Author: Matt Blitz

Buzzy new Middle Eastern restaurant looking to open in former IOTA Club space

By Matt Blitz
Tawle will move into 2832 Wilson Blvd next year, the former home of IOTA Club

(Updated at 12:55 p.m.) A new Middle Eastern restaurant, from the owners of one of D.C.’s most acclaimed restaurants, is preparing to open in Clarendon next year.

The kebab-centric Tawle, which means “table” in Arabic, is moving into 2832 Wilson Blvd, the former home of live music venue IOTA Club. The new casual concept plus rooftop bar is from the co-owners of D.C.’s Compass Rose and Maydan, the latter of which is Michelin-starred.

However, Clarendon diners will have to wait awhile.

The 4,000-square-foot eatery not planning to open for about a year, until spring 2023, says co-owner Rose Previte. This will be the second location of Tawle, with the first planning to start serving in the Mosaic District later this year.

Previte tells ARLnow that she and her fellow co-owner decided to take Tawle to Clarendon for a number of reasons, including their familiarity with Arlington and the neighborhood. For one, she earned her masters degree from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government in Arlington and worked in four different Arlington County offices, including Arlington Economic Development, as part of a fellowship.

“So, it’s full circle, we are now going to be part of [Arlington’s] economic development,” she says.

During her time going to school and working, she frequented the many restaurants and bars in the Ballston, Courthouse, and Clarendon neighborhoods.

“I maybe had too much fun in Clarendon because I was 25,” she says with a laugh. “So, to think we are going to have a bar and restaurant there is very cool.”

Plus, co-owner Mark Schuster is also from Northern Virginia.

“We are both going home in a way with both of our different histories [here],” she says.

Moving into the former IOTA Club, which closed in 2017, is something that Previte is looking forward to. She says she “loves old buildings” and when walking through the space recently, she found a back wall that still had old concert posters on it.

“I asked the landlord to preserve that wall for us,” she says. “It’s the last physical sign that concerts were there… I really want to [save it]. I love having old things in new spaces and the energy they bring.”

Both Compass Rose and Maydan have garnered their fair share of accolades, but this concept is going to be different from those fine dining establishments.

While the menu is still being developed, it will be kabab-centric, with influences from the cuisines of Turkey, Egypt and Lebanon — the latter of which is where Previte’s family is from.

Tawle will be more casual and focused on grab and go as well as delivery. The bar program will also be inspired by the region, with flavors of lime, lemon, and arak incorporated into recipes.

“[Arak] is an acquired taste. Our very talented mixologists know how to blend it correctly for the American palate,” Previte says. “It’s a licorice flavor… It’s very traditional to the region.”

With more people working from home and not necessarily going into the city as often, Previte says it was time for the owners to bring their food and dining experiences to Northern Virginia.

“A lot of our guests used to come from the suburbs, but they don’t come into D.C. anymore,” she says. “We really thought it was time to go to them and make ourselves more accessible.”

Japanese restaurant Yuraku now open in somewhat-obscured Rosslyn space

By Matt Blitz
1/4

(Updated at 4 p.m.) A new sushi restaurant has opened in Rosslyn in a long-vacant, off-the-beaten-path space.

Japanese restaurant Yuraku opened about two weeks ago for lunch and dinner, manager Mike Kim tells ARLnow, at 1850 Fort Myer Drive. That’s the long-vacant ground floor commercial space inside of the Turnberry Tower condo building a few blocks from the Rosslyn Metro station.

This is the eatery’s second location, with the original in Germantown, Maryland. The menu at the Arlington spot focuses on Japanese staples like sushi, katsu, tempura, sashimi, and donburi.

Yuraku ownership eyed Rosslyn for its expansion because of the vibrant community filled with residents and office workers that was lacking good neighborhood sushi options, Kim says.

Business has been good so far but there remains the sense the neighborhood doesn’t quite know Yuraku is there yet, he notes. The space is back from the main street with the patio and front door somewhat obscured by shrubs and trees.

The positive of the space, says Kim, is that it provides privacy for those eating on the large outdoor patio.

It was more than a year ago when ARLnow first reported the Maryland-based sushi spot was moving across the river into Rosslyn. That somewhat-hard-to-see space on Fort Myer Drive has seen a good amount of past turnover. It was once home to Secret Chopsticks and Pancho Villa Mexican Cuisine, but both closed less than 18 months after opening.

The space remained vacant for close to four and a half years until Yurkau opened earlier this month.

While there’s no immediate expansion plans beyond Rosslyn in the works, Kim says it’s “possible” that they could look to bring their Japanese restaurant to other Arlington locations in the future.

Taqueria el Poblano staying open through the summer, now set to close in August

By Matt Blitz
Taqueria el Poblano on Columbia Pike (staff photo by Matt Blitz)

(Updated at 11:25 a.m.) Taqueria el Poblano on Columbia Pike is staying open for a few more months after all.

In March, ARLnow reported that the local staple known for its margaritas was set to close its Pike location by the end of this month. However, co-owner Thomas Stevens tells ARLnow that they’ve since come to an agreement with the property owner BM Smith to extend the restaurant’s lease at 2401 Columbia Pike until the end of August. He says it became clear that regulars wanted them to stay open through the summer.

At that point, though, it will be “end of our time on the Pike,” Stevens says.

The other two locations of the Southern California-inspired Mexican restaurant, at Arlington’s Lee-Harrison Shopping Center and also the original in Alexandria’s Del Ray neighborhood, will remain open, he says.

Taqueria el Poblano said in March that it was closing due to decreasing revenue and increasing rent at its Pike location. Stevens told ARLnow at the time that this location had fewer regulars than the others and didn’t have enough volume of sales to cover rent.

“For whatever reason, this one doesn’t do the same business as the others,” he said.

The shuttering of one of Penrose Square’s first tenants comes as a couple of new redevelopment projects get underway on Columbia Pike.

The Fillmore Gardens shopping center is set for demolition and will be replaced by The Elliott on the 2600 block of Columbia Pike. That new development is expected to be completed in 2025.

A few blocks down the Pike, structures and buildings have already started going up at the former site of the Westmont shopping center (and the first Five Guys). That development will include 250 market rate apartments and retail space.

Since the story came out earlier this spring about Taqueria el Poblano’s imminent closing, Stevens says he’s had a lot of people come in asking and expressing sadness about the shuttering.

But customers will now have at least three more months to enjoy tacos and margaritas.

“Hopefully, word spreads,” Stevens says.

Hat tip to John Antonelli

Massive ‘Pike’ sculpture is being installed this week near the county border

By Matt Blitz
1/5

The Pike, a large-scale work of public art, is finally being installed this week at the southwest corner of Columbia Pike and S. Jefferson Street, near the county line bordering Fairfax.

On Wednesday morning, ARLnow saw the 50-foot-tall reclaimed wind turbine wing lying horizontally while waiting for a crane to raise it on an already-installed steel base dotted with thousands of coins from around the world.

The physical raising of the wind turbine onto the base is scheduled for later in the afternoon, said Jim Byers of Arlington Arts. The sculpture will be fully installed by the end of the week, Byers said, with no impact on traffic and “minimal” impact to pedestrian access. It will have “a slight ‘intrusion’ upon part of the sidewalk,” he noted.

An official ribbon cutting ceremony is set for the fall.

The intent of the artwork is to conjure images of a medieval spear known as a pike being repurposed into a toll gate, in a nod to Columbia Pike’s history as a toll road.

Embedded in the base is nearly 5,000 coins from 117 countries collected from county residents. The international currency is meant to reinforce Columbia Pike’s reputation for being a “world in a zip code.” The sculpture’s location near the border of the two counties is also supposed to serve as a symbolic “gateway.”

The concept was first conceived about a decade ago and construction began back in November.

The work of art was designed by Donald Lipski. He wanted to create something that stood out and united both ends of the county’s portion of Columbia Pike.

“I knew that I wanted to make something that was really vertical that you could see from far away,” he told ARLnow today, standing in front of the two pieces of the sculpture. “I also thought about book-ending the Air Force Memorial at the other end.”

He used wind turbines not simply because of their “beautiful shape” but because it’s a reminder of how we as a society need to shift over to more renewable resources. Using collected coins as decoration on the base was something Lipski has done before, but says it takes on special meaning here in Arlington due to the county’s international population.

“People could walk by here 20 years from now and say to their child, ‘Look, there are coins from Bolivia that I gave when you were just a little baby,’ Lipski says. “I love that.”

Back in 2017, when Lipski first debuted his design, there were some concerns around the public engagement process and the design. The Arlington Mill Civic Association expressed disappointment that they weren’t given ample opportunity to provide input into the design, despite assurances. Douglas Park Civic Association members said that tolls, gates, and blades didn’t make for proper neighborhood symbols.

“Recognizing Arlington Mill is the county’s most impoverished neighborhood, we firmly object to the implementation of any form of blade as representative of our community,” leaders wrote in a letter. “Further, turnpike gates are never welcoming. Their purpose and design is to stop traffic. They disrupt the flow. Surely this is not how Arlington County’s Southwestern Gateway should be depicted.”

The project also took close to a decade to come to fruition, a timeline that was “really long” compared to Lipski’s other projects.

Much of the delay had to do with the sculpture’s construction and installation being included as part of the Columbia Pike Multimodal Improvement Project, a multi-year series of street improvements and utility upgrades along the roadway that extends from the Fairfax County border to just before the Pentagon.

The total project cost for The Pike is about $360,000, according to a county public art budget document. That includes a developer contribution of about $60,000.

Lipski hopes that his art will become something of a county landmark.

“I love it when a piece of mine becomes something that’s part of people’s lives,” he says. “I know there will be people who live in Arlington and.. they’re coming home and they’ll see it and [say], ‘Oh, here we are. We’re home.'”

Arlington’s Firefly Festival is returning to Fort C.F. Smith Park next month

By Matt Blitz
Firefly (photo by Bruce Marlin, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Arlington Firefly Festival is returning to Fort C.F. Smith Park next month.

On Sunday, June 19, the festival celebrating insects that light up summer nights is back for the first time since 2019. Last year, a smaller firefly “prowl” (essentially, a nature walk) was held due to the pandemic.

This year there will be firefly arts and crafts, bug bingo, storytelling, a nature walk, and flashlight games. All are encouraged to go on a firefly hunt, catching and releasing the twinkling bugs.

Naturalists will also be on hand to explain how to best attract fireflies and ways to maintain backyard habitats to encourage insect visitors.

“Fireflies are fascinating and inspire a sense of nostalgia for many adults,” saud the press release. “The festival is an opportunity to introduce the next generation of citizens to the wonders of the night sky and the value of natural spaces.”

The event is sponsored by the Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation. Registration began last week.

In general, fireflies are not lighting up the night sky as they used to.

“There are fewer, like a lot of insects,” says Rita Peralta, Outreach Manager at the Long Branch Nature Center and in charge of putting on the festival. “It’s largely referred to as an insect apocalypse. Like a lot of animals, it’s due to, mostly, habitat loss.”

But on warm Arlington summer nights, fireflies can be found across the county. The best place to see their nightly light show is near undistributed mature trees, in areas that have little light pollution.

That’s why Fort C.F. Smith Park in the Woodmont neighborhood is a great spot for the festival, says Peralta, because of its tree canopy and open meadows.

There are about 2,000 different firefly species in the world, with anywhere from 24 to 36 species calling our region home. Their ability to light up is part of their mating process, but one local species uses the light as a way to attract a meal.

“One local firefly species — the Femme Fatale or Photuris genus — is predatory,” noted the release. “The female will send a false signal to a male of another species to attract him and will then eat him when he arrives to mate.”

The festival starts at 7:30 p.m. and runs for two hours. Admission is $7 and tickets can also be purchased at the event, in addition to online. Heavy rains will cancel the event and there’s no rain date.

As of today, more than 100 people have already registered online, according to the county’s website.

Photo by Bruce Marlin via Wikimedia Commons

Amazon Fresh in Crystal City now eyeing summer opening

By Matt Blitz
1/3

Crystal City’s Amazon Fresh is looking at a summer opening, a company spokesperson confirms.

Back in February, a mystery was solved when it was confirmed that an Amazon Fresh grocery store was moving into the large retail space at 1550 Crystal Drive. Now, the company says that residents likely won’t have to wait too long for Crystal City’s only grocery store to open.

“We haven’t confirmed an exact opening date yet but we can confirm it will open this summer,” a company spokesperson said in an email.

In addition to traditional checkouts, the store will also have what the company calls “Just Walk Out technology,” meaning customers can exit the store without physically going to any check-out.

“Amazon’s Just Walk Out system uses ceiling-mounted cameras and artificial intelligence to track shoppers’ selections as they walk around the store and automatically charges them when they exit,” as described by Grocery Dive.

The new store will also have anti-graffiti window film, according to building permits.

Technically, Crystal City has been grocery-store-less for close to two decades, though there’s a Harris Teeter and Amazon-owned Whole Foods in Pentagon City, as well as another Harris Teeter in the Potomac Yard area of Arlington.

This will be the first Amazon Fresh in Arlington, but another location is planned less than two miles away, in the Potomac Yard shopping center in Alexandria.

The company is quickly expanding its grocery footprint across the D.C. area with three stores having opened just in the last year, including one in Fairfax last month.

There could also be a second Arlington Amazon Fresh, rumors suggest.

The Fillmore Garden Shopping Centers on Columbia Pike is set to be demolished in the coming months to make way for “The Elliott.” That new development will have 50,000 square feet of ground floor retail, a revamped CVS, and a grocery store. There is some suggestion that this grocery store will also be an Amazon Fresh.

So far, though, company officials are remaining mum.

“We don’t comment on our future store roadmap,” said the spokesperson.

Selling rugs for a century, Manoukian Brothers on Columbia Pike looks to the future

By Matt Blitz
1/5

It’s been a century since his family first started selling rugs, but Mikael Manoukian is still learning.

To be fair, he actually only got into the family rug business a few years ago and now runs the Manoukian Brothers Oriental Rugs on Columbia Pike with his mom, Dona. But in that short time, Mikael has learned at “Mach speed” about what it takes to sell hand knotted, decades-old rugs.

“I’m getting to be an expert, let’s put it that way,” he chuckles to ARLnow, inside of the storefront at 2330 Columbia Pike the shop has occupied since the fall of 2018. “Something that has a lot of nuance like rugs, it’s not like selling something at the grocery store… you can’t just treat it like a candy bar.”

Earlier this month, on May 15, Mikael and the Manoukian family marked 100 years of being in business with a celebration. There was  music, food, and personal reflections in front of their store on the Pike. There was also an announcement of a Virginia House resolution by Del. Alfonso Lopez commending the business for its longevity.

But the Manoukian family story is more than rugs. It’s a tale that is representative of what America can be about.

“It’s always been about our desire to stick with it, keep going, and do justice to our family,” Mikael says, about why he thinks his family’s rug business has lasted so long. “[They] came here, worked hard, and have been relatively lucky.”

Then, he takes a breath. As if he’s comprehending the enormity of it all.

“One hundred years years. It’s pretty impressive to last that long.”

It was around World War I when the Manoukian family fled from modern day Turkey and Syria due to the Armenian genocide. Like many at the time coming to America, the family arrived via boat at Ellis Island. Among those were three Manoukian brothers, including Mikael’s grandfather Moses.

In 1922, one of those brothers, Manouk — Mikael’s great-uncle — opened a Persian rug shop at Washington Circle in D.C. In 1957, his brothers finally joined him in the business and created Manoukian Brothers Oriental Rugs.

It was around this time when a young Paul Manoukian, Mikael’s father, started getting involved in the family business.

“He was a second-generation American and there was more expectation to carry on tradition,” Mikael explains.

For years, Paul worked alongside his father at the rug shop as well as pursuing a second career: A civil engineer for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority.

In the late 1980s, with his uncles getting older and his grandfather passing away, Paul took over the shop completely. Two jobs, including owning a business, while taking care of his family is a lot for any one person and Paul Manoukian did it for nearly three decades.

Mikael, who grew up in the Yorktown neighborhood with his parents, could see the toll it was taking on his dad.

About five years ago, as his father approached his late 80s, it became clear that it was time for the business to move to the next generation.

“We got together as a family and had many, many long discussions about what to do and how to handle the [then] 96-year-old business,” Mikael said.

It was decided that Mikael and his mother, Dona, would take it over and the business would move to Arlington, where a majority of the family lives. Today, Mikael lives in Alcova Heights, only a few miles down the road from the shop’s Columbia Pike location.

(more…)

Greek restaurant Our Mom Eugenia to open in Shirlington, aiming for fall

By Matt Blitz
1/3

Our Mom Eugenia, a popular Great Falls-based Greek restaurant, is opening a new outpost in Shirlington.

The family-owned Greek eatery is aiming to open by the fall, a press release announced. It’s moving into the 3,604 square-foot space at 4044 Campbell Avenue, next to CHIKO which opened late last year.

Our Mom Eugenia appears to be replacing Aroma Indian Cuisine. In early 2020, that restaurant moved from next door into the larger location. Prior to that, 4044 Campbell Avenue was the location of Hula Girl Bar and Grill but that restaurant closed in 2019.

There’s no word yet on when or if Aroma will be closing to make way for Eugenia.

This will be Our Mom Eugenia’s third location, with the original opening in Great Falls in 2016. The second location in the Mosaic District started serving in August 2020.

The restaurant is owned and named after Eugenia Hobson. A long-time local chef, she was born and raised in western Greece. She cooked at a number of other area Greek restaurants, before opening her own business a few years ago with her two sons.

“Eugenia learned the secrets of Greek cuisine from her grandmother for whom she is named,” notes a press release.

The menu consists of traditional Greek fare, like avgolémono soup, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), pastitsio (Greek lasagna), grilled octopus, lamb chops, spanakopita, and saganaki (fried cheese).

Our Mom Eugenia is the latest in a line of other notable restaurants and businesses looking to open later this year in Shirlington. Astro Beer Hall is moving into the former Capitol City Brewing space and is aiming for a fall 2022 opening as well. Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls is also potentially looking at an early fall starting date. Last month, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream also announced its move into Shirlington, though the company only provided a sprinkling of details beyond that.

New equity program taking root to plant trees in ten Arlington neighborhoods

By Matt Blitz
Trees in Arlington (staff photo)

A new program seeks to increase equity in Arlington by planting more trees in certain neighborhoods.

The local non-profit EcoAction Arlington announced that it’s starting the “Tree Canopy Equity Program” with the goal of raising $1.5 million to fund planting at least 2,500 trees over the next five years in local neighborhoods that have too few.

Insufficient tree canopy is closely tied to heat and temperature increases. The reason certain areas of Arlington are hotter than others, like the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, is due in part to lack of trees, recent data shows.

“The neighborhoods most impacted by insufficient tree cover are communities with higher-than-average minority populations and communities with people living in poverty,” EcoAction Arlington said a press release. “The lack of trees has a real-world impact that can lead to poor physical and mental health outcomes, higher utility costs, and a lower quality of life.”

The ten civic associations and neighborhoods that the program will work with are below.

  • Arlington View
  • Aurora Highlands
  • Buckingham
  • Columbia Heights
  • Glebewood
  • Green Valley
  • John M. Langston Citizens Association (Halls Hill/High View Park)
  • Long Branch Creek
  • Penrose
  • Radnor/Fort Myer Heights

The current levels of tree cover in those neighborhoods is between 17% and 33%, according to EcoAction Arlington.

“The goal is to radically increase tree planting in the neighborhoods with the lowest tree cover to align with the average for other Arlington communities of approximately 40 percent,” the press release says.

EcoAction Arlington executive director Elenor Hodges tells ARLnow that that the group has already begun to plant more trees. That includes American hornbeams, pin oaks, river birch, sugarberry, American sycamore, swamp white oak, and American linden.

The program needs about $150,000 a year to cover operations, marketing, staffing, and the actual planting of trees, Hodges says, with each tree costing about $500 to plant.

Amazon, an inaugural sponsor, has already contributed $50,000. The goal is to raise $1.5 million from other corporate and individual donors, while also obtaining funding from Arlington’s existing Tree Canopy Fund Program. This initiative allows neighborhood groups, owners of private property and developments, and places of worship to apply to have native plants or trees planted on their property.

Residents in neighborhoods lacking sufficient tree canopy note that the the problem is often tied to the construction of large, new homes and not prioritizing trees while building.

“As we lose trees due to infill development of large homes on lots in our neighborhood, they need to be replaced and even expanded,” John M. Langston Citizens Association president Wilma Jones tells ARLnow. “We all know that trees give off oxygen and they reduce stormwater runoff.

Natasha Atkins has been a resident of Aurora Highlands for nearly four decades and has “watched with alarm” the number of trees lost to homebuilding projects.

“With the County’s zoning code, requiring only very small setbacks for residential housing, it is questionable whether there will be much of a tree canopy in the future in the single-family neighborhoods that are being redeveloped,” she says. “Trees are an afterthought in planning and zoning. They should really be a driver.”

Hodges concedes that planting 2,500 more trees over the next five years will only “make a dent” and it will take tens of thousands of trees for all these neighborhoods to reach the 40% tree canopy threshold.

But the Tree Canopy Equity Program is just as much about what one can do today as what one can do tomorrow, says Hodges.

“It’s about behavioral change and teaching people about the importance of having a sufficient tree canopy in Arlington,” she said.

Jennie Dean Park reopening this weekend with motorcycle parade, baseball history celebration

By Matt Blitz
1/9

The $15 million newly renovated Jennie Dean Park is reopening to the public this weekend, complete with a motorcycle parade, live music, and a celebration of local baseball history.

The opening festivities are set to take place this Saturday from noon-3 p.m. at 3630 27th Street S. in Green Valley, down the street from Shirlington.

It will begin with a “mini-parade” featuring the Crossroads Riders Motorcycle Club and the Young Divas Dance Team, who recently performed at the opening of the John Robinson Jr. Town Square. The program will include remarks from Arlington County Board members and the Green Valley Civic Association, as well as a recognition of the park’s baseball history.

A number of the former semi-pro and amateur players who took their swings at Jennie Dean Park during the mid-20th Century will gather as well.

There will also be a ribbon cutting, a snow cone stand, food, music from JoGo Project, and a basketball tournament for teenagers, a county spokesperson tells ARLnow.

“Due to the projected weather forecast on Saturday with high temperatures in the mid-90s, a water fill station will be set up at the event with cold, filtered water,” the spokesperson noted.

The Shirlington Dog Park parking lot on the 2700 block of S. Oakland Street will be closed during the event, but the dog park itself will remain open.

A lengthy design and construction process resulted in a major renovation of the park, which first opened to the public in 1944. Approximately $15.5 million was spent to completely redo the park.

More than two acres were added along with an updated, ADA-accessible playground that now has age-separated areas. The new restrooms are all-gender, in keeping with a county ordinance, and moved to the front of the park. The picnic shelter has a sustainable, green roof, which is next to renovated basketball and tennis courts.

The two baseball diamonds were moved out of the Four Mile Run floodplain and have new efficient LED lights. The fields are also now named after two long-time community stalwarts, Ernest Johnson and Robert Winkler.

The diamonds will also display pennants of historic Green Valley teams, designed in collaboration with the civic association, that played at the park over the last 70 years.

Along the sidewalks near the diamonds is a history walk, embedded with plaques marking significant moments in the park’s and neighborhood’s history.

There’s a new site-specific work of public art in the western portion of the park. Wheelhouse is a stainless steel multi-sectioned pavilion that “​explores the industrial history of the Jennie Dean Park site through the lens of the great American pastime — baseball.”

The park is named after Jennie Serepta Dean, a formerly enslaved woman who opened the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth in the late 19th century.

It was initially set to reopen late last year, but permitting delays pushed it back a few months.

Ballston Quarterfest Crawl is back this weekend with live music and drinks

By Matt Blitz
1/3

The third annual Ballston Quarterfest Crawl is back this weekend with a full line-up of music, art, entertainment, and drinks.

The free event is set to happen this Saturday (May 21) from noon to 8 p.m. It’s set to follow a similar format as last year, with the crawl aspect allowing attendees to spread out across the neighborhood. A number of the local restaurants are also hosting live music and specials all day.

Many of the performances, though, are set to take place at the main event hub outside of Ballston Quarter at 4238 Wilson Blvd.

The lineup for the main event hub:

  • 12-7 p.m. DJ Ricky
  • 12:30-1 p.m. Official Event Kickoff
  • 1-4 p.m. Encanto Sisters
  • 3-5 p.m. Intern John and the HOT 99.5 Street Team
  • 6-8 p.m. Bobby McKeys Dueling Piano Show

There will also be performances at various neighborhood businesses :

  • 1-2:30 p.m. Uncle Jesse at World of Beer
  • 2:30-4 p.m. Kara and Matty D. at Ballston Local
  • 4-5:30 p.m. The Crista Trio at SER
  • 5:30-7 p.m. Ache Harvest at Salt Line

The event is organized by the Ballston Business Improvement District and is the signature event of the organization’s charitable subsidiary BallstonGives.

“We are thrilled to celebrate our neighborhood and some of our finest restaurants with live music, great food and the community we know and love here in Ballston,” Ballston BID CEO Tina Leone said in a press release. “This event is the unofficial kickoff to summer and a lively celebration for our community and our neighbors.”

There won’t be any Ballston Quarterfest related road closures, organizers and the Arlington County Police Department confirmed to ARLnow.

“The crawl is organized in an easily-walkable path from Ballston Quarter to our pop-up concerts and back,” an event spokesperson says.

That path follows Wilson Blvd and, then, up N. Glebe Road, according to the provided map.

2022 Ballston Quarterfest Crawl map (image courtesy of Ballston BID)

In 2019, “Quarterfest” replaced the popular “Taste of Arlington” as Ballston’s annual springtime event. However, it was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic and was reworked as a “crawl” in 2021.

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