It's finally Friday.

🌤️ Today's weather: Mostly sunny, high of 77 and low of 56.

🎧 Sounds like: "Cruisin'" by D'Angelo.

🎂 Happy early birthday to our members Jan Klenke and Berkeley Edmunds!

📆 Situational awareness: We're off Monday for the holiday, but back in your inboxes Tuesday.

Today’s newsletter is 1,061 words — a 4-minute read.

It's Folk Fest weekend.

Why it matters: The Richmond Folk Festival is easily one of the city's best annual events.

State of play: The fun kicks off Friday night and runs through Sunday evening along the city's riverfront and on Brown's Island.

• It's a weekend filled with free live music (30+ performers across six stages), local food and drink vendors, kids' activities, folklife demonstrations and more.
• Off-site parking and shuttle service are available at Dogwood Dell on Saturday and Sunday.

Zoom in: The whole thing is a must-see Richmond tradition, but here are a few things you definitely don't want to miss this year.

🙏 Dear D'Angelo, Saturday, 5pm, on the Allianz stage

• The Folk Fest will honor the Grammy winner and Richmond native, who died last year, with "Soul of the City," a 90-minute hometown tribute by local musicians.

🤠 Country music — entirely in Cherokee, Saturday, 2pm (Altria) & 6:15pm (CarMax); Sunday, noon (Dominion Dance Pavilion)

• Cherokee musician Agalisiga "Chuj" Mackey will be performing his original songs and classic country tunes translated into Cherokee.

🎭 Korean mask dance meets rock music, Saturday, 1:45pm (Dance Pavilion) & 8:30pm (CarMax); Sunday, 3:15pm (CoStar)

• Seoul's Insun Park & Generals fuse rock music with a centuries-old Korean mask dance tradition. What's not to love?

🔥 Indigenous hip-hop meets powwow dance, Saturday, noon (CoStar) & 3:30pm (Tredegar street performance); Sunday, 2:15pm (CarMax) & 3:45pm (Family Stage)

• Tradition-ILL blends Native drumming and powwow dancing with hip-hop beats and breakdancing. Yes, you read all that right.

🍩 Plus: The Richmond return of Yoder's doughnuts

• The local farmer's market staple has been gone since Mrs. Yoder's Kitchen closed in 2022, but the NoVa spinoff — Yoder's Dutch Delights — from the same family will be posted up at the fest all weekend.

The bottom line: There's a reason the Folk Fest is called "Richmond at its best" and this is just a sampling of why. Go see for yourself.

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Richmond's own Hardywood Park Craft Brewery just acquired Starr Hill, bringing Virginia's two largest craft brewers under one company.

Why it matters: Hardywood is becoming an even bigger force in Virginia's craft beer industry, just months after it took over some production for Legend Brewing Co.

State of play: Hardywood and Charlottesville-area brewery Starr Hill are the state's No. 1 and No. 2 craft brewers by volume, per NielsenIQ data cited by the companies.

• The brands, breweries and taprooms will stay intact and all employees will remain in their current roles under the all-equity deal, which closed Oct. 1.

The intrigue: The acquisition expands the breweries' existing relationship. Last year, Hardywood took over production of Starr Hill's wholesale beers at its West Creek facility.

Fun fact: Collectively, Hardywood and Starr Hill have nine taprooms in the state, including three in the Richmond area.

Between the lines: It's been a rough few years for the craft beer industry — and Virginia hasn't been immune.

• Statewide, the once-booming craft beer market is contracting: Virginia lost eight craft breweries between 2023 and 2025, per Brewers Association data.

What's next: Locals should expect to see guest taps, special releases and merch from both breweries at each's sister locations in the weeks ahead.

Full story

⚾️ The Richmond Flying Squirrels say they had the city's permission to use The Diamond for storage and are pushing back on the city EDA's recent eviction warning. (The Richmonder)

Chesterfield plans to open the region's first publicly run domestic violence shelter in January 2028, with roughly 16 beds inside a renovated county-owned building. (The Richmonder)

🚌 Six RPS schools, including Boushall Middle and Armstrong High, are no longer among Virginia's lowest-performing, per new state ratings. (The Richmonder)

• But a separate state rating system shows mixed results, with more RPS schools earning top marks and more needing intensive support.

🚌 GRTC is expanding service deeper into Lakeside by adding stops near Bryan Park and Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden via its on-demand LINK shuttle. (Henrico Citizen)

Richmond is about to test whether the Mayo Bridge can handle traffic with half as many car lanes.

Why it matters: There's a chance the change becomes permanent when the bridge is replaced, affecting roughly 20,000 daily vehicle, pedestrian and cyclists crossings.

Driving the news: The city will resurface the 113-year-old bridge Tuesday through Oct. 23, closing two of its four lanes daily from 9am-6pm.

• After resurfacing, crews will restripe the bridge to two travel lanes and the city will use traffic data to help design its replacement.

The intrigue: VDOT's current concept for the $190 million replacement also calls for two travel lanes.

• That could shift up to 39% of Mayo''s rush-hour traffic to other bridges by 2045, potentially worsening congestion, per a recent VDOT-commissioned study.

What's next: VDOT will unveil updated replacement designs Oct. 21 at PlanRVA's Manchester office.

Tell a commuter

Hanover County is throwing its first-ever farm-hopping party tomorrow with Highland cows, alpacas and 11 farms opening their gates to visitors.

Why it matters: It's a rare chance to meet the animals, farmers and local growers behind the county's agricultural scene — and the hope is to make it an annual tradition.

The big picture: The free Fields & Farms Tour is a countywide effort to spotlight Hanover farms, Hanover Economic Development's Ann Glave tells Axios.

• Visitors can map out their own adventure from 10am-3pm.

Among the highlights:

🐮 Meeting Highland cows at Thistledew Fold or ponies at Randolph-Macon Equestrian Center.

🚜 Climbing atop farming equipment at Creamfield.

🍽️ Catching Stella's chef Loretta Lane at Woodside Farms.

Fun fact: Organizers printed 2,000 copies of a special farm tour newspaper, also available online, with stories of the families behind them all.

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🥳 Karri is wishing her BF a happy early birthday!

• She's also testing to see if he's actually reading this newsletter. If not, some presents might be getting returned.

🐄 Sabrina needs to figure out how to own a Highland cow farm, expeditiously.

Thanks to Alexa Mencia Orozco for editing today's edition