Best & Worst 2023: Family & Community

Feb 29, 2024

by Richmond magazine staff

August 28, 2023

10:26 AM

Multicategory Winner

Visual Arts Center of Richmond

1812 W. Main St., 804-353-0094 

Illustration by Iain Duffus

A community space where anyone can learn new skills, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond is offering more than 1,500 classes this year. Its 12 media areas include glass, clay, painting and metals. VisArts’ new Andy + Ginny Lewis Pilot Fab Lab offers a photopolymer 3D printer, a laser engraver and iPads and Apple pencils. “The new Fab Lab lets us offer something completely new to our community while also connecting it with nearly every other media in our space,” says Jordan Brown, the center’s new executive director. “Our youth and adult classes will explore this space with classes in 3D rendering and printing, laser engraving … and other digital drawing applications.”

1. Visual Arts Center of Richmond

2. Art Factory

3. ArtHaus Visual Arts Studio

1. Visual Arts Center of Richmond

2. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

3. Hand / Thrown Ceramics Studio

Jessica Robertson Photographic Artistry

307 England St., Ashland, 804-798-7980

Since starting in 2005, the studio has offered primarily portraits for high school seniors, families and businesses. The three-person staff focuses on creating personalized experiences with each session. “It is our goal to really connect to our subjects so we feel we have an understanding so the images we create are really authentic, memorable and captured and not just a pretty photograph,” says Jessica Robertson, owner and photographer.

2. Lindsey Martin Photography

3. Meghan McSweeney

Little Hands Virginia

For four years, Little Hands has provided essentials such as diapers, car seats, pack and plays, clothes and more to babies and toddlers in low-income families in the Richmond region to help them reach developmental milestones. “Raising a child is tough no matter whether you have the ability to run out and purchase everything for your child or you don’t,” says Taylor Keeney, founder and executive director.

2. Children’s Museum of Richmond

3. Celebrate RVA

Photo by James Loving

Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

It takes an incredible team, including 300+ volunteers, to create the dazzling light displays of GardenFest, which has been delighting visitors since the late 1990s. “Slowly strolling through pathways lined with illuminated trees, imaginative light forms, thousands of strands of string lights and ambient uplighting that showcases nature’s architecture and tree canopies, it is hard not to walk away feeling joy,” says Beth Anne Booth, director of exhibitions.

2. Dominion Energy Christmas Parade

3. Richmond Ballet’s “The Nutcracker”

SoulShine Studios

9200 Stony Point Parkway, Suite 111, 804-335-0593

Dance combined with yoga, martial arts and mindfulness? That’s Nia, and SoulShine Studios owner Marybeth Grinnan’s specialty. “It’s a mind, body, spirit boost all the way around,” she says. “It is really adaptable for all ages and fitness levels.” In addition to Nia and yoga, SoulShine offers a book club and a birthday club. “It’s a real sense of community and connection,” Grinnan says. 

2. Tie: Richmond Ballet; Rigby’s Jig

3. Richmond Urban Dance

American Family Fitness

With seven locations in the Richmond area, American Family Fitness provides a variety of weight, cardio and functional training equipment, group fitness and aquatics classes. The emphasis is on family, so daycare is provided in the KidZone and sports programs are offered for ages 9-13, leaving parents time for a Zumba class or personal training session. 

2. Planet Fitness

3. Weinstein JCC

Junior Assembly Cotillion

Teaching kids how to dance is part of the mission of the Junior Assembly Cotillion, but it’s far from the only desired outcome. “Our goal is to build social self-confidence and self-esteem,” says owner Liz Stanko. “We offer a safe, technology-free place to interact with each other.” The Cotillion is celebrating its 79th season, but the program traces its origins back 104 years to The Junior German.

2. Richmond Ballet

3. West End Academy of Dance

Photo courtesy Grandmaster Dong’s Martial Arts

Grandmaster Dong’s Martial Arts

804-747-6166

Grandmaster Seung Goo Dong, a ninth-degree black belt, has trained more than 10,000 black belts in the 50 years he has been running his studios. But fighting isn’t the main goal. “The end results are self-confidence and the focus to do what they need to do,” says Michael Grossman, manager of the three Richmond area studios.

2. Revolution BJJ

3. Master Cho’s Martial Arts

Photo courtesy Square:Code Fitness

Square:Code Fitness

1315 E. Main St., 804-658-0566

A world-class cyclist riding next to a guy who’s barely left his couch in a year? Square:Code can take both to the next level by assessing members and personalizing training, says Kellie Mega, who started Square:Code with her husband, Matt, in 2020. “All the programs are designed to maximize the body’s energy system.”

2. SoulShine Studios

3. BOHO Studios

Greater Richmond School of Music 

9109 Dickey Drive, Mechanicsville, 804-442-6158

“We send our instructors out to teach at 12 schools,” says GRSM owner Charlene Hartley. Most are schools with no music program. “Our instructors stand out because they have chosen music as their lives. They all have degrees in music and are performers themselves.”

2. Weinstein JCC

3. Tie: Edible Education; Mosley Music; Thrive Music Academy

Bundle of Joy

804-553-1366

At Bundle of Joy’s five regional preschools, children can choose from a variety of “discovery centers” designed to engage and teach each according to their individual needs. “It all comes down to our teachers, and they are fantastic,” says Kelley Mulcunry, whose parents opened Bundle of Joy 47 years ago. She now operates the company with her husband, Andrew.

2. The Goddard School

3. Weinstein JCC

Multicategory Winner

Illustration by Iain Duffus

Weinstein JCC

5403 Monument Ave., 804-285-6500

Staying No. 1 is tougher than it looks, says JCC CEO Orly Lewis. A perennial winner in a number of categories, Weinstein JCC has for 76 years put family engagement at the core of its mission of personal, cultural, social and physical enrichment for the Richmond community. “It’s how we serve. We see ourselves as a partner with parents to raise great kids,” says Lewis. With an aquatics facility, fitness center, summer camps and after-school care, Weinstein JCC delivers education and recreation programs that embrace the entire family. “Our mission is family engagement. Whenever schools close, we are open. We are here for families.” 

1. Weinstein JCC

2. Bundle of Joy

3. Westhampton Day School

1. Weinstein JCC

2. Greater Richmond School of Music

3. Passages Adventure Camp

1. Weinstein JCC

2. Bundle of Joy

3. Richmond Montessori School

Photo courtesy The Music Tree School

The Music Tree School

Stony Point Shopping Center; 3046 Stony Point Road, 804-571-1973

The Music Tree offers private lessons for instruments and voice, and all experience levels and musical styles. “We offer free concerts every month in the shopping center, both students and teachers, because we want to bring music out to this side of the city,” says owner Bill Hargis. 

2. Greater Richmond School of Music

3. Mosley Music

Photo via Getty Images

Collegiate School 

103 N. Mooreland Road, 804-740-7077 

Molding inquisitive thinkers and compassionate leaders is the mission of Collegiate School, which serves grades K-12. “We are focused on the whole person, and that’s a huge commitment,” says Billy Peebles, interim head of school. “When you have the kind of mission we do, it requires a huge level of devotion from our teachers and our staff. They are an inspiration.” 

2. St. Catherine’s School

3. St. Christopher’s School

Photo courtesy Soar365

Park365

3600 Saunders Ave., 804-358-1874

Park365 is a great place for a birthday party, a playdate or to shoot some hoops, says Kristal Seaford of Soar365. It’s designed to encourage inclusive fun for everyone, with accessible play areas that accommodate children and adults, with and without disabilities. Special features include an accessible treehouse, supportive swings, and creative and sensory play areas.

2. Mary Munford Elementary School

3. Deep Run Park

Tie: Avalon Recreation Association; Kanawha Recreation Association; Granite Swim & Tennis Club

510 Heathfield Road, 804-740-8593; 8100 Holmes Ave., 804-288-4421; 6432 Glyndon Lane, 804-272-6989

Avalon, which draws its members from families with children attending Maybeury Elementary, offers activities for all ages. “We’re finding that people who grew up here are returning to the neighborhood and Avalon to raise their own families,” says office manager Shannon Couvillion.

Summer at Kanawha is a family tradition for many of the club’s members, says Martha Cohen, vice president of the association’s board. With four swimming pools, tennis and pickleball courts, a snack bar and more, it’s a place for families and neighbors to connect.

It’s the people who make Granite such a great place, says communications chair Don Cash, who credits the club’s popularity — and huge waiting list — to the eclectic mix of people from the Fan and Museum districts and South Richmond. The laid-back vibe is also key.

2. Tie: Bon Air Community Association; Ridgetop Recreation Association; Southampton Recreation Association

Scott’s Addition

The high density of live, work and play options in Scott’s Addition creates a unique environment where visitors can enjoy a night out at the numerous craft breweries, restaurants, shops and entertainment venues, says Rob Long, president of the Greater Scott’s Addition Association. He adds, “They can park their cars one time and then go see a pretty large snapshot of unique Richmond-driven concepts.”

2. Taking down monuments

3. Tie: Forest Hill Avenue; Libbie Mill area

Photo courtesy Katie Schwieder

Halloween on Hanover

The residents of Hanover Avenue begin preparing for Halloween in June so they’ll be ready to welcome thousands of families that bring children to trick or treat at their elaborately decorated homes, says Katie Schwieder, editor of the Fan District Association’s FanFare newsletter. Every year, each homeowner gives away 2,500 to 3,000 pieces of candy to children who visit from all parts of Richmond.

2. Porchella in Bellevue

3. Easter on Parade

Photo courtesy HHHunt Homes

River Mill

Located on 225 acres by the Chickahominy River in Glen Allen, River Mill features parks, a trail system and gathering spaces. It was designed to encourage active lifestyles and community, says Jonathan Rideout, vice president of real estate development for HHHunt Communities.

2. RounTrey

3. Tie: Chickahominy Falls; Libbie Mill – Midtown; Mosaic

Libbie Mill – Midtown

4901 Libbie Mill East Blvd., 804-288-0011

Libbie Mill – Midtown is much more than the physical buildings the residents occupy, says Shane Finnegan, vice president of construction and development at Gumenick Properties. The spaces between those buildings, where they’ve created pocket parks and plazas — flexible spaces where people can comfortably gather for myriad events — enhance the community lifestyle. The central location just west of the city, restaurants and shops add to its appeal.

Photo courtesy Westminster Canterbury

Westminster Canterbury Richmond

1600 Westbrook Ave., 804-264-6000

“Everyone has a different idea of home,” says Stacey Nannery, vice president of sales and marketing. WCR offers apartments, homes, dining options, guest speakers and art classes. Independent living, assisted living, memory support and health care are available.

2. Lakewood Retirement Community

3. Avery Point

Photo courtesy The Icon

The Icon

1209 MacTavish Ave., 804-521-1500

A luxe new residence with a trendy Scott’s Addition address, The Icon offers one- and two-bedroom apartments, a 24/7 fitness center, clubhouse and pool, just steps away from dining and entertainment. Rent is all-inclusive, as Property Manager Krista Norman explains: “Residents never receive a bill for water, electricity, cable TV, internet or parking.”

by Richmond magazine staff

August 28, 2023

10:26 AM