Students at a private school in Tysons got to examine and touch artifacts from American history in a unique lesson on World War II.

The traveling “Operation Footlocker” exhibit stopped by an AP U.S. history class at the BASIS Independent McLean (BIM) yesterday (Tuesday), according to the school.

The program by the National WWII Museum sends a footlocker full of 15 artifacts from WWII — like letters home, sand collected from Normandy and Iwo Jima, or wartime magazines — to schools in order to facilitate hands-on educational experiences.

The footlocker opened in BIM included a 1944 high school yearbook, wooden toys, and a U.S. Army field manual. The footlockers come with cotton gloves for handling the artifacts and a manual to explain the significance of each object.

“We’re grateful to the National World War II Museum for this fantastic learning opportunity that allows our students to touch, feel and see this moment in history with genuine artifacts,” said Tiffany Conroy, head of school for BIM in the press release.

Fairfax County is planning an LED lightbulb giveaway to brighten local homes and help residents save on their monthly electric bill.

Throughout the spring, libraries across the county will host LED giveaways. All households can get a free LED bulb during the giveaway and are eligible for up to four more, in exchange for turning in incandescent or compact fluorescent lightbulbs.

The Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library (7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church) will host a giveaway on Thursday, May 2 from noon-2 p.m.

According to a press release, residents could save up to $75 a year in their electric bill by replacing the five most frequently used incandescent bulbs with LEDs.

“We wanted to help residents use LEDs in their homes, so we will be offering information and one free LED for anyone passing,” said Jessica Lavender, program manager for Energy Action Fairfax, said in a video. “We’ll have a couple tables right when you walk in and displays showing different lighting available.”

In last year’s giveaway, 8,000 LEDs were distributed to roughly 1,6000 people, resulting in nearly 200,000 kWh and $22,000 saved.

The giveaway is part of the LED exchange program, a partnership between Fairfax County, Energy Action Fairfax, and the Fairfax County Public Library. Here is the full list of giveaway location, via Fairfax County.

• Saturday, April 6, 2-4 p.m., Sherwood Regional Library, 2501 Sherwood Hall Lane, Alexandria
• Wednesday, April 10, 10 a.m.-noon, Pohick Regional Library, 6450 Sydenstricker Road, Burke
• Tuesday, April 23, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Reston Regional Library, 11925 Bowman Towne Drive, Reston
• Thursday, May 2, noon-2 p.m., Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, 7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church
• Monday, May 13, 4-6 p.m., Centreville Regional Library, 14200 St. Germain Drive, Centreville
• Saturday, May 18, 10 a.m.-noon, George Mason Regional Library, 7001 Little River Turnpike, Annandale

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You’re looking good, Falls Church. Have you been working out?

The City of Falls Church has been ranked the third healthiest community in the United States, according to new rankings by U.S. News & World Report.

The study assessed nearly 3,000 counties and other jurisdictions across 81 indicators, including population health, food and nutrition, and public safety. Falls Church was ranked just behind Los Alamos County, New Mexico and Douglas County, Colorado.

Falls Church scored particularly high on education and public safety, though like most of the top-ranked communities it ranked fairly poorly in housing affordability.

Falls Church News-Press noted that the high ranking was actually a slight dip for Falls Church, which last year was ranked at the top of the list.

Falls Church was immediately followed in the rankings by Loudoun County at No. 4. Fairfax County was ranked No. 13, though its actual population health score (95) was higher than Falls Church (92.8).

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The Fiore Montessori School in northern Vienna is seeking Fairfax County approval to increase the school enrollment and expand into a nearby vacant building.

The property is spread across 4.5 acres across from the Meadowlark Gardens Regional Park on Beulah Road. The site has been used as a private school since 1985 and in 2010 won approval to operate a childcare center and nursery school. In 2013, the school was accredited as a Montessori facility.

The vacant building was once part of the school, but has been unused since 2000.

According to the application, the increase is necessitated by demand from new Tysons residents. The school primarily serves families in Vienna and Tysons.

“Since 2010, significant growth has been occurring around the school, particularly in [Tysons],” the applicant said. “New families moving into the area especially value the quiet neighborhood, educational methodology and green and natural surroundings that the school offers for childcare, nursery school and elementary school.”

The vacant building would be remodeled without increasing the size of the building but would increase the school’s enrollment capacity. The application notes that the school is also considering expanding the school’s age range to care for students younger than 3 years old.

A Planning Commission hearing for the project is scheduled for June 12.

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Falls Church a city almost exactly 100 years older than the first daguerreotype cameras. It was a recruiting station for the American militia in the Revolutionary War and the scene of minor skirmishes throughout the American Civil War.

But even so, it’s a city that’s gone through numerous changes over the last 80 years of Fairfax County’s aerial photography.

Unlike most of nearby Tysons, Falls Church already has the visible bones of a small city by the photography from 1937. The familiar street network is in place, with several homes situated along the intersection of Broad and Washington Streets.

By 1953, the Winter Hill neighborhood was built, and the cookie-cutter pattern of American suburbia was starting to stamp down on fields around the town.

The aerial photography is spotty after that, with no coverage in the 1960s or 70s, but returns in 1980, when downtown Falls Church’s transition to strip malls and small shopping centers was in full swing.  New streets, like Annandale Road, also connected businesses along Washington Street to homes and other businesses along Broad Street.

There was less change between 1980 and 1990 though, when most the changes took place at the western end of the downtown area where new apartments and new shopping centers were built closer to Lee Street or with new northeast of Broad Street.

Like nearby Vienna, the pace of development in Falls Church slowed dramatically after 1990. Very little of the town’s shape and structure changed between 1990 and 2007, and less between 2007 and 2017.

One of the most visible changes in downtown Falls Church was the construction of the Harris Teeter in 2016, the first grocery store in the city’s downtown in three decades.

Previous Then and Now features from around the area include:

• McLean
• Vienna
• Merrifield
• Tysons East

The Fairfax Library Foundation is hosting a 25th Anniversary Jubilee look at the foundation’s past they hope will help fund its future.

The foundation is scheduled for Saturday, April 6 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library (7584 Leesburg Pike).

The event will include cocktails, a silent auction, and a “wall of donuts.” Attendees will have a chance to network with foundation staff and its Board of Directors.

“All net proceeds benefit the Fairfax County Public Library,” the foundation says.

Tickets are $45 per person or $80 for a pair of tickets. A local librarian’s ticket can also be sponsored for $40.

“Libraries are a great equalizer,” Lisa Bryant, executive director of the Fairfax Library Foundation, said in a promotional video. “Individuals can come and expand their mind on any level of things. It’s important that as a foundation we are driving the funds that continue to move the innovation and the library forward so the next generations can continue to enjoy all that we have to offer.”

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The redevelopment of 380 Maple Avenue is set for a Vienna Planning Commission review tomorrow, but whether the project will get the extra story it’s requesting remains to be determined.

The project faced pushback from members of the Vienna Town Council earlier this year when it and another Maple Avenue development seemed to be pushing the limits on what was acceptable under the town’s height limits.

The Maple Avenue Commercial zoning rules dictate that the height of buildings on Maple Avenue is limited to four stories. According to the staff report, the applicants — Red Investment LLC and MJW Maple LLC — are requesting a modification with an additional story of above-ground parking.

The application also includes a modification request for a nine-foot awning, which encroaches three feet into the front yard setback.

“Staff finds that the application meets the requirements of… the Town Code, with the exception of the requested modifications of requirements,” staff said in the report.

During work sessions with the Planning Commission and Town Council, options with the extra story and without the extra story were both presented. According to the applicants, the new parking deck would significantly increase the number of available parking spaces for retail tenants.

Photo via Town of Vienna Department of Planning and Zoning

Thriveworks, a nationwide counseling service, is planning to open a new office in McLean sometime within the next few weeks.

The new offices will be located at 1311 Dolley Madison Blvd, at the northern end of McLean’s downtown.

Mike Reffner, executive director of franchise development, said the lease is secured and the space is built out. The company is working on the final few touches before they roll in and open up, he said.

Reffner said Thriveworks sets itself apart from other counseling services by offering quick access.

“If you call today, you can get an appointment within the week,” Reffner said. “If you’re in a situation where you really need to see somebody, in many cases you can get same-day interviews.”

Reffner also said one of the goals of Thriveworks is to work with insurance plans to keep counseling prices affordable.

Thriveworks has more locations in Virginia than any other state, and Reffner said he saw McLean as the perfect opportunity for expansion.

“McLean is a great area,” Reffner said. “It’s a place where people are doing well, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need mental health supports. Everyone should have access to a mental health provider.”

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The National Park Service is once again putting together plans for Claude Moore Colonial Farm in McLean.

Details are still vague on what the park service plans to do with the location. A public comment period and an open house planned for Thursday, April 25 is the first news about future plans for the location since the site was closed late last year.

“The National Park Service is preparing for the next chapter of the Claude Moore farm area of Turkey Run Park, and you are invited to help shape the park’s future,” NPS said on its website. “On April 25, the NPS will launch a public planning effort and invite the public, community, and former farm volunteers to share their vision for the park’s future.”

Since the early 1980s, a private group — the Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm — had maintained the park as a working exhibition on life in an 18th-century farm.

But sparring between NPS and the Friends of Claude Moore Colonial Farm over the last few years on issues related to how much oversight and control NPS should have over the property led to the farm’s closure in December and the ongoing removal of antique farming equipment.

NPS has stated that the land will not be commercially redeveloped.

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of the most 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 (March 26)

• Dining for Dollars at Chipotle — 5-9 p.m. at Chipotle Mexican Grill in Vienna (213 Maple Ave E) — Dining at Chipotle tomorrow can help raise money for the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department. Showing the cashier a flyer for the event — or just mentioning the fundraiser — will send 33 percent of the meal’s proceeds to the department.

Thursday (March 28)

• Black Politics: Beyond Northam — 7-9 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Vienna (450 Orchard Street) — The Fairfax County NAACP is hosting a meeting to discuss the state of the Democratic Party and how it handled the concerns of the African American community in Virginia in the wake of Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal. Tickets are free but RSVP is required.

Friday (March 29)

• LUSH Cosmetics 30-Year Birthday — 10 a.m. at LUSH Cosmetics in Tysons Corner Center — To celebrate the company’s 30th birthday, the Tysons location is hosting a weekend of activities starting with a raffle and bath-bomb giveaway on Friday.
• MAC Community Workshops — 6 p.m. at the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry St) — The Town of Vienna is offering the public two opportunities this weekend to get a hands-on feel for the changes to the town’s controversial Maple Avenue Commercial zoning. The first workshop will be on Friday, with a second workshop on Saturday (March 30) at 11 a.m.

Saturday (March 30)

• DC Bulldog Playdate — 11 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Vienna Dog Park (700 Courthouse Road) — A regional bulldog meetup will be held in Vienna this weekend, giving dogs and humans a chance to play and mingle. The event listing notes that the bulldogs typically tire after 45 minutes, so those looking for the “full bulldog experience” should arrive right around 11 a.m. The meetup is free but RSVP is requested.
• Rise Against Hunger Food Packing — 1-3 p.m. at Andrew Chapel United Methodist Church (1301 Trap Road) — The Andrew Chapel United Methodist Church in Vienna is hosting a meal packing event to put together nutritious meals for school feeding programs and crisis relief. The packaged meals transport quickly and has a shelf-life of two years.

Sunday (March 31)

• Tysons Galleria Fur Protest — 12 p.m. at Tysons Galleria (2001 International Drive) — A local group called the Help Our Animals and Planet Foundation is hosting a protest outside Tysons Galleria to advocate for banning the sale of fur in Fairfax County.
• Discussion with Local Thriller Writers — 2-3 p.m. at Bards Alley (110 Church Street SW) — Alma Katsu, author of The Hunter, and Greer Macallister, author of Woman 99, will be in Vienna’s Bards Alley bookstore this Sunday for a discussion and Q&A about their books, followed by signings by the authors. The event is free to attend, but RSVP is requested.
• Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” — 2-4:30 p.m. at the Alden Theatre (1234 Ingleside Ave.) — The Alden Theatre in McLean will host a performance of Shakespearian tragicomedy The Winter’s Tale by the American Shakespeare Center. Tickets are $110 or $80 for McLean residents.

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