The Wrap: This week’s top stories, insights, and commentary

Get The Wrap delivered to your inbox each Friday afternoon. Click here to sign up!

Welcome to The Wrap!

Welcome to The Wrap, RVAHub’s new weekly email newsletter dedicated to bringing you the week’s top stories, insights, and commentary on the people, places, and things moving the Capital City forward.

We hope you’ll find this Friday afternoon email informative, fun, and useful as you wrap up the week and head into the weekend. Drop us a line if there’s anything you’d like to see either here or on the website.

– Trevor Dickerson, Editor, RVAHub.com

The Week In Brief

Photos: Venture Richmond

A Scott’s Addition hotel was sold last week, making way for a transformative mixed-income housing project. The Quality Inn & Suites at 3200 W. Broad Street was sold to the Better Housing Coalition for $5.9 million. A project to convert the building into mixed use, mixed-income housing will get into gear next year, Richmond BizSense reports. The project’s proximity to the Bus Rapid Transit line was a key factor in selecting the location, the buyers said.

Speaking of the BRT and public transit, this week was Try Transit Week, a statewide initiative aimed at getting folks who don’t normally ride the bus to give it a shot. GRTC made things a little easier by providing a “how-to” guide to relieve the anxiety first timers might experience, and GRTC COO Sheryl Adams rode several bus routes, handing out unlimited ride passes to a few lucky commuters.

Moving Downtown, a Jackson Ward resident is crowdfunding to bring a community garden to her neighborhood, and construction will soon begin on a project to overhaul the city’s oldest municipal park, Monroe Park, after several organizations (including VCU) raised $6 million to fund the rehab project. Speaking of parks, Kanawha Plaza reopened to the public this week–about a year behind schedule–at a ceremony led by Mayor Dwight Jones.

Planning on attending the highly-anticipated Mayorathon mayoral forum at the VMFA next week? Over 1,100 people have already RSVPed to the event, prompting organizers to add an overflow room for attendees to watch the eight contenders for Richmond’s top political position take questions on four key priority subjects. The event takes place next Thursday evening.

The Richmond Folk Festival is less than a month away, and if you can’t wait for a taste of all the music and culture, you can get one early by sipping on a “Folk FestivALE,” the festival’s own unique collaboration beer made by Charlottesville-based Champion Brewing. Check out the article for all the restaurants and retail locations where you can pick up a can or six beginning today.

If you heard Christmas music on the radio this morning, you weren’t dreaming. 103.7 Play played all Christmas music today in celebration of a Trans-Siberian Orchestra ticket giveaway. The rockers will hit the Richmond Coliseum with all the usual holiday music and pyrotechnics December 7th. Tickets are now on sale.

Speaking of concerts, Garth Brooks will return to Richmond for the first time in almost two decades and tickets go on sale September 30th.

In a bit of offbeat news, Short Pump and Tuckahoe made a national list of the United States’ most lewd-sounding town names. Go ahead and snicker like a middle schooler like we did. It’s okay.

Weekend Roundup

Photo: Tina Take My Photo

There’s plenty to see and do this weekend. History lovers will have a field day this weekend as 14 area historic sites and attractions are open to the public for free, thanks to a partnership with The Valentine. Check out our complete guide to each site for more info on how you can take advantage of this sweet deal.

The State Fair of Virginia also returns today for a 10 day run at The Meadow Event Park in Doswell. Check out our guide to find out where to go, what to see, and the crazy new artery-clogging foods available this time around including the guac dog and deep fried butter to name a few. We’ll show you how to make the most of your visit and save a few bucks, too.

PrideFest returns to Brown’s Island tomorrow from noon until 8:00 PM. Here’s the full lineup of events and things to check out!

Click here for the full lineup of things to do including RVA MakerFest, the Midtown Fall Festival, Richmond’s Original Italian Street Festival and more in our Weekend Event Picks!

Fancy a night out? Here’s our Weekly Food News roundup with sad news about a couple closures and reboots, the opening of Chef Michael Hall’s Spoonbread Bistro in The Fan, and much more.

Finally, nothing says the weekend like college football, and contributor Reid Kidwell says several unlikely FCS schools in Virginia could be early-season contenders for a national title this year.

Get The Wrap delivered to your inbox each Friday afternoon. Click here to sign up!