Memorial Day weekend is nearing, but the holiday honoring people who died while serving in the U.S. military and marking the unofficial start of summer will be different this year due to COVID-19.

Both the City of Falls Church and Town of Vienna have canceled their in-person events, opting instead to have online videos to recognize the holiday.

Instead of the annual parade and festival, Falls Church will offer virtual activities like a pre-recorded Memorial Day Ceremony, according to an email from the city.

The recording “will air on Monday, May 25 at 11 a.m. on the Falls Church Community Television Channel (Cox 11, RCN 2, Verizon 35) and available to watch on the city’s YouTube channel,” the email said.

More from the city:

A special Memorial Day edition of the Virtual Community Center — the Recreation and Parks Department’s bi-weekly newsletter — will debut Friday, May 22 with exclusive content including a Q&A with this year’s (and next year’s) Memorial Day Parade Grand Marshal, Lindy Hockenberry; a spotlight on the veteran who hosts our Senior Center Military History Forum; and stay-at-home Memorial Day themed activities for all ages.

Meanwhile, Vienna won’t have its annual ViVa Vienna event, which is hosted by the Rotary Club of Vienna. Instead, the town will have a video celebration.

“The town has worked with American Legion Post 180 to create a video that captures virtually the ceremony it hosts each year at Flint Hill Cemetery to honor those who have died in military service,” according to an email from the town. “The virtual ceremony will be broadcast several times over the weekend on TVCN (channel 27 on Cox and 38 on Verizon Fios).”

Government services will be closed on Monday (May 25) in both the city and town due to the holiday.

People in the Tysons area can also get outside and go to Fairfax County’s parks, which reopened earlier this week.

File photo

Look down and you can spot a new public art piece near the Vienna Community Center.

The Town of Vienna posted on Facebook yesterday that Myles T., the student member of the Vienna Public Art Commission, painted a storm drain with the help of his friends Anneliese B. and Gavin K. “All three students are rising seniors at James Madison High School,” the post said.

The picture of the painting on the sidewalk around the drain shows a turtle swimming through water that is surrounded by yellow, purple and red flowers.

“[Myles] spent last Friday painting a colorful, whimsical design on the storm drain at the bend in the road near the community center on Cherry Street,” the post said.

Vienna Paint donated the paint, the post said.

Photo via Town of Vienna/Facebook

While many small businesses are currently struggling to weather the coronavirus pandemic, several upcoming ones are continuing their plans to open in Vienna.

Signage considerations for South Block’s planned relocation to 207 Maple Avenue E. and a cookie chain’s new location in the town are on the agenda for Vienna’s Board of Architectural Review (BAR) meeting tonight (Thursday).

Crumbl Cookies started hiring for its upcoming Vienna location back earlier this year. BAR documents indicate that the cookie chain plans to occupy 203 Maple Ave E, which is between Cold Stone Creamery and Noodles & Company.

Viva Sol Juice Company is also planning on coming to the town at 124 Maple Ave W. in the Vienna Shopping Center, according to BAR documents and a Fairfax County permit.

The sign for the newly opened PizzaRoni is also on tonight’s agenda.

Photo via South Block/Facebook

In a record turnout, more than 35% of Vienna voters submitted ballots for yesterday’s election to select their next mayor and new councilmembers.

Current Councilmember Linda Colbert beat her two opponents — also both on the Town Council — for the mayor’s seat, according to the unofficial election results in the town’s press release.

Colbert was first elected to the council in 2014 after serving on the Transportation Safety Commission and a variety of other governmental and local councils, according to her town bio.

Her campaign focused on boosting the town’s commercial areas, preserving the neighborhoods and keeping Vienna a “vibrant walkable town protected from the Tysons sprawl.”

As for the other mayoral candidates, Howard Springsteen will stay on the council until his term expires in June 2021, while Pasha Majdi’s term expires at the end of June.

According to the unofficial results, Colbert received 1,545 votes, while Majdi got 1,172 and Springsteen got 869.

Voters chose three out of the seven candidates who vied for councilmember seats.

According to the unofficial election results:

• Ed Somers — 1,545
• Ray Brill, Jr. — 1,472
• Chuck Anderson — 1,420
• Andrea Dahl — 1,336
• Chris Wright — 1,265
• Roy Baldwin — 1,256
• David Patariu — 1,214

Majdi, Dahl, Wright and Patariu ran as a group on a joint platform focused on keeping Vienna’s small town feel and reducing congestion.

Originally set for May 5, Gov. Ralph Northam delayed the town’s election by two weeks due to concerns about spreading the coronavirus.

Voter turnout peaked at 36.5% — recent turnout has usually been between 5% and 23% for the town’s elections — and voters submitted 3,371 absentee ballots, according to Fairfax County’s Office of Elections.

“It was an historic election in Vienna,” the election office tweeted.

The new councilmembers and mayor will start serving July 1.

Colbert photo via Town of Vienna, three photos in collage courtesy Ed Somers, Ray Brill, Jr. and Chuck Anderson

Municipal Finances Spotlighted in Vienna — The Washington Post focused on how Vienna is responding to the financial crisis from the pandemic. [Washington Post]

Tysons Fintech Company Now Under Goldman Sachs — “The acquisition represents the culmination of discussions that started in 2019 and the closing, while subject to regulatory approval, is expected in the third quarter of 2020… The acquisition of Folio by Goldman Sachs brings together two leading financial services firms for the continuing benefit of our clients and business partners.” [Folio Financial]

Virtual Job Fair — “Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), the largest school system in Virginia, is searching for educators with a strong academic background and a passion to make a difference in the lives of students during the 2020-21 school year. Principals will meet and engage with candidates at the FCPS Virtual Instructional Job Fair on Tuesday, May 26, Wednesday, May 27, and Thursday, May 28.” [FCPS]

ICYMI: Tysons Corner Center is Back Open — “Shoppers can find more than take-out from restaurants at Tysons Corner Center now that the mall is back open.” [Tysons Reporter]

The Town of Vienna’s election is underway, and voters have less than four hours to vote in-person or drop off their ballots.

As masked voters file into the Vienna Community Center or drive to the  Fairfax County Government Center to drop off their ballots in a special box, Tysons Reporter is exploring what civic duty looks like during a pandemic.

Voter turnout has typically fluctuated between 5% and 23% for the town’s elections for the last 20 years. But that may change this year.

“Traditionally, for municipal elections, it’s hard to get a good turnout,” Councilmember Howard Springsteen, who is running for the mayor’s seat, told Tysons Reporter.

Starting in March, Fairfax County officials took to social media to encourage Vienna voters to use the “disability or illness” box when requesting absentee ballots, hoping that mail-in ballots would decrease long lines for in-person voting.

The reminders worked. Vienna voters requested more than 3,200 absentee ballots, according to the town.

There are roughly 11,800 registered voters in the town, according to the state election department. If all of the absentee ballots are completed and submitted, that would put the voter turnout percentage around 27% — not including in-person voting.

“I think voter turnout will be higher than we’ve had in a while,” Mayor Laurie DiRocco told Tysons Reporter.

Signs of the times for voting in the time of a #pandemic. Voters will find these floor markers and signs at the polls in Vienna & Clifton today. Polls close at 7 p.m.#viennava #cliftonva #election2020 #covid_19 #COVID19 #socialdistancing #fairfaxcounty #virginia pic.twitter.com/Cw4wwP2LPr

— Fairfax County Votes (@fairfaxvotes) May 19, 2020

Voters weren’t the only ones urged to do their civic duty by voting from home.

DiRocco, who is retiring when her term ends this June, told Tysons Reporter on Friday that she asked all of the candidates to stay away from the Vienna Community Center today (Tuesday) to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

In previous years, it has been “very much of a social gathering,” according to DiRocco, who added that people would bring picnics and socialize with one another outside of the 40-foot distance line as people prepared to vote.

“I had reached out to the candidates and recommend we do not show up at the election,” DiRocco said. “All of the candidates agreed to that, which I thought was really good.”

But DiRocco sounded frustrated when she told Tysons Reporter that she received messages from people this morning “who were a little nervous” because they spotted mayoral candidate Pasha Majdi outside the Vienna Community Center.

“I don’t know what else to say at this point,” DiRocco said, stressing that it’s important to respect public health and safety concerns for voters.

Majdi told Tysons Reporter that he was about 300 feet away from the community center — “I could not throw a football from across the street.”

“We thought it would be a nice gesture to thank people for voting by waving from across the street, several hundred feet [away] from the polls,” he said.

The decision of whether or not to stand outside the polling place was never a dilemma before the pandemic, and it is not the only issue that candidates recently faced as Northern Virginia’s coronavirus numbers continue to rise.

Many of the candidates responded to Tysons Reporter’s inquiry about how the pandemic changed their campaign strategy, saying that social media has played a larger role in getting their messages out.

“My team of supporters and I had to change the game plan,” mayoral candidate and current Councilmember Linda Colbert said.

Colbert said that she started her campaign this year with the goal of getting to “every house in Vienna.” Instead, she ended up writing a letter to every resident instead.

Traditional face-to-face methods of interacting with voters — going door-to-door, attending events and handing out campaign literature — are moot while social distancing guidelines and the stay-at-home order are in effect.

“Voters in Vienna appreciate it when candidates knock on their doors and take a few minutes to answer questions before leaving a pamphlet,” Roy Baldwin, a councilmember candidate, said. “Since early March, none of that has been possible — the last thing I would want to do would be to either pick up or unwittingly spread the coronavirus by such close contact.”

Baldwin said that this campaign is “certainly nothing” like the one he ran in 2016.

“I’ve gone to the phone a lot more, and to email, text messages, and Facebook posts, as well as traditional mailers and print ads,” he said, adding that he’s even done Zoom conferences.

Ray Brill Jr., a councilmember candidate who said face-to-face “was to be the cornerstone of my campaign,” said that he pivoted to social media, word-of-mouth, signs and mailings to reach voters.

Brill also said that sharing his message through candidate essays, like he did for Tysons Reporter, “gave voters the opportunity to compare and contrast each candidate’s position on key issues facing the Town of Vienna so they could make an informed decision before they voted.”

Brill isn’t the only candidate missing in-person communication.

“I much prefer face-to-face. I don’t think you have a dialogue with people on social media,” Springsteen, who is running for the mayor’s seat, told Tysons Reporter. “I don’t get a lot of feedback [from voters].”

He said that he’s relied on boosting Facebook posts and sent out two mailings — a letter and a postcard — this year, adding that he’s put out fewer yard signs to reduce in-person contact.

While he said he’s “getting a lot of hits on my website,” he said that posting online can feel like putting a message out into a void.

Limited traditional campaigning tactics have forced some candidates to get creative.

“I have no idea if it will translate into votes, but my daily bike rides with the Choose Chuck velocipede has at least brought smiles to people’s faces,” councilmember candidate Chuck Anderson said.

Anderson noted that he keeps “at least 20 feet” away from people while on his bike rides down the middle of the street.

“With a number of neighbors strolling the streets, I have been able to get my name out, at least, to a large number of voters,” he said.

Colbert, a mayoral candidate, turned to daily videos.

“One day I posted a video expressing my concerns for town residents and businesses,” Colbert said. “After receiving positive feedback, I did it another day until I was doing it every day.”

Some of the biggest COVID-19 challenges have impacted the candidates’ jobs more than their campaigns.

“My day job is dealing with the coronavirus,” councilmember candidate Ed Somers said. “So I’m certainly busier in my day job… I think the challenge is the balance of doing what I need to do for work and doing the outreach I need to do for the campaign.”

Majdi shared a similar sentiment, saying that he shifted his focus away from the campaign more to his duties as a current councilmember.

“Campaigning has taken a back seat to the COVID-19 response,” Majdi said. “The top priority is public health and safety.”

Still, Majdi is talking to voters over the phone, and Somers is relying on his network to vouch for him.

“I’ve found [the campaign] to be a good experience,” Somers said, adding that he thinks online communication has “made us more authentic… [since] we’re going more off our instincts.”

Photo via Fairfax County Votes/Twitter

Ashley Hopko contributed to this story, photo (2) courtesy Chuck Anderson

Vienna Election Day — Today, voters will pick the new councilmembers and mayor. Here’s our guide to who the candidates are and how to find out more about them. [Tysons Reporter]

Helping Hand — The McLean Little League and the Deevy Group at Compass will deliver food to Inova’s ICU and ER departments today at 6:30 p.m. [Patch]

Some Shoppers Spotted at Tysons Corner Center — “A few stores, such as Kay Jewelers, Forever 21 and Altar’d State, were open. According to Northern Virginia resident Dorothy Gundy, who provided the photos to WTOP, stores were asking shoppers to line up in the concourse and letting a few people in at a time.” [WTOP]

Units on scene of a townhouse fire in the 1600 block of Colonial Hills Drive in the McLean area. First arriving reported smoke showing from rear of home. Fire found on deck. Fire is out. No extension to home. Most units returning to service. #FCFRD pic.twitter.com/qGEmlfoETc

— Fairfax County Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) May 19, 2020

The polls are open until 7 p.m. tonight for the Clifton and Vienna town elections. Please practice #socialdistancing when you go #vote today to keep yourself, others and our dedicated election officers safe!#GOTV #electionday #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/4A3HPYqPpT

— Fairfax County Votes (@fairfaxvotes) May 19, 2020

In celebration of Virginia Business Appreciation Month, the Town of Vienna launched a new campaign called ViennaUnited.

ViennaUnited consists of community activities throughout the week and will benefit 1,800 of the town’s small businesses, according to a press release.

Events include bingo, a drive-by business challenge and “people’s choice awards” to local businesses given in an array of categories.

For the drive-by business challenge, people are encouraged to make signs supporting and encouraging their favorite spots by flashing the signs, the press release said. People are welcome to post pictures on social media and use the hashtag #ViennaUnited.

To score bingo points, people can engage in activities such as letter writing, ordering lunch from a local eatery and visiting a community coffee shop.

Though COVID-19 impacted small businesses, according to Natalie Monkou, the town’s economic development manager, event organizers hope this event will give business owners a boost.

“More than ever before, we need to show appreciation to our business community as we also consider the next steps toward recovery,” Monkou said in the press release. “This is a small but visual step in showing our support and showcasing the innovation and resiliency that is present in our town.”

Polling Patience — “[T]hose who will be voting in person at the Vienna Community Center will have to jump through a few more hoops and will not have the chance to mingle with the candidates on-site. Voters should be patient expect a slower-than-normal process, election officials said. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.” [Inside NoVa]

Summer School — “Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) will continue distance learning for students during the summer along with targeted intervention services. Virtual learning for students this summer is based on current Fairfax County Health Department guidelines for social distancing and guidance from the state that school buildings remain closed in July.” [FCPS]

State Data No Longer Includes Antibody Tests — “On Thursday, the Virginia Department of Health announced they would no longer include the results of antibody tests in their overall data, though officials stressed that its inclusion did not significantly alter the trends that aided the governor in making the decision to reopen. About 15,000 antibody tests had been included, making up about nine percent of the overall testing number.” [DCist]

Public Libraries to Soon Offer New Services — “FCPL is preparing to begin offering contactless pickup of holds or staff selections on Monday, June 1.” [FCPL/Facebook]

Vienna Eatery Getting Creative With Outdoor Dining — “Clarity chef/owner Jonathan Krinn has dreamed up a way to revive the fine dining experience. On Saturday he’ll launch ‘A Lot of Clarity,’ a five-course prix-fixe meal served in 16 designated ‘slips’ — that’s the tonier nautical term for parking spaces–in the outdoor lot of his Vienna, Virginia restaurant.” [Washingtonian]

Happy Trails — “A variety of scenic walking routes are found within the City of Falls Church… Starting from the Falls Church Community Center, a short stroll through the trails running under the nearby Virginia Pine canopy provides a view of Cherry Hill Park and its 1845 Greek Revival manor house.” [Falls Church News-Press]

Home Sales Drop as Prices Rise in N. Va. — “A total of 1,725 properties changed hands across the region in April, according to figures reported May 12 by MarketStats by ShowingTime. That’s down from 2,160 transactions a year before… Sales were down in every jurisdiction except the city of Fairfax… [The] average sales price of all properties that went to closing during the month stood at $667,527, up 7.5 percent from a year before.” [Inside NoVa]

New Senior Shopping Service — “Fairfax County, through the Health Department’s Neighbor to Neighbor Program (N2N), has launched a free grocery shopping and pharmacy pick-up service. The service is provided to seniors at private residences by volunteers who have completed background checks.” [Fairfax County]

Masks Now Mandatory — Riders will have to wear face coverings when using the Metro or Fairfax Connector starting on Monday, May 18. [Metro, Fairfax County]

Cedar Lane over I-66 is scheduled to close Friday and demolition of the bridge is slated to begin Saturday. Project will take about six months. Lots of info about the project and its impacts in Vienna area in this On Deck with Mercury episode: https://t.co/lXjtnPZaB0

— Town of Vienna, VA (@TownofViennaVA) May 13, 2020