5 Things: Cycling, walking, art-looking, huge moons, and huge pumpkins

There’s a lot to do and see in Richmond and its immediate environs, and it’s not just bicycle-related things. But there ARE some bicycle-related things!

September 24, 2015; 5:14 PM • by Susan Howson

Photo by: Tycho’s Nose

The Big Bike Race™

You’re going to want to keep an eye on navigate.richmond.com this weekend, as fan cheers turn to yells turn to screams. The excitement mounts! The flags fly! The places to watch the race are online!

Through Sunday, September 27th •
See the course map or trek to one of our recommended sites
Free to attend! Various VIP sites and parties will cost ya

It’s First Fridays on the last Friday of the month! Awha?! AND there will be another one next week! But this one will take full advantage of the bike-race-related happenings down on Broad. There are pop-up shops and special gallery things and maybe cyclists disguised in the looser clothes of normal people!

Friday, September 25th • 5:00 – 9:00 PM
On Broad Street, between, say, Belvidere and down into the numbered streets a bit
Free to attend!

Supermoon Lunar Eclipse Skywatch

Leave it to the Science Museum to host a cool event while at the same time cheerfully reminding us that we are mere specks in the cosmos. The Supermoon will turn red in the night sky and it will be huge, because it’s very close to us in orbit, which won’t happen again until 2033. If you stand on your toes and you strain really hard, you may be able to reach out and touch it! Neat! The scientific explanation is that the gods are angry at us and send this as a warning, but we can just hit snooze on that warning and be reminded again in another 18 years.

Sunday, September 27th • 8:00 PM – 12:00 AM
Science Museum of Virginia, 2500 W. Broad Street
Free!

The State Fair of Virginia

In an overwhelming turn of events, the State Fair and the Big Bike Race™ overlap. I’m not sure the organizers get that both my child and I require naps in order to carry on, dang. Oh well, I can’t wait to make his entire year when he gets a fried Oreo. More on this later when we exhaustedly tumble out of the bike race cave and blink, stupidly, at the sun. What I mean is: we’re gonna cover the heck out of lots of other topics, including the State Fair. Stay tuned next week!

Friday, September 25th – October 4th • see site for times
The Meadow Event Park, 13111 Dawn Boulevard, Doswell
Various prices for various levels of access

What Does the Civil War Mean in Richmond Today?

Well, I’ll tell you. It means that we all have a lot of arguments, which is really, really ridiculous. James Loewen, a public historian and the author of the book Lies My Teacher Told Me, will break it down for us. He focuses on textbooks and how messed up they all are, and it is a very special thing that we have a chance to listen to him.