New to the game/ Darien Threatts, 2, channels his inner Ashe during a tennis skills session for children last Saturday at Battery Park in North Side. Friends of Battery Park collaborated with several other groups to put on the celebration at the park’s Arthur Ashe Tennis Courts. (Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press)

Butterfly and thistle in the West End (Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press)

Richmond City Councilwoman Kim B. Gray, 2nd District, pulls down the last curtain to unveil the new Arthur Ashe Boulevard signs as Mr. Ashe’s nephew, David O. Harris Jr., left, and Mayor Levar M. Stoney watch. (Ava Reaves/Richmond Free Press)

Richmond Department of Public Works employee Malik Mujahid installs one of the many new Arthur Ashe Boulevard signs at the renamed thoroughfare’s intersection with Main Street following the official dedication ceremony. (Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press)

Civil rights icon and Congressman John R. Lewis of Georgia offers a moving keynote address to mark the occasion. (Sandra Sellars)

From left, Jamie O. Bosket, president and chief exeuctive officer of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture; Gov. Ralph S. Northam; and the Rev. Grady W. Powell, retired pastor of Gillfield Baptist Church of Petersburg and a member of the museum’s board, applaud during the ceremony.(Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press)

Hundreds of people took photos, including selfies, with the new street signs. (Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press)

A guest at the official dedication of Arthur Ashe Boulevard holds a water bottle and brochure about Arthur Ashe Jr., who is part of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s current exhibit, “Determined: The 400-Year Struggle for Black Equality.” (Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press)

Members of the U.S. Armed Forces Color Guard from Fort Lee present the colors during the ceremony. (Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press)

A member of the crowd cools herself with a souvenir fan in the morning heat at last Saturday’s unveiling ceremony. (Ava Reaves/Richmond Free Press)

12-year-old Yaa-Nailah Bell-Barber and her uncle, Brian Wright, collect some of the purple streamers launched at the unveiling ceremony. Yaa-Nailah wanted to keep some of the streamers as a souvenir of the historic day. (Regina H. Boone/Richmond Free Press)

Members of the Elegba Folklore Society perform during the dedication ceremony, with founder Janine Bell explaining to the crowd how the sound of the drums open the road — the new Arthur Ashe Boulevard — “to let the people come forward.” (Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press)