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Welcome To The Show: A Conversation With Filmmaker Dorie Barton

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Independent filmmaker Dorie Barton has only been in Richmond for a couple of years, but she’s definitely made an impact. Her latest movie, Welcome To The Show, is the first she’s made since arriving in RVA. It features a group of college kids stuck in an immersive game with shifting rules while lost in and around the city.

Dorie already had a pretty significant career in Hollywood before she moved to Richmond in order to teach in VCU’s theatre program. She not only acted in everything from classic soap opera One Life To Live to indie movies like Bobcat Goldthwait’s underrated transgressive film, God Bless America, but also found time to write and direct a feature film called Girl Flu. But when she got to Richmond and started making her new movie, she quickly fell in love with all the city has to offer.

Welcome to Richmond, Dorie Barton! Welcome to your show.

Dorie Barton: I am a multi-disciplinary artist. First I was an actor, and I worked on stage since I was quite little. I studied at CalArts to be an actor, and then I spent 25 years in the film and television industry in Los Angeles, as an actor on stage, film, television, and voiceover.

And then I’ve dabbled in a lot of other things in the industry — I’ve been a script consultant for 15 years, I worked in development for a while, then I became a screenwriter and then, finally, a filmmaker. I’ve written and directed two feature films now.

R. Anthony Harris: What do you enjoy about acting specifically?

DB: That’s changed over the years, but I’m also teaching now and other things at VCU. And it’s really very sweet for me to encounter the young actors — reminds me of how I felt, with that really raw passion for the storytelling. So it’s very inspiring to be around the young people. I think that that is ultimately what most of us that do this like the best, because we get to tell stories in all kinds of forms.

But I also think that what I love about acting, and has really been true ever since I was little, is getting to become somebody else. [Laughs] Getting to become a different person, spend some time not being myself, and really feeling like I’ve lived a different life, or are part of a different life. I think it’s fun. Actually, I didn’t know that I would feel this way, but becoming a filmmaker, I realized [that] by being a writer and director, you kind of get to be everybody. You get to have that experience of playing all the parts, as when you have a dream and everyone in the dream really is kind of some version of you. So even though as a filmmaker I’m not literally being the actor — in that situation, it still feels the same. So I get to feel like I’ve lived this whole other multilayered life.

RAH: That’s amazing. You have a couple of films, Girl Flu from a few years ago and your newest, Welcome To The Show, which you wrote, acted in, and directed. Is there a part of the process you enjoy more? Or is it like you had mentioned just before, being able to set up your own fantasy and work within that.

DB: I love all the different phases of it. And all the phases of making a film are really different. I do love prepping for it, and at that stage where it’s just pure imagination. I really like organizing and prepping and planning, preparing for the shoot. Doing all the shot lists. I actually enjoy scheduling as well, because it really helps me visualize how to create all the pieces of the film.

I recently picked up quilting again and it reminds me why I like both forms so much. Filmmaking is like quilting. You chop up fabric into all these little pieces, and you take all these little pieces and rearrange them in different patterns over and over, and you keep moving them around.

That feels so much like with filmmaking. You gather all of these assets, all these little pieces, all these little scenes and pieces of scenes, and then you you edit it. You edit your film by deciding where the pieces all go and then at some point, you just have to make a decision that it is done.

But yeah, I really like the prep. I think everyone likes production the most. The actual shooting is kind of the most universally loved, and of course, yes, I’m absolutely like “Any day on set is my favorite day.” [Laughs] But I also co-edited this film [Welcome To The Show], and I was deeply involved with the editing process of Girl Flu as well. And I love editing. I absolutely love that part of it. It’s really so much more isolated than being in production. I really love how painstaking and patient [it is], without making perfect the goal, because it’s art and there’s nothing that’s perfect in art! But yeah, really finding out what’s going to make make the story, down to the frame.

RAH: Where did the idea for Welcome To The Show come from?

DB: The first idea when it started cooking in my mind was literally the first day I was ever in Richmond. When I came here, it was in May, and it was absolutely beautiful here. Even though I had grown up in Northern Virginia, I had never been to Richmond before. I came here to find an apartment and I drove in past the Main Street Train Station and drove into Manchester — and I was like, oh my god! It’s beautiful! I must make a movie here. [Laughs]

And I was just so taken with the look and the feel of the city and how beautiful I think it is. All of its contradictions are really, really interesting to me, and really that day, ideas started cooking in my mind about — how can we get people out into this city? What kind of story would take people out into the city, into parts of it that they would never normally go? I’m not quite sure how this entered my brain, but the idea of doing a piece of immersive theater about exploring Richmond.

RAH: I saw the movie a few weeks ago and saw so much of Richmond in it. You actually answered my next question, which was: how important was the city to the film?

DB: I mean, you could make this film, or a film, in a lot of different cities. It’s sort of like a form for exploration. But there were definitely specific things about Richmond that I find especially inspiring.

One of them is part of the story: the challenge of having to cross the river. When you get up on a tall building, and you look down at the James River, this big, beautiful river is just tearing through the middle of town. There’s 25 ways to cross it, but in this film, because of the rules of the show, they can’t cross it over a place that either trains or cars can use, so they have to find, like, the hard way.

And Belle Isle is the answer, with the pedestrian bridges, and then the rocks. And so, in some ways it very much has to be Richmond. I think it’s a introduction to this beautiful place that I would like people to know about, and to see and to admire.

RAH: The film is mixed in with the city, and it just ends up ends up being such a big part of it.

What was it like working with, I would assume, first time actors? In your role as a teacher, you probably deal with young actors all the time, but trying to direct them in a film — was that an easy experience? Or did you find it really challenging?

DB: I mean, I wrote this script for them. Even though I wrote a script for a movie that I wanted to see, I wrote it for these specific actors. I knew going in that I wanted to write something that I felt like we could all really succeed at. We would have the highest chance of hitting a home run with. So I wrote the script to match the story and the city that we were shooting in. I think that they’re all kind of playing… not themselves, but sort of a version of themselves that are not quite as good as humans as they are in real life. They are much better humans in real life. [Laughs] But I wrote their parts to be what I thought they would be just amazing at playing. So I tried to give everybody the best chance of doing great work.

And then, because I was their teacher, when I met the main cast, I was just starting to teach them in an Acting For the Camera class. So from when I met them to when we went into production was like three months, but because I was in class with them twice a week, that time ended up… not intentionally, but it ended up being practice for how it was going to be on on a set. Where we had a lot of shorthand built in from class, and just knew how we worked.

I’m really grateful for rehearsals for the scenes that I knew would be the hardest on the day. We couldn’t afford to shoot anything too many times — you’ve got to keep moving. There were a lot of things that we actually got in a single take, because we had rehearsed so thoroughly.

RAH: I thought you got a couple of really good performances out of this group.

DB: Proud of them. They’re all wonderful in it and I feel like they all took a leap of faith to work together.

dorie barton by kimberly frost
photo by Kimberly Frost

RAH: After you spend so much time planning, writing, shooting and everything else — how does it feel when you get done with a feature film? You are like, “Okay, we’re finally done.” Is there a sort of separation anxiety? Or is it relief? [Laughs]

DB: Have you felt that way before? [Laughs]

RAH: Oh yeah! I’ve worked on projects where I was intensely involved for so long and then it’s finally done. And then there is this period of “What do I do now?”

DB: Well, because the film was immediately at the Richmond International Film Festival, and I love film festivals. It was fun to go to a film festival where the film was shot, and have it open the festival. It was really inspiring just to be around other filmmakers and see other people’s films. I would like to be more part of a community, and not just a maker.

[Laughs] Oh! Immediately after the film festival, I sat down and wrote a screenplay. I can’t have any downtime. Yeah, separation anxiety is a good way to word that.

But yeah as an artist, we’re always going to be doing gig work. Basically, it’s like: you’re in a play, the play ends. You read a script, that part is over. You shoot a film, that comes out, and it’s over. It’s always this cycle, and I’ll probably always cry when something is over. Like, I don’t want to ever get to a place where I’m not that sad about it ending.

RAH: Now that you are in Richmond, and having had your experience in Hollywood, what do you think the city needs in terms of production of films to support independent filmmaking here?

DB: I guess it’s a little hard, because of the timing, and the pandemic stopped so many things — so it’s not always easy to identify, like, who is Richmond-based. When you’re in Los Angeles, pretty much everyone around you is somehow, even tangentially, employed in the film, television, or theater industries, or the music industry. Pretty much everybody in Los Angeles is an artist of some kind, and it’s very easy to pick a conversation up with just about anybody. It’s very easy to, like, crew up in LA. If you have an idea for a weekend, you just get on the phone and, “Let’s find a crew!”

I have a team of people that I work with here that I absolutely love, and I’m super grateful for all the people that worked on Welcome To The Show with me. [They] are phenomenal. And of course, they’re the first people I’m going to call. But I’d like to get to a more expanded view of more people in production and producing. People making things happen.

I really need a community of artists to feel like I’m fully thriving because it is easy to get like trapped in your own echo chamber. I am still in community with my friends from Los Angeles, but it’s not the same.

And so yeah, I would like to see more filmmakers getting together, maybe in writers’ workshops. Like, I would totally do a writers’ workshop right now. Or just a way for us to support each other’s goals. I feel like it would look like a salon. A filmmakers’ salon, to get together and talk about what we’re working on. Or to watch a movie once a month and get together and discuss.

dorie barton by kimberly frost
photo by Kimberly Frost

RAH: Last question: for this year, what are you working on, and what are you looking forward to? What are you working on now?

DB: I am working on developing my next film to write and direct. I’m also writing a film, just to write it. I have a really good feeling about 2022. There’s been a lot of ideas marinating during the past couple of years, and we’re moving into a time to take action. To take positive action and think about [how] a lot of us have changed to some extent, and learning things.

RAH: I love that, Dorie, and I also have a feel really good about this year.

DB: Even today, I feel that way.

RAH: That’s awesome. Thank you. I just really appreciate the time.

DB: Thank you so much. It has been so lovely to talk with you again. I really am quite serious, but I think it’s I feel like it’s going to take some like formalization of film people. A plan where people get together and provide support and encouragement and empowerment and feedback. I think that that would be great.

RAH: No, no, I completely agree. Well, that’s it. Thank you, Dorie.

DB: Thank you so much.

Find out more about Dorie Barton HERE
Follow her on Instagram HERE

Photos by Kimberly Frost

Down The River To Enlightenment

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Headwaters Down is the winner of this year’s Virginia Environmental Film Contest and a highlight of the RVA Environmental Film Festival 2022, which kicks off tonight. Kieran Cleary delves into the story behind the film to better understand what can be learned from a two-week trip down the James River.

On Friday, February 18, the James River Association will kick off the 12th annual RVA Environmental Film Festival with a series of virtual and in-person screenings to take place over the next two weeks. Topics covered by films featured in the festival this year will include animal rights and vegetarian lifestyles, accessibility of fresh food, rising temperatures within our cities, the continuing limitation of Native American access to and ownership of natural resources and space, and the importance of collective decision-making about the conservation and use of public lands. This year’s crop of films also finds us taking a candid look at global sustainability, focusing on the conflict between the basic human needs of an expanding population and the limitations of our planet’s resources.   

In order to bring attention to the work of local filmmakers, the RVA Environmental Film Festival will also include the winner of this year’s Virginia Environmental Film Contest. This year’s first prize went to filmmakers Justin Black, Will Gemma, and Dietrich Teschner, directors of Headwaters Down. Work for the film began at the end of last May, when Black, Teschner, Gemma, and two other friends set out on an adventure that they intended to record for posterity. Through my conversations with Black and Gemma, I learned that, if anything, what’s portrayed in Headwaters Down simplifies and plays down some of their adventures, such as their encounters with territorial campers along the upper James River and Monacan tribe members on the Middle James. The film strikes a lovely balance of humor, art, and poetry that elevates it above a mere record of the events that occurred during the trip. A film made both to commemorate friendship and experiences and to remind viewers that protecting and repairing the ecosystem of the James River is of the utmost importance, it’s also funny, well-paced and beautiful. 

Headwaters Down creators Will Gemma, Dietrich Teschner, and Justin “Saw” Black

The story told by Headwaters Down begins with no expectations beyond the undertaking of a float trip down the James River. It ends 13 days later with the trip’s glorious conclusion in downtown Richmond. The warm narration, written by Will Gemma, reflects the pace of the journey down the river through mostly rural areas. In addition to the three filmmakers, the Headwaters Down crew also includes Andrew Murray, a naturalist certified in the identifying of native Virginia species. Over the course of the film, Murray provides names for many of the species they encounter, lending a valuable layer of knowledge that broadens the project’s environmental scope. The final member of the quintet, spiritual mentor Stephen Keuster, lends color, knowledge, and music of his own to the project. 

Their outing turns out to have lasted as many days as the 2022 edition of the RVA Environmental Film Festival, which, in the same manner as the portion of the James River the quintet from Headwaters Down floats along, aims to gather many ideas together like tributaries, combining them to create a strong environmental consciousness that will flow like a river through our city.   

In its final form, Headwaters Down is culled from 35 hours of footage  shot on “Sony FX6s and some less powerful Fuji cameras, iPhone 10s when necessary,” as well as several great aerial clips. What emerges is a side of the James River that isn’t usually seen by Richmond residents who, like me, just hope to find a lucky parking spot down at Brown’s Island on weekends. We may love our little stretch of the James River, but we probably haven’t considered the many forms its scenery takes over the course of a trip from the “headwaters down.”

Watching Headwaters Down gives us the opportunity to understand more about the parts of the river we don’t know so well. As we learn, we meet these adventurers and follow them on a journey as they pare down to the necessities for a while – luxuries in this film are a notebook, a guitar, and hot meals – and go to sleep each night with the sound of the running water and whippoorwills in their ears. Bathe in the river along with them. As you filter drinking water from it alongside these adventurers, think about what goes into it. Marvel at its bounty. 

As their lives become a little simpler, their new surroundings liberate them to see their needs and  problem-solving abilities in a new light. Each day, they deliberate on a suitable camp where they can set up their shelter. They realize that they need to consider the elements and the way the landscape is affected by land ownership, agriculture, and local politics. 

The film is 100% Do-It-Yourself, and this includes the soundtrack. It’s created by Justin Black, who records under the name Saw Black, as a companion to the film. Fans can look for the Headwaters Down soundtrack to be released soon through WarHen Records, the Charlottesville record label that has released several previous Saw Black records. 

This film makes me laugh, but it also offers poetry. Beginning both gracefully and hilariously with open minds and expectations, it soon becomes a tale of five guys getting ensnared in the politics of ownership along the banks of the James River, and dealing with the unsettling feeling of making camp when you don’t own the land you’re camping on. While the crew treats their repeated conflicts with local campers who don’t welcome them as a blip they soon shrug off, I’m left feeling strange and sad at the thought of anyone facing difficulty in finding a place to sleep. Frankly, making camp in the wilderness is scary enough without this struggle. The stigma on those without the benefits of land ownership, they soon learn, is real.

In some ways, their project resembles The River And The Wall, a film shown during last year’s RVA Environmental Film Festival. This film documents the way the Rio Grande River, where it forms a natural barrier between the US and Mexico, becomes a danger to recreational adventurers due to the presence of armed transport boats ferrying people and illegal products across the river. Along a stretch of the river where a US Nature Preserve is located, people hide in desert wilderness, attempting to cross the US Border. In an effort to prevent this activity, the US government constructs a border wall, which has the unfortunate side effect of blocking large game species from accessing the river, the very water source that attracts them to the area. Black is a fan of this work, which takes a similar look at a river, the natural beauty of which is threatened by unfortunate political realities.

As it goes on, the scope of Headwaters Down’s political narrative flows from land ownership issues to broader political and environmental concerns. The group witnesses the James River Association’s work planting tree barriers to act as buffers along the agricultural stretch of river in the Piedmont region. And they land on a culturally significant peninsula – Rassawek, the historic capital settlement of the Monacan tribe and an ancestral burial site, which is currently threatened by a federal infrastructure project that will direct water to areas of projected development in Zion Crossroads. The film lends its voice to the Monacan tribe members who are being required by the government to provide proof of the importance of their historic ancestral grounds. 

I admire the filmmakers’ choice to take a break from so many of the things that make up their day-to-day routines and temporarily focus their lives on this river, hoping that by doing so, they can let more people know that it needs to be protected. What they learn during their journey is that the river is alive, and speaks a language that evolves with the changing landscape on its path from the headwaters down.   

The RVA Environmental Film Festival takes place from Friday, February 18 to Friday, March 4, with screenings taking place both virtually and in a variety of venues online. All screenings are free, but must be registered for in advance. Check the complete list of screenings and locations, and register online to attend, at RVAEFF.org. Headwaters Down will be presented as part of RVA EFF with a virtual screening on February 20. There will also be a separate in-person presentation of the film at the Byrd Theatre for a single showing on February 27 at 6:30 pm. Tickets for this showing are $12, and can be purchased in advance at Eventbrite.

Bill Would Add Nelson and Appomattox Counties to James State Scenic River

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The House of Delegates passed a bill Tuesday that adds additional parts of the James River to a statewide conservation program.

Del. C. Matthew Fariss, R-Campbell, introduced House Bill 49, which designates 37 additional miles of the James River in Nelson and Appomattox counties as the James State Scenic River, part of the Virginia Scenic Rivers Program.

The Virginia Scenic Rivers Program, established in 1970, evaluates rivers based on 14 criteria such as landscape, historic features and uniqueness of animals and plants, according to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.

“It’s really important for folks to get out there and use their river recreationally, enjoy the beauty that nature has and make sure we’re protecting it, because it’s so important,” said Dominique Lavorata, a legislative aide with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.

The bill had strong support in committee and in the chamber. The Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources committee amended the bill with a substitute that reduced the proposed James State Scenic River mileage from 44 miles to 37 miles. A county was removed so that its board of supervisors and county offices had more time to approve the changes, according to Lavorata.

HB 49 Committee Video. Supporters of the bill pictured: Leighton Powell, Pat Calvert and Anna Killius. Image via CNS.

The final version of the bill also accommodates a pending water supply project in Fluvanna County and provides clarity that the formal designation does not impact the project, Lavorata said.

The designated areas are not free from development, but the Scenic Rivers Program is intended to give citizens a stronger voice in government actions or decisions that could impact their river, according to DCR. 

Areas designated as part of the Scenic Rivers Program are protected from construction of any dam without approval from the state government and locality. The Board of Conservation and Recreation advise the DCR director of construction plans taking place in the area, according to the DCR.

The designation also allows localities to adopt a special tax assessment for properties along the river which can reduce the tax liability, according to the DCR. Lands along designated Scenic Rivers corridors are eligible to receive grant funds.

Anna Killius with the James River Association, Pat Calvert with the Virginia Conservation Network, and Leighton Powell, the executive director of Scenic Virginia, spoke in support of the bill.

The James State Scenic River designation was established in 2017 and will now have a total expanse of roughly 100 miles. There are 33 river segments totaling approximately 900 miles of river in the Virginia Scenic Rivers Program, according to the DCR.

“I’m just a proponent of clean water and loving your watershed,” Lavorata said.

Written by Monica Alarcon-Najarro, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Thea Ganoe, Public Domain, via Wikimedia

Op-Ed: River Shitty

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Year after year, coal train derailments, sewage pipeline leaks, pesticide runoff, and other toxic substances continue to poison the James River. In a summer that’s seen multiple toxic train derailments and a two-week ban on swimming due to multiple sewage pipe breaks, climate activist Aaron Linas asks, when will we start treating our river better?

It’s time we take seriously the health of the James River. In the last two months there have been three train derailments in downtown Richmond (June 8, Rocketts Landing; June 30, Hollywood Cemetery; and July 23, Oregon Hill), resulting in multiple cars landing in the river and 500 tons of coal dumped into the Kanawha canal. In two weeks alone, there were two separate sewage pipeline leaks (July 24, Pipeline Trail; and July 29, Goochland), causing the city government to place restrictions on recreational use of the river. Richmond residents were banned for almost two weeks from swimming, rafting, and fishing in the James, or any activity that resulted in getting their skin wet. Virginia health officials have now lifted restrictions, but swimming is still discouraged.

This isn’t the first time the city has restricted swimming, and up until Ralph White’s tenure, it was flat-out banned to go in at all. In 1980, White became the James River Parks manager with a yearly budget of $3000 and a city prepared to sell off wetland parcels for development. Under his guidance and with dedicated volunteers, the park expanded its trail network, built accessible pathways, and conserved Richmond’s urban wilderness. What was once a shunned place has now become a centerpiece of the city.

There is an unspoken history of the river being used as a dumping ground for toxic and sewage waste. The forgotten Kepone plant in Hopewell was manufacturing a DDT relative from 1966 until 1975; in this time they poisoned dozens of workers and dumped over 200,000 pounds of Kepone into the river. Dredging efforts were abandoned for fear of disturbing the settled waste. After being covered with additional dirt, it still sits underneath the river floor. As Avail sang in 1998, “There’s kepone in the river, but the river’s still moving east…”

There are a few other pollutants that live on the bottom of the James, including over 70,000 gallons of crude oil from the 2014 Lynchburg train derailment. Seventeen rail cars carrying volatile crude oil derailed in the downtown area, with three going directly into the James. The images of the river on fire raised concerns over the danger of “bomb trains,” the possibility that cars carrying highly explosive bakkan shale oil from North Dakota might erupt and cause large-scale fires. Our energy reliance on natural gas escalates the potential for a devastating citywide catastrophe. Richmond is lucky that none of the last three train derailments involved fracked gas or oil.

West of Richmond, 60 miles upstream in the town of Bremo, is a coal-fired power plant owned by Dominion. In 2016, Dominion was granted a permit by the Department of Environmental Quality to drain 255 million gallons of coal ash wastewater, containing toxic chemicals like arsenic, selenium, and hexavalent chromium, from the 85-year-old Bremo facility’s ponds into the river. The dumping levels exceeded state-accepted standards of industrial discharge, but DEQ and Dominion claimed the river could sufficiently dilute the heavy metals and not effect drinking water. Dominion has another coal-fired power plant 17 miles downstream in Chester, where for years heavy metals from the coal ash ponds have been leaking into the surrounding waterways. After legislation passed in 2019 that requires Dominion to clean up all of its coal ash ponds within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, any new coal ash from the Chester power plant is now disposed in a landfill.

The most widely known river polluter is the combined sewer overflow system (CSO) that routinely dumps untreated wastewater after a storm. It is common knowledge that after a heavy rain you should avoid swimming in the river, for fear of contracting MRSA or a staph infection. Formal complaints about CSO began in the 1970’s with Newton Hooper Ancarrow, who owned a boat landing on the south side of the river. The landing is now known as Ancarrow’s Landing and sits across the James from Rocketts Landing. In 1974, he directed a film, The Raging James, that focused on the channelizations of waterways and its disruption of environmental health – a debate that is currently underway about Reedy Creek. He would go on to formally petition city council to address the damages CSO had on the river and his business. The city council, in response to his nuisance, placed an eminent domain acquisition on his property — forcing the sale of Ancarrow’s Landing and surrounding area to build where is now the wastewater treatment facility.

Governor Ralph Northam’s allocation of $50 million from the coronavirus relief money for Richmond combined-sewer cleanup is a fraction of the help needed to end overflows into the James River. The City of Richmond had previously asked for $883 million to build infrastructure that can capture, store, and treat heavy storm water flows by separating street runoff from sewage, and bring the city in compliance with new state mandates to end CSO discharge by 2035.

If the Governor and Mayor are sincere about ensuring reliable access to clean drinking water and rebuilding our aging infrastructure, then they must declare a state of climate emergency. Addressing CSO has been evaded, if not ignored, due in part to political unwillingness, as well as the exorbitant cost and planning of a project that is likely to disrupt many areas of the city. This procrastination has increased the cost of repairs, and leaves city operators with no choice but to dump untreated raw sewage into the river. It took two days to inform the public that a 40-inch pipe in Goochland leaked 300,000 gallons of undiluted raw sewage into the James. That’s straight up from the toilet to the river.

Beyond the pollutants of coal, natural gas, and CSO, there are other dumping actors. The juvenile, women’s, and men’s prisons in Powhatan have been permitted to discharge septic treated wastewater into the James for decades. They maintain this is within compliance, but rumors of malfunctions and excess flow dumping untreated wastewater go unnoticed. Runoff from commercial farms add pesticides, sediment, and animal waste.

A discussion about the health of the James River must include all existing actors and aspects of water infrastructure. If we continue to allow permitted or accidental dumping of pollution into our waterways, we reverse the work of people like Ralph White and the volunteers who spent decades to get us a swimmable river. The history of James River pollution must be retold for each generation to ensure we don’t forget or replicate such poor methods of waste management and energy consumption. A city without drinkable water is not fit for humans.

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect editorial policy.

Top Photo by Erin Ferrell, via Twitter

RVA Mag’s Downtown Holiday Jaunt

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Well, here we are — close to closing out this most difficult and unusual year in RVA. We have all been trying to find a way to navigate, mentally and physically, this season. Our downtown is all lit up for the holidays. At night, you can see our wonderful River City in all its glory across the river, with buildings outlined in lights for Christmas and New Years.  I desperately want to be a part of it all somehow, just like in years past.

This season, probably more than any other, I have been making sure to shop local, to support local restaurants and markets this holiday season. For many years, I have taken family or friends into the city for the lights and for good eats around this time. Despite the many precautions required by the pandemic, navigating all that now is still possible with a little planning and preparation. In this article, I’m going to show you how you can do exactly that. Think of it as a Day in the Life of RVA Downtown in 2020. 

Before we begin, I don’t think of this as a guide; it’s hard to have an exact plan in 2020. Perhaps it’s something that gives you a sense of the possibilities that make sense for your trip. Ways to do it, be safe, and still have fun — all in support of the city and local businesses we love. So then — let’s get to it. I’m making our plan, packing up the car, grabbing our masks, hand sanitizer, coat, and gloves, and we’re heading out early morning. It’s a sunny day in RVA — a little cold, but just perfect for a river trip and a warm drink.

Let’s start by looking at our MAP to get an idea of where to head first. Ah yes — COFFEE! The first stop is coffee, because let’s be real: we need that badly. There are a few spots to choose from, all roasted up perfect. You can smell it before it’s even in your hand. I had to try Sefton, though Whisk was calling me with those pastries. We grab two cappuccinos to go and get back in the warm car. 

Sefton Coffee To go? I think so!

Downtown Coffee stops:

We got the coffee, and the zombie feelings are starting to fade.Now, maybe some will get their food at the local coffee spot. But we had a certain spot, and plan, in mind for our breakfast. Perly’s is one of our favorites – lox and bagel curbside pickup sounds about right. So that’s this trip’s plan, but let’s list out a few other local favorites where you can grab that perfect breakfast. 

Perly’s Breakfast Bagel Lox is the play.

Breakfast to go:

We head now to find a spot by the river for a walk with our coffee and bagel in tow. We go down by Rocketts Landing on the river to get a view of the James River across from Ancarrow’s Landing. However, there are many sweet spots on the river where you could spend a morning; let’s list a few. 

City View by the River

River Spots:

Now to the actual plan for our day trip: we’re going to tour some murals around downtown. There are plenty to visit, and you can route them as needed. Let’s get a map and plan together. Here are some guides and links for starting your mural tour. 

Canal Walk Murals

Mural Tour Links:

We could be at this all day, easily. But it’s getting close to lunch and it’s time for a break. Let’s regroup with a beer, and figure out our lunch plan. There are a few close-by places where we can grab a brew; we can even have them outside, or just make a pickup and figure it out. Perhaps we can even pick up some packs for home. Let’s go over our best potential spots.  

Triple Crossing in Fulton with its sweet outdoor area

Lets Grab a Brew:

That was needed; now we’re feeling refreshed and we want to get some grub. There are plenty of spots to choose from downtown. It’s also easy to hit a market for some quick bits to go. I’m craving some tacos (duh), so we’re hitting up Soul Taco. But any of these spots are top quality and have easy to go pickup.  

Soul Taco Reminder by the River, good idea.

Lunch Spots for your tummy:

River walking on a sunny day

Having grabbed our lunch, we head to finish up any remaining mural spots, then take a walk on the river as we digest our food. At this point we could stay on the river, do some Christmas shopping, hit up some disk golf, or even check out some museums in the area. Let’s list some possible choices, and we can form our plan from that. Remember to check for COVID-19 rules at some of these places; if you’re going to a museum, you may need to purchase tickets online before you show up.

Valentine Museum

Museums & Galleries

Gillies Park Hole #18 Midday Disk golf

Disk Golf Trip: 

We opted for The Valentine Museum to take in some Virginia History. It also has a nice shop in it, so we picked up a classic Richmond gift. Now we’re gonna go down Shockoe Slip to take in the sights and make a popular stop at Fountain Bookstore. 

Fountain Bookstore is always worth a visit

Shopping & More:

After that busy afternoon, we’re getting hungry and want to grab our dinner. Ordering some takeout from J Kogi seems to be in order. We need that bulgogi badly, so we’re getting some super spicy to go. There are plenty of other amazing meals we could do in the Downtown area, and quite a few came up in discussion. We settled on J Kogi, but you might pick from any number of great options.  

J kogi Noodles… heartwarming.

Dinner to go: 

RVA Holiday Night Lighting by @rvaphotog

Finally we take in our surroundings as the sky gets dark and the city lights up all over. Heading back down to Shockoe, going past Kanawha Plaza to stop and see the lights, then over towards Brown’s Island so we can take in the light tour. The river walk is all lit up, from Turning Basin to Belle Isle. Feeling Christmasy about now.

Links and Maps for Lights:

Well, we’re feeling pretty tired after all that, but successful overall, so let’s grab desserts and find a warm fire. For that, we’re hitting up Capitol Waffle on the way home, because they’ve got that one sweet waffle for win. Goodnight RVA — thanks for the sweet sights.

Remember: Shop Local ❤️ Local!

For more information on all of the shops, restaurants, and sights in downtown RVA and beyond, visit Venture Richmond & Virginia is for Lovers!

James River Jubilee @ Hardywood

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In collaboration with the James River Association, Hardywood is proud to bring you the first-ever James River Jubilee, a family-friendly event that’s all about celebrating our favorite Richmond River- the James!

The day will be packed full of interactive vendors, jubilant music, cold beer, and tasty food truck offerings- all to benefit the James River Association.

MUSIC
Andrew Alli and Josh Small
Church Hill Music Co.