The 4th Annual Latin Jazz Festival comes to Dogwood Dell on August 14 from 11AM-7PM. Scheduled performers include “El Gran Menique” * Edwin Ortiz and his La Ro-mana Orchestra * Jose Lorenzo * Timbason La Original * Gio & Clara Toro’s Salsa 4Life * Tanya Gonzalez’s (AHAR) La Mezcla Que Baila * David Prado’s Richmond Salsa Meetup. FREE.

Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced today that non-powered watercraft are allowed on three city park lakes: Shields Lake and Swan Lake in William Byrd Park, and on Forest Hill Lake in Forest Hill Park.

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Being south of the Fan, retail and dining aren’t quite as accessible by foot, but at least our houses were half the price. So, maybe we can still afford a meal out every so often, and we probably don’t mind a short hike to a place that we really enjoy eating. Which restaurants do you like to walk to from the Randolph, Byrd Park, or Maymont neighborhoods? Some of the closest are:

• on/near Cary St: Acacia, Lamplighter, Cary Street Cafe, Bogarts.
• on Main St: Helen’s, Starlight, Little Mexico, F.W. Sullivan’s, Bellytimber Tavern, Avalon, Delux, Sticky Rice, Rowland Fine Dining, Bamboo, Three Monkeys, Davis and Main, Baja Bean Co., Olio, Fu Jian, Bacchus, Six Burner, Home Team Grill, and Rostov’s coffee.
• at Fountain Lake: Sally Bell’s

Did I miss any? What would make you more likely to patronize these places more often? Is the walk safe/clean enough for your liking? Would it be helpful to see a list of reviews and/or blog entries specifically about any of these local restaurants?  What kind of restaurant isn’t on this list of local options that you’d like to see?

Psst! Restaurants. You might wanna advertise on this site. Click here for more info.

Just a reminder about the July 4th festivities in the park – here’s the skinny from WTVR:

Will we see anybody taking in the bombastic light-show from a rowboat on the water? On a scarcely related note from Craigslist. Someone in Byrd Park is selling a fog machine and laser lights for $30. With a toy like this, every night can be July 4th at your house.

Glen Allen? Nope. Randolph West. You could play street hockey with two teams of five in an alley this size.

Turning east off of Allen Avenue as it heads south from Idlewood, a development of new construction reveals a different side to the city. Randolph West might look like suburbia, but it’s on the bus line, and it offers some progressive surprises (after the jump – along with a special message to Randolph readers).

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Whether you’ll be at Dogwood Dell for the fireworks, watching from your roof, or staying in and being productive, you can do some online people-watching during tonight’s Fourth of July festivities. One way to get to know what’s going on in Byrd Park at any given moment is to watch the activity on Twitter. By searching “Byrd Park” on Search.Twitter.com, you’ll see what all the people are tweeting about the fireworks (and humorous gossip) that flies every which way. Of course, you can do this all year ’round, not just when the park is overrun with thousands of Richmonders.

If you don’t tweet, don’t worry. Just take a look at that twitter search and get to know your city better. Also, don’t forget that ByrdPark.net is on Twitter. Follow us if you’re on twitter, drop a tweet, and we’ll follow you back.

UPDATE:
Tweet of the night:

• @ShaylaGFashion: OMFG somebody is Swimming in this nasty a** BYRD PARK POND!!!

Runner ups:

• (the heavily retweeted) @UncleMo1: We at BYRD PARK Watching these RATCHET ASS FIREWORKS
• @MirrorMe810: Byrd park pissin me off where the hell the damn fireworks its 930!

Books on Wheels will be at the Randolph Community Center providing free books & free bicycle repair on August 3rd from 6-8PM for National Night Out. This event is free and open to the public.

Future site of Survivor Season 13?

Now that the Mayor has cleared the way for boaters to set sail (or row/paddle) out onto Byrd Park’s lakes (besides Fountain Lake), one of the most mysterious features in the whole city, let alone the park, is about to get a closer look, ready or not. The island in the middle of Swan Lake has long been no man’s land for years. Now, the unknown becomes knowable (unless parks and rec decides to ban humans from setting foot on the island).
More speculation, fantastical thinking, and pics, after the jump.

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From Craigslist:

Sat., July 10, 8 a.m. to Noon. 503 S. Davis Ave., directly across from beautiful Fountain Lake in Byrd Park
Great assortment of ANTIQUES including pine desk, carved Italian cornice, POTTERY, PORCELAIN, architectural drafting table, MIRRORS (Scandinavian painted + more, BOOKS including military, history, etc, Williamsburg bed linens (comforter and shams); QUILT, silver plate, framed Chinese embroidery, ART, craftware & some regular yard sale stuff. We are still pulling out, so who knows!!

Saturday 8am. to noon. Rain or shine
2209 Rosewood Avenue. Cross street is Shields.
Moving…it all has to go somewhere…DVD’s..games..puzzles…children’s books and toys. Several small bookcases.
Two door cabinet. Household appliances. Women’s clothes. Large mirror from Pier 1….Quilt rack.

If anyone has another yard sale in the area (Maymont, Randolph, Byrd Park), please let me know.

Oh deer.

A resident of the 3000 block of Douglasdale Rd, just on the other side of Blanton Ave and the Vitacourse, witnessed this deer eating all the seed out of his bird feeder.  He snapped three pictures with his cell phone.  The other two, and some thoughts on the reason behind the deer’s migration into the Carillon neighborhood, after the jump. 

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The Quoit Club is sponsoring a tour of the Byrd Park Pump House on Thursday, July 15th at 6PM.

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Lots of elbow room here.

A parking lot doesn’t give you much to look at, but when you’re walking down an alley, where bungalo houses butt right up next to each other, the sprawling space might come as a surprise. On the east side of this Blair St parking lot sits a brick building…

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From Randolph and Byrd Park Craigslist posts, enough used musical instruments can be purchased to form a full band:

Bass guitar.

Electronic drums.

Acoustic/electric guitar.

But, be sure to mind the City’s new noise ordinance and dancing prohibition. There’s no AC in the city jail.

A school of increasing relevance

Now that Clark Springs Elementary is set to serve the families who were previously zoned for the unpopular Maymont school, it’s a good idea to start getting to know our new public school option a little better. With this mostly pictorial post, the obvious physical features of the Clark Springs facility will be highlighted to simulate a walk around the grounds during the school’s downtime.  Meanwhile, I’ll be trying to contact the school’s officials (whoever is available during the summer) for a future Q and A session on this site. Assuming that I find a willing Clark Springs representative, I’ll include any questions that you contribute in the comment section (within reason).  How does this sound?

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Event announcement from Tricycle Gardens:

Greetings gardeners and garden fans. Our Edible Revolution Garden Tour, which highlights 13 urban, kitchen gardens is just over a week away on July 17th. Tickets are $20 per carload or group of four bicycles. The price includes a map, access to some of the most creative food-producing backyards from 1pm-5pm AND a cookout at our Jefferson Avenue garden from 5pm-8pm. What a deal! And what a way to celebrate the summer (and fresh tomatoes). Highlights include the joint Strawberry Street Vineyard/Belmont Butcher garden, executive director Lisa Taranto’s backyard and the community garden at Holton Elementary School.
Tickets can be purchased online here, at the 9th and Bainbridge Urban Farm, or by emailing will@tricyclegardens.org. Proceeds go toward helping expand Tricycle Gardens programs throughout the city.

If anyone would like to contribute pictures of their gardens, then we can assemble our own pictorial garden tour right here. Just email your pictures to guardjk@gmail.com. I’ll start it off with some examples shortly.

Press release from City Council’s public information manager:

Marty Jewell 3rd Annual Metropolitan Junior Baseball League Invitational Baseball Tournament to be held this Saturday

To include Virginia-based teams from Richmond, Hampton and Norfolk

WHAT Named in tribute to The Honorable E. Martin Jewell, Councilman, Richmond City Council, Central 5th District (who will throw the ceremonial first pitch during the Opening Ceremonies), the Marty Jewell 3rd Annual Metropolitan Junior Baseball League Invitational Baseball Tournament will be held this Saturday. The games are free to watch; open to the public; and, everyone is invited come out and enjoy the day. Vendors will be on hand with refreshments.

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The June crime report from the Richmond Police Department is posted below. For those who scrutinized last month’s report. We saw a 250% increase in robberies (from 2 to 7 in the 3rd precinct).  This month, there were another seven robberies, which is the same number seen in June 2009.  However, the other categories may be of greater interest.  Read on and contribute your thoughts:

Community Noteworthy Report

June 2010

Sector 313

Sector 313:

June 2010:

Violent Crime: 0% increase

06/2010 vs. 06/2009 – eight (8) crimes vs. eight (8) crimes.

Property Crime: 2% decrease

06/2010 vs. 06/2009 – sixty-five (65) crimes vs. sixty-six (66) crimes

Major Crime: 1% decrease

06/2010 vs. 06/2009 – seventy-three (73) crimes vs. seventy-four (74) crimes

ROBBERY – INDIVIDUAL

0% increase

06/2010 vs. 06/2009 – seven (7) robberies vs. seven (7) robberies

Trends/Patterns:

The locations and/or suspect descriptions involving the seven (7) robberies of individuals that occurred in May are listed below:

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Hanover County? Nope. Maymont, Richmond City.

When you head South of the Fan, past the Randolph neighborhood, on the other side of the Amelia Street School, and cross Harrison Street’s western conclusion, you wind up at the Maymont neighborhood. Bungalo-style houses are nestled under a canopy of trees stretching further than most Richmonders realize, nearly to the canal and the train tracks on the north bank of the river. It feels like our own little down-home country town where time seems to pass as slow as molasses. It’s a quaint urban anachronism and the alleys are no exception…

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Has somebody been making off with your veggies? This just in from a neighbor, Peggy:

My neighbors vegetable garden is currently supporting her and me. Alas my garden has been turned into a Farmers Market by Octomom. So named for the bountiful number of offspring she has each year. She and her band of little mischief makers harvest my veggies each day…sigh

Pics of the thieves after the jump.  Peggy will surely answer your questions if you post a comment. 

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