Gyasi Cox, 4, keeps himself occupied as he and his mom, Anthea Cox, wait last Saturday for a to-go order from Brewer’s Café in the 1100 block of Bainbridge Street in South Richmond. Under the state’s emergency orders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, restaurants across Virginia are open only to provide meals for carry-out, delivery or curbside pickup.

Isaiah “Prince Trombone” Robinson serenades passing motorists as fellow musician, Robert Johnson III, accompanies him on an electric drum outside The National in the 700 block of East Broad Street. The venue currently is closed because of the coronavirus. The two 23- year-old musicians began their impromptu concerts after they were laid off from their full-time gigs. Their goal: To deliver some upbeat sounds to counter the pandemic’s gloom and to possibly earn some spare change from the few pedestrians in Downtown. Other in Richmond musicians have been sharing their talents on their porches or in parks. One example is saxophonist James “Plunky” Branch, who regularly turns his porch into a solo concert platform for those within earshot in his West End neighborhood.

Downtown bloom

When the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing measures disrupted plans to sell Girl Scout cookies from booths throughout Central Virginia, that didn’t stop the resourceful Girl Scouts of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The organization, with 17,400 scouts in the region, has donated 1,000 cases of Girl Scout cookies to Feed More, the area’s largest food bank. That’s 12,000 boxes of Thin Mints, S’mores, Trefoils and Lemonades and other popular cookie flavors that will be distributed to families and individuals in need during this critical time. Here, employees of Dunmar Moving Systems deliver the Girl Scout cookies on Wednesday to the Feed More warehouse in Richmond’s North Side.