Author: Jackie Friedman

Arlington Agenda: May 30-June 5

By Jackie Friedman

Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County. If you’d like to see your event featured, fill out the event submission form.

Also, be sure to check out our event calendar.

Wednesday

krabLegs

All You Can Eat Snow Crab Leg Wednesdays*
Mad Rose Tavern (3100 Clarendon Blvd)
Time: 5-9 p.m.

Only $26.99! All you can eat snow crab legs are back at Mad Rose Tavern. The best deal in town gets better together with the best happy hour in Clarendon. Crabs start being served at 5 p.m. sharp. The event ends at 9 p.m.

Thursday

Gulf Branch Nature Center (Flickr pool photo by Cameron Manuel)Gulf Branch Nature Center Symposium: The Birth and Future of Arlington Parks
Central Library Auditorium (1015 N. Quincy St)
Time: 7-8:30 p.m.

Presented in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Gulf Branch Nature Center, this symposium will feature a history of Gulf Branch Nature Center, an overview of the role of nature centers in Arlington’s parks, the future efforts and challenges that come with creating and protecting park land in an urbanized environment and more.

Saturday

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Strawberry Festival*
Bethel United Church of Christ (4347 Arlington Blvd)
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Attic Sale begins at 10 a.m. followed by strawberry desserts and ice cream, hot dogs and burgers, bake sale, kitten adoptions, kids games and face painting from 11 to 3 p.m.

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Culpepper Garden Springtime Party*
Culpepper Garden (4435 N. Pershing Drive)
Time: 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Join Culpepper Garden to celebrate 41 years of providing affordable housing with services for very low income Arlington seniors at this annual fundraiser event. Culpepper Garden is a nonprofit affordable residential community in Arlington with 340 apartments for seniors aged 62 and older.

Sunday

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Arlington Triathlon*
Washington Lee High School Aquatic Center (1301 N. Stafford St)
Time: 7:30-10:30 a.m.

The Arlington Triathlon is a swim-bike-run event for children ages 7-15 at Washington-Lee High School Aquatic Center. The race is part of the USA Triathlon Mid-Atlantic Region’s Youth Triathlon Series.

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Bark in the Park*
Clarendon Dog Park (1299 N. Herndon St)
Time: 3-6 p.m.

Join Clarendon Animal Care and Clarendon Alliance at the 2nd Annual Bark in the Park at James Hunter Dog Park (aka: Clarendon Dog Park). Live music from Caroline Herrera & The Whole Magilla, food from Smoking Kow BBQ, bounce house and balloons for the kids, and lots of goodies for the four-legged “kids!”

 

2016-Carnival-flyer

Community Carnival*
Cherrydale United Methodist Church (3701 Lorcom Lane)
Time: 4-7 p.m.

Games, food, prizes, cakewalks, a silent auction, and more! All proceeds support the Cherrydale United Methodist youth group’s mission trip – helping to make homes warmer, safer, and drier in the Christiansburg, Va. area. Free admission. Rain or shine.

AP-A-only

Crescendo Presents Romantic Russians
Barcroft Community House (800 S. Buchanan St)
Time: 4-5:30 p.m.

Crescendo, the Youth Chamber Program of the Arlington Philharmonic, will present romantic movements by Russian composers Tchaikovski, Glazunov and Rimski-Korsakov. A reception with the musicians will be held after the concert.

*Denotes featured (sponsored) content

Korean Fried Chicken Donuts Now Offered at Sugar Shack

By Jackie Friedman
1/2

There’s a new donut offering at Sugar Shack Donuts (3400 Columbia Pike), and it’s definitely not vegan. The store is now offering not one but two varieties of Korean fried chicken donuts.

The spicy option has a Sriracha maple glaze with spicy chicken on the top. The milder option has a maple glaze with honey chicken on the top.

It’s a collaboration with another Arlington eatery. The chicken comes from Dak! Chicken, which is a Korean style chicken restaurant in Shirlington.

Yesterday was the first day that the donuts were served. Sugar Shack has been advertising the donuts throughout the week on its Twitter and Facebook pages.

“We have sold quite a few,” said Sugar Shack employee Andy Barry. “We’ve definitely had people come in just for the donuts.”

Just don’t expect the fried chicken donuts to be an everyday offering. The donuts will be served only on the last Thursday of every month.

Photos: Flags In at Arlington National Cemetery

By Jackie Friedman
1/5

Following an annual Memorial Day weekend tradition, over 230,000 flags were placed at every headstone in Arlington National Cemetery today.

The flags were also placed by 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) at the bottom of about 7,000 niche rows in the cemetery’s Columbarium Courts and the Niche Wall.

More than 1,000 soldiers placed flags around the cemetery throughout a four hour timespan. There are over 400,000 total graves in the cemetery. Old Guard soldiers also placed approximately 14,000 flags at the Soldier’s and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery in the District.

The tradition known as “Flags In” has been conducted by the Old guard since 1948. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment is the oldest infantry regiment in the U.S. Army and is the official escort to the president.

All flags are removed after Memorial Day.

Fmr. School Board Member Noah Simon To Serve As Rep. Beyer’s District Director

By Jackie Friedman

School Board member Noah Simon is sworn in in 2013 (photo via Facebook)Congressman Don Beyer has chosen former Arlington School Board member Noah Simon as his District Office Director.

Simon was elected as an Arlington School Board member in 2012 but resigned in 2014 to focus on his children after the passing of his wife, Kedron, who battled intestinal cancer for 15 months.

Simon will be taking over for Susie Warner, who was district director for former Rep. Jim Moran (and then for Beyer) since 1990. Warner is retiring as of Wednesday, June 1.

“We really looked hard for someone who was deeply embedded in the community,” said Beyer. “It’s tough to bring in someone who doesn’t know too much about the community, so finding Noah was like a godsend.”

Simon says he resigned from the School Board to care for his two kids.

“My schedule wasn’t fair to my kids who were 8 and 10 at the time,” said Simon. With his children now a bit older, Simon decided it was time to re-enter the workforce and, given his continued community involvement, he found a natural fit with Beyer’s office.

Rep. Don Beyer in his Capitol Hill office“Everyone that I have talked to since the news has come out about how he is going to start as our District Office Director has been full of praise, so I am really looking forward to working with him,” said Beyer.

(In the intervening years, Simon remained active in the community. He is currently the PTA president at Swanson Middle School, vice chair of the Dream Project board and a board member of Doorways for Women and Families.)

A district director typically handles specific constituent requests, for help with Social Security, pensions, visas, immigration or other issues.

Simon will be busy: so far in 2016, Beyer’s office has opened 546 individual constituent service cases. For all of last year, the office handled 1,179 cases.

“Constituent service is most enjoyable for me.” Simon said. “I am very interested in conflict resolution, so my skills will transfer well. I am not coming in to fix broken things, because nothing is broken, I plan to keep things going.”

Chocolate Tasting Tonight During ‘Lawn Chair Talk’ in Va. Square

By Jackie Friedman

Lawn Chair Talks graphicIt’s finally going to feel like May today, with the temperature nearing 90 degrees — just in time for some outdoor chocolate sampling.

Arlington Cultural Affairs and BizLaunch are hosting a “lawn chair talk” tonight with chocolatier Jason Andelman, of Artisan Confections in Clarendon, and artist Molly Springfield.

The event is being held from 6-8 p.m. at the Arlington Arts Center in Virginia Square (3550 Wilson Blvd).

Andelman and Springfield will be discussing their methods and how they got their start in art and business. Chocolate samples and light refreshments will be provided. Admission is free, but registration is required.

Spider Kelly’s Beer Garden Now Open in Clarendon

By Jackie Friedman
1/6

The new beer garden at Spider Kelly’s is officially open for business.

The beer garden, which is located in the back patio of the Clarendon watering hole, first started serving customers last Thursday. With the sun finally shining after some not-so-nice weather this month, hopes are high for big crowds.

“We are really happy it’s here and our hope is that it will be something that our customers want,” said co-owner Nick Freshman.

“The goal in building it was to create a new outdoor space sort of supplemental to the space that we have inside,” Freshman said. “We kept a lot of the theme from the inside to the outside.”

A local graffiti artist, Andrew Funk, was hired to do a custom graffiti mural to add color to the space and to match the graffiti art inside.

The casual outdoor space offers seating for small and large groups. There is a combination of communal style seating with picnic benches and seating around two fire pits. There is also hightop seating at the bar. The large space offers a capacity of up to 300 people.

Beers, sangrias and ciders are served in the beer garden, and the beer list has been substantially expanded. There are 30 offered cans and 16 tap lines. There are also three homemade sangrias: red, white and sparkling.

For those arriving after work, there is a $4 happy hour drink special. The entire food menu is offered outside.

Local Centenarian Still Regularly Works Out at Ballston Gym

By Jackie Friedman
1/6

Arlington resident Eugene Kahn turned 100 in November, but that hasn’t changed his three-day-a-week exercise habit at the Ballston Sport and Health Club.

Kahn joined the Sport and Health Club at Skyline in 1980 after retiring from his job at the Pentagon. However, in 1995 he transferred to the Ballston location, which is closer to his East Falls Church home, after he stopped driving.

Kahn said he owes his longevity to “incredible good luck,” perhaps in addition to some healthy life choices.

“I quit smoking pipes at 60 so maybe that’s one of the secrets,” said Kahn.

Sport and Health has become something of a second home for Kahn. The entire staff knows him and treats him like gym royalty. Customers show deference too — getting up to allow Kahn to use his usual machines, if need be.

Kahn performs his workouts alone but occasionally consults with trainers at Sport and Health Club to change up his weekly routine.

“I am very impressed with this facility, the people are wonderful. They are friendly and they greet you when you walk in,” he said.

While Kahn doesn’t consider himself much of an athlete, he has been exercising since starting his job at the Pentagon in 1961. During his lunch breaks at the Pentagon, he would swim for an hour and half in the Pentagon’s gym.

These days, when Kahn isn’t at Sport and Health, he’s typically at home doing chores around his house — except on Mondays, when he plays golf.

Although originally from New Jersey, Kahn and his wife of 74 years — she’s also a centenarian — have been living in the same house in Arlington since 1961. He plans to be there, still keeping up on chores, for the foreseeable future.

“I’m on my second pacemaker and this one is going to last for 12 years, so I’m not worried,” he said.

‘True Health and Wholeness’ Now Open Along Columbia Pike

By Jackie Friedman
1/10

A new gym and wellness center that focuses on holistic approaches and family-friendliness has opened along Columbia Pike.

Located at 1058 S. Walter Reed Drive, in the former World Gym space, True Health and Wholeness had its grand opening on Saturday, May 14.

Husband-and-wife team Nina and Christian Elliot founded True Health and Wholeness to provide people with a “one stop shop” for all health and fitness needs. “Our goal is to provide a place where people can get true and sustainable answers to really change their lifestyle, said Nina Elliot.

True Health and Wholeness provides fitness, food, wellness and education services. Fitness services include personal training, small group training and large group workouts. Fitness classes such as barre and yoga are offered. Cooking classes and nutritional coaching are services that are provided to members.

Wellness services include: naturopathy, massage, acupuncture, cranial sacral, muscle activation techniques, infrared sauna, ionic foot soaks and food sensitivity testing. Education workshops are provided as well as lifestyle transformation coaching and corporate wellness programs.

“By giving people more access to different things in one place, it gives us a way to mix all those passions of our own health and wanting to have a family environment,” said Christian Elliot.

A unique part of the gym is that there are fitness programs geared toward children. The Kid Fit program allows for children to gain coordination and fitness skills. The program will be starting in the fall and are age based skill applied groups. Kid Summer Camp will be starting in July.  There is also an area called the “Little Nest” where children 6 weeks to 18 months old are cared for while a member exercises.

The gym also gives back to the community as much as they can. In honor of National Purple Heart Day on August 7, True Health and Wholeness will identify two combat wounded Purple Heart recipients and present a certificate for one year of free Pilates classes. The spouse of a wounded veteran may be substituted to receive this offer.

“This is a passion that also helps other people change their lives,” said Christian Elliot.

Photos: Bike to Work Day in Arlington

By Jackie Friedman
1/10

Today is Bike to Work Day around the D.C. area. More than 1,500 people were expected to participate in Arlington alone.

This year Arlington County hosted seven “pit stops” for the event — in Ballston, Crystal City, East Falls Church, Rosslyn, Shirlington and at Penrose Square on Columbia Pike. Six were morning pit stops; the seventh, also in (or, at least, near) Shirlington, is an “afternoon party” at New District Brewing, from 4:30-6:30 p.m.

The two biggest stops were Ballston and Rosslyn, where bicyclists gathered en masse, enjoying the nice weather and offerings from various vendors in a festival-like atmosphere. At the stop in Rosslyn, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) pedaled in and gave a brief speech.

“Let’s make Arlington and D.C. a better place to live,” he said.

Tim Kelley, marketing manager for BikeArlington, said that Bike to Work Day started in 2002 and has become a fun annual tradition for bike commuters and occasional cyclists alike. BikeArlington was expecting 500 people to stop by the Ballston pit stop and more than 1,000 at the Rosslyn location.

‘Livin’ the Pie Life’ Now Open Near Lee Highway

By Jackie Friedman
1/9

A new pie store is now open along Lee Highway.

In April, two Arlington moms, Wendy MacCallum and Heather Sheire, opened Livin’ The Pie Life on 2166 N. Glebe Road. “We are happy to be here, it’s our dream home,” said MacCallum.

Before opening up their store, MacCallum and Sheire sold pies at the Clarendon and Westover farmers markets. Sheire also has a food blog that she said has contributed to the growth of the business.

They sell both savory and sweet flavors; customers are able to choose from a variety of sizes and flavors, which rotate seasonally. Large sweet pies range from $24-36.

Some flavors include strawberry rhubarb, Wendy’s Key Lime Pie or their most popular flavor, apple. Livin’ The Pie Life makes certain that the ingredients they use to bake the pies of the highest quality, with fresh, locally-sourced fruit in season or top quality frozen fruit out of season. One of their biggest mottos is that “if it’s in the name it better be in the pie,” said Sheire.

In addition to pies, the store offers coffee from Virginia-based Red Rooster Coffee. Plus, there are t-shirts for sale.

For both MacCallum and Sheire, one of the most important things to them is the strong bond that they have with their customers.

“The most rewarding thing is that we’ve met really great people who have become consistent customers at the shop,” said Sheire. For die hard customers the store offers a Pie of the Month Club — $370 for a year’s worth of pies.

Aside from just dropping by the store, customers can order pies online for delivery or pickup.