Last night the husband and I attended the 12th Annual Commonwealth Dinner, the largest fundraiser of the year for Equality Virginia, and one of the largest gathering of activists and their supporters in the state each year. We drove up yesterday and had lunch with a friend and his boyfriend at a great restaurant on West Cary Street, before relaxing at the home of a friend (she was out of town and loan us use of her home in the historic Fan District - see image above) before dressing for the event which was held at the Richmond Convention Center. The event as always was great fun and we saw many friends that we often see once a year at the event. There was a large contingent from Hampton Roads as is always the case. We also had the opportunity to chat with politicians we know, including the Lt. Governor, Ralph Northam, Attorney General Mark Herring and Congressman Bobby Scott. I also had a chance to talk with U.S. Senator Tim Kaine. Here are some photos:
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| Dressed up and headed to the Dinner |
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| Lt. Governor Ralph Northam |
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| The husband and Mark Herring |
We ended the evening at an LGBT bar called Babe's in Carytown. I could see us living in the Fan area and the West Cary Street eateries and shops are wonderful. Richmond is truly a fun place to visit and there is so much history if one is into that (which we are). One advantage that Richmond has over Hampton Roads is that it is one central city as opposed to seven splintered cities that rarely cooperate for the larger good of the region.
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| Carytown |
2 comments:
Make no mistake, as wonderful and charming and accepting as Richmond is, there is ZERO regional cooperation between the city and its surrounding counties. Much of this stems from our legislators' very smart move to stop annexation so Richmond could stop claiming county land and population so it could run it into the ground as it has within its own original boundaries. Case in point: GRTC is half-owned by Chesterfield County so buses won't run in the county. Their reasoning? (I paraphrase): "If hotels and restaurants need workers, let them pay for the buses". Another: The baseball stadium "debate". The city (ie, Mayor Jones) so badly wants the stadium in Shockoe Bottom that he won't even consider offers by C'field and Henrico to consider help if it's left where it is, or even the idea of a Chesterfield based private enterprise to build the thing. There are many more examples.
It looks like a wonderful time was had by all. Maybe some day I'll rate an invite to such a cool soiree!
Peace <3
Jay
Actually, no invite is needed. You merely go online and buy your tickets.
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