The official first day of astronomical fall isn’t until Saturday, Sept. 22 but, in all practicality, many of the trappings of summer end with Labor Day.
Gone are summer vacations, outdoor swimming pools, and summer festivals like outdoor movies and the Arlington County Fair. Starting, however, are more mild temperatures, football, and fall events like Oktoberfest, wine festivals and Clarendon Day.
Which do you prefer? Are you sad about the end of summer, or happy about the beginning of fall?
New Exhibit At N. Va. Art Center –– The new Northern Virginia Art Center in Crystal City will be hosting a new exhibit starting tomorrow, Sept. 1, until Sept. 30. The exhibit, entitled “Grand Visions: Small World,” features a jury-selected collection of visual artworks (including paintings, pottery and sculpture) from a variety of local artists. An opening gala will be held from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 14. [Northern Virginia Art Center]
Marymount Receives Cybersecurity Grant — Arlington-based Marymount University has been awarded a $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to fund a four-year cybersecurity scholarship program. [Press Release]
Reminder: Labor Day Closures and Traffic — Most county offices, with the notable exception of the election office, will be closed for Memorial Day. Drivers should expect busy highways if they’re heading out of town.
About 800,000 D.C. area residents are expected to hit the roads, rails and airports this Labor Day weekend, according to a travel forecast by AAA Mid-Atlantic.
Despite quickly rising gas prices — jumping at least 40 cents in the past two months — AAA says this will be the busiest Labor Day weekend in terms of travel since 2008 and the start of the recession. It’s the third summer holiday travel period this year projected to set a post-recession record.
Some 799,900 Washington area residents are expected to travel more than 50 miles for Labor Day, up 3.5 percent from 2011. Of those travelers, 86.8 percent are expected to travel by car, 7.9 percent by air, and 5.3 percent by other means.
AAA is cautioning travelers to check weather forecasts before they leave, however, as Tropical Storm Isaac continues to head north from the Gulf coast
“As they prepare to embark on their Labor Day vacation trips, local residents are urged to stay abreast of local forecasts both at their departure city and at their points of destinations,” said Lon Anderson, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Managing Director of Public and Government Affairs. “While it is challenging to predict the impact that Hurricane Isaac may have on Labor Day travel plans, tropical storms and hurricanes, like this one, typically do not negatively influence travel at the national level.”
“It’s very encouraging that the total number of 2012 Labor Day holiday travelers across the nation and the Washington metro region is expected to reach a new post-recession high,” Anderson continued. “Even more encouraging, this is a travel ‘trifecta’ or the third such increase in holiday travel during this summertime. Clearly, Americans and Washingtonians are trying to put the recession behind them.”
Most Arlington County government offices will be closed in observance of the Labor Day holiday this coming weekend.
Arlington’s administrative offices, public libraries, courts, schools and nature centers will be closed on Monday, Sept. 3. Community centers will be closed, with the exception of Barcroft, which will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
County pools will be open under a modified schedule. The Wakefield High School pool will be open from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Labor Day. The Yorktown pool will also be open from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., and the Washington-Lee pool will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
ART buses will operate under a holiday schedule. Trash and recycling collection will continue as normal.
One county office that will remain open is the Arlington voting office, at 2100 Clarendon Blvd. The office will be open on Saturday, Sept. 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for absentee voting in the 45th District House of Delegates special election. The office will also be open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Labor Day for “legal requirements.”
The election — 45th District voters will have the choice of candidates Tim McGhee (R), Rob Krupicka (D) and Justin R. Malkin (L) — is taking place on Tuesday, Sept. 4.
Arlington Democrats held their annual Labor Day chili cookoff yesterday evening, but one ingredient was conspicuously missing: the dunk tank.
The plan was for elected officials and other Democratic notables to get dunked while raising money for the Arlington County Democratic Committee. Alas, Mother Nature had other plans. With storms in the forecast, organizers reluctantly canceled the first annual Democratic dunking. Instead, as heavy rains descended on the area, attendees had to make due with the usual formula of chili, music and conversation as they huddled inside the hot and humid Lyon Park Community Center.
Among the brave dunk tank volunteers who stayed dry last night were County Board member Mary Hynes, Del. David Englin, School Board member Sally Baird, former 31st District state Senate candidate Jaime Areizaga-Soto. Also on the dunk list were blogger and consultant Ben Tribbett, ACDC Chair Mike Lieberman, ACDC Finance Chair Bree Raum, Arlington Joint Campaign Co-Chair Lauren Hall, former School Board candidate Terron Sims and ACDC precinct operations chair Kip Malinosky.
County Board member Walter Tejada, who’s up for re-election, captured this year’s “best chili” crown for his “inclusive” selection of meat, mild veggie and spicy veggie chilis.
The Tuesday after Labor Day in Washington is traditionally known as ‘Terrible Traffic Tuesday.’
The monicker, which comes from AAA Mid-Atlantic, refers to the sudden, jolting return to heavy traffic that occurs when Washingtonians return from their summer vacations and head back to work — while students in Virginia, at the same time, head back to school.
Among other traffic jams, nearly the entire length of northbound I-395 was slow this morning, from the 14th Street Bridge through Alexandria.
How was your commute, either on the roads or on transit?
Most county facilities and services will be closed next Monday for Labor Day.
Courts, libraries, schools and the Department of Human Services will be closed. All community centers will be closed, except for the Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center, which will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
ART buses will operate on a holiday schedule. Parking meters will not be enforced. Trash and recycling pickup will take place as scheduled.
Pinkberry Opens in Clarendon — The new Pinkberry frozen yogurt store in Clarendon officially opens its doors at 11:00 this morning. Yesterday evening, people queued up around the block as the store gave away free frozen yogurt to anyone willing to wait in line. The giveaway didn’t seem to be hurting Red Mango, Pinkberry’s froyo rival. One block away, Red Mango was still doing brisk business as the Pinkberry line grew.
Dems Plan Dunk Tank at Chili Cookoff — Arlington County Democrats have a new weapon in their fundraising arsenal — a dunk tank. County Dems plan to roll out the dunk tank during their annual Labor Day Chili Cookoff, with the goal of collecting cash from those who want to dunk elected officials. [Sun Gazette]
Residents Raise Money for Nat’l Park — Dominion Hills/Bon Air residents Jason Andelman and Kelly Holland are “regular city folks with a hankering to get back to nature,” according to the Shenandoah National Park Trust. That’s why the pair — friends whose kids go to school together at Ashlawn Elementary — is planning to hike 100 miles through the park in September to help raise $5,000 for the Trust. In addition to being an avid hiker, Andelman is also the owner of Clarendon chocolate shop Artisan Confections (1025 N. Fillmore Street). [Shenandoah National Park Trust, Crooked Trail 100 Blog]
Rustico Plans ‘Family Table’ Sunday Suppers — Rustico restaurant in Ballston (4075 Wilson Blvd) is planning a weekly family-style supper, inspired by Executive Chef Steve Mannino’s Italian-American upbringing. The ‘Family Table’ meals will start this Sunday and continue every Sunday from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. Each week will feature a different Italian main course from Mannino’s collection of family recipes. The meal is $20 for adults and $10 for kids, including bruschetta and salad to start and biscotti for dessert.
(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) The formal announcement of a “big” new annual Labor Day event along the W&OD Trail took place in Arlington’s Bluemont Park this morning.
Few details about the event were revealed ahead of time, but with the announcement featuring remarks by County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman and local lawmaker Del. Patrick Hope, one could reasonably assume that the bulk of the new event was to take place in Arlington, right?
Wrong.
The “Dominion Trail Mix” Labor Day community event will largely take place in Loudoun County, as it turns out. “The Great Skedaddle” — a bike, run, walk event along the W&OD Trail — and “TrailFest” — an outdoor festival featuring pop-country group Gloriana — will both take place at Farmwell Station Middle School in Ashburn.
A third Trail Mix event — the “Hail the Trail” clean-up event — will take place at eight nine different stations along the trail on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 3. According to the newly-updated Trail Mix web site, the station closest to Arlington will be located at Veterans Common at 507 Little Falls Street in Falls Church. The event will encourage volunteers to pick up trash, perform kiosk maintenance, weed and plant along the trail.
Among those on hand for this morning’s announcement were Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell, Dominion CEO Paul Koonce and Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority Executive Director Paul Gilbert.
A new annual community event will be launching later this year in Arlington. Organizers have released a few tantalizing tidbits about the event, but most details will remain a mystery until a formal announcement featuring Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell on Wednesday of next week.
The one-day event is expected take place Labor Day weekend along the W&OD Trail in Arlington. It will feature “a sports event with a historic twist, a large-scale environmental action activity (biggest in the park’s history) and a festival featuring a national recording artist which we expect will draw several thousand attendees,” said Chris Browne, Vice President of the Greater Washington Sports Alliance.
“It is going to be BIG and very relevant to our regional community,” Browne added.
Wednesday’s announcement will feature First Lady McDonnell, County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman and Paul Koonce, CEO of Dominion Virginia Power, which is sponsoring the event. The announcement is scheduled to take place at 11:00 a.m. at Bluemont Park (601 N. Manchester Street).
Arlington Democrats chowed down on homemade chili and talked up their slate of candidates at the party’s annual Labor Day Chili Cook-off.
A crowd that included county board members, school board members, state legislators, elected county officers and Democratic donors gathered outside the Lyon Park Community Center for the end-of-summer tradition, which also featured drinks, music and a moon bounce for the kids.
Guests of honor included the three local Democrats up for reelection this year: county board member Chris Zimmerman, school board member Sally Baird and congressman Jim Moran. Virginia House of Delegates minority leader Ward Armstrong was also on hand for the afternoon event.
The cook-off was largely an upbeat affair for the well-entrenched local party, though the gloomy national outlook for Democrats was on the minds of many.
“If the election was held next Tuesday, we would lose the majority in the House and the Senate,” Moran told the crowd, citing polling data.
“But the election isn’t being held next Tuesday,” Moran continued. “This will be a good election, we’re going to turn this around… let’s get it done.”
“This is really an exciting time to be a Democrat,” Zimmerman said during his brief remarks. “There is so much at stake across the entire country.”
Later, Zimmerman — who’s facing both a Republican and a Green Party opponent in November — said he isn’t taking anything for granted. Already, he has started knocking on doors, attending public events and holding fundraisers.
“Realistically, we have to work for this one,” he said, noting that there is no U.S. Senate or presidential race to mobilize Arlington’s Democratic base this year.
In his speech to the gathered Democratic faithful, Moran let on a bit about how he plans to run against his Republican opponent, Patrick Murray.
After voicing strong support for President Obama’s agenda, the ten-term congressman blasted Murray’s conservative stance on social issues.
Moran said Murray is on the wrong side of the “civil rights issues” of abortion, gay marriage and the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.
Moran, Zimmerman and Baird and their respective opponents are all expected to participate in a debate sponsored by the Arlington County Civic Federation tonight. The debate will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Virginia Hospital Center Hazel Conference Center (1701 N George Mason Drive).
More photos from the cook-off and a list of winners of the various chili categories, after the jump.
