As the calendar turns to August, events around the River City continue to heat up. Check out the inaugural Richmond Music Week, spot ducks and dragons racing along the James River this weekend, keep cool with limited-edition ice cream flavors, see “Let’s Murder Marsha” onstage, catch Boy Jr. and Trauma Cat at Richmond Music Hall, and much more. Enjoy!
Sneak Peek
With opening day for the 2023 Richmond Symphony League Designer House rapidly approaching, designers are making the final preparations for their spaces at the Taylor Estate. On Aug. 2-3 from 5 to 7 p.m., the public is invited to take a Bare Bones Tour through the Monument Avenue mansion before the designers begin its transformation from time-worn to fabulous. Discover the beautiful proportions of architect W. Duncan Lee’s Italian Renaissance-inspired design and the incomparable plasterwork created for the original owner, Jaquelin Plummer Taylor, in 1915. Tickets are $15; snacks and a cash bar are available.
—Susan Morgan, R•Home Managing Editor
Scoop, there it is!
I love a fun food collab, especially when it involves ice cream, local businesses and laughs. While stand-up comedian Fortune Feimster is known for her jokes, the Netflix star also holds a soft spot for a scoop. In anticipation of the comic’s Aug. 3 show at the Dominion Energy Center, Bev’s, Gelati Celesti, Scoop and Ruby Scoops are celebrating the way they know best: by making ice cream. Each shop will offer a custom flavor in honor of Feimster for a limited time. Scoop will be serving Fortune Triple Berry Cobbler, a roasted strawberry ice cream with ripples of raspberry and blackberry jams topped with a buttery oat crumble. At multilocation Gelati Celesti, find Fortune-nut, a creamy butter pecan bedecked with fudgy brownie bites. Carytown institution Bev’s will offer Fortune’s Sweet n’ Salty, chocolate ice cream with a salted caramel swirl mixed with peanuts and pretzels. And in North Side, Ruby Scoops is rolling out Fortune Favors the Bold, a buttery popcorn ice cream with pecan praline swirl and chocolate-covered fortune cookie bark.
—Eileen Mellon, Food Editor
State, Us Quote
“To be a Virginian,” goes the old credo, “either by birth, marriage, adoption or even on one’s mother’s side, is an introduction to any state in the Union, a passport to any foreign country and a benediction from Almighty God.” I can think of at least three people whose cars broke down on Interstate 95 or nearby, and after completing repairs they never left Richmond. You may hear similar accounts Friday, Aug. 4, when the ongoing storytelling series Secretly Y’all presents Why Virginia, My Virginia, appropriately at the Library of Virginia. At 6 and 7 p.m., selected speakers will share 10-minute true stories about why or how they are Virginians. Get there at 5 p.m. and see former Virginia Lottery pitchwoman Lady Luck’s magic wand — among other wonderments — in the library’s anniversary exhibition, “200 Years, 200 Stories.”
—Harry Kollatz Jr., Senior Writer
Music City
From hip-hop history makers to innovative jazz artists, Richmond has made a name for itself in music, and the inaugural Richmond Music Week will see a celebration across all genres at 43 venues around the city. The week kicks off Friday, Aug. 4, with 804 Day, a block party at 17th Street Market presenting multiple stages of music. Performers include Mad Skillz, Ms. Jaylin Brown (above) and Tyler Meacham. Throughout the week, look for local musicians at live music venues around town and pop-up performances at record stores and sound studios. The celebration culminates with RVA Rapper’s Delight, honoring 50 years of hip-hop, on Friday, Aug. 11, at The Hippodrome Theater. The event features performances from hip-hop artists including Nickelus F, Noah-O and Radio B. Richmond Music Week is the perfect opportunity to familiarize yourself with local talent, enjoy some of your favorite tunes or expose your ears to a new genre of music.
—Nicole Cohen, Arts & Entertainment Editor
Is Foul Play Afoot?
Fascinated by the twists and turns of murder mysteries? Happy housewife Marsha is hopelessly addicted to them. But when she overhears a conversation between her loving husband and an interior decorator, has she uncovered a nefarious plot to do her in, or is her overactive imagination getting the best of her? Come along on Marsha’s journey to foil a diabolical plot against her in the River City Community Players’ production of “Let’s Murder Marsha,” onstage Aug. 4-6 at The Lynn Theatre at Brightpoint Community College. Tickets are $15.
—Laura McFarland, Lifestyle Editor
Pay Attention
On Saturday, Aug. 5, the internet and real life collide at Richmond Music Hall. Boy Jr., the product of Erica Allen-Lubman of Rochester, New York, found their way into TikTok feeds through imagined crossover covers, like a Sufjan Stevens track as performed by the duo 100 gecs. Their debut garbage-pop effort, “Pay Attention to Meeee,” came out last year and was followed by a remixed version in January. Opening the show is “power trio” Trauma Cat, which dubs itself “equal parts band and absurdist performance art troupe.” Tickets to the 7 p.m. concert are $12.
—Mark Newton, News Editor
Race to the River
Head to the James River for not one, but two festivals this Saturday, Aug. 5. At Brown’s Island, a huge flock of rubber duckies will race down Haxall Canal at 3 p.m. as part of the RVA Duck Race & Festival of Inclusion, which runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and features zoned areas of music, vendors, food and sensory-friendly activities. Admission is free, with a $5 suggested donation; purchase ducks online ahead of time. Downstream at Rocketts Landing, watch paddlers from across the East Coast race canoes decorated to resemble dragons as part of the annual Richmond International Dragon Boat Festival. It runs from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes music, food, vendors, a beer garden and Chinese cultural performances. Free for spectators.
—Mindy Kinsey, Editorial Director
Other Suggestions
- Richmond International Film Festival and its offshoot RIFF Arts Institute will unveil this year’s festival theme and poster during First Fridays on Aug. 4.
- The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design hosts Coffee + Conversation with Adobe content design manager Shannon Leahy on Aug. 5.
- Virginia Rep’s “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” continues through Aug. 6.
- “Everybody E.A.T.S.” — the final installment of “3x2: Transformative Capsules,” a program at 1708 Gallery that addresses community issues through art — continues through Aug. 7.
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.
