From Manny in regards to the 2nd Annual Oregon Hill Memorial Day Invitational:
Important message for all team captains: remember–All ROSTERS ARE DUE AND ARE LOCKED ON MAY 18TH. You shouldn’t wait until then since this tournament is a first come first serve with a six team cap. see post dated 3/8
From press release:
Byrd House Bash Celebrates 90th Anniversary of William Byrd Community House
Evening of entertainment, food tastings and live and silent auctions at Historic Tredegar will raise money for community-minded nonprofitRICHMOND, VA (April 3, 2013) – William Byrd Community House, a social services organization that helps children, families and individuals address immediate challenges and build self-sufficiency, turns 90 this year.
To celebrate, the nonprofit is hosting its fourth annual Byrd House Bash fundraiser at Historic Tredegar on Saturday, April 27 from 7:30 – 10:30 p.m. All proceeds benefit William Byrd Community House programs and services that assist the community’s most vulnerable.Presented by NewMarket Corporation, the 2013 Byrd House Bash will feature a silent auction, a live auction, live music from The Good Birds, light fare from local restaurants and more. “This is a special year for the Byrd House Bash since we’re celebrating our 90th anniversary,” said Shelia Givens, executive director of William Byrd Community House. “It’s exciting to be able to reflect on the work that we’ve been able to do in Richmond so far and the ways we can benefit the community moving forward. We’re looking forward to celebrating with friends, sponsors and the community. They make our work possible.”
Comfort, Camden’s Dogtown Market, The Continental and other local restaurants will offer light fare and tastings. Beer and wine will be provided by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery and Barboursville Vineyards respectively.
The silent auction will feature items such as portrait packages from Cliff Bruce Studio, a custom jewelry piece by Jay Sharpe and oil change and state inspection packages from Midas of Richmond. New to this year’s Byrd House Bash, the live auction will include a one week Wintergreen vacation stay; dinner for six at Mamma ‘Zu plus limo ride, a one night stay at the Jefferson Hotel and a Redskins Fan package with a signed RGIII jersey, four tickets to a taping of Redskins Nation and two custom Redskins cornhole boards.
“We’re thrilled to sponsor this year’s Byrd House Bash and know that our contribution will directly benefit programs and services that help some of Richmond’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Bruce Hargrove, vice president of corporate resources at NewMarket Corporation. Other generous event sponsors include Hunton & Williams and CRT/tanaka.
Tickets are available in two tiers. A $50 ticket includes open bar with beer and wine. A $30 ticket comes with two drink tickets (beer and/or wine). All tickets include food from local restaurants, live music, a silent auction and a live auction. To purchase tickets, please visit http://byrdhousebash2013.eventbrite.com/# or call 804- 643-2717. For more details and the latest updates on the event, go to the Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/590586094302189/?fref=ts. Parking for the event is free and available in the Tredegar lot next to the event site.
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Scene from the VCU Intercultural Festival:
Scene from this morning’s 2nd Annual 5k Run/Walk to Remember on S. Laurel Street:
From VCU press release:
Virginia Commonwealth University will honor the culture and diversity that thrives throughout its campuses at the 2013 Intercultural Festival at VCU, themed “A World Premiere.”
The 2013 Intercultural Festival at VCU takes place on Saturday, April 6, from noon until 6 p.m. at Monroe Park. Entrance to the festival and all activities are free and open to the public.
The festival will include a variety of foods from various cultures, as well as cultural displays, performances and fashion shows, student art exhibits and booths with games and crafts for all ages. There will be a petting zoo and door prizes to showcase more than 30 cultural organizations at VCU.
The Intercultural Festival has been at VCU for more than 10 years, but the first recorded festival took place in April 2002. Over the years, the festival has continued to grow and become an annual university-wide celebration.
The Office of Multicultural Student Affairs within the Division for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services and the Student Government Association sponsor the Intercultural Festival at VCU.
To learn more information about the festival, call 804-828-4514. For information about ICF week activities, which precede the festival, visit https://www.facebook.com/icfvcu.
The Virginia War Memorial will host their 2nd annual 5K Run/Walk to Remember on Saturday, April 6 at 8 am. The route goes through Oregon Hill and Hollywood Cemetery. Between 8:30 am and 9:30 am there will be 500 participants traveling on the streets.
The event will only close 2nd Street from the Lee Bridge to Byrd Street the morning of the race. No others streets will be closed. Soldiers from Ft. Lee will be along the race route directing participants.
While its not on their blog yet, Byrd House Market manager Anna Edwards has confirmed that the Byrd House Market farmer’s market, using a mixture of funding from the William Byrd Foundation, federal grants, crowdsourcing, and their own produce proceeds, has purchased the Fine Foods convenience store on Idlewood.
“We wanted to create a ‘game-changer’ for Richmond farmers markets in order to further our mission of providing living laboratories for learning nutrition, ecology and economics.” said Edwards. She alluded to a not-yet-announced partnership with another grocery enterprise to help run the new store/market.
Though a lot of details have not been settled, some things are becoming clear- the farmer’s market with outside vendors will eventually move from their current location near the Grace Arents Community Garden to one side of the Fine Foods building and possibly be open everyday to sell fresh produce. (This is where the Fancy Flea market was held previously.) The Fine Foods building itself will go through a major overhaul. There’s discussion of adding a whole floor to the building and doing significant landscaping changes to the asphalt parking lot area. Solar panels and/or green roof are part of that. A portion of the building will be reserved for gardening and community workshops. The grocery shelves will gradually become more oriented to natural/healthy/gourmet.
Perhaps of more interest to current Fine Foods patrons, the new business will, at least in the beginning, retain the employees of Fine Foods to sell selections from their expanded beer fridge as well as lottery tickets.
Later today there will be an unveiling for Oregon Hill’s “Virtual Chicken House”. A neighborhood resident and artist, who does not want his address or name published, has created a project that he says was inspired by the local debate over urban chicken-keeping. “I was working on it before the recent flurry of messages over the neighborhood Yahoo list,” he said, “but with proposed legislation before City Council, now maybe the perfect time to take it public.”
It consists of a wooden backyard structure that is a little bit bigger than a standard chicken coop, but fully networked for an array of a half a dozen reconfigured Roomba vacuum robots, that simulate chickens. Using timers, cameras, microphones, and speakers, the ‘chickens’ periodically go in and out of the ‘house’, making slight clucking and pecking noises. The website with Roomba-chicken camera feeds is not yet online.
Photo Credit “Moving in for the Kill” Eirik Newth @ Flickr. Creative Commons. Some rights reserved.
“I thought about naming each Roomba after City Council members and various City officials and adding their photos to the tops of the Roombas, but I thought that might cause bad feelings so I decided not do that,” said the artist. Instead, he will be offering patrons the chance to adopt and name the individual Roombas. He noted that are other chicken Roomba automation schemes out there, as well as other forms of Roomba art.
Note: Roomba is a trademark of the iRobot company.
From email announcement:
The deadline for entering the Richmond Peace Education Center’s 2013 Peace Essay contest is April 22, 2013. The theme for this year’s contest is “Learning to live in peace.” The writing prompt asks students to think and write about the roles their families or other care-givers play in teaching them about peace. They are further asked to write about how this teaching affects their actions in the community and the world; and to support their ideas with examples from their personal lives and from history and current events.
The contest is open to any elementary, middle, or high school student in Virginia. It offers a top prize of $100 in each of four grade divisions: K-3, 4-5, middle, and high school. Seven additional cash prizes are also awarded in each division.
Entry forms, along with contest rules and a conplete description of the writing prompt are available at www.rpec.org, or by emailing rpec@rpec.org.