5 Things

Don’t be scared by heat! Get out and look at some art, taste some beer, eat some watermelon, see a good movie, and run for cover as a million birds take over the city.

August 2, 2012; 6:48 AM • by Susan Howson

Don’t be scared by the heat. Heat is your friend. Heat keeps you on your toes. And honestly it’s not that bad right now anyway, so get out and look at some art, taste some beer, eat some watermelon, see a good movie, and run for cover as a million birds take over the city.

1. ARTe’licious 2012 Silent Art Auction

Hang some local (or even some national) art in your home, and every time you look at it, know that you contributed to Visual Arts Studio programming. Go ahead, I mean it. Stop by this Thursday night for the silent auction kickoff and silently enter your bid for paintings by Anne Hart Chay, Greg Lewis, T. McConville, Linda Hollett-Bazouzi, and more! If you miss it Thursday, you’ll have an opportunity to sneak back in and bid your heart out during the First Friday Art Walk the following night.

• Thurs. Aug. 3 – Fri. Aug. 4 • 6:00 PM
• Visual Art Studio, 208 W. Broad St.
• As much as your wallet can afford

2. Hardywood Hop Harvest Fest

Exciting news, hopheads. August is Virginia’s first official Craft Beer Month, and guess who’s taking advantage of a good excuse to celebrate, Hardywood-style. Oh, barley! I just gave it away. Join your boozy friends at Hardywood at their first annual festival, which encourages and celebrates budding (oh, me!) hop growers. Next year, you’ll be able to sample beers made from hops grown by home brewers gifted with Hardywood hop rhizomes. This year, you’ll just get to drink lots of brews from experienced hoppers while you listen to bands and eat from food trucks. Plus, you probably don’t have to know what a “rhizome” is. Here’s hoping, anyway.

• Sat. Aug. 4 • 2:00 – 8:00 PM
• Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, 2408 Ownby Lane
• Free to attend

3. “Gone to the Birds” Purple Martin Festival

Bird-lovers. Farmers’ Market-lovers. Everyone except car-lovers (because you might not love some unfortunate yet necessary byproducts of this event). Come see the purple martins descend upon Shockoe Bottom! Every year, they roost in those Bradford pear trees, and this time, we’re celebrating it with purple martinis and gelato and all sorts of other things. Because we all know what it’s like to have martins swoop into town and start a-roosting, eh, Ukrop’s fans?

• Sat. Aug. 4 • 6:00 – 9:00 PM
• 17th Street Farmer’s Market, 17th St. and Main St.
• Free!

4. 29th Annual Watermelon Festival

A sweltering, yet time-honored tradition, the Watermelon Festival captivates every man, woman, and child on an annual basis, luring them in with promises of icy cold pieces of fruit, only to end up entertaining them with musicians, exhibitors, and who knows what else. Did you know, it’s the largest one-day festival IN THE STATE? For reals, though, dress appropriately for the weather. It’s August, and watermelons make poor parasols.

• Sun. Aug. 5 • 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
• Carytown!
• Free to attend

5. Beasts of the Southern Wild

I just can’t shut up about this movie! We’re lucky to be part of its limited release (and we are part of it only because a local Gottwald produced it), as normally we’d have to wait like four years for it to make its way down to ol’ RVA. It’ll just make you feel like life is pretty damn cool. Especially on Oscar night, when you jump on your couch and cheer because you totally called it. Beasts is at Westhampton all the weekend long, people. Buy those tix.

• Whenever!
• Regal Westhampton Cinema 2, 5706 Grove Ave.
• $10

August 2, 2012 6:48 AM 1