It’s beginning to look and sound like the holiday season, which is a welcome sign in many ways. This week there’s a virtual concert put on by the medical professionals and students in the VCU Health Orchestra, a chance to make your own ornament at a local brewery and Ashland’s Light up the Tracks event continues.
Soothing Holiday Tunes
There’s healing to be found in music, both in playing and in performing. That’s evident when the VCU Health Orchestra takes the stage. The orchestra, which comprises a mix of medical school professionals, students and performers from the community, performs a holiday concert at 1 pm. on Tuesday, Dec. 22, that will stream online through 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. The event features guest soloists Saul Saucedo Estrada, Miho Sato de Saucedo and Pablo Talamante.
—Tharon Giddens, Lifestyle Editor
DIY Decorations
Get crafty while waiting for ol’ Saint Nick; make ornaments for your tree or to give to friends at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery’s ornament workshop on Tuesday, Dec. 22, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Join Jessica Hardin and the Paint ’N Play RVA paint studio for a lesson in the art of ornament decoration. A fee of $35 per person includes all materials — metallic and marble paints, oil paint pens, or gold leaf — needed to decorate a set of six custom ornaments. Reservations and masks are required.
—Susan Morgan, R•Home Managing Editor
Track Lighting
If you haven’t visited Ashland for the annual Light up the Tracks holiday transformation, you still have time to see the glow of the historic district decked out in illuminated splendor. A mile-long display of decorations turns Center Street into a vintage holiday village where Amtrak passengers board and disembark. A festive destination for last-minute holiday shopping, local stores and restaurants are open and have joined in on the display. Special events continue through the end of the month and include an afternoon tea party at Homemades by Suzanne, an outdoor biergarten with personal fire pits at Origin Beer Lab and the “Ghosts of Christmas Past” walking tour. Social distancing and safety precautions are observed at each event.
—Nicole Cohen, Special Projects Editor
Other Suggestions
- The Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights continues at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.
- ‘The Nutcracker’ dances online this season with the replay of a 2019 show and other features.
See You at the Next Roundup
With the final River City Roundup of 2020, we say goodbye to a year like no other in recent memory. We’ll be taking time off from the magazine over the holidays and look forward to sharing more things to see, do and experience with you in the year ahead.
River City Roundup is Richmond magazine's weekly compilation of the best things to see, do and experience in the region, compiled by our editors. Get each week's installment directly in your inbox every Monday by subscribing to our e-newsletter.
