RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A few notable central Virginia social media accounts took part in April Fools’ Day this year, showing off their creativity and giving us all a good laugh — assuming you didn’t fall for the trick, at least.
Being honest here — a few of our 8News team members were nearly fooled by these themselves. So, in the interest of both clearing the air and avenging ourselves, here are three local April Fools’ pranks that had us laughing today.
Richmond Flying Squirrels rebranding
On its Instagram, Style Weekly proudly presented the supposed new logo and rebranding for Richmond’s well-loved Flying Squirrels.
Allegedly in celebration of their new stadium, they needed a new name — the Richmond Rodents.
A cuddly-looking grey mouse would oust the Flying Squirrels’ Nutzy the squirrel — in the fantasy land where this is real, of course.
You can see the promotional art Style Weekly posted to Instagram here.
Duke’s Mayo showcases Tubby at VMFA
Ever wanted to see the largest Tubby portrait collection in the entire world? Well, you can’t — but today, you can pretend, at least.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Duke’s Mayo announced a definitely-real collaboration with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts where onlookers could view a variety of portraits showcasing its mascot, Tubby.
This fake exhibit would feature a grand total of 68 portraits of Tubby “at home, work, Bank of America Stadium and more.” It would allegedly run from April 1 until Aug. 16.
Clearly a fan of this idea, the Richmond Flying Squirrels account offered an enthusiastic endorsement in a reply, which promised “we’d be there even if this wasn’t an April Fools joke.”
You can enjoy the advertisement shared by Duke’s here.
The “Ewe de Rodney” from VCU
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) here in Richmond put out a press release describing its new signature fragrance, “Ewe de Rodney,” named after the university’s Rodney the Ram mascot.
“The team of students behind Ewe de Rodney, which hits the shelves at Shift Retail Lab this month, hopes it will be love at first spritz for students, faculty, staff and alums,” the release reads.
The scent was described as “a new gender-neutral fragrance” that “boasts notes of James River rock pools, Shafer Court Dining Center aromas, sturgeon musk and, of course, Rodney sweat.”
The release features photos of the pretend fragrance and the “student team” that allegedly crafted the scent, as well as a promotional video. It even contains fake testimonials from that alleged team.
“I don’t want to tell you how many hours I spent following Rodney around campus and to basketball games, just breathing him in and then going back to the lab and trying to re-create his essence,” one of them reads.
You can laugh along to the full release here.
