The Wrap: Hurricane Michael damage, a VIP giveaway for the Richmond Folk Festival, Richmond Home Show tickets, and more

The week in brief

Good afternoon, Wrappers! Hurricane Michael is out of the way and left in his wake a beautiful weekend on tap. I plan to spend the vast majority of it at the Richmond Folk Festival! Our thoughts and prayers are with those dealing with the aftermath of Michael, and those throughout the south who lost their lives to the storm. Locally, we had some downed trees and lots of power outages, so hopefully, all of your trees are still standing and the lights are on where you are. Check out these photos Richard Hayes snapped in South Richmond and you’ll get an idea of the damage Richmond saw.

Other than the weather, it was a somewhat quiet news week, and as such, we present to you an abbreviated version of The Wrap today and not five, but the ten things you need to know.

Ten things you need to know

1. If you need more shade in your yard or lost a tree in the storm, you can get a free tree every Saturday in October–here’s how.
2. City Council struck down a proposal to give the city the right to choose the fate of the Monument Avenue statues.
3. An international level swimming competition is coming to the city in 2019.
4. The VMFA’s board has voted to return a 16th century, Nazi-looted painting to its rightful owner.
5. An existing historic district was expanded in Manchester and a new one created in Blackwell, which will likely lead to a slew of redevelopment for the area.
6. The Boy Scouts aren’t just for the boys anymore–our local chapter has welcomed 525 girls into Cub Scout packs after an ordinance permitting them was introduced last year.
7. Deep Run High School was awarded as a Blue Ribbon School by the Department of Education.
8. The Big LeBYRDski, a celebration of all things Duderino, is back to celebrate the cult classic’s 20th anniversary.
9. The Human Rights Campaign has identified Richmond as one of the nation’s best when it comes to equality.
10. There are a ton of beer-centric events going on this weekend and there’s something for everyone to enjoy, as you’ll see in this amazing roundup.

Giveaways

Oh hello, you’re still here? You shall be rewarded for your loyalty! We have two great giveaways for you this week.

First up, we have two VIP tickets up for grabs to the Richmond Folk Festival, good all weekend for complimentary food, beer, and wine, PLUS a merch certificate good for a T-shirt and hat! Just email me and tell me your favorite thing about Folk Fest for a chance to win! I’m excited about Mavis Staples, personally.

We also have a pair of tickets to give away to the Richmond Home Show, where over 150 vendors will be on hand to tell you about the latest and greatest in home improvement and repair. Want to attend the show? Email me and tell me about your least favorite household chore. Mine’s definitely loading the dishwasher because my wife says I never load it right and I never know where anything goes when I unload it. I never was very good at Tetris…

I’ll select four winners at random this afternoon and contact you by email. Good luck!

Weekend event picks