Events

Bike Races, Road Closures in Clarendon and Crystal City This Weekend

By David Taube
2019 Armed Forces Cycling Classic Clarendon Cup race (photo courtesy Aaron Webb)

A weekend of bike races, including one of the most difficult closed-road events in the U.S., is on tap this weekend in Arlington.

The annual Armed Forces Cycling Classic is back after being cancelled last year due to the pandemic. The two-day event, which includes pro/am races in Clarendon and Crystal City, will close off roads and restrict parking.

“[The] Armed Forces Cycling Classic’s Clarendon Cup has been the Washington, D.C. region’s premier Pro/Am races since 1998,” the race’s website says. “The famous 1km course will test the athletes’ skill and stamina, as it carries a reputation as one of the most difficult criterium races in the U.S. due to technical demands of the course and the quality of the participants.”

Police will close the following roads in Crystal City from approximately 2 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday, June 5, for the event.

  • Crystal Drive, from 15th Street S. through 23rd Street S.
  • Wilson Blvd, from N. Kent Street to the Route 110 ramp
  • Route 110, from Rosslyn to Crystal City
  • S. Clark Street, from 20th Street S. to 23rd Street S.
  • 20th Street S., from Crystal Drive to S. Clark Street
  • 18th Street S., from Crystal Drive to S. Bell Street
  • 23rd Street S., from Crystal Drive to S. Clark Street
  • Crystal Drive (West side), from 23rd Street S. to the Central Center Parking Garage
  • 12th Street S. and Long Bridge Drive

For Clarendon, roadway closures will run from approximately 3 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 6, according to ACPD.

  • Wilson Blvd, from N. Fillmore Street to Washington Blvd
  • Clarendon Blvd, from Washington Blvd to N. Fillmore Street
  • Washington Blvd, from Wilson Blvd to N. Highland Street
  • N. Highland, N. Garfield and N. Fillmore streets, from Wilson Blvd to Washington Blvd

Apart from the races, the Armed Forces Classic features a Challenge Ride that’s open to military members and corporate groups. Registration — now closed — is linked to a participant’s service branch and status, including active duty, reservists and veterans. Riders of all abilities also participate in the closed course to see how many laps they can complete.

In preparing for this year’s event, organizers created a wave format to adhere to the Virginia’s now-former COVID-19 restrictions. Instead of 1,500 participants for the ride being released at once, they’ll start in groups.

The new system is still being used because organizers realized it might be a better way to conduct the rides, the event’s founder, Rob Laybourn, said.

“It’s kind of a COVID silver lining,” Laybourn told ARLnow. “We’re kind of excited to see how it works.”

Photo [1] courtesy Aaron Webb, [2] and [3] courtesy Armed Forces Cycling Classic

After Pandemic Hiatus, Arlington County Fair Returns

By David Taube

The county fair, a longstanding event and summer staple, is returning to Arlington this August.

Last year, organizers canceled the fair and took some events online due to the pandemic.

Now set for Aug. 18-22, the annual event will feature goat yoga and a beer garden — both of which debuted at the 2019 fair — as well as carnival rides, vendors, exhibits, music, and fair food. It will return to the Thomas Jefferson Community Center and grounds, at 3501 2nd Street S.

“2021 is the 45th anniversary of the Arlington County Fair!” said Barbi Broadus, chair of the Arlington County Fair board of directors. “We are planning a full fair experience for our fairgoers.”

And fairgoers are ready to experience fairs in all their glory, according to Broadus.

“Our ride vendor, RC Cole of Cole Shows, has been providing rides for fairs on the East Coast and said he was surprised by the enormous turnout he is seeing,” she said.

The news comes as other local programming, from food events to college commencements, are returning to normal.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now say that fully vaccinated people don’t have to wear a mask even at crowded events. Virginia ended distancing requirements Friday, but businesses can still impose restrictions. Some exceptions still apply for wearing masks, such as health care facilities, public transit and indoors in Virginia schools.

The fair’s schedule is “coming soon,” according to its website.

La La Land, Other Films on Tap for Return of Rosslyn Outdoor Movies

By ARLnow.com

Rosslyn’s annual outdoor movie series is back after a pandemic hiatus.

As usual, the movies will be held at Gateway Park (1300 Lee Highway) on Friday nights. This year’s abbreviated Rosslyn Cinema series is not a total return to normal, however: registration is required and viewing parties will be distanced from one another.

This year’s movie lineup, which kicks off next Friday with the 2016 musical La La Land and also includes the locally-filmed Wonder Woman 1984, is below.

  • Friday, June 4 – La La Land
  • Friday, June 11 – Monsters Inc.
  • Friday, June 18 – Wonder Woman 1984
  • Friday, June 25 – Cool Runnings

The Rosslyn Business Improvement District is, as before, sponsoring the film series. Registration for the first movie is set to open tomorrow (Wednesday).

More from the BID’s website:

Rosslyn Cinema is back this summer with a full line up of your favorite movies to enjoy outdoors from the lawn in Gateway Park, Fridays in June. Attendees must register in advance of each showing via Eventbrite and check-in will begin at 7:15 p.m., with movies starting at sundown (approximately 8 p.m. in June). Space is limited, and reservations will open the Wednesday before each movie showing, so be sure to sign up for the BID’s newsletter for weekly reminders.

Seating will be sectioned off based on group size to allow for physical distancing between guests, and groups are limited to a maximum of six people. Please register for a spot based on your accurate group size, and include the names of all members of your party. At check-in, you will be assigned a section number and directed toward your seats.

Arlington Agenda: May 10-16

By Vernon Miles
1/3

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

Monday, May 10

County Board Democratic Candidate Debate on the Arts in Arlington
Via Zoom (with registration details on Facebook)
Time: 7-8 p.m.

Come hear from the two Democratic County Board candidates — Takis Karantonis and Chanda Choun — for a discussion about the arts in Arlington. Registration is required; RSVP to [email protected].

Thursday, May 13

Leadership Arlington & Ignite Young Professionals Info Session
Virtually
Time: Noon-1 p.m.

The Leadership Center is hosting a free information session to discuss programs designed to help build leadership skills and get involved in the community. The session will feature class goals, curriculum, and application information.

Yorktown Theatre One Person Shows
Via Zoom
Time: 7 p.m.

The Yorktown High School theater’s one-person-shows are back, with students showing recorded or live-streamed 15-30 minute shows about historical figures or fictional characters. Shows start Thursday night, and will also be held Friday, May 14, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 15, at 5 p.m.

Sunday, May 16

Yoga and Calligraphy for Parent Child (10-18+ years)
Art House 7 (5537 Lee Highway)
Time: 10 a.m.-Noon

Art House 7 is featuring a fusion of calligraphy and yoga in a joint session with no experience in either required. Participants are required to bring their own yoga mat and water, but art supplies will be provided. The session is $80.

Spring Celebration and Plant Sale
Glencarlyn Library Garden (300 S. Kensington Street)
10 a.m.-2 p.m.

This annual sale will feature native plants along with herbs, vegetables, planting beds and more. Proceeds from the event benefit the Glencarlyn Library Demonstration Garden.

Arlington Police to Host ‘Fill the Cruiser’ Food Drive Later This Month

By Hannah Foley

In two weeks, Arlington County Police Department will hold its second-ever Fill the Cruiser Food Drive to support the Arlington Food Assistance Center.

The first Fill the Cruiser food drive kicked off last summer in response to the growing number of people struggling to put food on the table during the pandemic. That effort yielded 6,509 pounds of donated food. The next is now planned for Tuesday, May 18.

“We saw firsthand the growing need for food assistance and recognize this need remains high due to the ongoing economic impacts of the pandemic,” ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage said. “Through generous community donations, we can assist the Arlington Food Assistance Center as they continue their mission of feeding our neighbors in need by providing dignified access to nutritious supplemental groceries.” 

Outside of the food drive, officers have also assisted community organizations with bagging and distributing grocery items, Savage said.

AFAC has seen a significant increase in the number of families it serves — a 33% increase in the first few months of the pandemic, according to the organization’s website. Amid the surge in need, however, the nonprofit has reported fewer donations from grocery stores and leaner volunteer ranks.

More on the Fill the Cruiser food drive from ACPD:

The Community Resources Section will be collecting items at drive-thru donation stations on Tuesday, May 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. at three locations:

  • Giant Food – 2901 S. Glebe Road
  • Safeway – 3713 Lee Highway
  • Westover Baptist Church – 1125 Patrick Henry Drive

Upon arrival, donors should stay in their car until they reach the unloading areas, where officers will be on hand to remove donations from their vehicle. A separate area will be available for those arriving by bike or foot. All donors are expected to observe proper social distancing guidelines and wear a face covering while dropping off donations.

Suggested Items for Donation

AFAC accepts most unopened, unexpired, and unprepared foods, including perishable items. AFAC is most in need of the following low sodium, low fat and low sugar items:

  • Low sodium canned tomatoes
  • Low sodium canned tuna
  • Low sodium canned soups
  • Canned vegetables
  • Peanut butter (in plastic jars)
  • Low sugar cereal

Those wishing to donate, but unable to attend the Fill the Cruiser events should visit AFAC’s website to find a donation drop-off site near them.

Photo via Arlington County Police Department

Arlington Agenda: May 3-9

By Vernon Miles
1/6

Our Arlington Agenda post is back for the first time since the pandemic started.

As a reminder: Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County. If you’d like your event considered, fill out the event submission form to submit it to our event calendar.

Monday, May 3

Patterns at Gallery Underground
Shops at Crystal City, 2100 Crystal Drive
Time:

Gallery Underground in May presents in the Focus Gallery, Patterns: an all-member show of works highlighting pattern and texture. Media used in the display include oil, acrylic, pastel, water media, sculpture, glass, ceramics, wood and metalwork.

Tuesday, May 4

Protecting What You Build: Intellectual Property as the Entrepreneur’s Core Asset
Virtually via Zoom
Time: Noon-2 p.m.

This free session hosted by the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) at GMU Law School will guide attendees through types of intellectual property and how experienced entrepreneurs rely on them to implement their visions.

Wednesday, May 5

Legislative Update for Landlords in NOVA*
Virtually via Zoom
Time: 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

This webinar will review all Virginia laws going into effect on July 1, 2021, ensuring landlords understand new laws and know they are operating within the law — particularly regarding the legalization of marijuana.

Thursday, May 6

Lunch with a Librarian: Virtual Book Buzz
Virtually via Zoom
Time: Noon-12:30 p.m.

Drop in our monthly 30-minute book buzz with local librarians, with library staff and the public swapping book recommendations.

Friday, May 7

Second Anniversary Fundraising Event
Troy’s Italian Kitchen (2710 Washington Blvd)
Time: 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Troy’s Italian Kitchen is celebrating its two-year anniversary with a fundraiser to give back to the community. A portion of proceeds on Friday will go to the Arlington Food Assistance Center and the Lyon Park Community Center.

5K Fridays: The Great Inflatable Race
Courtyard Green (2121 Crystal Drive)
Time: 6-7 p.m.

Pacers and the National Landing BID’s annual 5K series returns this Friday with a wacky summer inflatable attire theme. Registration is limited to 250 participants, so make prospective runners should sign-up in advance.

*Denotes featured (sponsored) event.

Vintage Clothes, Pirate Cookies and More Headed to ‘National Landing Market’ Next Month

By Vernon Miles

A new bazaar is planning to bring everything from vintage clothing to artisanal food to a National Landing Market starting next month.

The new market is scheduled to launch Saturday, May 15 with a selection of artist vendors. The market will be held at Plaza at 220, a surface parking lot at 220 20th Street S. in Crystal City, and will be open every Saturday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

“DCBB Productions, the group that brought the ‘Below Zero’ market to Dupont Underground in 2020, has come above ground to collaborate with JBG SMITH and the National Landing Business Improvement District (BID) to announce a new market in National Landing, scheduled to open on May 15,” DCBB Productions said in a press release. “National Landing Market [is] a new weekly international arts market [that] will feature extraordinary vendors selling furniture, vintage clothing, collectibles, antiques, a curated selection of jewelry, arts and crafts, delicious fresh food and artisanal food.”

A few of the vendors currently signed up are below.

  • Thirakul Designs: Vintage-inspired dresses and separates that pay homage to the styles of the early 1960s. Designed by Nina Thirakul, NOVA native who spent many years working for Chanel before starting her own line. Many of the pieces come in a matching-companion size for dogs.
  • Scuttlebutt BakeShop: A small batch, women owned, home-based bakeshop. All of the cookies have a nautical theme — CHIPwreck, The Anne Bonny, Shark Bait
  • Vincenzo’s Vintage: Enzo Dagnesese has an eye for treasures. Whether it be vases that are shaped like a mermaid’s tail, to vintage typewriters to original WW1 Red Cross posters from 1917, he’s got it all.
  • Ananya Murthy: A GW student who started painting after pandemic canceled her internship last summer.  She soon realized she wanted to share her art with people. She’s been running a small business on the side while in school selling paintings and custom painted clothes.

The market will have some COVID-19 precautions. All vendors must be 10 feet from each other, wear a mask, and have touchless payment options. Additionally all vendors, customers and staff will have to receive a temperature check before entering.

(Today the CDC recommended that everyone continue wearing masks in crowded outdoor settings, but said that those who have been fully vaccinated can safely stop wearing masks at small gatherings and while participating in certain types of outdoor exercise.)

Image courtesy DCBB Productions

Bike to Work Day is Back and Set for Next Month

By Matt Blitz

Arlington’s annual Bike to Work Day is back and coming up next month.

Set for Friday, May 21, Arlington and the entire D.C. region will be participating in the 20th anniversary of this event.

Organizers are encouraging all, including those heading back to work at the office and those still telecommuting, to jump on their bike and ride. The goal is teach bike safety and to encourage bike commuting becoming a daily habit.

In Arlington, there will be seven pit stops — from Columbia Pike to Lee Highway — where bicyclists can pick up their free Bike to Work Day t-shirts in both the morning and afternoon.

Organizers are asking everyone to pre-register and only to attend one pit stop due to COVID-19 safety guidelines.

The pit stops are being sponsored by a number of community organizations including BikeArlington, National Park Service, Lee Highway Alliance, and the National Landing BID.

In most years, “Bike to Work Day” is a festive one where hundreds of bikers from across the county meet up at the pit stops, celebrate, and learn about bike safety before cycling off.

This year, however, is a bit different as expected. Organizers are asking folks to only briefly pause at the pit stops, keep their masks on the entire time while there, and to refrain from eating and drinking.

Additionally, the popular bike conveys are not happening this year either.

With many folks still working from home and not from the office, organizers are still encouraging telecommuters to take a short break, bike to their local “pit stop,” grab a t-shirt, and head back home to work.

There was a winter version of the event back on February 12, but cyclists had to deal with not-so-pleasant weather.

Excellent! Bill & Ted and More Headline National Landing Film Festival

By Vernon Miles

Feeling a little stir-crazy for the movie experience but not quite ready to return to theaters yet? The National Landing BID is bringing back an outdoor film festival next month.

The BID will show a new movie every Friday at 8 p.m. on a softball field at Virginia Highlands Park (1600 S. Hayes Street) in the Pentagon City area.

“Social distancing circles” will be sprayed onto the field with a four-person limit per circle. Masks will be required outside of those circles.

Tickets are free but registration in advance is required.

The “Movies in the Park” lineup for May is:

Image via Orion Pictures/YouTube

Grab Your Scrap: Hazardous Material Collection Event Returns to Arlington

By Vernon Miles

(Updated at 11:25 a.m.) If hazardous materials and old electronics have been piling up around your Arlington home, help is on the way.

Arlington County is relaunching its biannual Environmental Collection and Recycling Event (E-CARE) after an extended pandemic hiatus. The event is scheduled to return on Saturday, May 22, from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at 1425 N. Quincy Street, across from Washington-Liberty High School

The twice-yearly event usually allows residents to dispose of their hazardous household materials, electronics, and large metal objects — though metal is out this go-round.

“They won’t be taking bikes and big/small metal things, from ducts to frying pans,” said Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services spokesman Peter Golkin. “Maybe by the fall.”

(An appointment-only drop-off at the Earth Products Yard near Shirlington remains an option for smaller metal scrap.)

E-CARE is only available for personal use — businesses and commercial waste should be disposed of elsewhere. Residents are also encouraged to combine their scrap to reduce total trips.

Accepted materials listed on the County website include:

  • Automotive fluids
  • Batteries
  • Car care products
  • Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)
  • Corrosives (acids/caustics)
  • Fire extinguishers
  • Flammable solvents
  • Fluorescent tubes
  • Fuels/petroleum products
  • Household cleaners
  • Lawn and garden chemicals
  • Mercury
  • Paint products (25-can limit)
  • Photographic chemicals
  • Poisons (pesticides)
  • Printer ink/toner cartridges
  • Propane gas cylinders (small hand-held or larger)
  • Swimming pool chemicals

There are some limits, however, so be sure to leave your spare plutonium and uranium at home.

  • Asbestos
  • Explosives and ammunition
  • Freon
  • Medical wastes
  • Prescription medications
  • Radioactive materials
  • Smoke detectors

Electronics can be collected curbside on weekdays by special request submitted online, and can also be dropped off at the Electronic Collection and Recycling Center at Water Pollution Control Plant Gate 3 (531 31st Street S.).

Photo via Arlington County

Scaled-Back 5K Planned Next Month in Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

In the Before Times, when neither COVID-19 nor National Landing were part of the local lexicon, Crystal City would host a series of springtime races dubbed 5K Fridays.

The weekly races would attract thousands of runners. Alas, despite vaccinations quickening, gatherings of thousands of people in a relatively concentrated area remain frowned upon outside of sports stadiums.

Thus, to continue the 5K tradition in a more scaled-back fashion, the now-National Landing Business Improvement District is hosting a single event next month dubbed the Great Inflatable Race.

As the name suggests, participants are being encouraged to come “dressed in your wackiest summer inflatable attire.”

Only 250 participants will be able to register, and even then runners will start the race in waves and will be required to wear masks “at the start and finish lines and while passing within 10 feet of other runners.”

The race is scheduled for Friday, May 7 at 6 p.m., kicking off from the “Courtyard Green” at 2121 Crystal Drive.

Packet pickup will take place at the Pacers Running store in Old Town Alexandria the Sunday afternoon before the race.

View More Stories