The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve scoured the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Tuesday (Nov. 12)

• Mayor @ Your Service — 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall (127 S. Center Street) — Mayor Laurie DiRocco is set to chat with Victor Hoskins, the president of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, tonight about the future of Fairfax County economic development.

Wednesday (Nov. 13)

• Homeowners and Condominium Association Forum in McLean — 7 p.m. at McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Avenue) — This event will walk community members through policies of the McLean Citizens Association. Everyone is welcome to this free event.

Thursday (Nov. 14)

• Women in Technology Job Fair — 4 to 7 p.m. at Sheraton Tysons Hotel (8661 Leesburg Pike) — Women in the STEM industry are invited to attend this free event if they are currently seeking a job. Registration is still open for applicants and hiring companies.
• Professional Networking Night — 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tea with Mrs. B (136 W Jefferson Street) — This event allows people across the community to network and meet new people. Tickets are $10 and include drinks and appetizers.
• Trace Bundy — 6:30 p.m. at Wolf Trap (1635 Trap Road) — Folk singer and guitarist Trace Bundy will take the stage for a performance. He is known for his harmonics, looping and multiple caps, according to the event website. Tickets start at $27.

Friday (Nov. 15)

• Tree Lighting — 6 to 9 p.m. at The Plaza (1961 Chain Bridge Road) — The public is welcome to watch as the Christmas tree at Tysons Corner Center be decorated with lights. There will be live music from Kris Allen at this free event.
• Bright Lights in the Little City Community Celebration — 7 to 10:30 p.m. at The State Theatre (220 N. Washington Street) —  The Falls Church event will include food and dessert, live music by The Grandsons and an online auction. Tickets are $85.
• Improvicon — 7:30 p.m. at 1st Stage  Tysons (1524 Spring Hill Road) — This event will feature several improv groups throughout Northern Virginia. General admission tickets can be purchased for $15.

Sunday (Nov.17)

• 5K Turkey Trot — 8 a.m. Central Park (Tysons Blvd and Galleria Drive) — This 5K, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Tysons Corner, invites community members to participate to raise money for local charities. Until Nov. 15, tickets are $35 and will go up to $40 after that. Tickets include food and swag. The first three women and men to place will receive cash prizes.

Photo via Tysons Corner Center/Facebook

Monday is Veterans Day — a chance to celebrate the servicemen and women who currently or previously served in the United States Armed Forces.

Certain businesses or offices are altering hours in remembrance or even offering perks for veterans.

The City of Falls Church is hosting a Veterans Day Ceremony at the Veterans Memorial in front of the Community Center (223 Little Falls Street) beginning at 11 a.m. on Monday. A wreath will be laid for those missing in action and attendees can listen to a performance by the Falls Church Concert Band.

Founding Farmers (1800 Tysons Blvd) is offering a 50% discount on brunch, lunch and dinner for those who bring along a military ID or wear their uniform. The Department of Veterans Affairs compiled a list of other chain locations offering discounts or free things for servicewomen and men.

The Fairfax County government offices and Fairfax County Public Libraries will be closed in remembrance.

Fairfax County Public Schools will be open and teachers are encouraged to lead students in Veterans Day oriented activities.

Across the county, all of the neighborhood and community service centers will be closed.

In Falls Church, the senior center and Mary Riley Styles Public Library will be closed, while the community center will be open from 8:30 a.m. until 10 p.m.

The Vienna Community Center will have reduced hours from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Over in McLean, the McLean Community Center and the Old Firehouse Center will be closed on Monday.

Trash collection from the county will run on a normal schedule, although the offices will be closed, according to the website. Locals are advised to put their trash and recycling out by 6 a.m. for timely collection.

Fairfax County animal shelters are closed on Mondays, the website said.

Some Fairfax Connector routes will operate regular weekday service, while others won’t run at all. For Metro, buses and trains will run on a Saturday schedule on Monday.

As the January deadline looms, the Falls Church City Council discussed proposals for e-scooters before state laws take effect and the city loses its chance to create regulations.

Concerns arose at both the Oct. 21 and Oct. 28 City Council meetings, including potential funding issues, underage use, parking and the upcoming pilot program. The pilot program would be limited to two scooter vendors, leaving companies to compete for a one-year trial period, Councilmember Ross Litkenhous said.

If implemented, the program would allow 14 scooters per 1,000 people into city limits. On average, the scooters would cost users $1 to unlock and a $0.25 per-minute fee, according to statistics gathered from Arlington and Alexandria.

On average 20% of e-scooter users ride them for social or entertainment purposes, while roughly 20% use them for shopping and errands. Another 20% use them to commute to the metro. Scooters could help to solve the first-to-last mile commuter problem, an expert brought in by the City Council and Councilmember Phil Duncan said.

There was some talk at the Oct. 21 meeting about using scooters to raise revenue for the city, by adding on taxes and unlocking fees. The city would charge each vendor an $8,000 permitting fee, regardless of fleet size, according to city documents. But no one seemed to have a concrete answer to the total profits.

“It would be interesting to see how much we can get out of it without impacting the demand,” Litkenhous said.

Councilmember Dave Snyder took another perspective, saying that it might cost the city more money. He said that police would be distracted by monitoring people, ensuring they are following laws and guidelines while riding the scooters.

Parking was yet another major focus of the conversations.

Several people suggested corrals, while others said that they encourage people to lean them against polls that are out of the way of pedestrians and cars. All of the councilmembers agreed that measures should be taken to ensure that they are not being left in the way of traffic or parked illegally in yards.

“Parking is going to be one of the major sources of complaints we will get, so we should prepare for that,” Councilmember Letty Hardi said.

Going forward, the Falls Church City Council will continue to discuss potential implementation plans before they make a final decision. At the next City Council meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 12), councilmembers are expected to discuss a first reading of the new ordinance regarding motorized scooters and shared mobility devices.

“I really think the success of this pilot is going to hinge on good communication,” Hardi said. “Lowering the bar to explain this won’t be perfect, [but] is important.”

After celebrating its 10-year anniversary, a cybersecurity and technology company decided to move its headquarters in Tysons to fit expansion needs.

Founded in 2009, OBXtek specializes in six different areas including cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and IT engineering, according to the company website.

They moved to the new location at 2000 Corporate Ridge Road in late October to “support the rapid growth of the business,” according to a press release.

The new location will have roughly 17,000 square feet of space, which is larger than the previous office space at 8300 Boone Blvd, Dale Spencer, the company’s president, told Tysons Reporter.

Currently, the company employs around 500 people and was recently ranked as one of the most veteran-friendly companies by American Veterans because of its efforts to boost community involvement for veterans.

OBXtek actively tries to hire veterans and participates in the Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program, the press release said.

“OBXtek’s relocation provides us with the opportunity to consolidate our headquarters staff in a modern and efficient facility and helps to accommodate our continued growth,” Spencer said in the press release.

Photo via Facebook/OBXtek

Locals in the Falls Church area can give their input on a juvenile detention center in Northern Virginia.

The future of the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center, which is a secure institution for minors who are being held by the juvenile courts of Arlington County and the cities of Falls Church and Alexandria, is uncertain.

The Moss Group, a criminal justice consulting firm, will host a public forum at City Hall (300 Park Avenue) on Thursday (Nov. 14) from 7-8:30 p.m.

The feedback gathered from the event will be part of a larger study examining how the center can support the current trend of falling juvenile incarceration rates, a press release said.

People who cannot attend the meeting can fill out an online survey instead.

Options include closing the center and transferring the people incarcerated there, according to a press release.

The center is located in Alexandria (200 S. Whiting Street) and houses up to 70 kids and young adults. The center is operated by the three jurisdictions through a regional Juvenile Detention Commission, according to Arlington County.

People at the center typically have “misdemeanor or felony offenses; are at moderate or high risk; and have been determined by the court to present a significant danger to themselves or others, often having significant behavioral health, family, child welfare, and/or educational needs,” according to the City of Alexandria’s website.

Across the country, Wyoming and North Dakota have some of the highest youth incarceration rates among the 50 states, with more than 400 incarcerations per 100,000 kids, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Virginia, on the other hand, only has around 20o incarcerations per 100,000 kids.

In Virginia, kids of color are four times more likely to be imprisoned than white kids, according to the ACLU.

The ACLU also reported that the youth incarceration rate in the state fell 46% from 1997 to 2013.

The City of Falls Church with @AlexandriaVAGov & @ArlingtonVA invite you to share your thoughts on the future of the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center (NVJDC) at three meetings or an online survey: https://t.co/Cnj85FMX6o pic.twitter.com/1Zw3EUNje5

— City of Falls Church (@FallsChurchGov) November 6, 2019

A new shopping experience in Tysons offers customers the chance to try out Pella doors and windows in a showroom before purchasing them.

Pella Windows and Doors (8150 Leesburg Pike) has a new location in Tysons that includes an interactive showroom. The store held a ceremony (Wednesday) to celebrate the new store today.

The store will feature the latest designs by Pella, a press release said.

According to the press release:

Grounded in the philosophy of making it easier and more inspiring for customers to shop for window and door products, the new Experience Center allows customers to curate product selections and demonstrate product comparisons.

Within the Experience Center customers can operate fully-functional window and door products allowing them to experience the difference in performance and design offered by Pella.

Hours of operation run from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturdays. The location is closed on Sundays.

Second photo via Pella Windows and Doors/Facebook

An annual campaign in the City of Falls Church this month encourages locals to spend money locally.

The Falls Church #LiveLocalFC campaign invites community members to take advantage of stores and services within city limits while participating in social media challenges for prizes through the end of November.

There is a bingo card online that participants can complete and post on social media with the #LiveLocalFC hashtag to qualify them for weekly prizes, though it is not clear what the prizes will be. The bingo card presents challenges such as “meet a local business owner,” “have food delivered” and “support a non-profit.”

Residents are encouraged to have 20% or more of their shopping or monthly spending happen within the city.

Councilmember Ross Litkenhous began the campaign along with other councilmembers and the Falls Church Chamber of Commerce.

“Last year we kicked off the live local campaign,” Litkenhous said. “Those efforts really paid off.”

The city manager and chief financial officer said the sales and meal tax revenue from last year following the campaign exceeded expectations by over $750,000, according to Litkenhous.

The initiative offers other benefits, including economic development in the city, a boosted sense of community, increased funding for schools and infrastructure, easement of traffic, reduction of pollutants into the environment and creation of jobs, according to a press release.

November was chosen as #LiveLocal month because the holiday season is around the corner and many people are starting to shop for gifts, Litkenhous said.

For the third year in a row, the Town of Vienna will host a competition encouraging local businesses to put up holiday decorations.

The Town/Business Liaison Committee wants businesses within Vienna to decorate their storefronts with the theme “Home for the Holidays” and participate in the upcoming decoration competition.

Winners will receive special social media shoutouts and Mayor Laurie DiRocco will volunteer her time as a guest employee for business with the best decorations, according to a press release.

All decorations must be put out by Friday (Nov. 29). Competition winners will be announced at the Church Street Holiday Stroll on Monday (Dec. 2).

“The TBLC is hosting this third annual competition to draw attention to local businesses, foster a festive atmosphere that attracts visitors and encourage residents to discover local gems as they tackle their holiday shopping in person,” a press release said.

Any business wishing to participate must register online by Friday, Nov. 22.

Photos courtesy Town of Vienna

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve scoured the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Monday (Nov. 4)

• Kids STEM Workshop — 9 a.m. at Kilmer Middle School (8100 Wolftrap Road) — Since Fairfax County Public Schools are out of session on Monday (Nov. 4) and Tuesday (Nov. 5), this is an opportunity for students in grades four through six to learn more about math and science opportunities. The tickets are $50.

Tuesday (Nov. 5)

• Jedi Academy — 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Nova Fencing Club (3431 Carlin Springs Road) — Kids will have the opportunity to lean the basics of fencing from “Jedi Masters” at the Nova Fencing Club while using lightsabers. The cost of this camp is $80.

Friday (Nov. 8)

• “The Jungle Book“— 7:30 p.m. at Creative Cauldron (410 S. Maple Avenue) — This production of “The Jungle Book” features Creative Cauldron’s Learning Theater program and will tell the story of the beloved children’s tale. Tickets start at $16 for students and are $20 for adults.

Saturday (Nov. 9)

• Barre and Brunch — 11:30 a.m. at Falls Church Distillers (442 S. Washington Street) — This pop-up exercise class will give attendees a chance to participate in a barre workout class while enjoying food and drinks at Falls Church Distillers. Tickets are $35 and include a bloody mary or mimosa.
• Book Binding & Foil Stamping Workshop — 2 to 4 p.m. at Botanologica (817 W. Broad Street) — For this event attendees will learn to make their own book and 10 foil stamped thank you cards. The tickets are $75.
• TEDx Tysons — 10 a.m. at 1st Stage Theater (1524 Spring Hill Road) — An independently organized event, this Ted Talk will feature “Doorways” and talk about transitions and thresholds in life. Tickets start at $45.
• Muslimah Fest — 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center (3159 Row Street) — This empowerment and networking event celebrates strong women in the community. It will feature motivational lectures, talks, a modesty fashion show, quranic recitation, food, short films by Muslim women, beauty and health tips and spoken word poetry.

Photo via Nova Fencing Club

Updated 7/11/19 — A spokesperson for Lord and Taylor said that the store will close in January. 

Shoppers can find big discounts at Lord and Taylor before the department store closes at Tysons Corner Center.

“Store closing” signs say that customers can take advantage of a 20-40% discount on everything in the store. As of this morning (Monday), employees could be seen clearing out a few display cases but the location seemed to be fully stocked otherwise.

Lord and Taylor offers clothing, shoes, apparel and accessories for men, women and kids. Shoppers preparing for the winter season can find discounts on seasonal items such as gloves, coats and boots, along with everything else in the store. For example, a women’s bright yellow coat that would normally cost $300 is on sale for $240.

Tysons Reporter received conflicting reports from staff on why the store was closing but Business Insider reported earlier this year that up to 10 Lord and Taylor stores in the U.S. could close by the end of the year — including the flagship store in New York. It is unclear if the closing in Tysons Corner Center is related.

Todd Putt, a spokesperson for the mall, sent Tysons Reporter the following statement:

Lord and Taylor represents very attractive real estate at Tysons Corner Center and we are enthusiastic about future uses that will continue [to] add incredible energy to The Plaza.

And their decision to close at our center is not reflective of our business. Just in time for the holidays, we’re opening some exciting new brands, including Abercrombie Kids, Beauty Nail Bar, Roots, Helzberg Diamonds’ expansion, and much more!

Across our portfolio, Macerich has a strong track record of reimagining former big box spaces into creative, far more productive new uses. This includes not only fresh and exciting retail, but also entertainment, offices and other new experiences that are a real fit with what people want today. We see the same happening here at Tysons Corner Center.

Alexandra Cohen, a spokesperson for Lord and Taylor, told Tysons Reporter that decisions to close stores “are never easy, but they are the right ones for the company.”

“We are committed to treating every associate with respect and fairness through this process; all eligible associates will receive appropriate employment separation packages and transfer opportunities will be explored where feasible,” Cohen said.