Party like it’s 2017! // Children from around Metro Richmond throw confetti and whoop it up at their own “Noon Year’s Eve Bash” last Saturday at the Children’s Museum of Richmond. The New Year’s Eve celebration, held 12 hours before most adult celebrations, included a grand parade, led by the museum mascot, Seymour the Dinosaur, and a toast with juice boxes. “Anna” and “Elsa,” characters from the highly popular 2013 Disney film “Frozen,” joined the youngsters in ushering in 2017 and learning about New Year’s celebrations and customs from around the world.

Cityscape //Last April, it was just a hole in the ground. Now the $6.3 million Eggleston Plaza is taking shape at 2nd and Leigh streets in Jackson Ward. When completed in 2017, the project will include 31 apartments and a first-floor restaurant. The building occupies the former site of Eggleston Hotel, one of the few places that civil rights leaders, entertainers and other African-Americans could stay during the era of segregation when most city hotels barred non-white guests. The old hotel collapsed and the site was cleared in 2009. The plaza sits across from the renovated Hippodrome Theater and the Taylor Mansion entertainment, restaurant and residential complex. The development includes another 10 townhouse-style apartments at 1st and Jackson streets that already are being rented.

Canada geese at Fountain Lake in Byrd Park

Photos by Rudolph Powell Elegance in Black and White //Among those enjoying the 2016 gala are, from left, Congressman Robert C. Scott, the Richmond chapter’s 2nd Vice President Beverly B. Davis, and chapter President Nkechi George-Winkler. The service organization, founded nationally in 1956, was begun in Richmond in 1976 with a mission of aiding the socioeconomic and cultural welfare of children and youths.

Elegance in Black and White // The Richmond Chapter of Continental Societies Inc. hosted its “Elegance in Black and White” gala on Dec. 30 at a Downtown hotel. The annual holiday event attracts the “Who’s Who” in Metro Richmond.

Celebrating Kwanzaa // Imani Bell, left, and Casey Jones lead the procession for the 2016 Capital City Kwanzaa Festival last Friday at the Altria Theater. Scores of people attended the annual festival produced by Janine Y. Bell of the Elegba Folklore Society. Highlights included music and dance, lectures, panels and workshops focusing on the seven principles of Kwanzaa.

Imani Bell, left, and Casey Jones lead the procession for the 2016 Capital City Kwanzaa Festival last Friday at the Altria Theater. Scores of people attended the annual festival produced by Janine Y. Bell of the Elegba Folklore Society. Highlights included music and dance, lectures, panels and workshops focusing on the seven principles of Kwanzaa.

Travis Johnson above left, of Bahashem Products is among the vendors in the festival’s marketplace.

Emancipation Proclamation Day Service // Dr. Howard-John Wesley, pastor of Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, the oldest and largest African-American church in Northern Virginia, delivers the “Emancipation Message” to a crowd of approximately 400 people at Richmond’s Fifth Baptist Church for Monday’s Emancipation Proclamation Day Service.

The yearly event, sponsored by the Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Richmond and Vicinity, is a part of a Richmond tradition celebrating the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation that freed enslaved persons in the Confederate states, including those in Virginia. Richmond was once a major marketplace for the buying and selling of enslaved persons. The speakers and the music moved many in the audience.

The Rev. Delores McQuinn, right, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, sings with the choir during the service.