2nd Street Festival

The 2nd Street Festival, presented by Altria and Dominion Energy, returns for the 29th year, Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 7-8 to celebrate the rich culture of the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood. The FREE event is produced by Venture Richmond Events, LLC.

This year, the festival is focusing on the countless talented performers of the metro Richmond area. The festival features co-headliners Visions Band on Saturday, and The Art of Noise, to close out the festival on Sunday. Debo Dabney, VCU Black Awakening Choir, Lucy Kilpatrick, Ordinary People Band, SPARC, Sisterly Grace and many other performers will be showcased over the two-day festival.

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As always, the 2nd Street Festival takes place the first full weekend in October. Over the years, it has grown to be one of the Mid-Atlantic's largest street festivals. Nearly 40,000 people visit historic Jackson Ward to reminisce about the days when 2nd Street was the heart and soul of Richmond's African American community, and was known as “the Harlem of the South.”

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The festival features four stages of musical entertainment, along with food vendors, a marketplace, a Kidz Zone programmed by the Children’s Museum of Richmond, balloon twisting by Balloons By Extreme and Artists Row featuring David Marion with Liberated Flow, creator of this year’s festival poster. Additional artists include: Kelvin Henderson - Fruit of the Spirit, Abdul Badi - The Art of Abdul Badi, P. Muzi Branch - Black American Artist Alliance of Richmond and Reshada Pullen - Jireh.

Featured Poster Artist

Returning for his third year, the featured artist for 2017 is Richmond based artist David Marion. Marion was born in South Carolina in 1982 and at an early age he found his artistic gift and developed a passion for creating. As a graduate of Hampton University, with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, he always found time to continue following his passion and practicing his craft. Using oil as his medium of choice he has specialized in figurative art and portraiture for nearly a decade. He has exhibited in galleries and museums in New York, Chicago, South Carolina, and Virginia, and is on his way to becoming a nationally-recognized artist.

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Visions Band

Visions is an exciting band that has been playing the musical styles of classic R&B and hip-hop in the Richmond area for over 7 years. The band has performed for the 2nd Street Festival but is best known for performing at the Martini Kitchen and Bubble bar for 5 years here in the Richmond area. Members of this dynamic band have performed with national artist such as Prince, Jill Scott, Missy Elliot, Will Downing, Jonathan Butler, Ronnie Jordon, Regina Belle and Plunky and Oneness just to name few. Visions Band performs in the greater Richmond area as well as North Carolina.

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Art of Noise

Art: The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form, appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

Noise: A sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that causes disturbance.

Every hand in the room is raised in salute of the movement that is The Art of Noise.

The visual, four turntables and two DJ’s spinning yesterday’s music for today’s people. The Art of Noise draws music lovers of all ages, races and genders who have a true appreciation for the art that is music. The pictures are painted as each DJ, artisans in the skill of hip hop, feed and vibe off each other’s groove and rock the crowd. The Heavy Hitter DJ Lonnie B and DJ Marc transform the noise of the streets into nostalgia from our youth. The experience is like colorful impulses stimulated by the record scratching, the base booming and the vibration of the treble. Mad Skillz and Kelli Lemon help the room comes together with a balance as bodies move like fluid and voices sing in unison. You can’t imagine the magnetic energy flowing throughout the room when they play that one song and the crowd erupts as people start to remember exactly what they were doing when that song came out.

WAVERLY R. CRAWLEY MAIN STAGE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7

11:30 – 12:30pm Carl Waterford Blues Band

1:00 – 2:00pm US Army TRADOC Brass Band

2:30 – 3:00pm Radio One

3:30 – 4:30pm Johnny Lee Long Band

5:30 - 7:00pm Visions Band

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8

1:00 – 1:30pm VCU Black Awakening Choir

2:00 – 2:40pm Resound

3:15 – 4:15pm Ordinary People Band

4:45 – 6:00pm The Art of Noise

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JOE KENNEDY JR. JAZZ STAGE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7

12:00 - 12:50pm Morgan Burrs Quartet

1:10 - 2:00pm Bassist Mike Hawkins

2:20 - 3:10pm JTucker & The Krewe

3:30 - 4:30pm Pianist Lucy Kilpatrick

4:50 - 6:00pm Curv Appeal

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8

1:00 - 1:50pm Funky Fingers

2:10 - 3:10pm The Blakey-tet

3:30 - 4:30pm Carlton Blount

5:00 - 6:00pm Debo Dabney & The Happy Band

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NINA’S BISTRO STAGE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7

11:30 – 12:30pm EVOLUTION

1:00 – 2:00pm Zumba with Becky

2:30 – 3:30pm Debo Dabney Trio

4:00 – 4:50 pm Rodney The Soul Singer

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8

1:30 – 2:00pm WORSHIP

2:30 – 3:00pm Inyan Gospel Choir – Henrico High School

3:30 – 4:00pm Radio One Personality

4:30 – 5:30pm Grace & Company Fashion Show

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EGGLESTON HOTEL COMMUNITY STAGE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7

12:00 – 12:30pm SPARC

1:00 – 1:30pm Ezibu Muntu African Dance Co

2:00 – 3:00pm Carlos Viera “The Line Dance Prince”

3:30 – 4:00pm City Dance Theatre

4:30 – 5:15pm Sisterly Grace Dance & Modeling

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8

1:30 – 2:00pm City of Richmond Parks & Recreation- Take A Bow Theater

2:30 – 3:00pm Sixth Mt. Zion Baptist Church Music & Movement Ministries

3:30 – 3:55pm VSU Alumni Spoken Word

4:15 – 5:00pm D & G Line Dancing