day as a project architect for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. “If she’s organizing an event, don’t talk to her until she’s gotten the mission accomplished. She’s a perfectionist.”

Outside of work and organizing the Fan Arts Stroll, Sally likes to stay active, walking, cycling, gardening and attending her daughter’s yoga classes. She’s compiled narratives from interviews with her mother and grandmother and is currently working on one about her father. Those who know her say she loves giving small gifts and engaging people in deep conversations.

Caroline Ashby, a neighbor and freelance marketer, called Sally a “role model.”

“She’s very down to earth. She has a great perspective on life in generally,” Ashby said. “She spreads positivity and doesn’t sweat the small stuff.”

Coming off this year’s event, her largest yet, Sally says the Fan Arts Stroll is great for shoppers and strollers alike.

“We’re doing really well,” she said. “Grab your favorite beverage, come down and walk the 10 blocks.”

This article has been updated to correct Caroline Ashby's name.