5 Things

I haven’t looked at the weather, because at this time of year, it’s too easy to be disappointed. At least in January you can confidently stop planning outdoor things, you know? But there’s a variety of indoor/outdoor things for you this weekend, from sweet festivals to irreverent musicals.

November 6, 2014; 7:20 AM • by Susan Howson

1. Tricycle Gardens Annual Harvest Celebration and Golden Trowel Awards

I love hearing everything I can about Tricycle Gardens and their incredibly determined and industrious efforts to make, basically, all of our lives better. You can support (and celebrate with) this group of urban-agricultural wizards at their annual Harvest Celebration, where they’ll hand out awards for the truly dedicated–BUT ALSO treat you to a lot of food, of course. And drink, don’t forget the drink.

Friday, November 7th • 7:00 PM
Children’s Museum of Richmond, 2626 W. Broad Street
$50

2. James River Short Films Competition

Short films! You watch ’em, you love ’em, and you still get to count it towards your yearly Letterboxd film count. You have one of those, don’t you? Come watch the finalists in the James River Film Society’s annual Short Films Competition and think very good thoughts about your favorite filmmaker, because they could win a chunk of change at the end! Featuring Megan Holley, the filmmaker of Sunshine Cleaning, a Richmond native who will be showing some of her early short works as well.

Friday, November 7th • 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 200 N. Boulevard
$8

3. S’mores Fest

Toys for Tots is a good enough reason to get you out, but fresh s’mores and kids’ crafts and a fire truck and projected college football and…and…live music and Goatocado and…I just short-circuited. I love when a Place To Be is also a Good Cause, and this is going to be the place to be this Saturday afternoon, whether you have kids or not. Come eat, listen, watch, and give.

Saturday, November 8th • 12:00 – 5:00 PM
Gather, 409 E. Main Street
Free, but bring a new toy for a tot! No money, please!

4. The Book of Mormon

This thing is like the Folk Festival–I mean, no…no, not in content. But in that every single person I know is like “Which day are you going to The Book of Mormon?” So…I guess I’m going? See you guys there, at this award-winning musical that promises up and down, with the testimony of many a funny celebrity, to make you laugh very hard (unless, that is, you are particularly sensitive to insensitivity).

Through Sunday, November 9th • see site for times
Altria Theater, 6 N. Laurel Street
$43 – $83

5. Richmond Symphony: Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony

I’m not a Tchaikovsky expert, but my mother sure likes him a lot. So instead of calling her and asking her what she thought about this symphony, I did a terrible thing and just looked it up on Wikipedia. Guys, here is a quote that is someone really plumbed from the depths of their soul: “Beginning with the Fourth Symphony, the symphony served as a human document–dramatic, autobiographical, concerned not with everyday things but with things psychological. This was because Tchaikovsky’s creative impulses had become unprecedentedly personal, urgent, capable of enormous expressive forcefulness, even violence.” Egads, can you even handle this symphony? Turns out, P.I.T. broke the mold of his fellow Romantics by fully conquering the structure of the symphony that they had had trouble grokking. You might have to witness this yourself.