Kids inside a bounce house (courtesy of Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation)
Starting this Saturday, Lubber Run and Madison Community Centers are set to become a haven for young bounce house enthusiasts.
Sponsored by the Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation, the event, dubbed “Open Bounce,” runs every Saturday through April 6 — except for the Saturday before Christmas.
The event makes its grand return after being paused for several years due to the pandemic. The cost is $5 per child between the ages of 3-9 and adult supervision is required.
The first Saturday of each month will take place at Lubber Run, with the remaining Saturdays hosted at Madison, according to the parks department’s website.
Registration is required and tickets go on sale at midnight two weeks prior to each event. The sale ends at 8 a.m. on the day of the event.
Lubber Run Community Center
Located at 300 N. Park Drive, Lubber Run Community Center plans to host three one-hour sessions on the first Saturday of every month.
Session one is 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Session two is 10:45-11:45 a.m.
Session three is 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Madison Community Center
Madison Community Center at 3829 N. Stafford Street will offer one general public session from 10:45-11:45 a.m. on the remaining Saturdays of the month.
Madison also provides specialized party packages. These two-hour sessions cost $200 and include a private bounce house and party room for up to 15 children. A $15 fee applies for each additional child, up to a maximum of 25.
Party Option 1: 9:30-11:30 a.m. in Room 2
Party Option 2: 12:30-2:30 p.m. in Room 4
Party Option 3: 12:30-2:30 p.m. in Room 5 (Note: the party room use is during the first hour and the bounce house during the second.)
“Step back into history and try your hand at some old-time games and crafts, make a corn husk doll, churn butter, dip candles and work the cider press,” the county website says. “Bring your old pants and shirt to make a scarecrow — child sizes work best.”
Tickets are $7 for residents and non-residents. Admission is free for children under the age of three.
The cutoff date to register for the event is Friday, Oct. 13 at 4 p.m.
“The festival welcomes hundreds each year and will include a full array of live music and dance, great local vendors, interactive children’s entertainment, delicious food, and exciting community spirit,” the county website says.
Attending teens can play basketball, life-size foosball, esports and boardgames, show off art projects and hang out with animals, per the county website. Admission is free for Arlington Public Schools students enrolled in a local middle or high school.
Teen Nights occur on select Saturdays and are scheduled through April.
N. Park Drive and N. George Mason Drive intersection near Lubber Run Community Center (image via Google Maps)
(Updated, 4:55 p.m.) A recent crash has renewed concerns about an intersection near the year-old Lubber Run Community Center.
For years, the intersection of N. Park Drive and N. George Mason Drive in the Arlington Forest neighborhood has been a source of worry for neighbors. The mix of speeding, four lanes, and a lack of a traffic signal have resulted in too many vehicle crashes, residents told ARLnow.
There have been 19 crashes at the intersection dating back to 2017, per data provided to ARLnow by the county’s Department of Environmental Services (DES). That includes one pedestrian-involved crash in 2018. None of the crashes resulted “in severe injury,” DES said.
A crash near the intersection of N. Park Drive and N. George Mason Drive (photo courtesy of David Hartogs)
But since the new Lubber Run Community Center opened in July 2021, the problem has only gotten worse. Nearly half of those crashes have happened in just the past 19 months, statistics from the Arlington County Police Department show.
That includes another crash earlier this week.
@ARLnowDOTcom yet another crash at N. Park Dr. and N. George Mason. @ArlingtonVA how many accidents at this intersection before we get a light? Or are you waiting for a child to get hit first? This is right by the community center and school. pic.twitter.com/ZgcJB4zMyJ
The county did add Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) at the intersection in late 2020 as part of a transportation study related to the community center project.
But this has not alleviated neighbors’ concerns. There’s a considerable worry that with increased pedestrian traffic, plus with Barrett Elementary School also nearby, it’s just a matter of time before a driver hits another pedestrian.
In other parts of the county, preventing pedestrian and bicyclists-involved crashes has been a significant ongoing concern amid a continued series of tragedies.
David Hartogs, who has lived in the townhomes across the street since 2005, told ARLnow he’s witnessed a “handful of crashes” and has heard at least another dozen at the intersection just over the last few years.
He recounted several of the crashes that stick in his mind most to ARLnow, including a car jumping a curb last spring, two accidents that resulted in vehicles ending up in the woods, and even a school bus “brushing” a motorcycle last November.
A school bus “brushing” a motorcycle at the intersection of N. Park Drive and N. George Mason Drive (photo courtesy of David Hartogs)
Earlier this week, Hartogs saw another crash and tweeted about his concern. As he noted on social media, he believes that there needs to be a traffic signal at that intersection and not just an RRFB.
He walks his kids to school and often thinks about their safety crossing that intersection.
“I’m super into it. I just won my first tournament last weekend,” Wardian says, taking a breather from playing and a sporting a pink T-Mobile shirt and hat.
The 47-year-old Wardian is probably most well-known to area residents for his running feats, including completing seven marathons in seven days on seven continents, running more than 260 miles in a loop around the Arlington Forest neighborhood, and winning the inaugural Marine Corps 50k in 2019.
But now, he’s on to pickleball.
“There’s a sense of newness and beginning something [with pickleball],” Wardian says. “With running, if I want to do something I haven’t done before, I’ve got to do…something pretty huge to have some freshness. It’s fun to be a newbie at something.”
He only started playing the sport a few months ago, in May, when a friend asked him to join a game while in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. He ran out to Walmart, grabbed a paddle, and played five games.
“And I just fell in love with it,” Wardian says. “I was like, ‘man, this is like the coolest sport ever.’ I thought it was an old person’s sport.”
While it’s true that pickleball began as a preferred sport for older adults due to its low-impact on joints, it has since grown in popularity with younger adults and, even, kids. There are now more than four million players nationwide, according to the USA Pickleball Association. That number includes Wardian.
“I had no idea how much skill was involved or how addictive it could be,” he says.
While there isn’t complete overlap, Wardian’s ultramarathon skill set has come in handy on the pickleball court. His discipline, endurance, and tall stature all have come in handy.
“I cover a lot of ground,” Wardian says. “I can get to almost any ball. I’m tall and long, so I have good reach.”
One of the pickleball skills he’s working on is controlling his shots and not hammering the ball so hard so it goes out of bounds.
But he’s learning quickly. He estimates he’s invested about 150 hours into the sport so far and is already doing well in tournaments. In fact, Wardian is considering becoming a pro pickleball player. The top players can make tens of thousands of dollars in winnings, not to mention sponsorship dollars.
Because of his running, Wardian has sponsorship deals with local businesses District Taco, Pacers, and MedStar Health as well as T-Mobile (hence, the shirt and hat). Now, he’s looking to get some for his pickleball prowess and is speaking with online retailer Pickleball Clearance about opportunities. He’s also hoping to become an ambassador for the sport through the US Pickleball Association.
“I just want to grow the audience and get more people excited about the sport,” he says.
Pickleball hasn’t been the only thing filling Wardian’s time in recent months. He’s also an owner and partner of Potomac Maritime, working with carriers and ships carrying humanitarian aid and food cargo, which is his main source of income.
Unsurprisingly, Wardian is good at chess too and plays in chess tournaments. He’s also part of several clubs (including the Arlington Chess Club), and coaches the game to younger players.
At one point, he compares chess to pickleball, saying both are about placement, strategy, and knocking the opponent off balance.
“You set up your shot,” he says. “You hit one shot to knock them back and, then, when they’re back, you can put the ball somewhere else.”
For Wardian, no matter what he’s competing in, he is always striving to be at a high level. There is a sharp competitive edge to it all, but his hardest opponent is himself.
“I like seeing what’s possible,” he says. “I like challenging myself.”
When asked what’s the next sport or activity for him to master, he rattles off cycling, surfing, open water swimming, and deep sea fishing. It’s clear he’s already thought about the future.
After talking and a few photos, he heads back to the pickleball court. An average game of pickleball takes about 20 to 25 minutes, but he’s still harping on the last game he played that lasted only about ten minutes.
“We got our asses kicked,” Wardian says. “But we will get the next one.”
Pentagon Metro Station Reopening — “Metro will reopen the Pentagon Station and Pentagon Transit Center to customers beginning with the start of bus and rail service Thursday morning. The station and transit center has been closed since early Tuesday, due to the law enforcement response and investigation following a fatal incident that occurred in the bus bays.” [WMATA]
Chamber Supports Langston Blvd Plan — “The Arlington Chamber of Commerce broadly supports the Plan Lee Highway Scenario Analysis, providing for additional commercial and residential density in an established, aging, yet vibrant and critical transit corridor. Moreover, the Chamber encourages creating flexible land use policies and regulations so as to attract investment to the Langston Boulevard corridor.” [Arlington Chamber of Commerce]
ACPD Celebrates ‘National Night Out’ — “Across the nation and throughout the region, neighbors and police mingled Tuesday night in the National Night Out — an annual effort to fight crime by building relationships between communities and police. In Drew Park, nestled in Arlington County, Virginia’s historic Green Valley neighborhood, a DJ played music and children petted a yellow Lab K-9, while their parents huddled together with police officers including Chief Charles ‘Andy’ Penn.” [WTOP]
New Community Center Profiled — “This is a story about a building, but it’s also a story about a park, which flows into the building, driving the structure’s design to an unusually high degree. Located in Arlington, Virginia’s Lubber Run Park–a public recreation area with walking trails and a gentle stream winding through a forest–the Lubber Run Community Center replaces an outdated building from the 1950s that was torn down in 2018.” [Metropolis]
Mini Earthquake Shook Area Yesterday — “A small earthquake shook parts of Central Maryland in the overnight hours of Wednesday morning. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 2.1 earthquake was centered in Clarksville, Maryland, at 2:11 a.m. with a depth of about 1.8 miles.” [WTOP]
A crowd of just under 3,000 well-wishers assembled feet from the doors of the Lubber Run Community Center, near Ballston, which just opened to the public earlier this month after serving as a vaccination site.
Biden’s motorcade arrived at the park at 6:50 p.m., after speeding past restaurants and onlookers in Arlington, according to a White House press pool report. There were “a couple dozen protesters” of various stripes outside the event, including those against fracking, oil pipelines, and abortion.
After arriving, Biden spoke with a group of DACA recipients, met with McAuliffe, and took photos with numerous state and local officials. He took the stage around 8 p.m. and spoke for about 30 minutes, highlighting his agreement with McAuliffe on just about every every issue.
The president talked about jobs, increasing the minimum wage, and veteran assistance, while also criticizing McAuliffe’s Republican opponent in the race, Glenn Youngkin. He also expressed concern about rising Covid numbers.
Biden complimented current Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam efforts in helping to “get shots in arms,” but said there’s still work to be done.
“What we have now is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Biden said.
The president also noted, if McAuliffe is elected, he would once again be the First Lady Jill Biden’s boss, due to her being a professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
As the president spoke, uniformed Secret Service members with large binoculars watched over the crowd from the roof of the community center. At least one helicopter also buzzed overhead.
At one point, a group of hecklers started shouting something about a pipeline.
“This is not a Trump rally,” Biden said, according to the pool report. “Let ’em holler. No one’s paying attention.”
Prior to Biden and McAuliffe speaking, Dr. Leonard N. Smith, Senior Minister of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Green Valley, gave an invocation. McAuliffe later came out to Mark Morrison’s 1996 hit Return of the Mack before speaking for about 15 minutes. (“Returnofthemack” was also the event’s WiFi password.)
Other speakers included a bevy of Democrats: Virginia Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn, lieutenant governor candidate Hala Ayala, Attorney General Mark Herring, Northam and Rep. Don Beyer.
Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti, County Board members Takis Karantonis and Katie Cristol, Arlington School Board Chair Barbara Kanninen, School Board member Monique O’Grady, Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, and Del. Alfonso Lopez were also in attendance.
This, of course, isn’t the first — nor, likely, the last — time Biden has come across the Potomac, but this is the first time many locals can remember a president has come to their neighborhood.
Ray Payton lives in Buckingham and grew up nearby, graduating from Yorktown High School.
“I don’t know when a president has come to the neighborhood before,” Payton said earlier in the evening. “And I’ve been here all of my life.”
Balvinder Sehmi lives just a few doors down from the community center, in a house she’s lived in for 47 years. This is also the only insistence she can remember of a president stopping by.
“I’m surprised he’s here,” she said excitedly, above the din of the crowd. “I’m going to tell people he was at my house.”
“After opening the park in fall 2020, and now that the vaccination clinic has ended, it’s time to prepare to open the new center,” the Department of Parks and Recreation said in an email. “Come by the gym, fitness center and indoor track.”
Construction started on the new community center in 2018. It was set to open in late 2020, but due to budget cuts the opening of the community center lagged behind that of the park’s playgrounds and courts, which made their debut last September.
At the time, the county said the community center would open “sometime after July 2021, which is the start of the County’s next fiscal year.”
Before the official opening, the customer service desk will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting next Monday (June 21). Staff will be available to accept forms for in-person summer camp, fee reductions, facility rentals and program and class registrations.
“Shortly after the facility opens, we will host a ribbon-cutting and community celebration,” according to the email, which added that more information on this event will be announced later.
The parks department did not hold a ribbon-cutting for the playground and courts when they opened in September due to the pandemic, Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish previously said.
This summer, the hours for the center will be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Those operating hours are set to be extended later this year.
“This fall, the center will be open later, and on Sundays too,” the email said. “Indoor programming, such as the senior center and preschool, will return this fall.”
The community center and park at the intersection of N. George Mason Drive and N. Park Drive is across the street from Barrett Elementary School and is walkable from Ballston. Parking is also available.
Arlington County will be conducting its first mass vaccination event this weekend.
On Saturday, starting around 9 a.m., about 1,500 people will receive doses of the new one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the Lubber Run Community Center (300 N. Park Drive). The recently-built community center is just a few blocks from Ballston.
While Arlington has been vaccinating people by the hundreds at a county office building, sometimes leading to long lines, this is the first instance of what the county is calling a “mass vaccination clinic.” (Vaccinations have also been taking place at the Walter Reed Community Center.)
Only those pre-registered for the vaccine on the state’s Vaccinate Virginia website and scheduled for the clinic will receive doses. No walk-ups will be offered.
Arlington is currently vaccinating residents 65 and older, as well as those 18-64 with certain medical conditions. Some frontline workers are also being vaccinated.
County officials described the mass vaccination event as a “pilot” that will establish a new distribution point and help speed vaccine distribution down the road.
“This single-dose vaccine may be desirable for people who want to complete their immunization schedule quickly, do not want to return for a second dose, or have difficulty returning for a second dose,” said Dr. Reuben Varghese, Arlington County Public Health Director, in a press release. “This also gives us an opportunity to pilot operations at a new vaccination site for potential future use in vaccine administration.”
“This new vaccine option will provide increased opportunity for our community, particularly those who may have difficulty in scheduling a second dose of the vaccine,” said County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti. “We want everyone to know that our goal is to get as many vaccines distributed each week as possible. This pilot site reinforces our ability to scale our vaccine rollout quickly and efficiently as new supply becomes available.”
The 1,500 doses of the J&J vaccine offered Saturday is in addition to Arlington’s weekly allotment of about 3,000 first doses of the other, two-dose COVID-19 vaccines from the state.
To date, nearly 40,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Arlington County, according to Virginia Dept. of Health data.
The Lubber Run playground, courts and community center (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)
The playground outside the Lubber Run Community Center (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)
The newly-opened Lubber Run playground and courts, outside the new community center (Photo courtesy Hannah S.)
The newly-opened Lubber Run playground and courts, outside the new community center (Photo courtesy Hannah S.)
The newly-opened Lubber Run playground and courts, outside the new community center (Photo courtesy Hannah S.)
The newly-opened Lubber Run playground and courts, outside the new community center (Photo courtesy Hannah S.)
The newly-opened Lubber Run playground and courts, outside the new community center (Photo courtesy Hannah S.)
The newly-opened Lubber Run playground and courts, outside the new community center (Photo courtesy Hannah S.)
The newly-opened Lubber Run playground and courts, outside the new community center (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)
The newly-built Lubber Run Community Center remains shuttered, but the new playground and athletic courts outside of it quietly opened over the weekend.
“After five years of planning and development, the new amenities at Lubber Run Park are open,” Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Susan Kalish confirmed to ARLnow.
“There are multi-purpose lighted courts for pickleball, volleyball and basketball along with a playground featuring a large net climber, sand box and group swings,” Kalish said. “And check out the hill slides, first ever in Arlington! The park also offers a large, open manicured lawn for you to picnic on, toss a frisbee or read a book, great spaces to connect with the neighbors. And the boardwalk brings the community center into the Lubber Run Park forest.”
No ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for the park, as a result of the pandemic, according to Kalish.
The community center and park at 200 N. Columbus Street is across the street from Barrett Elementary and is walkable from Ballston. For those who want to check it out from a distance, parking is available.
“On-site parking is available in the new garage free-of-charge from 8 a.m.-10:15 p.m. through the fall,” Kalish said.
Due to budget cuts, the opening of the new community center building has been delayed to “sometime after July 2021, which is the start of the County’s next fiscal year.”
Photos by Jay Westcott and courtesy of Hannah S. Hat tip to Hannah S.
Courtyard construction at Lubber Run Community Center (photo via Arlington County)
Gymnasium construction at future Lubber Run Community Center (photo via Arlington County)
Former Lubber Run Community Center (photo via Arlington County)
Construction is progressing at the new Lubber Run Community Center & Park (300 N. Park Drive), with crews currently working to widen the sidewalk in front of the property.
As a result, a lane closure will start next week along S. George Mason Drive. One lane along N. George Mason Drive between the Carlin Springs Road bridge and Park Drive will close starting Monday, November 11, per the project website.
The lane will reopen in mid-December, depending on construction progress. Barriers will be installed in the meantime to allow for safe pedestrian travel.
The approximately $48 million project will result in a new gymnasium, walking track, fitness center, and multi-purpose rooms, according to project manager Peter Lusk.
“It is still on-schedule for a late 2020 opening,” Lusk said.
The original community center was built in 1956. When the county closed the old building last year, they gave people a change to decorate its walls with art ahead of the demolition.
DES workers examine why Lubber Run disappeared into a tree (Image courtesy of DES)
Near where Lubber Run disappeared, downed wires slope into the vegetation lining the stream banks
A picnic table and a trash bin were heaved onto a fallen tree in the river by the force of last week’s rainstorm
Picnic tables were carried by the flood waters, or swallowed by them, and now lay buried in silt and under broken tree limbs
Bits of broken bridges are beached on the banks of the stream
The county estimates that the storm wrought $4.1 million in damages to public property alone
A dog plays fetch with one of the broken tree branches strewn over the walking paths
(Updated at 4:00 p.m.) Last week’s torrential rainstorm flooded thousands of homes and businesses — but something mysterious happened, too.
Just upstream from where it meets Four Mile Run, the Lubber Run stream disappeared.
Earlier this week the stream appeared to be miraculously vanishing around a tree stump, according to a video posted online and on a local listserv. The water was a trickle of its usual flow when a resident shot the video, and the stream left a dry bed of round rocks exposed after the water appeared to disappear.
At first, when contacted by ARLnow, all the Department of Environmental Services (DES) could say for sure was that the stream hadn’t been “rerouted intentionally.”
Jessica Baxter, a DES spokeswoman initially it could take days to find the reason for the phenomenon as storm clean-upcontinues county-wide and crews work on the damage the storm wrought to public areas.
Raging flood waters washed away at least six pedestrian bridges in the county, including two over Lubber Run.
The department sent crews out Wednesday and Thursday to investigate the steam on a hunch the water could have somehow flowed into an underground pipe.
“There were a few trees that fell over the stream, including a stump that fell and possibly damaged our sewer main,” Baxter said on Thursday after crews visited the stream. “However, given the water entering the main, we are having challenges determining where the damage is.”
The crews then worked to divert the water — which had begun to swell again since its post-storm lull the resident captured in his video. Then the county crews used CCTV technology to inspect the pipe.
On Friday morning at 7 a.m., Baxter reached out to ARLnow to say crews had made a breakthrough.
“Crews got the tree stump removed from the area and we did observe a broken pipe,”she said. “We have our emergency contractor on-site to make repairs today.”
After the repairs to the pipe were completed later this afternoon, Baxter said crews are expected to return early next week for additional repair work, including inserting a liner into the pipe.
A 2011 assessment of all streams and their ability to prevent floods noted that many parts of Lubber Run were considered “stable,” but also noted that the stream had “poor utility elements” at the time.
Lubber Run is not just a feeder for Four Mile Run, it’s also a perfect habitat for underwater critters like crayfish and fly larvae, and snakes, snails, and worms make their home in the stream, which is lined by shaggy water elms.
ARLnow could not locate the mysterious tree dropping-off point after an hour of bushwhacking along the stream banks Tuesday afternoon. However, it was clear that the storm had left its mark in the area.
Bits of broken bridges were beached along the banks as far as Four Mile Run, and picnic tables were covered in silt after being swallowed by the rising water. The stream itself was brown with sediment and fallen tree limbs still littered the walking paths. A golden retriever could be seen jumping in and out of the stream with one of the thicker limbs in his mouth.
