❤️ What's happening this weekend in the 757

Good morning, 757!

Twenty five years ago tomorrow, thirty eight planes that could not land in America were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, and one small town suddenly had to feed and house nearly 7,000 strangers.

That story is on stage at the Wells Theatre right now, in our own downtown, in a building that flooded twice last month. Make of that what you will.

If you want to be somewhere Friday morning, there are ceremonies on both sides of the water. Chesapeake City Park at 8:30. The Hampton Roads Convention Center and CNU's Gaines Theater in Newport News at 10. Saturday at 8, Norfolk Fire-Rescue climbs the stairs at Scope for the 343. All of them are open to anyone who wants to stand there.

And then it is a September weekend in Hampton Roads, which means the oceanfront finally has parking again and everybody good is playing indoors.

One note for anyone who plans a weekend around the tunnel: the teddy bear clinic is in Portsmouth and it is free, so if you are on that side of the water it costs nothing to get to and nothing to get into. It is also the one we would point you at if you have a small kid and one free morning.

Here is what we are looking at:

And much more!

Let's get to it.

— Josh

🎭 Come From Away runs Friday through Sunday at the Wells Theatre, Virginia Stage Company's telling of the Newfoundland town that took in 7,000 grounded passengers. Friday 7:30 p.m., Saturday 2 and 7:30, Sunday 2.

🎶 Supernova International Ska Festival takes over Fort Monroe on Saturday and Sunday with The English Beat, Yellowman, Derrick Morgan, The Slackers and twenty more bands. It bills itself as the largest ska festival in the world, and nobody has argued.

🌟 Cherokee Cultural Weekend marks 250 years since the Cherokee War of 1776, with tribal citizens from North Carolina and Oklahoma presenting at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Included with admission, $21 adults and $11 for ages 6 to 12.

🎬 Tidewater Horror Convention runs all three days at the Wyndham Garden in Norfolk, with screen icons, indie creators and a vendor hall, for the people whose October starts in early September. Passes $17 to $43.

Chesapeake marks 25 years with a morning ceremony in the park. No ticket, no program to follow. Just show up.

Hampton marks the same morning at the convention center, honoring the victims and the first responders who went in. Free, and open to anyone.

A string quartet plays both catalogs inside St. John's, lit entirely by candles. One hour, and nobody is on their phone.

Colonial Williamsburg's official ghost tour, leaving from the Courthouse once it gets dark. Runs at 7 and again at 8:30.

Yorktown's waterfront market honors first responders this week. Meet the firefighters, deputies and dispatchers, then work the stalls.

Norfolk Fire-Rescue climbs for the 343 firefighters lost 25 years ago. Firefighters, police and anyone else willing to sweat for two hours.

A trolley and walking tour of how the shipyard built Newport News, tugboat Dorothy included. Security means you cannot go inside, so this is closer.

A guided mile through the ViBe District's murals, leaving from the LOVE sign at 18th and Cypress. Wear real shoes.

Every kid gets a teddy bear and walks it through make-believe checkups with actual CHKD pediatric staff. Free, and indoors.

Nashville hot chicken, stiff drinks and Music City sounds on the downtown waterfront for ten straight hours. Fifth year, still free to walk in.

Zeiders throws the doors open at Town Center. Music, comedy, theater, open mics and interactive art for kids, all of it free, all afternoon.

Appalachian storyteller Naomi Faw at the American Theatre. Eight dollars for two hours of somebody who knows how to hold a room.

Two quieter, lower sensory hours before the museum opens to everyone, built for visitors who need a calmer room. A dollar to get in.

Grandparents get in free with a paid child's admission. Animals, the whole farm, and the kind of photos your mom will actually print.

Forty seven years of running downtown Portsmouth with the Norfolk skyline across the water. There is a 10K, a one mile, and a party after.

Break the Cycle turns 25 and Staind is playing it start to finish. If you owned this CD, you know which song gets you.

Seven guys, more horns than seems reasonable, and a NorVa floor that will scream every word back at them. Doors at 7, band at 8.

🌿 Norfolk Botanical Garden finished its $50 million Garden of Tomorrow, a 26,000 square foot greenhouse holding 450 plant species, Chihuly glass and a Vulcan Palm believed extinct in the wild, opening to the public Monday.

⚓ The Western Branch outpatient clinic opened in Chesapeake on the old Cinemark site at Chesapeake Square, a $7.3 million build and the eighth location in the Hampton VA system.

🏈 Old Dominion opened 31-10 over Norfolk State for the seventh straight season the Monarchs have started 1-0, and the streak gets tested Saturday at Virginia Tech.

🌊 Super Girl Pro went to Eden Walla of San Clemente, who was flying home from Portugal, saw the contest had not started, and got her family to drive six hours to the Oceanfront.

🔬 Amber LaMonte, a twenty year teacher at York High, is back in the classroom after ten days of twelve hour shifts aboard the NOAA ship Pisces, where she dropped three buoys her students will track live all year.

Thank you for reading The 757 Current!

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— Josh