Here's to making waves in the River City this weekend. We’ve rounded up a handful of recommendations for people, places, and causes to celebrate.
See you in the city!
AlterNatives
Bluegrass & Brews
AlterNatives Boutique, Richmond's first fair trade store, is hosting Bluegrass & Brews on Saturday at 3320 W. Cary St. in Carytown. If you haven't checked out AlterNatives yet, they offer a variety of products from fair trade craftspeople and companies that offer livable wages and safe working conditions. The shop also operates a nonprofit called Highland Support Project (HSP), which works to empower communities in the Guatemalan Highlands. Thanks to the local nonprofit, volunteer teams here in Richmond make annual trips to the Guatemalan Highlands to help build stoves for families and communities that would normally cook food over an open-pit fire inside of their homes. These stoves prevent illnesses and deaths from smoke inhalation, reduce deforestation because they use less wood, and they help provide women more time to pursue other educational opportunities and trainings within and outside of their rural communities. This weekend's event in Richmond will benefit these efforts. Bands will kick off at 1 pm in Carytown, beer will be provided by Legend Brewing, homemade Guatemalan food served, and there will be plenty of opportunities to learn more about the work of HSP and participate in an online auction with an impressive collection of local goods up for grabs.
Own your freakdom this weekend. Freak Flags, a female-owned and operated flag and pennant shop based in RVA, has the River City abuzz with its latest creations. Freak Flags designs fun and funky flags that celebrate everything there is to love about Richmond. Make sure to follow Freak Flags on Instagram to track their latest pop ups and new offerings, as they sell out fast. Recent flags have included shoutouts to favorite spots around town (check out their Scuffletown flag) and pennants with playful sayings like, "I Love You More Than Springtime in Richmond." Local pickups are available at Tiny Space in Church Hill. Let your freak flag fly!
Vitals:
Shop Freak Flags here / Follow for upcoming flags here
Høly River
at the Pump House
Take a virtual trip to the Pump House on Sunday for a multimedia collaboration of dance, music and film to raise funds to help spruce up this historic and architectural treasure. Located on the North Bank of the James River, the Pump House once served as a public-use pumping station downstairs and a venue for lavish events and dances upstairs until the mid-1920’s. Through donations and volunteer efforts, the Richmond community is revitalizing the Pump House and surrounding park to its former glory. This Sunday’s online event will mark a collaboration between Høly River, The Concert Ballet of Virginia, Starr Foster Dance, and Hourglass Sessions to raise money to replace some of the windows at the Pump House. As many Richmonders know, Høly River is an experimental folk duo by Jameson Price and Laney Sullivan with water protection, environmental activism, and community at its core. You can tune into a live performance by the band at the Pump House on Sunday that will premier on the Friends of Pump House YouTube page. The duo will perform from the top floor of the Pump House filled with dancers from the Concert Ballet of Virginia and Starr Foster Dance.
Spread positives message to friends, neighbors, and strangers this weekend at Carytown Chalk Up The Town. Local non-profits, schools, artists, and community members will be creating positive messages and art with chalk up and down Carytown's sidewalks. Participating blocks, chalk pick-up locations, and sidewalk decorators can be found here.
Get out there this weekend and celebrate the city we love to call home, your favorite greenspaces, and local business owners. Here are this week's handful of must-do ideas with infinite potential ...
Illuminating
Legacies
The The JXN Project is celebrating Jackson Ward’s 150th Anniversary this weekend at the "Illuminating Legacies: Giles B. Jackson Day" event. While pre-registration is sold out for guided tours, you can still celebrate one of the most important Black neighborhoods in the country as it turns 150. Head to the city's sixth ward on Saturday to check out dozens of live projections that will reveal the neighborhood's origin story through restorative truth-telling and redemptive storytelling. Though the trolly tours are booked, you can enjoy the projections by foot or bike and support Black-owned businesses across Jackson Ward. The JXN Project will honor this important anniversary of Jackson Ward by elevating and educating participants on the hidden histories of Jackson Ward as the "Birthplace of Black Entrepreneurship,” an often under-told and overlooked story when discussing the local origins of Black excellence and enterprise in the national narrative. Make sure to follow The JXN Project, created by Enjoli Moon and Dr. Sesha Joi Moon, after this weekend's event too, as the JXN journey will continue as part of a year-long sesquicentennial celebration with more interactive activities and activations across the community.
Be a part of The Valentine’s newest exhibition, Breathing Places: Park & Recreation in Richmond, opening at the museum on May 5 by submitting images of yourself, your family, or your friends enjoying greenspaces this weekend. The debut of Breathing Places comes on the heels of the Valentine welcoming visitors back to the museum with new outdoor programming, spring and summer events and more. “As residents and visitors alike begin to return downtown to enjoy many of the greenspaces they’ve missed for over a year, now is the ideal time to open this exhibition,” says Valentine Director Bill Martin. “Breathing Places is not only an opportunity to fully explore the history of parks and recreation, but to inspire visitors to experience these spaces for themselves while considering how we can improve community access going forward.” Breathing Places will include a slideshow of rotating images featuring community-submitted photos. Richmonders (both individuals and organizations) can share favorite images of greenspace in the Richmond region. It could be at a park, yard, field, or any little patch of green that brings you joy. Makes sure to tell The Valentine a little about your image and they will include it in a slideshow in the Breathing Places exhibit.
RVA's newest weekly vendor market has launched at The Diamond. Hosted by River City Festivals in the expansive parking lot in front of The Diamond, the market is socially distanced and features an impressive list of rotating vendors, artisans, craftspeople, and other local business owners. Oh and there's beer, wine, and food trucks too! Check out the growing list of participating vendors including woodworking, art, clothing, jewelry, beauty supplies, gifts for your pet (bring your dog with you), locally grown produce, nonprofits, and more. Come out and support your local, small businesses.
Vitals:
PopUp at The Diamond / Every Saturday from 10 am - 4 pm / New vendors every week
Celebrating Swansboro
Richmond artists Silly Genius, PT Carroll, Auz Miles, and Nadd Harvin of All City Art Club are putting the finishing touches on a new mural on the Bainbridge underpass in Swansboro this week. “As with every mural we’ve painted in Southside, the love the people of the neighborhood reminds us we’re on the right path,” says Silly Genius. Take a drive down Bainbridge to check out Richmond's latest mural collaboration celebrating community.
Spring has finally arrived. We don't know about you, but it couldn't have come at a better time. We're celebrating with a special virtual event in honor of Holi, Easter brunch creations by Arley Cakes that support the RVA community, tunes by Kevin Zhu thanks to the Richmond Symphony's Masterworks series, and exploring the great outdoors with handmade masks by the Richmond Ballet's CostumeDirector. Read on to get in on the action ...
Happy Holi
Holi is upon us, one of India’s favorite annual celebrations. This year, Richmond’s own Prabir Mehta, a longtime Here Weekly partner and collaborator, will host a very special live Holi celebration with Crabtree Sessions. “Even Mom is a part of the show y’all,” says Prabir about the upcoming event that will be hosted virtually at 8 pm on Sunday. “We’ll be doing some tunes, chatting Holi, Mom’s gonna show ya how to cook some Indian food, and as always it’ll be a blast hanging with Michael from Crabtree Sessions.” Here Weekly and Grid will stream the Holi event live on Richmond Grid’s Facebook page for all to enjoy. "PS, you don't have to be Indian to celebrate Indian things," he adds. "I’ve been jammin’ to y’all’s xmas tunes for decades now. Come Holi it up with me on Sunday evening.”
From her Nana’s sewing machine, Emily Morgan is making it possible for Richmonders to continue to mask up in a fun, stylish, and active way. For years, you could find Emily traveling the world (pre-Covid) as a freelance Costume Designer working in dance, theatre, opera, and film. Here in Richmond, she has turned her talents to serving as the Costume Director for Richmond Ballet. Emily started making masks one year ago this month when it became clear that masks were (and are still) the best way to protect ourselves and each other. “I began with huge amounts of the pleated style masks for donation, trying to cover as much of the community as quickly as possible,” recalls Emily. “As the pandemic continued and we went back to work at Richmond Ballet we started to identify features and qualities that would maximize comfort and function for my performers. Then we all got into masks as statements or to convey a mood. I wore my Wonder Woman mask on Election Day, and I choose fabrics based upon what I know my clients will love to wear as accessories. We’ve gone well past function and into fashion. Ultimately that’s what good design is all about, the intersection of function and style.” Today, she offers a variety of mask options -- ranging from Mandalorian themes to pink leopard and everything in between.
Arley Arrington, the owner of RVA-based bakery Arley Cakes, bakes goods for people who want to make a difference. For people who care about Richmond - and who care about the world. Since 2015, Arley has created custom cakes for special occasions, a playful selection of cookies and small treats, brown butter sea salt blondies, beautifully latticed pies, the best jam tarts around, and ongoing fundraisers and bake sales as a way to give back to the community. Arley also creates advocacy cakes that are decorated with a call to action, such as “Gun Reform Now,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Justice for Breonna Taylor,” and “My Body My Choice.” For a hoppy Easter brunch, Arley is offering a cardamom spiced carrot cake (with a cream cheese buttercream and festive Robin’s egg blue frosting and a bird's nest on top), brown butter cinnamon rolls, a tangy sweet strawberry rhubarb pie, sweet potato biscuits spiced with honey butter, and more. Available for pickup in Bon Air, Richmond.
Just over 3 weeks until you can see Kevin Zhu perform at the next Masterworks concert by Richmond Symphony! Fun fact: Kevin won the Menuhin Competition, the world's leading international competition for young violinists, in 2012 at age 11. Exciting that Richmond has an opportunity to watch him perform again so close to the Menuhin Competition Richmond 2021. Join the Richmond Symphony for a safe, socially-distanced in-person concert.
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