RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – The “Toots incident” wasn’t the only ridiculous crime that occurred over the weekend; the LOVE artwork placed at Tredegar Beach for Dominion Riverrock was twice vandalized.
In case you aren’t familiarwith the “Toots” incident, that’s when, according to police, a teenager chucked a stolen vodka bottle at the lead singer of Toots and the Maytals, Toots Hibbert. As a result the reggae singer suffered a head wound that required 10 stitches, and the free concert ended early.
Now, there wasn’t much LOVE or R-E-S-P-E-C-T in that. The LOVE sculpture that was vandalized is part of a program where Virginia localities all across the state build themed artworks to reflect something notable about that community.
For instance there is a film repository in Culpeper that stores more than 6 million acetate copies of films. There, a LOVE sculpture was made out of old reels: REEL LOVE it is.
Luray, considered the cabin capital, has a LOVE sculpture made out of logs; in Bristol one is made of musical instruments.
For the Richmond one, the L was made of fishing bobbers, the O was a wheel, the V made of two kayaks, and the E was made of backpacks.
Richard Lewis, with the Virginia Tourism Commission, said that eight backpacks were stolen on the Thursday before the outdoor festival. Those were replaced with new backpacks, some were “Virginia is for Lovers” backpacks, but not all.
Those disappeared Sunday night, only two remained. The LOVE artwork has already been removed since it was only there for the event.
Lewis said the LOVE is still strong though, for the festival and the city.
“We are going to continue to support and be a part of this event next year,” he said.
