Events

Street Closures Planned for Sunday’s Bike DC Ride

By ARLnow.com

Today may be Bike to Work Day, but Sunday might be an even better day to go car-free.

A number of road closures are planned for the annual Bike DC ride through the District and Arlington. The route, which starts at the Capitol, will take cyclists across the Roosevelt Bridge, up the GW Parkway and down to the Air Force Memorial, before returning to the District.

As a result, the following streets will be closed to vehicular traffic from about 7:00 to 11:00 a.m.

  • Roosevelt Bridge westbound
  • GW Parkway northbound from Memorial Bridge to Chain Bridge
  • Route 110 southbound from Rosslyn to Crystal City
  • Route 50 eastbound from GW Parkway to Lynn Street/Meade Street
  • Meade Street from Marshall Drive to Rosslyn
  • Marshall Drive between Meade Street and Route 110
  • Washington Boulevard eastbound from Memorial Bridge to Columbia Pike
  • Columbia Pike westbound from the Pentagon to the Air Force Memorial

In addition to those road closures, Sunday will also see the closure of a number of streets in the Ballston area due to the annual Taste of Arlington food festival.

Central Library to Host ‘Truck Petting Zoo’

By ARLnow.com

Is your kid fascinated by trucks? Does he or she love seeing big machinery up close? Does the photo (left) of a Washington Gas truck provoke feelings of awe and wonder?

If so, indulge the kid’s obsession at Arlington Central Library’s “truck petting zoo.”

From 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, various types of work vehicles will be on display at the library’s (1015 N. Quincy Street) east parking lot, near the tennis courts. Kids of all ages are invited to touch and explore the vehicles up close.

According to the Arlington Transit Blog, the trucks scheduled to be on display include:

  • ACFD fire engine, ladder truck and ambulance
  • ACPD motorcycle and police cruiser
  • Street sweeper, garbage truck and dump truck from the Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services
  • Concrete mixer from Vulcan Materials
  • Gas operations vehicle from Washington Gas
  • Arlington Transit ART bus

Sustainable Art Exhibit Opening at Artisphere

By ARLnow.com

It’s Artisphere’s biggest exhibit yet, and it follows a theme near and dear to the hearts of many in Arlington County.

Tonight is the public opening for “Contain, Maintain, Sustain,” a gallery of contemporary art inspired by sustainability. Among the pieces in the exhibit are beautiful gas cans, inspiring rubbish receptacles, a free-floating trash bag, magazines made into mountains and a box-laden bicycle.

The exhibit — a partnership between Artisphere, the Washington Project for the Arts and the Washington Sculptors Group — features the work of 24 international and locally-based artists.

Tonight’s opening reception is open to the public from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. The exhibit will be on display through July 17. More photos after the jump.

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Bike to Work Day Approaches

By ARLnow.com

Arlington is going all-out for National Bike to Work Day tomorrow.

From 7:00 to 9:00 a.m., the county will be playing host to three Bike to Work Day “pit stops” — each with music, speakers, bike giveaways, local exhibitors and free food and drinks:

  • Gateway Park in Rosslyn (1300 Lee Highway)
  • Conte’s Bike Shop in Ballston (3924 Wilson Blvd)
  • Crystal City Water Park (1750 Crystal Drive)

The first 8,500 people who register for the event will be able to pick up a free t-shirt.

The Crystal City pit stop will also serve breakfast and provide bicycle repairs and complementary showers. The Rosslyn pit stop will feature a performance by mountain bike stunt rider Mike Steidley and a Capital Bikeshare drop-off station. In addition, the Rosslyn pit stop is where the county will announce the winner of its Car-Free Diet Skeptics Challenge, which was the subject of a Washington Post feature earlier this week.

Disclosure: The Car-Free Diet Skeptics Challenge is an ARLnow.com advertiser.

Bluemont Playground Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County parks department will be celebrating the opening of its new Bluemont Park playground with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday.

The playground, at 601 N. Manchester Street, features play areas with farm and train-themed play equipment, as well as climbing boulders, a play house, swings, a sandbox, picnic area, accessible paths, a drinking fountain and more.

The ceremony is being held between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, and is part of the county’s Neighborhood Day event list.

Taste of Arlington Street Closures

By ARLnow.com

Taste of Arlington hits the streets of Ballston on Sunday and police are planning a series of street closures to accommodate the event.

Among the closures, as announced by Arlington County Police:

  • Wilson Blvd will be closed eastbound at Glebe Rd. Eastbound traffic will be diverted south on Glebe Rd.
  • Wilson Blvd will be closed westbound at N Randolph St (north and south bound Randolph will remain open)
  • N. Stuart Street will be closed between N. 9th Street and Wilson Blvd. Buses will be allowed on N. Stuart St. between Fairfax Drive and N. 9th Street.
  • North 9th Street will remain open to METRO BUS TRAFFIC only between North Stafford and North Stuart Street.
  • All traffic coming southbound on N. Taylor St. from Fairfax Drive will be forced to go westbound at Wilson Blvd.
  • Access to the Macy’s parking spaces at 4300 Wilson will be via N. Glebe Road only.

With warm and sunny weather in the forecast, organizers are expecting a crowd of more than 10,000 for the annual food festival — Arlington’s largest. Tickets are still on sale online for 20 percent off the walk-up price.

In addition to food from more than 30 Arlington restaurants and vendors, as well as a selection of craft beers, a number of local musical acts are scheduled to perform at the event, which will take place from noon to 5:00 p.m.

Lyon Park to Hold Spring Fair, Big Wheel Grand Prix

By ARLnow.com

Lyon Park will hold its annual Spring Fair and Big Wheel Grand Prix on Saturday.

The fair is being held on the grounds of the Lyon Park Community Center (414 N. Fillmore Street) from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The event will feature carnival games, pony rides, moon bounces, a bake sale, a plant sale, food and drink concession stands, and live bluegrass music.

Following the fair, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m, the third annual Lyon Park Big Wheel Grand Prix will be held. Helmet-clad competitors — kids and adults — will careen down N. Garfield Street on plastic “big wheel” tricycles for racing glory — and to raise money for the community center’s upcoming renovation.

“Danger and adversity is no match for our fierce community,” says the official Lyon Park Big Wheel Grand Prix web site.

The fair is one of more than a dozen Arlington Neighborhood Day events planned for Saturday.

Flyer image via the Lyon Park Citizens Association

Local Comedians Taking It Off for a Good Cause

By ARLnow.com

Just remember: it’s for a good cause.

Eleven local comedians — men and women — are going shirt and pant-less on stage tonight to help raise money for the Japanese Red Cross and its tsunami relief efforts.

The show, which organizers are calling “The 11th Street Underwear Showcase/Tsunami Relief Show,” is being held at Eleventh Street Lounge in Clarendon (1041 N. Highland Street) from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $5.

See the event’s Facebook page for more info.

Katie Couric Returning to Arlington for Book Signing

By ARLnow.com

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric is coming back to Arlington for a book signing.

Couric, an Arlington native, is a graduate of Jamestown Elementary, Williamsburg Junior High and Yorktown High. On Wednesday, May 18, she will return to Arlington to sign her new book, The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives, at the Pentagon City Costco (1200 S. Fern Street).

The book signing will start at 11:00 a.m., according to Costco’s web site. Couric recently announced that she will be leaving the CBS anchor chair in June, when her contract expires.

Hat tip to @DCCelebrity

Ashton Heights to Celebrate 90th Anniversary With House Tour

By ARLnow.com

The annual Lyon Park-Ashton Heights house tour will be held this weekend.

This year’s event will mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of Ashton Heights. The tour will feature homes built between 1904 and 2009. Along the way there will be antique cars, retro costumes, old documents and demonstrations of green technology.

The tour will take place on Sunday between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. Here’s how organizers are describing it:

Ninety years after real estate developer Ashton Jones created the subdivision he named after himself and appealed to Washingtonians to move to one of the first commuter neighborhoods in Arlington, the Ashton Heights Civic Association kicks off its anniversary celebration with the annual Lyon Park-Ashton Heights Villas & Vistas house tour showcasing the area’s history and charm.

This year’s Villas & Vistas house tour will celebrate Ashton Heights’ 90th anniversary with proceeds benefiting the renovation of the Lyon Park Community Center, a 1920s historic structure. The tour features twelve houses spanning 1904-2009, from bungalows to colonials, and the way residents have adapted them over nine decades through remodeling and green opportunities. Tour participants also will experience some fun vintage surprises–old cars, retro costumes, and original house documents–along the way.  Owners will be on hand to demonstrate aspects of green technology, display building materials, point out original details, describe renovation/design parameters, and share product information (as well as fascinating stories about former owners.)  A limited number of the Ashton Heights Style Guide, an illustrative how-to on planning additions to period houses, will be available.

See a list of homes on the tour here.

Other events being held this year in honor of Ashton Height’s 90th anniversary include a neighborhood picnic, lectures on neighborhood history and “a celebration of long-time residents.”

Courtesy photo

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Mixed Signals During Fire Alarms at Senior Facility — During fire alarms at The Jefferson senior living facility in Ballston, a recorded voice tells residents to evacuate the 21-story building via the stairwell. Except, for safety reasons, most residents are supposed to remain in their condo with the door shut. This has confused some elderly residents, who risked injury by attempting to walk down long flights of stairs during fire alarms. While acknowledging the inconsistency, both building management and the fire department say they can’t change the recorded message due to “liability” reasons. [Washington Post]

Politico Reporters to Speak at Rosslyn Lecture Series — Politico White House reporter Julie Mason and congressional reporter Jonathan Allen will be the speakers at Rosslyn’s “Rooms with a View” lecture series next week. Mason and Allen will discuss “Washington’s divided political landscape” and take questions from the audience. The event is free (RSVP required). It will be held on Thursday, May 19, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Boeing conference center at 1200 Wilson Boulevard. [Rosslyn BID]

Papery Closing Rumors — There’s more evidence that Clarendon stationery store The Papery may be closing, despite employees’ insistence that they’re preparing to add new stock to the largely empty shelves. The Papery’s space is listed as “for lease” on a commercial real estate firm’s web site. And The Papery’s own web site no longer exists. [Clarendon Culture]

Sign Needed at Rosslyn Safeway? — Is a one-way sign needed across from the Rosslyn Safeway to prevent confused drivers from heading the wrong way on Wilson Boulevard? [Ode Street Tribune]

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