Months before Halloween each year, spiders spin decorative webs along the Boulevard Bridge, adding their distinctive touch to the iconic James River crossing that’s now stood for more than a century.

Whether on its two-lane road, the narrow pedestrian and bicycle path or on the banks of the river underneath, the scenic bridge has delighted countless visitors who more commonly call it the Nickel Bridge.

At a celebration of its centennial last weekend, Westover Hills Neighborhood Association President Val Murphey says that she and others insisted that a new plaque unveiled at the event include its popular name. “When I first moved to Richmond in 1975, the toll was a dime,” she explains. “I don’t care how much it costs, we’ll always call it the Nickel Bridge.”

With vehicle traffic blocked from crossing the bridge, hundreds gather for a festival-like party with a coffee cart, a pancake truck and musical performances by Pay Rent Brass Band and bluegrass players The Hot Seats.

Inspired by the views from the bridge on a bright and brilliant Saturday morning, local artist Sam Poulin completes a couple of plen-air watercolor paintings while his wife managed the Eddie Rose coffee cart that’s named for their two children.

Poulin, whose family lives nearby in the Carillon neighborhood on the north side of the bridge, says he draws inspiration from the flora and fauna around the bridge in all four seasons.

“I have a really fond memory of running over this bridge the day after Christmas.There was ice on the ground, ice on the river,” he says. “The quiet of this stretch in the early morning, it’s so perfect. It’s something about the character.”

Cal Whitehead, a volunteer with the Westover Hills Neighborhood Association, helped organize the event after suggesting to his neighbors that there should be an event to celebrate the anniversary. He says the idea of closing the bridge for a community event came to mind months earlier, when officials closed the bridge to traffic for the River City half marathon last spring.

Whitehead says he and his wife walked in the middle of the bridge after the conclusion of the race, adding that there have been only a few rare times when people can walk freely in the road.

“I can’t remember an event on the bridge, but that’s what kind of makes it cool,” he said. “A bunch of neighbors have already said we should do this for Christmas or Fourth of July.”

Opened in 1925, the Boulevard Bridge fostered new residential development south of the river, when it was still the southern end of the city and eastern Chesterfield County.

It originally had a 10-cent toll but it was later changed to five cents in the 1950s following local demands that it be eliminated. The name has stuck since then, even after gradually climbing to $0.50 (or $0.45 if you have an E-ZPass.)

Sarah Abubaker, who represents Westover Hills and other Fourth District communities on the Richmond City Council, moved to the area about 25 years ago. At the time, she faced questions about her decision to relocate south of the James.

“People said, ‘I don’t cross the bridge.’ And I was like, ‘Well, that’s your loss, because I think crossing the bridge every day is one of the simple joys I get to have,’” she tells a small crowd at the plaque unveiling. “It’s a reason why living in South Richmond is amazing.”

Sangeeta Ryan is one of the neighborhood’s newer residents.

Volunteering with Keep Virginia Cozy, picking up litter off the bridge during the event, Ryan says that she and her husband moved to the area about three years ago from Northern Virginia. “We were in Burke at Lake Braddock,” she says. “I was very sad to leave my lake, but here I have a whole river.”

Ryan says they moved to Richmond in large part because of the city’s music and arts scene. But there was something more that narrowed their home search.

“I either walk or run across the bridge every day, just because it’s so beautiful,” she adds. “The bridge is the reason I picked our neighborhood.”