On Saturday morning, thousands of runners will surge down Monument Avenue in the 44th annual Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K, passing the spot where Robert E. Lee’s statue once stood. By evening, across town, a Javanese court singer named Peni Candra Rini will perform music that dates back centuries before any Confederate general was born. This is Richmond in mid-April: a city perpetually negotiating its past while cramming its calendar with an almost absurd abundance of culture.
The week of April 16-22 offers the kind of lineup that makes locals wonder how any of this happens in a mid-sized Southern city. David Sedaris brings his sardonic observations to town. Patti LaBelle, 80 years old and still commanding stages, performs. Alabama Shakes—the Grammy-winning rock band from Athens, Alabama, that helped define the sound of the 2010s—returns to Richmond. St. Paul and the Broken Bones brings their horn-heavy soul. Los Lobos, the East L.A. band that’s been making music since the Carter administration, plays somewhere between rock, Tex-Mex, and pure Americana.
Then there’s Juvenile, the New Orleans rapper whose “Back That Azz Up” remains a wedding reception inevitability 26 years after its release. Samantha Bee brings political comedy. The Sleveens offer Celtic punk. Cris Jacobs plays whatever genre exists at the intersection of jam band and Americana.
But the week’s cultural offerings extend beyond touring acts. At the Science Museum of Virginia on Broad Street, Earth Day programming invites families to consider the planet’s future. The Bon Air Book Festival and the Richmond Book Festival—two separate events—celebrate the written word in a city whose independent bookstores continue to thrive against national trends.
At a local theater, “The Wiz” brings the 1975 Broadway reimagining of Oz to Richmond audiences. Webb Chapel offers yet another option for those seeking live music in smaller venues.
And then there’s the Richmond Renaissance Faire, that annual gathering where accountants become knights, nurses become wenches, and turkey legs become acceptable breakfast food. The faire draws crowds who want their entertainment with a side of theatrical commitment from performers who’ve memorized their “forsooths.”
What makes this particular week notable isn’t any single event—it’s the accumulation. Richmond has spent decades building the infrastructure that makes a week like this possible: venues of every size, audiences willing to buy tickets, booking agents who see the city as worth their artists’ time.
Peni Candra Rini’s performance stands out for its rarity. The Javanese singer and composer represents a musical tradition that most Richmonders have never encountered. Her presence here suggests something about the city’s cultural ambitions—a willingness to program beyond the familiar, to trust audiences with the unfamiliar.
Somewhere between the 10K’s finish line and Patti LaBelle’s final note, Richmond will do what it does most weekends now: prove it’s become the kind of place where you have to choose what to miss.
- The 44th annual Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K takes place this Saturday
- Alabama Shakes, Patti LaBelle, David Sedaris, and Juvenile are among the major touring acts performing
- Both the Bon Air Book Festival and Richmond Book Festival happen during the same week