Category Archives: Entertainment

Part of Grace Arents’ Legacy- Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

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Every Richmonder worth a salt should know who Grace Arents is.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Arents&GSfn=Grace&GSbyrel=in&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=7014698&

http://www.rbc.edu/library/SpecialCollections/Women_history_resources/vfwposter2004.pdf

http://www.nps.gov/history/Nr/travel/richmond/OregonHillHD.html

One of the most important groups of buildings is the St. Andrews’s complex at South Laurel Street and Idlewood Avenue. Richmond philanthropist and social reformer Miss Grace Arents funded and supervised construction of the St. Andrew’s Church Complex (243 South Laurel) of 1901-1903, to the designs of the Indiana architect A. H. Ellwood. The complex also includes a parochial school from 1901 and St. Andrew’s Hall at 711 Idlewood Avenue from 1904.

Miss Arents’ work extended throughout the neighborhood well beyond the Episcopal buildings. In 1904, she built the brick Colonial Revival style St. Andrew’s Houses at 912-914 Cumberland Street and 200 and 202 South Linden Street, which constitute one of the earliest examples of subsidized housing in Virginia. She also built a complex of buildings for the Instructive Visiting Nurses Association, dating from 1904 and 1923 at 213 and 219 South Cherry Street, the Noland and Baskervill designed Grace Arents Free Library at 224 South Cherry from 1908, and the 1911 Grace Arents Public School at 600 South Pine Street. Miss Arents also donated the Holly Street Playground on Holly west of Laurel Street, one of the oldest public playgrounds in the City of Richmond.

http://www.richmond.k12.va.us/indexnew/sub/history/arents.cfm

So on that note…

An update from Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden:

* There are still a few seats available for next week’s No Child
Left Inside: Restoring Nature to Early Childhood symposium (April 29th,
8a.m.-4 p.m.) We are excited to announce that Virginia’s First Lady,
Anne Holton, will provide opening remarks at the event. In addition,
you’ll see we’ve added Chip & Ashley Donahue, founders of Kids in the
Valley, Adventuring to the line-up. And, Tracy Kane, noted author and
illustrator of The Fairy Houses
Series(tm), will read from her
books and help families build fairy houses in the Children’s Garden
during our Homespun Fun for Families event.

* We’ve just opened a few remaining slots for the FREE Dinner in
the Garden for Teachers. If you are an educator interested in attending
please see directions below.

* If your organization would like to provide an educational
display at the No Child Left Inside: Restoring Nature to Early Childhood
symposium, please contact Adele MacLean for more details. Call Adele
MacLean at 262-9887 ext. 222 or email her at adelem@lewisginter.org.

Anniversary Year Symposium: No Child Left Inside: Restoring Nature to
Early Childhood
Wednesday, April 29, 8a.m.-4p.m.

For a PDF of the agenda (subject to change), click here.

Join the national dialogue about the critical relationship between
direct exposure to nature and healthy childhood development. Learn about
the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and creative assets that
young children gain through outdoor experiences, and how direct,
authentic experiences in nature can be created for children wherever
they live, play, and learn.

This symposium is for everyone concerned about the healthy development
of today’s children, including early childhood professionals, teachers
and administrators, recreation leaders, pediatric healthcare providers,
parents and caregivers, urban planners, environmental educators,
architects, landscape architects and designers.

Featuring presentations by:
Jane Kirkland, author of the award-winning children’s nature series,
Take a Walk books
Robin Moore, Director of the Natural Learning Initiative and Professor
of Landscape Architecture, North Carolina State University

Plus Chip & Ashley Donahue, founders of Kids in the Valley, Adventuring
(KIVA)
$25 includes lunch; advance registration required; earns 5 training
hours.
Related Events:
Teacher Workshop: Dinner in the Garden for Teachers
Tuesday, April 28, 5-8:30 p.m.
Presented in cooperation with the Center for Life Sciences Education,
Virginia Commonwealth University Homespun Fun for Families
This symposium is the second in a four-part series marking the Garden’s
25th anniversary. These events are made possible with generous support
from the Robins Foundation.

Call for Art + Fish Festival/Earth Day

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From City press releases:

Call for National Arts Program Entries

Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities announces the call for entries in its 11th annual National Arts Program® at Richmond, which will award more than $3,000 in prize money to artists of all ages and levels of experience.

The program is free to enter, and all artwork submitted according to the rules will be exhibited in one of two shows that will hang from late June through mid-August.

Youth ages 5-17 are invited to submit their works of art to compete for awards in the Youth and Teen Showcase, which will be exhibited at the Science Museum of Virginia from June 24 to Aug. 14. Adults may submit their artwork to compete in Creative Reflections, which will be shown at the department’s Pine Camp Arts and Community Center from June 24 to July 17.

The National Arts Program® is known as one of the most innovative grassroots arts projects in the country and has achieved widespread recognition for successfully nurturing creativity and fostering self-confidence among artists. It is sponsored by the National Arts Program Foundation of Malvern, PA, and in Richmond by the City’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities’ art program. Additional sponsorship is provided by the Science Museum of Virginia, and the James River Art League.

Anyone who wants to submit their artwork must register to enter by June 5. Registration brochures providing details on how to enter are available at Pine Camp, which is located at 4901 Old Brook Road, or by calling 804-646-3674. For more information, call 804-646-3675 or visit the department’s website at www.RichmondGov.com/parks.

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Celebrate Fish on Earth Day

Come celebrate Richmond’s fish on Earth Day as the City’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities holds its annual James River Fish Festival on Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in conjunction with Earth Day Richmond 2009.

The department’s Fish Festival commemorates the annual return of spawning fish to the James River in Richmond with music, art, dance, biology, food, and of course, fishing. The Fish Festival is held adjacent to the south end of the 14th Street Bridge, marking the beginning of Earth Day Richmond 2009, which expands approximately six blocks along Hull Street from the river to ArtWorks.

Activities at the Fish Festival include make and take fish arts and crafts for children, fly fishing demonstrations, a shad fishing school for children, fishing from a canoe, and a variety of programs and exhibits on water quality and water quality testing, including one that will teach you how to test water quality and become a volunteer water quality monitor. In addition, an interpretive dance of the spawning James River shad will be presented by the department’s award-winning City Dance Theatre at 1 p.m., and free tours of the Bosher’s Dam Fish Ladder will depart at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Other Earth Day activities include tree planting demonstrations, organized bike rides, art activities, plant sales, yoga sessions, canal cruises, and farmers’ markets. In addition, a variety of guided walks and workshops will be held. Just some of the topics include the health of the river, the tree canopy and green infrastructure, a future master plan for the river, Victory Gardens, planting seeds, composting, and building recycling boxes.

Live music will be performed throughout the day on four stages.

For more information, the complete schedule, and to see a video of Earth Day Richmond 2008, visit www.earthdayrichmond.org.

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VCU ICF Festival in Monroe Park Tomorrow

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As critical as I am of VCU, Oregon Hill does appreciate and enjoy many of the cultural benefits that being next to a large university allows.

One of these happens tomorrow, as it does annually- the VCU Student Intercultural Festival takes place in Monroe Park.

“Come and enjoy the cultural performances, food, activities, petting zoo, fashion show, and more!”

Late Notice: Punjabi Festival at Landmark Today

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From the Times Dispatch:

Punjab Festival

The event is free.

If you’re interested in taking a deeper look at a large portion of India, try Saturday’s “Festival of Punjabi People & Culture” from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Richmond’s Landmark Theater, 6 N. Laurel St. .

Apna Virsa Apna Punjab is presenting its seventh such festival, which will include entertainment, food, a marketplace and more to celebrate the Punjab region of India and Pakistan.

—

Bhangra dance competition

The festival also will feature a Bhangra dance competition at 7 p.m., for which tickets can be obtained through http://www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets for the dance competition cost $11 to $16.

Originating in the Punjab region as a form of music and dance, Bhangra was performed as a folk dance by farmers to celebrate the coming of spring. Today, it survives through pop music, film soundtracks and competitions.

Bhangra contests have become popular in the past decade, with many colleges and universities forming Bhangra dance teams and competing all over the world.

This is AVAP’s third Bhangra dance competition. During its tenure, teams from as far away as Southern California and British Columbia have participated.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit Massey Cancer Center.

For details, call (804) 828-1451.

China Street Resident Plans To Go ‘Up’

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This morning a neighbor on China Street announced immediate plans for an extraordinary journey. As a long-time resident of ‘the Hill’, Larry is affectionally known as an Oregon Hill ‘old-timer’, who has regaled many people with his stories of growing up in the neighborhood. But it’s his latest adventure that is creating excitement.

After repairing the front porch on his small, Victorian, Italianate railroad cottage, Larry realized that it would take only so many helium balloons to raise the entire structure off its anchors and fly into the air. For the last few years he has been buying balloons and helium and secretly storing them at his brother’s house around the corner. Well, today is the day according to Larry. He plans the lift-off later this very afternoon. By doing so, Larry hopes to sail his aloft house across America and rediscover the world, while at the same time bringing a little bit of Oregon Hill to the world.

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In many ways, this is nothing new for the bespectacled, elderly man, who has always had something of a free spirit. Larry remembers hunting rabbit with a .22 on Belle Island as a boy, back when Richmond’s James River was largely abandoned either as an industrial wasteland or a relatively remote Land of the Lost. Larry also enjoyed playing volley ball and baseball as a youth in what he refers to as a simpler time for the City. Today, he looks forward to more travel.

While not being too specific on his inspiration for the scheduled launching of his one hundred year old house by balloon, Larry does mention previous famed aviators like Walters and Couch. As for a certain upcoming summer children’s movie by a certain cartoon mouse company, Larry says he will contact lawyers after he is back on the ground. But that might be a while since he has no planned ETA, or destination for that matter.

Update: Larry has postponed lift-off due to the rainy weather.

Gravitron Mysteriously Appears In Holly Street Playground

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Early this morning Cherry and Holly street residents awoke to a clanking and odd spinning sound. A Gravitron carnival ride had somehow been installed in Holly Street Playground. While some citizens were delighted with new entertainment, others were horrified that the park had once again been made unfriendly for toddlers. Rumors quickly flew about where the machine had come from. Some said it was a centerpiece for upcoming Slaughterama festivities, while others said it was procured by Councilperson Marty Jewell’s office as part of a new economic stimulus/tourism/youth package. Others were convinced some weird mix-up had been made with Holly Street Playground in Richmond, British Columbia. Parks and Rec personnel did not know anything about it, but immediately began cost analyzing disposable biodegradable vomit bags. Some brave Open High teenagers and homeless people started the ride up in order to enjoy weightlessness. Laurel Street resident Tommy Birchett quickly discovered and climbed into the ride’s DJ booth so he could play some music for a growing crowd.
gravitron3

Hot Tamales at WBCH!

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Learn how to make this famous Latin dish and learn some Spanish at the same time with Honduran native at the William Byrd Community House
Elicet Vonderlippe
Choose from any of these Saturdays
March 28, April 25, or May 23
Classes cost $10 which includes your tamales lunch.
Limited spaces available per class so
RSVP now by emailing librarian@wbch.org or calling (804) 643-2717.
Classes are taught in Spanish but non-Spanish speakers are very welcome!