Stormy Afternoon Ahead With Flash Flood Watch — The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Watch for today (Monday) for Fairfax County and surrounding areas from 3 p.m. through late tonight. Thunderstorms and heavy rainfall totaling 1-2 inches are expected. “Much of this rain may fall in short periods of time in any one given location, resulting in the risk for flash flooding this afternoon and tonight.” [NWS]

Georgetown Pike Now Open Again — All lanes of Georgetown Pike (Route 193) between Centrillion Drive and Georgetown Ridge Court in McLean closed for emergency road repairs on Sunday following a fallen tree and wires. The road reopened several hours later. [Twitter]

New Field in Tysons — “Quantum Field officially opened [earlier in July] and players will soon get the chance to enjoy this lighted, state-of-the-art synthetic turf rectangular field.” [Connection Newspapers]

Firefighters Fought Tysons Fire — Firefighters responded to a small fire on roof in the 8600 block of Westwood Center Drive in Tysons West on Sunday. [Twitter]

Langley High School Students Lauded — “Five local high-school students recently received the McLean Citizens Association’s 2019 Outstanding Teen Character Awards for their dedication to the community.” [Inside NoVa]

McLean Resident Lands Federal Agency Role — “The US Senate June 27 voted to confirm Aimee Jorjani as the first full-time chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.” Jorjani is a McLean resident. [Connection Newspapers]

Fairfax County police are looking for the three men who robbed a CVS in Tysons early Thursday morning.

The incident happened right before 3 a.m. on a Thursday (July 18) at 8177 Leesburg Pike.

“Three men entered the store and removed the cash drawers from behind the counter,” police said. “The clerk was knocked down when he tried to stop them.”

The men then drove off in a silver car, according to the police report.

“The suspects are described as black men believed to be in their teens to early 20s,” police said.

Image via Google Maps

The Town of Vienna received reports in June about embezzlement involving two local restaurants, according to the Vienna Police Department.

Police said that reports to the town’s Finance Department said that Amphora Restaurant (377 W. Maple Avenue) and now-closed Falafel Street (235 E. Maple Avenue) failed to remit their meals tax for several months.

For Amphora, police said that “a check was later received from the restaurant to cover the tax.”

Photo via Facebook

Come this Sunday, Mad Fox Brewing Company will close its doors in Falls Church.

CEO and Executive Brewer Bill Madden announced the closure earlier in July on Facebook right before the brewpub’s ninth anniversary.

Madden, who got his start at Capitol City Brewing Company before working at Founders and Vintage 50, opened Mad Fox Brewing Company in 2010, taking inspiration from Euro gastro brewpubs.

Just days away from closing, Madden shared with Tysons Reporter more details about the closure and some of his favorite memories at Mad Fox Brewing Company.

Tysons Reporter: What comes next?

Bill Madden: For me? I’m thinking about whether I do something else — another type of brewing project — because that’s what I’m trained to do or whether I go into what they call ally trade.

I really haven’t had a chance to think about it that much because we were working hard to try to make this happen, and I couldn’t go public with anything until last Tuesday so I couldn’t really reach out and talk to people for fear that it might tip the scale or reveal my hand.

It’s tough when you have a business that you know is about to close. You have to do it the right way and we wanted to talk to the bank, talk to the landlord let them know so it wouldn’t be a big surprise and let our management team and let our employees know. And then we went to the public rather than surprising everybody and locking the door.

TR: It sounded like from the Facebook post that the reason why you’re closing is because of the abundance of breweries that have popped up in the area. Is that why?

BM: Well the result is our sales have reached a historic low and as much as the landlord and bank were trying to work with us, we couldn’t come to anything that was even break even. When you’re at that point, you have to say, “It’s time to close.”

So what has happened since the rules were changed in 2012 and it’s specific to Senate Bill 604 — that a food component was not required to sell a pint of beer. Once that happened, we had a whole number of breweries that opened up.

When that changed, we went from 40 breweries in the state of Virginia to 250 plus and we’ve slowly seen our beer sales go down each year from then.

TR: It looked like from the Facebook comments that several breweries around the area were thanking you for your support and your help.

BM: We were at the forefront. We were at the beginning of this new explosion of breweries or whatever you want to call it. So a lot of those brewers came through here asking questions, asking how you do it. And I was always willing to help and talk to people and be very honest about what we were doing here. And a lot of folks learned from us and then a lot of folks learned from those people.

I wasn’t the first brewery in Virginia. And there were other breweries that paved the way before me — Jerry Bailey of Old Dominion and Tom Martin of Legend Brewing in Richmond.

TR: But you were the first brewery in Falls Church.

BM: Yes — ever, that I can find record of. I always like to do a little historical research on any location I’ve worked in. Unless some of the taverns in the colonial period brewed their own, we were the first in Falls Church.

TR: There are 450 plus comments on the Facebook post.

BM: I never realized so many people had their first dates here or maybe proposed here or had their rehearsal dinner here. Or decided to have kids. There was one person who said they decided to have kids here. And I was like, “Oh my god! That’s an interesting conversation to have in our brewpub.”

It’s bittersweet. We have a lot of memories and we have a lot to be proud of. We hold our heads high for everything that we did. We collaborated with local businesses. We had rehearsal dinners and birthdays and parties.

TR: What are your fondest memories looking back over the last nine years?

BM: The early days when everything was still very new and fresh and a lot of breweries were starting to open up. We would hold events here with those [new] brewers — DC Brau, Port City, Three Stars. All of them that had started after us that were so excited and so eager to promote themselves and we were the space that did it for them in the early days. And a lot of those guys and gals came through here and gave us a lot of great experiences and now a lot of them are very, very successful.

TR: How was the anniversary party last Saturday?

BM: It was unbelievable busy — business like we haven’t seen since we opened. Probably was many [people] as the fire marshall would allow. There’s been a great outpouring of love. I think what’s happened — it’s affirmation for what we did in the beginning.

We would have folks who would come from great distances away — Vienna, Centreville, Reston — to come and experience what we had to offer here because there wasn’t anything like that in their area. Since the growth of all the breweries, now they have a brewery in their town that maybe they go to, but they remember what a great time they had here. And they realized they had a limited time to experience that again, and they’ve been showing a lot of love.

TR: Many commenters said they are going to miss the Orange Whip IPA. Do you have a favorite beer?

BM: They’re all my children.

An Excessive Heat Warning will be in effect for Fairfax County and surrounding areas for much of today (Friday).

The National Weather Service said the warning will last from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Heat index values could reach 110 degrees today.

Currently, Saturday and Sunday are under an Excessive Heat Watch.

More from NWS:

…EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 9 PM EDT THIS EVENING…
…EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING…
…EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING…

* HEAT INDEX VALUES…Near 110 degrees today, then potentially 110 to 115 degrees Saturday and Sunday due to temperatures in the upper 90s to around 100 degrees and dewpoints in the lower to middle 70s.

* Impacts…Dangerously high temperatures and humidity could quickly cause heat stress or heat stroke if precautions are not taken.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

An Excessive Heat Warning means that a prolonged period of dangerously high temperatures will occur. The combination of extreme temperatures and high humidity will create a dangerous situation in which heat illnesses are expected. Check in on relatives and neighbors.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue wants people to keep cool and practice heat safety whether inside or outside. The fie department also has a guide for how to identify the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke — and what to do.

In addition to the heat, an Air Quality Alert has been issued for today.

More from NWS:

A Code Orange Air Quality Alert means that air pollution concentrations within the region may become unhealthy for sensitive groups. Sensitive groups include children, people suffering from asthma, heart disease or other lung diseases and the elderly. The effects of air pollution can be minimized by avoiding strenuous activity or exercise outdoors.

#HEAT UPDATE: Today marks day 1 of 3 excessively hot and humid days for our region. Dangerous heat indices of 100-115 are expected. Stay hydrated and in shaded or air conditioned places, and check on your friends and neighbors. Heat safety tips: https://t.co/nm6p0Dmcbs. pic.twitter.com/Jb4u0DwSPs

— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) July 19, 2019

Excessive Heat Watch Friday, Saturday and Sunday https://t.co/5ZMXDwfkM0

— Fairfax County Government 🇺🇸 (@fairfaxcounty) July 18, 2019

Photo by Kent Pilcher on Unsplash

The Fairfax County Police Department is seeking the public’s help to identify a suspect linked to Tysons Corner Center fraud.

Police said they are looking for the “man suspected of stealing a credit card and making fraudulent purchases at Tysons Corner Center earlier this month.

Anyone who has information is asked to call Master Police Officer Mergler at 703-556-7750, send an email to [email protected] or submit an anonymous tip.

Photo via FCPD

Kiln & Custard, a local woman-owned custard and ice cream chain, has plans to celebrate National Ice Cream Day this weekend.

The Vienna, Reston and Falls Church locations will offer a buy-one, get-one-free deal on ice cream scoops on Sunday (July 21).

“[The] custard is made fresh daily, in-house with no food dyes, artificial flavoring or harmful preservatives and are colored with fresh spinach, pureed beets and ripe tomatoes,” according to a press release about the event.

Here are the locations and hours on Sunday:

• Falls Church — open from 1-7 p.m. at 455 S. Maple Avenue
• Vienna — open from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at 138 Church Street NW
• Reston — open from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at 1631 N. Washington Plaza

The Kiln & Custard locations are inside the Kiln & Co. pottery stores, which offer pottery painting and classes.

Former President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day in 1984, according to the International Dairy Foods Association.

Photo courtesy Kiln and Custard

Fairfax County police arrested a man in connection with fraud at the Louis Vuitton store in Tysons Galleria last month.

On June 2, Julian Kendrick allegedly picked up an online order totaling $9,910 that was linked to a driver’s license from Georgia with a different name, according to a court document.

“The store employees thought that the transaction was suspicious and requested police assistance, however, the employees did allow Kendrick to complete the transaction and receive the merchandise,” police said in the document.

Police said they found Kendrick in his car and he gave them a driver’s license from Michigan with his name to police, who then searched the car and found fraudulent identification, including two credit cards and the driver’s license from Georgia.

Police arrested Kendrick, charging him with false pretenses and for the fraudulent credit card.

After a slew of noise violations, Bey Lounge agreed with the Town of Vienna to no longer offer live music.

Rami El-Hasrouni, one of the co-owners of Bey Lounge, told the town’s Board of Zoning Appeals last night (Wednesday) that the lounge (303 Mill Street) would no longer need its live entertainment permit, which the board was considering revoking.

“We’re going to be a straight restaurant from now on,” El-Hasrouni told the board.

The issues for the lounge started several months ago when it received a number of noise complaints and then was found guilty of three noise violation cases in a General District Court.

El-Hasrouni told Tysons Reporter that the cost of paying for lawyers and the permit renewal “were way too much” for the lounge, which is known for its Lebanese cuisine and live music.

“Right now, we are in the process of changing the lounge in general just because once we don’t have live entertainment we are going to lose all our customers, so we are very in risk of losing our business right now,” he said.

The “new concept” under consideration could possibly add more seating and “putting more grocery inside the lounge,” he said, adding that a timeframe hasn’t been set yet.

“Hopefully, it works,” he said.

Photo via Google Maps

The City of Falls Church wants to know how people who live or work in the city get around the area.

The city has two surveys available — one for residents and one for workers — to gather transportation data.

The surveys will be open until the end of July, Deputy City Manager Cindy Mester told Tysons Reporter. After the surveys close, the results will get analyzed and then posted online.