Engulfed in the rainbow
Soren Vox enjoys a blizzard of confetti at VA PrideFest 2017 last Saturday at Brown’s Island in Downtown. The annual event is the largest celebration of the LGBTQ community in Virginia. Please see more photos, B2.
Work continues on the roughly $6 million in improvements to Monroe Park, the city’s oldest park nestled in the Monroe Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University on Belvidere Street. The facelift started last November and is expected to be completed in the coming months.
Coming home to history
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine tours the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia Sept. 21 to view the exhibit about a legal case he was involved with as a civil rights lawyer in Richmond. The exhibit, “Redlining in Richmond: HOME v. Nationwide,” details the historic suit Housing Opportunities Made Equal Inc., or HOME, lodged against the insurance company for discriminatory practices, including denying insurance to homeowners in African-American neighborhoods. Sen. Kaine represented HOME in the successful suit. Joining the tour is Heather Mullins Crislip, president and CEO of HOME. The exhibit is on display through Oct. 14 at the museum located in Jackson Ward.
Red reeds and lily pads in Museum District
24-carat makeover at The Diamond // The Diamond is no longer rough, thanks to the creativity and skills of local and national artists who gathered at the baseball stadium for the RVA Street Art Festival last weekend.
Shaylen Broughton paints an abstract of ruby reds and sapphire blues on a skybox wall.
Top right, Noah Scailin creates a portrait of freedom fighter John Mitchell Jr., the late Richmond newspaper editor, civil rights advocate, businessman and politician who led a boycott of the city’s segregated trolley system in 1904.
Hamilton Glass gives the interior a montage of expressive faces and colorful flowers.
All natural //
Shayola the Artisan prepares a chickpea salad at Happily Natural Day last Saturday at the 5th District Mini Farm on Bainbridge Street in South Side. The festival celebrating African-American culture and hair included presentations on growing food in the community garden. All the vegetables used in the chickpea salad were grown onsite.
All out for VA PrideFest // The fun and fashions were plentiful last Saturday at VA PrideFest 2017 on Brown’s Island in Downtown. Thousands of LGBTQ people and supporters attended the event, which featured a variety of music, entertainment, food and activities.
All out for VA PrideFest // Aja from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performs before enthusiastic fans
Millennium C. Snow, left, strikes a pose while performing during The Drag Show.