Every year the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia hosts an annual birthday bash for their namesake Edgar Allan Poe. It's usually a one day celebration but this year at the close of their centennial they are having a 3-day long party! Saturday and Sunday will be all day affairs with live music, food trucks, libations, performances, tours, and more. We're providing the Saturday schedule to give you a sense of what the events look like and we've added in the links to the lineup for Sunday and Monday. We've gone to 2 birthday bashes, and while we can't make it this year, we hope to go to many in the future.
From the museum –
Come celebrate Edgar Allan Poe’s 214th birthday! Enjoy a day of festivities including live music, performances, food, libations, and much more. It’s a party to die for!
Indulge in TBT El Gallo, Bryant’s Cider, and Garden Grove Brewing. See the Shadows of Shockoe by joining a ghost tour hosted by Haunts of Richmond (Tickets for Haunts of Richmond tours are an additional purchase). This event is free for Poe Museum Members.
Here's the Saturday lineup and the link for the schedule is here:
3pm-4pm Screening of PoeMovies
Watch a selection of Edgar Allan Poe films created by PoeMovies. PoeMovies is dedicated to creating accurate film renditions of Poe’s classic short stories and poems as well as other works of classic literature. The selection of films include: “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” and “The Cask of Amontillado.”
4pm-4:30pm Opening Speaker, Sara Crocoll Smith
Sara Crocoll Smith (she/her) is the author of the ghostly gothic horror series Hopeful Horror, which includes her debut novel The Haunting of Orchard Hill. She’s also the award-winning editor of the Love Letters to Poe anthologies and creator of the Love Letters to Poe website, a haven to celebrate the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
4:30pm-5:30pm ‘Edgar Allan’ The Coldharts
Edgar Allan is a two-person musical created and performed by Katie Hartman and Nick Ryan. It follows a pre-adolescent Edgar Allan Poe in his first year at Manor House School, as he seeks to gain academic ascendancy over the student body. All goes to plan until another boy named Edgar Allan arrives in class… which complicates his schemes of dominance.
5:30pm-7:00pm Cassidy Snider and the Wranglers
Cassidy Snider & The Wranglers is a band with roots firmly planted in the riverbank soil of Richmond, Virginia. Led by the traveling troubadour, Cassidy Snider, this folk outlet is a grassy assortment of her wanderlust-filled soul with sounds of the New Orleans bayou, the blue ridge mountains, and every accent between.
7:00pm-8:00pm The Coldharts
A compilation of original songs and scenes from several The Coldharts shows including “Eddie Poe.’’ The Coldharts is a touring theater company founded by Katie Hartman and Nick Ryan in Brooklyn, New York in 2012.
8:00pm-10:00pm The Embalmers
A beloved Poe Museum favorite, The Embalmers bring the reverb-drenched surf-rock waves of sonic horror to the unsuspecting citizens of Richmond VA and beyond!
Tickets for the Haunts of Richmond tours here. Haunts of Richmond will be leading ghost tours of Shockoe Bottom at 6:00pm and 7:00pm! Tours will depart from Richbrau Brewing across the street from the Poe Museum.
Sunday's schedule link is here. Sunday is kid-friendly with lots of activities for them. A poetry reading and workshop, storytime with the museum's program coordinator, a magic show, a performance piece, and an author reading with Phillip Hllliker. The museum opens at 11 AM and the activities begin at noon and run until 5 PM.
Monday's event link is here.
Monday, January 23rd 7pm at the Dominion Energy Center:
Join us in celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the Poe Museum! Writers R.L. Stine (Goosebumps) and Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death, Black Panther) take the stage to honor the legacy of Edgar Allan Poe, dubbed the “master of the macabre.” Listen to insights from two of the most talented writers of our time, and discover how Poe’s strange and groundbreaking works still influence our world today.
We hope you get a chance to attend all or at least 1-2 days of the museum's birthday bash. It's a fun place to celebrate with the rich history from the author's life and Poe admirers from everywhere. You'll enjoy the performances and tours and chatting with Poe lovers. You meet the most interesting people, and the museum does an awesome job of hosting it all. Happy 214th Birthday Mr. Poe! (glasses clink)
