It’s a rare event these days that brings the nation together, but the passing of Dolly Parton earlier this week fit the bill. And tonight, the Queen of Country will get top billing at a special fundraiser for an East End nonprofit that helps aspiring local creative-industries workers find their dream “9 to 5.”

This evening, Studio Two Three is hosting a screening of the Steel Magnolias to honor Parton’s indelible mark on American arts and the American South. The 1989 film is a real treat on its own, with the country-music icon more than holding her own alongside a star-studded cast including Sally Fields, Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, and many more. But even as the event fetes Parton, it aims to raise money for Oakwood Arts, the P Street nonprofit that offers training and resources to community members hoping to build careers in creative industries like film and music—a philanthropic mission that likely would have appealed to the legendary generosity of Tennessee’s favorite daughter.

“It's probably no secret that budgets are tight everywhere,” said Church Hill resident Gwen Fitzgerald, a longtime volunteer and board member at Oakwood Arts, in a recent phone interview. “They're tight at homes, restaurants, and nonprofits, and maybe especially in arts organizations.” With the end of the organization’s fiscal year looming on September 1st, and a financial shortfall to make up, it put out a call for help earlier this month to members of Richmond’s creative community. Studio Two Three answered immediately, proposing a fundraiser at its Manchester workshop to help Oakwood Arts plug the hole in its budget.

Fitzgerald was floored. “In my 40 year career in nonprofits, I have never seen one nonprofit do a fundraiser for another,” she said. “Style Weekly chose them as Richmonder of the Year last year, and now I see why.”

Initially, the two 501(c)(3)s had planned to throw a ‘70s-themed dance party for the event to complement Malcom & Me, a short film that trainees in Oakwood Arts’ OA Jet job-placement program produced this year based on a book by Richmond writer Robin Farmer. “We just had a supporter screening at the Institute for Contemporary Art but we can't take it public yet because we're going to submit it to film festivals,” explained Fitzgerald. “So the ‘70s had just been on our mind—the hair, the styles, the music, and so we said, ‘Why don't we pull from our own project and use this as our theme?’”

When news of Parton’s death at 80 hit the wire this past Tuesday, though, Studio Two Three and Oakwood Arts decided to turn the party into a celebration of her outstanding oeuvre. (Tickets purchased for the dance party are transferrable.) “Sometimes circumstances require a pivot,” reads the orgs’ Friday press release. “Dolly's love, sass, and light brought folks together in the toughest of times. Come raise a glass in her memory, which will help Oakwood Arts at a challenging financial moment.”

Doors open at Studio Two Three tonight at 7pm, and Steel Magnolias’ opening credits will roll at 7:30pm. The suggested donation is $10, and there will be a cash bar. If you can’t make it, but want to contribute to Oakwood Arts’ community-based mission, it also accepts donations online. You don’t have to give away millions of dollars like Dolly did to make a difference. Even modest donations tell the org, and the Richmond arts scene it supports, “I Will Always Love You.”

Possum Poetry is original verse written exclusively for The Lookout by Penelope Poubelle, the Lookout’s litter critter-at-large. If you spot roadside trash you’d like her to immortalize in doggerel, email a photo to [email protected]. All submissions anonymous!

Earlier this week, The Lookout was first to report on the outcome of the community poll conducted by the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities (DPR) regarding construction plans at Chimborazo Playground:

“53.6% of respondents are in favor of removing the new pétanque courts instead of completing them,” wrote department Director Christopher Frelke and City Council President/7th District member Cynthia Newbille in a joint letter sent Tuesday afternoon. (Read it in full on The Lookout’s share drive.)

The dispatch, which you can read in full on The Lookout’s share drive, did not include a breakout of how many votes were cast for each of the three options presented as potential future plans for the neighborhood park, which has been stuck in pétanque-related construction purgatory all summer since DPR paused its surprise expansion of facilities for the French bowling game in mid-May. In response to an inquiry from The Lookout on Wednesday, Tamara Jenkins, deputy director, public affairs in the Office of Strategic Communications & Civic Engagement (OSC), provided the final count. It was as follows:

Because “[t]he primary question asked in the survey, and that [DPR] was charged with answering, was whether to finish the two pétanque courts or remove them,” explained Jenkins, and “Options 2 and 3 [included] remov[ing] the pétanque courts,” the department “will remove the pétanque courts.”

Karen Rankin-Morris, the president of Les Boulefrogs Pétanque Club of Virginia, the local group that had advocated for expanding the courts, declined to comment. Others expressed frustration at DPR’s tabulations. As a Lookout commenter named Amy Marshall put it (emphasis added throughout; all sic):

In their letter, Frelke and Newbille announced another meeting—by my count, the fourth since this saga began, not including the discussion tacked onto the end of the Church Hill Association’s mid-May confab—to walk through these results. It will take place at 6pm on Tuesday, September 1st at Lucks Field Community Center.

On Friday morning at Richmond City Circuit Court, a judge found the motorist that fatally struck longtime Church Hill resident Bill Martin in a crosswalk on E. Broad St. in December 2025 guilty of all charges brought against him. Harry McCray, a 38 year-old from Moseley, had pleaded guilty to failure to yield to a pedestrian, causing the death of a vulnerable road user, and not guilty to driving with a suspended license.

Even when drivers like McCray kill pedestrians, convictions do not guarantee meaningful penalties, especially when the charges are misdemeanors, as they were in this case. As Samuel Parker reported last year for the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

The CA’s office told WRIC’s Katelyn Harlow that McCray’s convictions could result in a three-year sentence. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for December 1st.

Happenings on The Hill is a digital bulletin board for events, causes, and other items of interest to East Enders that don’t necessarily merit full editorial treatment. Got something for a future edition? Email the relevant details, links, etc. to [email protected] for consideration!

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