Our Favorite Things

Richmond magazine staffers on what they like best about this city of ours

Oh, Tacky Night

I always look forward to cramming in a vehicle with my loved ones, a thermos of cocoa and a tin of cookies for the Tacky Lights Tour. My heart glows as we approach the Phifers’, where mother and son leave no inch of their adjacent properties unlit. It’s magical: taking in the dazzling trees and realizing the effort (not to mention electricity bill dollars) Richmond families put into this wacky tradition. —Sarah Lockwood, graphic designer

The View From the Top

I never enjoy living in this city more than when I’m pedaling my single-speed bike through the changing autumn colors of Oregon Hill. The hustle and bustle of VCU is left behind, and a beautiful vista of the James River and Belle Isle awaits at an overlook where South Pine Street runs its course. —Mark Robinson, staff writer / assistant editor

Degrees of Separation

You are only a one- or two-degree separation from just about everybody you meet in Richmond — at least it seems that way to me. I like that everyone is pretty loyal to independent business owners as well. Richmonders take great pride in this city, and what’s so exciting is that that passion for Richmond seems to be catching on nationally. It’s a small big town. —Kelly McCauley, senior account executive

Tomato Time

As far back as I can recall, I have annually attended the Hanover Tomato Festival with my mother, Dalia. I remember attending the event at Battlefield Park Elementary School (before it moved to Pole Green Park) and eating tomato cookies and pies, and browsing the unique wares — for toys, of course. Now that I’m older, I still love to celebrate Hanover’s famous fruit. —Nicole Cohen, associate editor

River Runs Through It

I feel like I live in the best apartment in Richmond, with a balcony over the James River. The river’s roar and abundance of herons, warblers, eagles and more make it so peaceful. We actually decided against putting up curtains, because it’s so nice seeing when we wake up or go to sleep. Living on the Pipeline is fun, too; all summer, we watch kayakers and rafters paddle by and hear their shouts of excitement. —Christie Griffin, R•Bride editor / online editor

Painting the Town

Murals are typically considered vandalism, but in Richmond that is not the case. Here, they are an important form of art that incorporates the architecture of the city and makes a not-so-subtle nod to the counterculture that is so prominent in the community. It is a delightfully fresh and open-minded view on an otherwise frowned-upon medium. —Rob Hendricks, graphic designer

The Kids Are All Right

My years in Richmond have mostly coincided with my years as a parent. It’s been great fun exploring some of the many cultural opportunities for children here, such as SPARC theater classes, art programs at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and the VMFA, and dance with the Richmond Ballet and Richmond City Dance program — which does amazing things given the budget it has to work with. —Tina Eshleman, executive editor

The Saints Go Marching

The undulant, pulsing celebration is often fronted by a contingent of the rollicking No BS! Brass Band. Giant puppets and stilt walkers and an assortment of creatures and folks and conveyances form the All The Saints Theater Co.’s Halloween Parade. Residents and celebrants line the streets of Oregon Hill and distribute sweets and good feelings to the marchers. The event is cultural and political — the 2014 parade featured effigies to memorialize deceased Grace Street joints. But it all ends in cheers. —Harry Kollatz Jr., senior writer

Park Life

In the 1980s, I was a distance runner at Benedictine High School, and my team’s 3.1-mile cross-country course incorporated much of Maymont park. I have visceral memories of suffering up and down Maymont’s hills as Coach Crowder rallied us to “Pass ’im! Pass ’im!” and my legs grew heavier with the lactic burn. Years before that, I’d started playing disc golf in the park, and my friends named a whale of a magnolia along one downhill fairway, because it often swallowed our throws. That’s Moby Dick — still there today. Then there was the snowy night in the late ’80s when my cousin and I jumped the fence with a snowboard and a bottle of vodka. Today, it’s simply just a great place for me to go walking, lost in thought, without leaving town. —Jack Cooksey, editor-in-chief

Magic City

I remember the excitement that surrounded the trips to Richmond that my family used to make from Buckingham County in the 1970s. We would pull up to Bill’s Barbecue, roll our windows down and cut our car lights on for service. We shopped at Thalhimers, La Vogue and Miller & Rhoads, and we carried seafood home from The Flying Cloud. One of the highlights can still be found at West Broad Street and Staples Mill Road: Krispy Kreme. I now travel to Richmond five days a week, and sometimes more, and I still feel the excitement after all these years. —Martha Hebert, senior account executive

Beauty All Around

To the north, Washington, D.C., is a two-hour drive when I want to check out a major exhibition at one of its magnificent museums. To the east, Virginia Beach is also a two-hour drive when I want to bathe in the sun during those hot summer months. Lastly, when I want to escape from civilization, I head west toward the Blue Ridge Mountains and catch the magnificent foliage during the autumn months. —Phong Nguyen, graphic designer

Small World

I love that Richmond is a small town disguised as a big city. As a come-here who has lived in the area for more than 20 years as a college student, journalist and mother, I have forged many ties in different parts of the region. Whether I’m running the Buttermilk Trail, hanging out on a Chesterfield soccer field, dining in Church Hill or shopping in Short Pump, I am bound to run across a friendly face. —Jessica Ronky Haddad, R•Home editor