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Why Richmond is Ready for Rest Fest Right Now

In 2009, I went to three different GameStops trying to find a Wii Fit Balance Board, and getting one started my path toward having yoga in my life. After two years of doing virtual yoga on a game system, I was challenged by a student to seek out meditation and yoga...

The Veiled Mirror Comes With Ghost Stories Included

If you are in the market for a glass eye in the same shade as your lover’s, some elaborate hair jewelry, or even an electric couch to use as a Victorian cure-all, then you need to head over to The Veiled Mirror. This Victorian antique store opened downtown in January,...

Richmond Had a General Strike and a First Friday on the Same Night

It was 72 and breezy. Unseasonably pleasant, almost chilly. VCU students were splayed out on picnic blankets in Monroe Park enjoying soft serve and the sunshine. Citronella and the smell of hot dogs wafted through the air from some folks having a cookout. “High...

My Life As a Spider: The Two Years I Tried to Delete

Editor’s Note: Max Winter is a University of Richmond alumnus reflecting on his time at UR in the late ’90s and the campus culture he experienced. You can read more of his work on his Substack HERE. Recently, while eating carnitas in East LA, I check my phone and get...

Britain Wants a Smoke-Free Generation. Now Picture the Cigarette Dealer.

Britain is trying something. They’ve approved a plan where, if you were born in 2009 or later, you’d never be allowed to legally buy cigarettes. The age just keeps moving up every year, and at some point there’s a whole group of adults who were never let in. It still...

GWAR Asks Fans to Donate Blood in Support of Co-Founder Chuck Varga

GWAR is asking fans and the broader community to step up in support of co-founder Chuck Varga, who is currently battling cancer. “We are coming together to support Chuck Varga (The Sexecutioner), one of the founding members of GWAR, who is currently battling cancer,...

It’s Still Our City Ep. 20 | Katie Davis, Salvation Tattoo

“Katie Davis left home (Maine) at 16 and moved to Richmond Virginia. She started working in a tattoo shop at age 17. A total dream job for a music and art loving minor delinquent. While apprenticing and working full time, she also attended/graduated VCU with a BFA in...

Proof In The Park! Richmond Arts Park Gets Trial Run This Weekend

The City of Richmond is giving organizers behind a proposed arts park under the Manchester Bridge a one-day opportunity to test the concept in real time. Scheduled for Saturday April 25 from 12-5pm, the event will serve as a live proof of concept for what supporters...

Cannabis Justice Moves Forward in Virginia After Years of Debate

Virginia’s effort to revisit outdated cannabis convictions is moving forward again, though in a revised form that shifts how people access relief. Governor Abigail Spanberger’s amendments to SB 62 / HB 26 replace the bill’s original automatic resentencing framework with a petition-based process. The legislation is intended to give courts the...

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Cannabis Justice_Larry Farr_RVA Magazine 2026

A New Stadium, an Old Feeling, and Opening Night

There are seats that stretch the wall in left field next to the foul pole fifty feet from the opposing team’s bullpen. I was sitting four bar chairs down from the pole waiting for my friend to arrive so we could get a dog and a burger before there were any lines. I’d wanted to sit near the foul pole ever since I saw the years-later replay on...

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Carmax Park_Richmond Flying Squirrels_Ryan Kent_RVA Magazine 2026

Virginia Lawmakers Clash Over $1.6B Data Center Tax Breaks

State lawmakers will soon return to the Capitol after ending the General Assembly session without a budget, in part due to some debate whether to continue current tax breaks for data centers. The Democratic-led Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee put forth a budget that would end the tax exemption for data centers by 2027, and free up...

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Virginia-Data-Center-tax-Breaks-by-Alexa-Barnes_photo-by-Kacy-Lee, VCU-Capital-News-Service_RVA-Magazine-2026

Love Thy Neighbor

There was a new guy that moved across the street from me, a new neighbor, and every time he saw me on the front porch puffing away, he asked to bum a smoke. It got so incessant that I had begun smoking in the backyard instead, not wishing to part with any of my precious pack of cigarettes if it wasn’t to be consumed by me. After a couple of weeks...

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Love-Thy-Neighbor-by-Eric-Kalata_RVA-Magazine-2026

The Richmond Animation Festival Doubles Down This Year

For the 4th Richmond Animation Festival, the program expands to two nights of screenings.  First, on Saturday, April 25th, the Shorts program curated by Jordan Bruner and Zack Williams will screen at Studio Two Three, and the feature screening of Julian Glander’s Boys Go To Jupiter will play at The Byrd, Sunday, April 26th. Starting in 2023,...

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Richmond Animation Festival 2026 by Todd Raviotta_RVA Magazine 2026

Writer’s Block | Two Poems by Cameron Ritter

Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. This week, we’re featuring two poems by Cameron Ritter. His work leans into observation and dialogue, pulling from everyday...

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Poems by Cameron Ritter_RVA Magazine 2026

The Era of Straight-Up Greed (Or, Can I Live?)

I stopped for gas the other day, it’s $4.19 a gallon. You swipe your card, you move on. That’s just the baseline price of existing now in Richmond. Inside, I grabbed a couple things without thinking. A two-pack of Reese’s and an iced tea. The kind of purchase made a thousand times from muscle memory. $3.45 for the candy. Four bucks for the tea. I...

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The Era of Straight-Up Greed (Or, Can I Live?) by R. Anthony Harris_RVA Magazine 2026

Writer’s Block | Student Poets from PodiumRVA Speak Their Truth

A Sunday series from RVA Magazine featuring writers from Richmond and Virginia Writer’s Block is RVA Magazine’s Sunday series highlighting contemporary writers working in Richmond and across the Commonwealth. Each week, we feature original poems, short stories, or essays. Just real voices writing right now. Editor’s Note: The following poems were...

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PodiumRVA_photo by Alizea Sidorov_RVA Magazine 2026