2010 in review: Q4

Can you even believe it’s the last day of 2010? How do I not have a flying car by now? I need to make some calls to find out who’s to blame for this. While I’m doing that, take a look back at how Richmond spent the last three months of this jam-packed year.

December 31, 2010; 6:00 AM • by Valerie Catrow

(Q1 | Q2 | Q3)

Can you even believe it’s the last day of 2010? How do I not have a flying car by now? I need to make some calls to find out who’s to blame for this. While I’m doing that, take a look back at how Richmond spent the last three months of this jam-packed year.

October got off to a great start with Live at Ipanema: The Cinnamon Band. If you haven’t had a listen, go do that now. Comments like “Golden!” and “HOT DAMN!” can’t be wrong.

We also learned of plans to bring a ropes course to Byrd Park and, let me tell you, a few folks were NOT pleased with the prospect of a public park being used for private gain.

Our piece on the Virginia Tea Party Convention got quite a few comments and gave great insight into people’s political opinions prior to the mid-term elections. That same weekend, after months of anticipation, Richmond got down with its bad self at the Folk Festival on Brown’s Island.

In mid-October, we had Snow Bear and six-layer cake on the brain with the release of Finding Thalhimers, a book paying tribute to the beloved Richmond department store. Meanwhile, Kendra Feather (owner of Fan favorites Ipanema and Garnett’s) started making plans to open a new restaurant in the old Que Pasa space in Church Hill — judging from the comments on that post, the neighborhood is stoked.

We closed out the month with a Supper Punch winner, our hugely popular restaurant week coverage (seriously, the page views almost broke us), and a nice little zombie walk in Carytown to celebrate Halloween. BRAINS!!!!

November started off with lots of sharing as Weather Dan told us how he became, well, Weather Dan, and Patience and I (and lots of our lovely readers) shared our birth stories (don’t worry, nothing gross).

Then, for some reason, over 16,000 people ran 26.2 miles just because. They weren’t even being chased!

We saw some interesting stories and conversations come out of the Northside with this post on what to do with Azalea Mall (that’s that big parking lot down on Brook Road, right before the Henrico County line) and this piece on current efforts to restore the Bellevue Theater.

After J.R. Pope resigned as Director of the Richmond Parks Department, councilman Marty Jewell suggested that the previously mentioned ropes course was Pope’s pet project, stating, “Nobody was in favor of this thing but Pope.”

Once December hit, Richmond went BANANAS with holiday joy. THEN the rest of the world went BANANAS over Richmond once they got word (and video) that our beloved Rudolph balloon bit the dust (or was bitten and destroyed by a stoplight) at the Richmond Christmas Parade. Then we got all sentimental and weepy with a tribute to Sergeant Santa and a look back at Richmond at Christmas over the last several decades.

Things had been relatively quiet over at the Patrick Henry School after they opened in August, but the drama was in full effect after its former treasurer decided to sue board member Reggie Malone for defamation of character after comments he made about her bookkeeping habits.

Next up, the Richmond Spiders beat the Rams in the Black and Blue Classic, a lady tried to sue McDonald’s and we fought about it, and Black Swan blew everyone’s minds.

Just in time for Christmas, Richmond gave her residents a lovely gift: an ice skating rink with a beautiful downtown setting.

Then it snowed about a billion inches, we all got a white Christmas, and Weather Dan is now bald from tearing his hair out while tracking the storm.

Now as we prepare to bid adieu to 2010, I’d like to thank you all for hanging out with us this year. RVANews would be nothing without its wonderful readers and the thoughts and opinions you bring to this space. We’ve had tons of fun and hope you did, too!

Happy New Year, RVA!

(Image by John Murden, originally published in A walk around the Virginia Tea Party Convention)

As the editor of RVANews, Valerie Catrow spends most of her time wrangling people over email and muttering to herself about the content calendar. She also contributes to our parenting column while maintaining her own blog, Made in Richmond. It should be noted that she loves tots, both the potato and child varieties.

December 31, 2010 6:00 AM 0