Photo courtesy Richmond Symphony
Concert in the Park
Richmond Symphony brings its Big Tent to Bandy Field
The melodic sounds of classical music will overtake the chirping birds and croaking frogs at Bandy Field Nature Park when the Richmond Symphony brings its Big Tent to the Three Chopt Festival on Sept. 14. One in a series of community celebrations hosted by the symphony over the past four years, the Three Chopt Festival marks the organization’s first foray into the West End.
The symphony’s “Big Tent,” a mobile stage, not only allows it to bring concerts directly into local communities but also serves as a catalyst for making a lasting impact, says Scott Dodson, the symphony’s director of advancement and patron communications.
Starting with the Symphony’s first Big Tent concert in Chimborazo Park, each event has benefited music programs in Richmond Public Schools. Funds raised through sponsorships for the Three Chopt Festival will benefit the music programs at Mary Munford Elementary School, A.P. Hill Middle School, and Thomas Jefferson and Community high schools.
“So far we’ve raised $300,000 through these projects,” Dodson says. “We work with Richmond Public Schools’ Education Foundation so that the money is dedicated to music and arts programming. … It’s all about generating community interactions and engagement.”
The symphony has been working with the City of Richmond and Friends of Bandy Field to plan the concert, which is the first big public event to be held there. Dodson says plans are currently underway with the city to divert traffic from Three Chopt near Bandy Field during the festival.
In addition to performances by the Richmond Symphony and other local artists, the Three Chopt Festival will include a kids’ zone, food trucks, a beer garden and vendor booths. Admission is free, and attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs. The symphony will be seeking community volunteers soon. Visit richmondsymphony.com for details.
Students head to class at Westhampton School in September 1961. (Photo courtesy Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Preserving the Past
Bon Secours will commemorate the history of Westhampton School as it redevelops its site
In May, Bon Secours broke ground on the three-story medical office building that will anchor its redevelopment of the Westhampton School property at Patterson and Libbie avenues. A new $53 million mixed-use development will transform the site, adding 129 apartments, a parking deck, office and retail space, and community green space. The original 1917 Westhampton School will be turned into commercial space, while the adjoining 1930 building will be demolished.
After announcing it had selected Thalhimer Realty Partners to help develop the property, Bon Secours made a commitment to honor the site’s history, says Sean O’Brien, advocacy and external affairs liaison with Bon Secours Health System. In January, Bon Secours appointed the Westhampton Commemoration Panel to provide recommendations for commemorating the historic significance of the school, its architecture and the important events that have occurred on the site, most notably in September 1961, when Daisy Jane Cooper became the first black student to attend the school through a federal court order after a lawsuit filed by civil rights lawyer Oliver W. Hill Sr.
“We knew we needed help from the community and people who had been deeply involved with the school,” O’Brien says.
The panel is made up of community members, architectural experts, and Westhampton School alumni and former teachers — at various times it served as an elementary, middle and high school, and it also was the site of a special education facility and of Richmond Community High School. “It was fascinating to hear everyone’s memories of the same building at different times in its history,” O’Brien says.
The original Westhampton School building dates to 1917. (Photo courtesy The Valentine)
The committee looked at commemorative sites around the world for inspiration on how to convey the site’s history. It has presented recommendations to Bon Secours, suggesting an interactive, open-air classroom concept that will incorporate architectural elements salvaged from the 1930 school.
Committee member Charlie Agee, a Richmond native who lives a few blocks from the school, says the committee wanted the site to continue to be a place of learning, “where you can read about what happened at the facility and contemplate what’s going on now.”
The committee will continue to meet, Agee says, “to talk about the content of the stories that are presented and how they are presented so that it is not just a plaque on the wall. It will be much more experiential.”
Construction of the commemorative spaces will take place in the final phase of the Westhampton development, O’Brien says, with architect Burt Pinnock of Baskervill, a committee member, designing the memorial.
“Bon Secours heard loud and clear from the community how much the community cares about historic preservation,” Agee says. “They could have put up a sign inside the door and said, ‘That’s it.’ [They] did not have to do what they are doing.”
A rendering of the University of Richmond’s new Eco-Corridor (Image courtesy University of Richmond)
Good Stewards
UR’s Gambles Mill Eco-Corridor aims to improve James River water quality
By fall, the University of Richmond will finish its work on the Gambles Mill Eco-Corridor, reshaping and restoring Little Westham Creek and constructing a multi-use recreational trail on the southeastern edge of the campus, next to the Country Club of Virginia.
The 13-acre area, currently closed to the public, should reopen in October.
Before the project, water in Westham Creek would travel rapidly to the James River during rainstorms, depositing harmful nutrients in the river, says Allison Moyer, UR’s director of landscape services. The stream has been redesigned to feature a meandering course and shallower banks that are closer together to slow the flow. During heavy rainfall, it is designed to flood its banks, allowing the surrounding land to soak up harmful nutrients, Moyer says.
Resource Environmental Solutions (RES) is performing the work, using a design created by local architecture landscape firm Waterstreet Studio. After bringing in a herd of goats to graze invasive plants last year, plans also call for replanting the site with native species.
Gamble’s Mill Trail, which leads from UR Drive to River Road, will be resurfaced. The trail is popular with area residents and students, says Todd Lookingbill, associate professor of geography and the environment at UR.
“One of the great benefits of having this restoration on a university campus, from a scientific perspective, is that we can study its effectiveness to see if it is actually improving the water quality,” he says.
The university has solicited input from students and faculty at every point in the planning process, says Rob Andrejewski, Richmond’s director of sustainability. “We want everyone to feel ownership and stewardship for our little piece of the James River,” he says. “We want to connect our students with the James — a gem of Richmond.”
