We’re gonna crush this one down…We’re going to crush this one down…This one is getting crushed to the ground…Crushing…Crush…Crushing this one…Yep, that one is getting crushed, too…
Overjoyed, Kelly Grant, a partner at ALX Community, glided through the halls of the new space opening up on Union Street. Honestly, it was less of a tour, and more of a series of Kelly pointing at all the walls that are scheduled to be torn down.
Sometimes walls have to be torn down in order to open up something new, something different.
Everyday, the entrepreneurs, small businesses, agents, architects, nonprofits, associations, and artists who make up ALX Community tear down walls in their own way to enter into uncharted territory, innovating and creating a new path, in their respective industries and causes.
Even so, the expansion of ALX Community isn’t solely for the people here, but for all those who happen to walk the streets of Old Town Alexandria. After the “tearing-down-walls-tour”, the team gathered outside, and a group of about thirty students and their teachers were resting by the water front after a long day of touring Old Town. Curious, some of the group began asking about the ALX Community hardhats we were all rocking. As Kelly explained the vision to inspire and activate the community through the space, the students’ and teachers’ eyes lit up, asking how they could be involved! We gave our hardhats to the kiddos and gathered in front of the space to have a goofy photoshoot. The coolest part is, now, their faces are part of the Old Town Alexandria history books.
This is one of hundreds of examples highlighting that ALX Community isn’t about building walls, but tearing them down and inviting everyone in so, together, we can laugh, build, dream, love, dance, create, and work differently to create #TheNewOldTown.