Leap Day

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Arlington Hall Park (Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick)

ACPD Shrouding Badges for Fallen Officer — The Arlington County Police Department is shrouding its badges to pay respect to Ashley Guindon, the rookie Prince William County police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty on Saturday. [Twitter]

Tourism Tax Authorization Passes Legislature — With bipartisan lobbying help from County Board member John Vihstadt (I), a measure reauthorizing Arlington’s hotel tax surcharge has passed the Virginia General Assembly. Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) still must sign the bill into law, and Arlington will have to get it reauthorized in two years due to a sunset clause. The tax will help fund Arlington’s tourism promotion efforts. [InsideNova]

Laich Traded to Toronto — Just a couple of days after he left a server a big tip at Don Tito in Clarendon, long-time Washington Capital Brooks Laich has been traded to Toronto. Laich and celebrity fiancée Julianne Hough were often spotted hanging out at Arlington bars like Don Tito and A-Town. [WJLA]

Wakefield on It’s Academic — Wakefield High School was scheduled to compete on an episode of the local TV quiz show It’s Academic on Saturday. [Twitter]

‘Treasure Island’ Reviewed — Arlington-based theater company Encore Stage and Studio has garnered positive reviews for its production of “Treasure Island,” which runs through March 6. [DC Metro Theater Arts]

Shirlington’s ‘Hula Girl’ Makes Mai Tai for Fox 5 — Mikala Brennan, the owner of Hula Girl Bar and Grill in Shirlington, stopped by Fox 5 midday show Friday to show viewers how to make her signature Hula Girl Mai Tai. [Fox 5]

It’s a Leap Day — Who knows, maybe you’ll see Leap Day William today. [YouTube, Wikipedia]

Flickr pool photo by Dennis Dimick

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Traffic in Rosslyn (photo by Bruce Majors)

It’s February — Today is the first day of February. As happens every four years, this year February will have an extra leap day — Monday, Feb. 29.

New Beer Store Now Open — The Brew Shop, a new craft beer store near Courthouse, opened its doors on Friday. The store is located at 2004 Wilson Blvd. [Instagram]

Top Colleges for Class of 2015 — In terms of applications sent, the top three colleges to which Arlington’s high school class of 2015 applied are: 3. University of Virginia, 2. Virginia Commonwealth University and 1. James Madison University. Arlington students sent a total of 321 applications to JMU. [Arlington Magazine]

Tomorrow: Celebrating Stratford’s Integration — On Tuesday evening Arlington County will hold a special event honoring the four African American seventh-graders who integrated Stratford Junior High — the current home of H-B Woodlawn — in 1959. [Twitter, Arlington County]

There Are Still Snow Boulders in Arlington — A number of Arlington residents are frustrated that some sidewalks, streets and parking lots are still obstructed by large piles of snow. [WJLA]

Scott Walker Owes Shirlington Company $60K — The campaign of former GOP presidential candidate (and Wisconsin governor) Scott Walker owes Shirlington-based Lukens Company $59,140 for direct mail, printing and postage services. It’s the fourth-largest debt listed by the campaign in public documents. [Milwaukee Business Journal]

Win: District Taco Makes ‘Cheap Eats’ List — District Taco has made a BuzzFeed list of “21 Delicious D.C. Eats That Won’t Break The Bank.” Amsterdam Falafel, which has a location in Clarendon, is also on the list. [BuzzFeed]

Fireball Spotted Saturday Night — A very bright meteor that streaked across the sky in the Northeastern U.S. Saturday night was captured on a dash cam in the Skyline section of Fairfax County. [Capital Weather Gang]

Photo by Bruce Majors

Social Clubs Plan Leap Day Parties

By ARLnow.com

Several local social clubs will be toasting the arrival of “Leap Day” in Arlington tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Feb. 29, a date that comes around only every four years or so during a leap year. Leap Day, as it’s known, might not be an officially recognized holiday, but it does have its fans. At least three Meetup.com groups are planning Leap Day events here in Arlington. Among them:

  • The 20s and 30s Wine Lovers group will be holding a Leap Day happy hour at Cheesetique (4056 Campbell Avenue) in Shirlington, starting at 5:30 p.m. After sipping wine and sampling cheese, the group plans to head to a nearby bar.
  • The Fairlington Social Club is planning a “Leap Day Sadie Hawkins Happy Hour” at Bungalow Billiards (2766 S. Arlington Mill Drive) in Shilrington, starting at 6:00 p.m. The “Sadie Hawkins” part, in case you’re wondering, refers to a pseudo-tradition of women asking men out on dates on Leap Day.
  • An Alexandria social group is planning a “Leap Day Party” at Tortoise & Hare Bar and Grille (567 23rd Street S.) in Crystal City, starting at 7:00 p.m.

As for the motivation for having a Leap Day celebration, last week the show 30 Rock (pictured above) explained that February 29 is “a magical extra day… to do the things you normally wouldn’t do.”

For the local Meetup organizers, however, the motivation was more along the lines of: “why not?”

“[It] seemed like a good excuse to have a happy hour,” said Gary, organizer of the Fairlington Social Club event, in an email.

Screen grab via NBC