The United Methodist Women of Andrew Chapel’s annual Christmas Market returns to the Tysons area next weekend.
The market will run Dec. 8 and 9, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sunday. The Christmas Market will be held inside the Andrew Chapel at 1301 Trap Road.
The market will feature handcrafted holiday gifts, jewelry, photography and other items available for purchase. Any and all gifts will be wrapped while you continue to shop.
On Saturday, Santa will be available to take pictures from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Proceeds of the Christmas market will support women and children’s missions.
Photo via Andrew Chapel
Tysons East Aims to Keep ‘Creative Class’ Around — “Lots of people come to the glitzy, suburban Tysons East neighborhood to work, but most of them leave as soon as the workday is over. Tysons wants to change that.” [Greater Greater Washington]
USA Today ‘Firmly Entrenched’ in Tysons — “The company split in 2015, spinning off TEGNA as a separate broadcast television and digital media entity that will soon to move to a new home atop Boro Tower in Tysons Corner. Gannett and USA Today remain firmly entrenched on Jones Branch Drive in the impressive, two-tower campus now known as Valo Park, where the news of the nation and world continues to be filtered through a bustling newsroom.” [FCEDA]
Local Companies Making Acquisitions — Two Tysons-based companies are making notable acquisitions. Global IT services provider Avineon is buying Michigan-based InfoGraphics, Inc. while Capital One is acquiring Wikibuy, a “tech start-up used by millions to price-check while shopping on Amazon.” [Citybizlist, CNBC]
Forum on Anxiety in McLean — “The Safe Community Coalition and McLean High School PTSA will host a screening of the documentary ‘Angst: Raising Awareness Around Anxiety’ on Thursday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. at the high school.” [InsideNova]
Vienna and Fairfax County Police have arrested two teen boys and charged them with a series of crimes, including setting fire to the Marco Polo restaurant.
One of the teens is a 14-year-old Vienna resident; the other is a 13-year-old Reston resident, according to police.
The boys are being charged with both felony and misdemeanor crimes, including arson. Police say other charges are being filed in relation to a Nov. 4 vandalism of two historic government-owned buildings near Lahey Lost Valley Park, which caused several thousand dollars in damage.
The Oct. 14 fire destroyed most of the Marco Polo building, which had been vacant. There were no injuries. The site is planned to be redeveloped as a retail and townhouse complex.
The teens are also charged with the vandalism of several buses in the rear parking lot of the restaurant on Sept. 9.
The pair is being held in the Fairfax County Juvenile Detention Center.
Anyone with additional information about the case is asked to contact Officer Juan Vazquez at [email protected] or 703-255-7845.
Tysons Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in the Tysons area.
We’ve scoured the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield and McLean. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!
Wednesday, Nov. 28
Winterbock Ugly Sweater Tapping Party
Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant (7861 Tysons Corner Center)
Time: 6-8 p.m.
The Tysons Corner Center restaurant will be tapping into its Winterbock, a German-style beer, at an ugly sweater party. Proceeds of the party and Winterbock sales through December will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation
Friday, Nov. 30
10th Annual Virginia Women’s Business Conference
Sheraton Tysons Hotel (8661 Leesburg Pike)
Time: 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m.
The conference is a one-day event for women in the area to make business connections. The keynote speaker will be Michelle Poler, founder of the Hello Fears social movement. Tickets are $349 for general admission or $499 for the VIP upgrade.
Saturday, Dec. 1
Annual Norwegian Christmas Luncheon/Julefest
Seasons 52 (7863 Tysons Corner Center)
Time: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
The Norwegian Christmas celebration, hosted by Norwegian heritage group Lakselaget DC, will include live musical guests and a lunch with Norwegian Kransekake for dessert. Tickets are $40 per person.
Pictures with Santa
Tysons West (1500 Cornerside Blvd)
Time: 1-4 p.m.
Selfies with Santa, or a free professional photo, are available at the Tysons West shopping center. Hot chocolate, cookie decorating, and holiday crafts will also be available.
As the days start getting colder, the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library is inviting the public to come find a value-priced used book with which to curl up at home.
Starting on Friday, Nov. 30, the Friends of the Tysons-Pimmet Regional Library will be hosting its quarterly book sale. The sale will run through Sunday.
According to Janella Blanchard, President of the Friends of Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, the book sale will fill one large room of the library and a smaller side room will be set aside exclusively for children’s books. In addition to books, the sale will have used CDs and DVDs for sale.
Throughout most of the weekend sale, non-fiction hardcovers are $3 and paperbacks are $2. Fiction hardcovers are $2 and paperbacks are $1. For mass-market, smaller paperback books they are five for $1.
Timing at the sale can be crucial because while Blanchard said enthusiasts often show up early in the weekend to browse the widest selection of books, on Sunday the sale offers a special discount: $10 for a bag full of books.
“We generally have enough that people come in on Sunday and find lots that they’re happy with,” said Blanchard. “I often hear people [on Sunday] say ‘wow, I’m surprised you still have this.'”
Blanchard said the books sold are all donated to the sale rather than books sold from the library stock. Sale proceeds go towards supporting the library programs since the library itself cannot fundraise. These include ESL programs, children’s programs, a scholarship fund and more.
“We do things for the library like buying materials and paying for programs the library sponsors,” said Blanchard. “We also do things with books that don’t sell, like we donate them to schools or to prisons or homeless shelters. We don’t just throw them away.”
If you’d rather add to the book sale, donations can be placed in the donation bin near the circulation desk during library hours.
Photo via Friends of the Tysons-Pimmit Library
(Updated at 9:30 a.m.) Despite some dramatic photos, no one was injured in a fiery crash around 5 a.m. this morning (Tuesday) on the 8500 block of Georgetown Pike.
The single-vehicle crash happened just west of the entrance to the Madeira School and south of Great Falls Park. The car involved caught fire shortly after the collision, but its driver — the only person inside — was able to get out.
According to Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, units from McLean, Great Falls, and Wolf Trap all responded to the crash and were able to quickly extinguish the fire.
The latest in a series of proposed sidewalks to make McLean more walkable is a pair of quarter-mile long sidewalks along Kirby Road near Chesterbrook.
One project, north of Chesterbrook, is planned to add a roughly 5-6 feet wide sidewalk with a curb and gutter along the south/east side of Kirby Road between Chesterbrook Road and Mori Street. A crude path currently exists along the roadside, though in parts it blends with the right shoulder lane.
A community meeting on the northern extension is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. in the Chesterbrook Elementary School cafeteria. The meeting will feature a presentation of the project’s preliminary design and offer the public a chance to ask questions and provide input.
The new sidewalk improvements will also include a pedestrian crossing and median refuge at the intersection with Mori Street, connecting the sidewalk to the shared use trail on the west side of Kirby Road.
To the south, the sidewalk will connect with an existing path separated from the road that leads into Chesterbrook neighborhood and shopping center along Old Dominion Drive. To the north, the new sidewalk won’t quite reach the Marie Butler Leven Preserve, but the park is accessible from the trail on the west side of the street.
A new sidewalk is also currently planned for Kirby Road on the other side of Chesterbrook, connecting Chesterbrook Elementary School to Halsey Road. Like the northern sidewalk, the southern extension covers a quarter-mile with a proposed 5-6 foot width.
At a Nov. 9 meeting on the southern Kirby Road sidewalk improvements, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation presented a plan that would include new concrete infrastructure improvements along the roadside. The white painted fences along Kirby Road may be removed and replaced during the construction.
The construction schedule for the north project is unknown, but the southern sidewalk extension is scheduled for final design in early 2019 and construction later that year.
Photo via Google Maps
Nothing Bundt Cakes, a franchise specializing in the eponymous circular bundt cakes, is now open in downtown Vienna at 129 Maple Avenue W.
Marge Kelly, one of the co-owners of the store along with her husband, sister, and sister’s husband, said the shop officially opened last week and was immediately inundated with holiday orders.
“It’s been great,” said Kelly. “We were really busy right before Thanksgiving, but it’s been more manageable over the last few days.”
In addition to ten cake flavors and forty unique designs, Nothing Bundt Cakes also offers various cake-themed gifts and decor.
Kelly said the store was originally planning on having a grand opening celebration sometime in the next month but decided to push the grand opening celebration back to January.
Nothing Bundt Cakes is one of several new venues filling vacant storefronts along Maple Avenue this fall.
Interior photos via Facebook
Much like “The Facebook” became just “Facebook,” what was founded as Tysons Corner is now just Tysons — at least, according to the federal government.
Compared to issues like traffic or a lack of affordable housing, it can seem like a small or pedantic difference, but Drew Sunderland, Director of Communications at the Tysons Partnership, said the effort to rebrand the rapidly urbanizing area between McLean and Vienna as “Tysons” — to “drop the Corner,” so to speak — is part of working towards building a cohesive identity.
“Rebranding Tysons is a core element of our charter,” said Sunderland. “Historically, Tysons Corner is synonymous with the [Tysons Corner Center] mall. It’s a vital anchor, but in terms of the greater community, the mall is a component but it’s not limited to the mall… it’s surrounded by millions of square feet of new development. It’s vital to understand that Tysons is more diverse than just a suburban mall.”
It’s an issue that’s even drawn heated feelings. There is at least one anonymous Twitter account waging a one-user-war on the “Corner” using the hashtag #dropthecorner.
— Tysons, VA (@TysonsVA) October 28, 2018
Virginia Case, Chair of the Board for the Tysons Chamber of Commerce, said the change from Tysons Corner to Tysons is part of the area shedding its image as a small suburban community.
“[We tend] to think of it in the way you think of one named people being celebrities,” said Case. “Cher. Madonna. Kesha. It works well for us to be Tysons.”
For advocates of the change, there’s been progress. In 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau, with some urging from the Tysons Partnership and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D), changed the designation of Tysons Corner to Tysons. Sunderland said the census, labeling Tysons a place identifiable as a settled concentration of population but not incorporated under state laws, is the most official recognition in existence.
The change has had a ripple effect, altering the names on federal mapping agencies and, by extension, its designation on mapping services that use that data like Google Maps. New developments, like The Boro, almost exclusively refer to the area as Tysons.
While many prominent voices in the Tysons area, like the Tysons Chamber of Commerce, are all on board with “Tysons,” at least one local group said they still believe there’s value in the “Tysons Corner” name. Though the group would only speak off the record, a representative said Tysons Corner still has brand recognition.
Other news outlets, for instance, often use Tysons Corner when referring to the area. Some online sites like Twitter, when asking for your address, autofill “Tysons” to “Tysons Corner.”
There’s also the issue of Tysons sharing the name with other established brands. When looking up information on Tysons the news is often saturated with scandals involving Tysons chicken or former boxer Mike Tysons’ ongoing efforts to start a marijuana farm.
“People are always going to mistake your brand,” said Case. “Even my grandmother, whenever she was taking a plane, would take ‘a bluejet.’ We really do look at this place being a landmark.”
Case pointed to Paris as a somewhat bold comparison to Tysons, noting that there is a Paris, New York and a Paris Hilton, but the Paris that claims the landmark status is the one in France.
“Tysons Corner sounds sleepy,” said Case, “not like a prominent urban center.”
Case and Sunderland both noted that the name change can sometimes be an uphill battle. Case said most often the confusion comes from people who were from the area when it was still called Tysons Corner and are returning. But when they actually see how the area has changed, Case said most people she talks to understand that the area has outgrown the old name.
“You’re always going to have pushback when you embark,” said Sunderland. “People won’t necessarily understand the purpose behind the change. But if you look out the window, Tysons is a city. There are major high rises. There’s incredible density. We’re a city.”
Photo (top) via Fairfax County Fire and Rescue/Twitter
Home Prices Up, Building Permits Down — The latest Fairfax County economic indicators show that home prices are up 5.8 percent year-over-year, but single-family building permits are down 25.9 percent. [Fairfax County]
Dental Office Celebrating 15 Year Anniversary — “While The Boro and other developments are in progress nearby, Nicole Van’s dental office has become a mainstay in the community.” [Patch]
Local Teen Performing at Kennedy Center — Fourteen-year-old Falls Church resident Makenzie Hymes “will have the opportunity to perform on the biggest stage of her still-young dancing career so far as Clara in Ballet West’s new production of The Nutcracker, which will have its Washington, D.C., premiere at the Kennedy Center Opera House on Dec. 5.” [Fairfax Times]
The Changing Face of Fairfax County — “We have a greater diversity of racial and ethnic population than we did two decades ago. Compared to 2000, Asian and Pacific Islanders made up the highest increase, from 13.1 to 19.5 percent in 2018. Our Hispanic population increased from 11 to 16.2 percent.” [Fairfax County]
FCPD Social Media Star Retiring — “In bittersweet news, our beloved K9 Moose is retiring! On more than 250 posts, Moose has earned over 40,000 combined likes across all of our social media platforms.” [Facebook]
