A Very Richmond Fall WeekendExploring and celebrating the place we all love to call home.
VOL. 310 / A VERY RICHMOND FALL WEEKEND
If you ask us, Richmond does fall weekends better than anyone. One minute you’re cracking oysters in Northside, the next you’re eating barbecue on Church Hill overlooking the city, and by nightfall somebody’s pouring a fall craft beer or lighting up a garden. This weekend has a little of all of it. Here are our picks for getting out there and appreciating this place we love to call home.
OystoberFest Returns to Northside
OystoberFest returns to Ginter Park with raw, steamed, and fried oysters, po’ boys, beer, wine and an afternoon of live music. The lineup starts at noon with Berto Sales bringing Brazilian rhythms and Latin jazz, followed by Cheap Comfort, Hey Little Sister and a bluegrass finish from The Hot Seats. Back by popular demand, the event also offers a safe and secure bike valet as part of its Virginia Green commitment. There’s also a nice Richmond twist behind the scenes, discarded oyster shells are collected for restoration work through VCU’s Rice Rivers Center, giving the festival an environmental benefit that extends well beyond the afternoon.
Ardent Craft Ales is leaning all the way into fall with Smolder, a smoked beer and food festival built around, well, smoke and fire. Expect smoked beer, food from local favorites including Belmont Butchery and Eazzy Burger, and Bierstacheln — the old school practice of heating a metal rod in a fire pit and plunging it into a cold beer, giving it a warm, caramelized foam on top. It’s a little weird, a little smoky, and exactly the kind of thing that makes an October afternoon in Scott’s Addition more interesting.
There may not be a more Richmond setting for a barbecue throwdown than Libby Hill. Hog on the Hill, a Richmond tradition that dates back to 1977, returns Saturday with a full afternoon of live music, local food, cold drinks and one of the best views in the city. The music starts at noon with Ex-Patriots and rolls through Los Alacranes, Mother’s Little Helpers, Bart Chucker Band, Pet Moose Project and Soul Providers before wrapping at 6 p.m. The vendor lineup keeps things local too, with Church Hill Boys BBQ, Church Hill Dawgs, Inner City Blues, Frontier by Alamo, Daddy G Craft Salsa, Drift Beverage Co. and Sweet Temptations by Teresa all on hand. It’s the kind of neighborhood gathering that makes it easy to show up for an hour and stay all day — and maybe into the night.
Vitals:
Hog on the Hill / Saturday, Oct. 17, Noon–6 PM / Libby Hill Park, 2801 E. Franklin St. / $5 suggested donation
BONUS: Garden Glow
If you still have a little weekend left in you, Maymont has you covered. Garden Glow is back, turning the grounds into a walk-through landscape of illuminated gardens and installations after dark. This Sunday adds something extra, with the Richmond Symphony performing outdoors at 6:45 p.m. before the night winds down. It’s an easy excuse to stretch the weekend just a little longer.
