There will be no ice skating at the Mosaic District this winter.
The Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals agreed on Wednesday (Oct. 19) to postpone a decision on Rink Management Services Corporation’s special permit request for a rink in the Merrifield neighborhood that would have roller skating in the spring and ice skating in the winter.
This is the third time that the board has deferred or continued the case after previously chiding the applicant for its public outreach efforts. Residents voiced concerns about the rink’s potential impact on noise, traffic and access to their homes during a public hearing on July 13, the Sun Gazette reported.
“Essentially, what the applicant has decided to do at this point is not pursue an ice skating rink for this winter season,” Department of Planning and Development staff coordinator Brandon McCadden told the board this week. “So, they’re looking for a deferral to Feb. 1, which would give them time to again reevaluate their plans for the roller rink and the ice rink for future seasons.”
Mosaic District owner and developer EDENS introduced its temporary roller rink in 2021. Mosaic Skateland returned this summer but got moved from Strawberry Lane, where it required a closure of one of the district’s main thoroughfares, to Merrifield Center Town Drive near Barnes & Noble.
The rink has now been dismantled after the season wrapped up on Sept. 25.
In a proposal submitted for county review this past spring, EDENS and Rink Management Services, which operates the facility, are seeking to have the roller rink annually from April 1 to June 30 and add ice skating from Nov. 1 to March 15.
They had hoped to start the ice rink this year, but the delays in the permitting process have nixed that.
“[They’re] really looking to target spring and summer 2023 for roller skating and then ice skating the following winter,” McCadden said.
The planned roller rink would be 76 feet long and 36 feet wide with 10-foot-tall poles for lighting and six speakers to play music. The ice rink would be 100 feet long by 50 feet wide with a 3.5-foot-tall enclosure, a 1,000-square-foot admission and rental tent, and space for a portable aircooled chiller and a zamboni.
Both rinks would accommodate up to 50 skaters per session with two to five employees on site, according to the application.
If approved, the roller rink would stay on Merrifield Towne Center Drive, where it takes up two travel lanes and five parallel parking spaces. The ice rink would be on District Avenue next to Penny Lane Park, requiring the closure of that section of the street and 18 parking spaces.
In a staff report dated July 6, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation said that it “has no concerns” related to traffic circulation and parking, noting that the Mosaic District has about 2,500 garage parking spaces and 150 on-street spots.
“The proposed street closures will not impact deliveries to the adjacent mixed-use buildings since the loading spaces are located at the rear of the buildings along Merrifield Cinema Drive,” the report said.
The Office of the Fire Marshal requested some changes to the plan, including requiring that the street closures be marked with signage with caution lights and/or moveable barriers, but staff felt the modifications addressed their concerns about access for fire department personnel, according to the report.
However, some additional revisions to the plan are evidently in the works. McCadden told the zoning appeals board that, when the case returns on Feb. 1, it will “essentially” require a new public hearing “because it’s going to substantially be a new application.”
FFXnow reached out to EDENS and Rink Management Services for comment but didn’t hear back by press time.
A state elections mailer sent to around 25,000 voters incorrectly directed Town of Herndon, Vienna and Clifton voters to the wrong polling locations.
The letter directs Town of Herndon residents should vote at a new location nearly thirty minutes away from the town: the Stacey C. Sherwood Community Center in the City of Fairfax.
The Virginia Department of Elections said incorrect polling locations were sent was due to a “printing issue.”
“Following the redistricting process, the Department of Elections mailed over 6 million voter notices to all registered voters in the Commonwealth. A second mailing of 176,000 notices was sent to voters whose original notice did not include their town district number or who had a P.O. Box,” the department wrote in a statement.
Fairfax County Director of Elections Eric Spicer said the county is working to correct the state’s mistake.
“To correct the state’s mistake, the county’s Office of Elections will be mailing these voters a personalized letter stating their correct polling place,” Spicer wrote in a statement.
Residents in the towns of Dumfries, Haymarket, Occoquan, and Quantico were also impacted.
Last night, state delegate Irene Shin, Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, and State Sen. Jennifer Boysko called on the elections department to immediate correct the error last night.
“I am disappointed that the Virginia Department of Elections continues to issue incorrect notices to voters. This is not the first major incident during this important election season. I urge the Department of Elections to work quickly to restore the public’s faith in our election system.”
Shin also called on the elections department to provide a “full explanation about how this obvious error occurred.”
The state’s elections department did not immediately return a request for comment on the nature of the printing issue.
Concerns over equity and the recommendation of specific sites have delayed Fairfax County’s push into sports tourism.
At last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity proposed that the county start advertising that it’s seeking proposals from private entities to develop sports tourism facilities.
However, he pulled the motion when it became clear that there wasn’t enough support from other supervisors to move forward. When he made the request in May, the board voted instead to have staff reassess a consultant’s report to ensure equity is considered when evaluating future projects.
“We’ve been sitting on the sidelines far too long. It’s time for us to get in the game or not,” Herrity said. “This is something the board has clearly expressed that it would benefit both our sports community, our taxpayers, our hotelers, our restaurants, our hospitality industry. We need to move forward and stop trying to find ways not to do it.”
Board Chairman Jeff McKay argued that Herrity, in fact, had “delayed the process.”
“I want to make it crystal clear that this board supports sports tourism…What we are doing is trying clean up the fact that it wasn’t done right,” he said. “Equity was left behind.”
A consultant hired by the county released a report in August 2020 recommending how the county could “more effectively compete within the sports tourism marketplace,” including specific sites where a large facility could go in the county.
The Park Authority-backed study identified nine different sites that it said could support facilities like a rectangle field complex with 16 fields or an ice complex, comparable to the one in Ballston.
However, as several supervisors brought up, none of the sites were vetted for equity, environmental impacts, or even the land’s current ownership.
Many of the preferred sites are in the north and northwest part of the county, while none are located in the south. Several sit in protected watershed areas, while a few others are privately owned, like George Mason University property, as opposed to county-owned.
The equity review requested in May was finished over the summer. Last month, the Sports Tourism Task Force recommended proceeding with an advertisement and “to consider the equity impact review as it reviews potential public-private partnerships” instead of at this stage in the process.
This didn’t sit well with several supervisors, including McKay, who wanted to make sure that the advertisement made clear that the recommended sites in the study were not county-approved.
“Frankly, I wish the consultant report didn’t exist. I think it was created under false pretense…It had no look at equity,” said McKay. “I don’t necessarily support any sites in there…They are in no way in any shape or form an endorsed list of locations by this board.”
Herrity accepted an amendment that the ad include language urging developers to be “creative” and recommend a site not on the consultant’s list.
Additionally, McKay asked that the entire board look at the advertisement to vet the language prior to it being released.
The plan now is to have staff update the report before Herrity resubmits the motion. While he hoped to have it by the board meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 25), Herrity told FFXnow that November now looks more likely, though he “was ready six months ago.”
He said this is the first program, in his recollection, “forced” to have an equity review as well as the first time that he remembers where the board will review the language for a request for proposals.
Nonetheless, he’s ready for Fairfax County to get in the game and build facilities that could help bring more revenue to the county, particularly with increased hotel occupancy.
The rest of the board appears to agree with the idea of exploring sports tourism, but it has to be “done right.”
“We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get this done right that will permanently…affect the long-term sustainability of sports and sports tourism in this county,” McKay said.
Photo via Fairfax County Park Authority
Coco’s Sodas + Sweets is ready at last to give Vienna its first taste of “dirty sodas” — flavor-spiked soft drinks that originated as a coffee substitute in Mormon-heavy Utah.
The soda shop officially opened today (Friday) in The Village Green shopping center at 513 Maple Avenue West, Suite 110. Details about a grand opening on Oct. 28 will be shared on the business’ Instagram and Facebook pages, co-owner Ben Cichelli told FFXnow.
The opening has been a long time coming for Coco’s, which initially expected to launch around Memorial Day weekend.
Cichelli and his wife and co-owner Heather Cichelli attributed the delay to a variety of factors, from staff shortages plaguing both Fairfax County and contractors to the arduous task of outfitting a space that formerly housed a tailor shop with infrastructure for food service.
“We were able to navigate through there, and we think it’s a beautiful space,” Ben said. “We’re really excited to have the community come and see this, and I think it’ll be a great addition to all the other great shops and businesses that are here in Vienna.”
As previously reported, the Cichellis decided to bring dirty sodas to their new home of Vienna after encountering the drinks in Utah, where they were staying during the first year of the pandemic.
Inspired by chains like Swig, which sparked a TikTok trend earlier this year thanks to a visit by singer Olivia Rodrigo, Coco’s offers three base beverages: soda, energy drinks like Red Bull or Monster, and still or sparkling water for those seeking a less sugary option.
The base drinks are then mixed with syrups, fruit purées, and cream and sometimes topped with fresh fruit, such as a lime. Toppings for the kids’ drinks include gummies, sprinkles and marshmallow Peeps.
Also selling treats like lollipops, flavored popcorn and cake bites, the shop uses a grab-and-go model, with just a couple of outdoor patio seats for when the weather is warmer. It will also have a mobile bar that can cater events and parties, though the menu will be condensed.
Hours of operation run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, and from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The store is closed on Sundays.
Though open to expanding to other locations in Northern Virginia, if the opportunity arises, Ben and Heather are focused for now on bringing some pop to Vienna’s dessert scene, which already includes establishments specializing in pies, cupcakes, cookies, ice cream, Italian ice and even lokma.
“This is a great location, great space, being right at Nutley and Maple Ave,” he said. “I think this is a really good, busy, high-traffic, high-visibility area. We’re walking distance to Madison High School, so we hope to get a lot of the student traffic from there. Yeah, we’re just really excited to finally open.”
I-66 Ramps in Fair Lakes Area to Close Next Week — The I-66 East ramps from Monument Drive and Stringfellow Road will begin closing as early as 10 a.m. on Monday (Oct. 24) “to accommodate continued construction related to the 66 Express Lanes.” They will reopen by the end of this year with the rest of the eastern section of the interstate’s new toll lanes from Route 28 in Centreville to I-495. [VDOT]
County Police End Weekly Crime Reports — “The Fairfax County Police Department is no longer putting out weekly crime reports that list incidents for each police district. Instead, the FCPD has adopted CityProtect, an online map that shows the location of incidents with very limited details.” [Annandale Today]
Fire Department Hands Out Coats — “An appropriately cold day to provide free coats for kids whose family might not be able to afford one. Approximately 3K coats will be given to kids via schools, non-profits, and community centers. Some kids stopped by Station 11, Penn Daw, to try on, and pick out, a coat.” [FCFRD/Twitter]
Arlington Hospital Not Happy With Inova’s Springfield Plans — Arlington-based VHC Health “is challenging Falls Church-based Inova’s request for a certificate of public need — a requirement to demonstrate community need for a new or expanded medical facility — for the nearly 1 million-square-foot hospital proposed for the intersection of Beulah Street and the Franconia-Springfield Parkway.” [Washington Business Journal]
Fairfax City Launches E-Gift Card Program — “This week, Fairfax City’s Economic Development Office is implementing a new community-based eGift Card program. Indicative of how jurisdictions are becoming more innovative and creative, to try to help mom and pops. The Fairfax City Flex Card is an eGift Card program where 100% of all gift card sales remain within Fairfax City.” [ABC7]
Vienna Resident to Bake Cookies on Food Network — “A Vienna baker’s ability to create spooky Halloween cookies will be put to the test when she appears on a Food Network special on Halloween.
Minh Bingham, who moved to Vienna just over a year ago, is one of the bakers featured on Food Network’s Halloween Cookie Challenge season finale airing Monday, Oct. 31, at 10 p.m.” [Patch]
Metro’s Next Trains Will Have Heated Floors — “While most of Metro’s 7000 series fleet remains sidelined, at least we can look forward to the 8000 series…one day…The 8000 series will include upgraded brakes and replace the 2000- and 3000-series trains that have been running since the early 1980s.” [Axios D.C.]
Route 1 High Schools Eager for Permanent Stadium Bathrooms — “With the news last week that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BOS) approved $7.5 million in funding for permanent restroom facilities at 15 public high school stadiums, the presidents of two local volunteer organizations that support student athletes shared a common sense of relief, joy and gratitude.” [On the MoVe]
It’s Friday — Clear throughout the day. High of 63 and low of 40. Sunrise at 7:25 am and sunset at 6:23 pm. [Weather.gov]
Fairfax County will ask the Virginia General Assembly for more authority to fix its trash troubles, as complaints about American Disposal Services continue.
At Tuesday’s (Oct. 18) legislative committee meeting, the Board of Supervisors once again dove into the persisting problems with trash pickups by the private, contracted collectors that serve about 90% of residents and almost all businesses in the county.
Throughout this year, the county has received many complaints about the contractors’ performance, especially American Disposal, which cut back on pickups this spring.
In late September, the county signed a consent agreement with the company. According to Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, the agreement obligates American Disposal to hire more drivers and customer service personnel, increase salaries, and credit customers for missed pick-ups, starting Jan. 1. It also imposes a $5,000 fine on the company.
Per Palchik’s newsletter, the contractor has until Dec. 31 to “make the necessary schedule modifications” and maintain adequate staff and equipment to resolve its service issues. Customers must be notified of any changes to their collections by that date as well.
FFXnow was unable to reach American Disposal for comment.
Meanwhile, the county is considering lobbying state lawmakers to ease restrictions on its ability to impose its own trash pick-up model.
“This surge in complaints, which account for approximately 86 percent of all waste collection complaints received by the County, has led to consideration of alternative solid waste management system models, and whether such alternatives could improve the quality and/or reliability of service delivery,” a staff report says.
One alternative would be to implement a franchising model, which Virginia law currently allows localities to do.
“Under a franchising model, the County would likely be divided into several different zones, and each zone would be served by a single collection company. Customers would pay for service based on County-negotiated rates,” the staff report notes.
However, the state code complicates the county’s ability to enact this model. Notably, if franchising ends up prohibiting a currently contracted company from continuing to service the county, the county either has to essentially wait five years to start franchising or pay the affected company a year’s worth of gross receipts.
“The code makes [franchising], quite frankly, impossible. It might as well be banned outright,” Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw said Tuesday. “The five-year delayed implementation date, obviously, prevents anyone from doing it. That’s why no one in the Commonwealth has done it, to my knowledge.”
The code does have some exceptions, mainly for if a trash pick-up company is so inadequate at its job that it’s “threatening public health and safety” and is breaching the contract.
McKay asked the county legal team what would constitute a breach of contract, noting that an answer would probably have to come at a later date.
“Where do we think the line is where [it’s] threatening public health and safety?” McKay said. “[Are] we potentially getting near reaching that? If we have multiple consent agreements and trash laying out and it’s a public…health issue and they are obviously not fulfilling the agreement. It’s probably a pretty high bar, but we should know that if these problems persist.”
Per staff recommendation, the committee voted in support of asking the General Assembly to provide “flexibility” for a franchise model. This could mean wiping out or altering these “onerous requirements” to make it easier for the county to franchise trash service.
Walkinshaw made it clear that this doesn’t mean the county will definitely go the franchising route. It simply seeks the ability to do it without facing a huge delay or a big payout.
The fact that the county has to ask the General Assembly for this authority harkens back to Virginia’s Dillon Rule, which McKay recently told FFXnow is becoming “increasingly more intrusive” in the county’s day-to-day operations.
Walkinshaw also suggested updating the Virginia code with some of the options detailed in the consent agreement, like the ability to levy fines and make companies credit customers for missed pick-ups.
“It seems to me that if we are able to come to a consent agreement with a particular hauler, that they have to credit customers for missed pick-ups, then everyone should be held to that. If we think that’s important, why wouldn’t that be in the code?” Walkinshaw asked.
All supervisors agreed that the county should ask for alterations to the state code, but a few cautioned that not all county residents are having trash issues, noting that a new model might make things worse for others. Palchik suggested instituting a pilot program first to gauge what works.
But first, state legislators would have to grant the county more authority to manage its own trash collecting.
“We obviously support broadening authority,” McKay said.
After a noisy couple of years, construction is wrapping up on the Vienna Market development that now looms over Maple Avenue.
Replacing the former Marco Polo restaurant at 245 Maple Avenue West, the complex consists of 44 condominium townhomes and 8,200 square feet of ground-floor retail space. It broke ground in mid-2019 after a lengthy planning and design process.
“The construction is practically completed and we have received our occupancy permits for all of the homes and closed most of them,” Stephen Collins, senior vice president of Northfield Construction and Development, told FFXnow.
According to NV Homes, which partnered with Northfield on the project, all residences have been sold out. The 38 townhouses at the back of the site were finished first and have seen occupants move in over the past 18 months.
Northfield built the six remaining townhomes fronting Maple Avenue and the retail podium underneath them. Collins says those residents closed within the past week and have or are in the process of moving in.
The retail portion of the project will be transferred to a new owner who’s expected to take over “soon” and has been working on the leasing, according to Northfield.
First, though, Vienna Market will return to the Vienna Board of Architectural Review tonight (Thursday) to address some design tweaks made during construction.
“It is not unusual to do this with such a complex project and the nature of detail in the original approvals,” Collins said.
According to a town staff report, the requested alterations primarily relate to the building façades and the “corner park,” a small landscaped area on the corner of Maple and Pleasant Street NW.
A change in size and location of the building’s transformer required adjustments to the park’s sidewalks and planting locations, including the elimination of planter boxes at the end of each leg.
“Without the vault that had previously serviced the site, a second transformer was required as well as additional primary lines. To run adequate power to the site, and maintain a safe distance from the townhome units, this design and location was required,” the report said, noting that the changes were requested by Dominion Power.
Northfield is also seeking approval for metal canopies added over the storefronts on Maple and Pleasant as well as the removal of columns shown in previously approved renderings on a retaining wall facing the adjacent Bank of America.
According to the report, the wall needed more room to place the columns than anticipated, so adding them would’ve required workers to go outside the property line.
Vienna Market was approved by the town council in May 2018 as only the second project to advance under the town’s short-lived Maple Avenue Commercial zoning code, which was intended to promote more pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use development along the main street.
“We think the final project looks tremendous and it’s been a great development partnership with the community and Town throughout the entire process,” Collins said in a statement. “We look forward to tying up all the loose ends over the next few months and hopefully we can find another project to work on with them.”
This sponsored column is written by the team at Arrowine & Cheese (4508 Cherry Hill Road in Arlington). Sign up for the email newsletter and receive exclusive discounts and offers. Experience Arrowine’s Tastings & Events. Have a question? Email [email protected].
So you want to make wine?
So you think you want to make wine?
What were you think’n? It’s 4 a.m., time to get to work. So you spent a month checking your parcels, monitoring ripeness by tasting berries to select or the perfect moment to harvest. A sudden forecast of rain sends shivers up your spine, sending you into over-drive to pick as fast as you can if you find people crazy enough to join you.
Armed with shears, working in oppressive heat, roasting under the hot sun, you carefully select only the ripest bunches as you swat mosquitoes; bees buzz swirling around you, only to land on the bunch you are about to grasp. You must continuously bend, stretch, and contort yourself while gently tossing a season’s worth of work into plastic bins. You schlep the countless plastic containers full of fruit while some escaping juice runs down your legs as you run to the receiving truck.
Alley up, throw them up to the unlucky harvester who must have pissed someone off to get stuck on the truck all day long in the scorching sun, humping plastic lugs full of grapes, bees, and what have you. Back and forth until your arms numb, and it’s just 9 a.m. Thank G-d it’s 9 a.m.
Time to stop for “casse-croute” or the French version of a “coffee break in the vineyard.” Bread, cheese, salami or pâte, and of course, a little liquid sustenance, i.e., wine. Just like the office. A quick snackeroo, and back you go!
The fruit arrives at the winery. So you undo what you just did. Thankfully you are after twenty or so bee stings; you hardly feel them. But at least you are given a cot to sleep on in an unairconditioned barn, attic, or old kitchen with 20 strangers. But the food is good, and there’s plenty of wine.
Time for “triage” or sorting the fruit either by hand or with a fancy vibrating table that does it for you. The aim is to remove any malformed, damaged, or unhealthy clusters, even down to individual berries, along with any leaves, bugs, and the occasional cigarette butts.
Many growers refrigerate the fruit for 8 to 12 before fermentation to preserve freshness. Then off to the de-stemmer, where the bunches are relieved of their berries. So from here on, we are talking about the fermentation of red wine.
Decision number one, do you destem, all or partially or entirely? Under-ripe or vintages with less than perfect fruit are usually wholly destemmed — no need for unripe raspy green stem tannins. If the stems are mature, fermenting a portion of “whole clusters” is an option. Adding stems brings complexity, but be careful of the proportion you use. Stems are also a source of tannins.
The crushed grapes, juice, and skins head into a vessel of the winemaker’s choosing (I’ll talk more about this next week) to settle and macerate. The temperature can be controlled by using refrigeration. Cold retards the yeast activity. You don’t want the juice to ferment straight away. This maceration also has the benefit of reducing the sulfur needed to keep the demons away.
The time that the skins are in contact with the juice is critical. Think of making tea; the more you seep, the more color and tannin you extract. Healthy, clean skins allow for extended mingling in juice with great benefits. The skins are the aromatic heart and soul of the wine.
Everything comes from the skins (in reds.) The winemaker decides when the “right” level of extraction has taken place, and then it’s off to the races — more about that next time. If I’m “nerding out,” please tell me!
Cheers,
Doug
Photo by Thomas Schaefer on Unsplash.
The preceding sponsored post was also published on FFXnow.com
A Vienna dive shop has been subsumed into Diventures, a swimming and scuba franchise from Nebraska that hopes to build a new aquatics facility to serve the D.C. area.
The company announced yesterday (Wednesday) that it has expanded into Virginia with the acquisition of the local scuba shop Nautilus Aquatics, which has two locations in Vienna (510 Mill Street NE) and Sterling (1007A Ruitan Circle).
“We are excited to expand into Virginia and bring the Diventures experience to the northern Virginia and metro Washington, D.C. area, as well as bringing their unique experiences to our other 15 locations across the U.S.,” Diventures founder and owner Dean Hollis said in the press release.
In addition to operating the two stores, Diventures says it is actively looking for land in Northern Virginia and the D.C. area to build a 8,000-square-foot swim and scuba center.
The facility would have an indoor, heated pool with a depth of up to 12 feet, a retail store, classrooms, a “diamond-level” scuba service center, a swim program, and a concierge travel center where patrons can book U.S. and international diving trips, according to the press release.
Diventures Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Rebecca Van Gundy confirmed that an exact location for the center hasn’t been identified.
“We have not purchased land yet and are currently looking for that,” she told FFXnow, noting that the site would need to be at least 1.6 acres in size.
Nautilus sells scuba gear and offers dive certifications, summer camps and other diving-related services. The company formed in 2015 out of a merger between Sterling Silver Scuba and Adventures Scuba Company, which started in Chantilly in 1978 before relocating to Vienna.
Nautilus founders Jason Davis and Melissa Miles purchased the Sterling shop in 2008 and Adventures Scuba in Vienna in 2015. In 2016, they bought the assets to The Dive Shop in Merrifield, which was the oldest dive shop in the D.C. area when it closed in 2015.
Diventures leaders said acquiring Nautilus will help the company expand its family programming while introducing a “safety-focused swim program, travel calendar and state-of-the-art aquatics training facilities to Northern Virginia.”
“Melissa and I are excited for the future and the opportunity to continue to support the scuba community through innovation, education and, as always, a customer-first focus,” Davis said. “We cannot thank our customers and team of top-notch dive professionals enough for bringing Nautilus Aquatics to where it is today.”
The acquisition is official, but Diventures will initially co-brand with Nautilus “to maintain that ‘local dive shop’ feel and familiarity with customers,” Van Gundy said by email.
In the long term, the company plans to retain the “Nautilus” name for a scuba club that will be offered at the stores.
Poor Conditions Reported at County-Owned Annandale Apartments — “Residents of the Wedgewood Apartments in Annandale are increasingly fed up with their living conditions — and an unresponsive landlord. Among the complaints: mice, bedbugs, water outages, broken pipes, flooding in laundry rooms, mold, rats by the dumpsters, crime, and speeding in the parking lot.” [Annandale Today]
Crab Cab Bar + Kitchen Opens in Penn Daw — “A woman-owned food truck business that has specialized in high quality, fresh seafood fare for nearly 10 years held its soft opening Oct. 17 at the Krispy Korner shopping center in Penn Daw…The restaurant is open Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to midnight.” [On the MoVe]
Park Authority Names New Communications Director — The Fairfax County Park Authority has hired Susan Kalish as its new Director of the Office of Marketing and Communications. The public relations director for Arlington Parks and Recreation since 2006, Kalish assume the position on Dec. 16, replacing “longtime Public Information Officer Judy Pedersen, who is retiring at the end of the year after more than 20 years of service to the agency.” [FCPA]
County Library Compiling Cookbook — “Do you make a beloved, delicious dish with an interesting story? The Fairfax County Public Library is collecting recipes for a forthcoming e-book called ‘Fairfax County Cooks: A Community Cookbook.’ This will be the first book in a series featuring diverse traditions and stories from the community.” [Annandale Today]
National Philharmonic Orchestra Starts Season in Tysons — “Pardon their French! The renowned National Philharmonic kicks off its exciting fall season this week with a pair of concerts under the banner theme, ‘Vive La France.’ The first show is Thursday, Oct. 20, at Capital One Hall in Tysons, Virginia, followed by a second show Saturday, Oct. 22, at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland.” [WTOP]
Transportation Expo Coming to Reston This Weekend — “The weather looks great for the Let’s Go Expo this coming Saturday, Oct. 22, 1 to 4 p.m. at 1850 Cameron Glen Dr. in Reston. This free interactive event is for all ages, so please bring the kids…For adults, this is a multi-modal transportation extravaganza!” [Hunter Mill District News]
Kilmer MS Student Organizes Spelling Bee — “A Kilmer Middle School eighth-grader has been giving up his Friday evenings to offer free spelling tutoring to dozens of Mongolian immigrant children across the US…On Saturday, Oct. 22, the 13-year-old will be welcoming many of these children as they arrive at The World Bank in Washington, D.C. to take part in his latest venture: a first-ever community spelling bee for American Mongolian students that has Scripps’ support.” [FCPS]
Local Rec Centers Prepare for Return of Student Swimmers — “Fairfax County Park Authority Rec Centers will welcome back FCPS High School swim and dive teams starting Nov. 7, 2022. This partnership between the Park Authority and area high schools dates back to the opening of Audrey Moore Rec Center at Wakefield Park in 1977.” [FCPA]
It’s Thursday — Clear throughout the day. High of 57 and low of 36. Sunrise at 7:24 am and sunset at 6:24 pm. [Weather.gov]
