outdoor

Lunchtime Concerts Start Today in Rosslyn

By Katie Pyzyk

Starting today, Rosslyn is beefing up its summer entertainment lineup with free lunchtime concerts.

The concerts all begin this week and will take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and and Thursdays from 11:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Tuesday concerts, held at Freedom Park (17th Street over Lynn Street and Wilson Blvd), will run through July 31. Wednesday concerts are held at CentralSpace (Wilson Blvd and N. Moore Street), and will continue through August 29. There will be no concert on Wednesday, July 4. Thursday concerts take place at the Farmers Market (Wilson Blvd and N. Moore Street), and will have a longer season, running through October 25.

This week, Vaughn Nark & Panorama will play today, Harry Wilson will play tomorrow and Rick Franklin & Friends will play on Thursday. The full schedules of performers for the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday lunchtime concerts can be found online.

With decent weather predicted for this week, it may be the perfect time to take in the music. Last year, extreme heat forced cancellations for some of the concerts.

Crystal City Outdoor Movies Highlight Romance

By Katie Pyzyk

Love will be in the air for Crystal City’s outdoor movie nights, which start next week. This year’s series will feature romantic comedies.

Starting next Monday, June 4, the movies will be shown in the courtyard at 1850 S. Bell Street. They’ll run every Monday through August 27, starting at sundown.

Attendees are encouraged to make the event a date night by bringing a blanket and picnic gear. Short chairs are allowed, but courtesy for other visitors trying to see the movie is requested. Organizers are asking that moviegoers leave their pets at home.

As with Rosslyn’s free outdoor movies, these will be shown rain or shine, unless weather becomes too severe. Should there be a cancellation, information will be posted online, but organizers hope for a continuation of the good weather they’ve generally enjoyed during the event’s six year history.

“We’ve had great weather karma,” said Crystal City Business Improvement District President Angela Fox. “Even one year when we started getting a deluge, we were able to cover the equipment and show the movie after.”

The schedule is as follows:

  • Sex and the City — June 4
  • The Wedding Singer — June 11
  • Sweet Home Alabama — June 18
  • Hitch — June 25
  • My Big Fat Greek Wedding — July 2
  • Sleepless in Seattle — July 9
  • Bridget Jones’s Diary — July 16
  • The Proposal — July 23
  • You’ve Got Mail — July 30
  • How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days —  August 6
  • Pretty Woman — August 13
  • Love Actually — August 20
  • When Harry Met Sally — August 27

Disclosure: Crystal City BID is an ARLnow.com advertiser.

Election Year Theme for Rosslyn Outdoor Movies

By Katie Pyzyk

Rosslyn has picked a theme for its series of outdoor summer movies, and political buffs are going to love it. The movies will all relate to the theme “Friday Night is Election Night.”

All of the movies involve the American presidency or elections, featuring films like Wag the Dog, The American President and All the President’s Men. They will be shown at dusk every Friday night from June 8 through August 24 at Gateway Park (1300 Lee Highway).

The movies will play rain or shine, but may have to be cancelled in the event of storms.

Blankets, low chairs and picnics are welcome during the free showings, but alcohol is not, per local law. The full schedule is as follows:

  • Election — June 8
  • Primary Colors — June 15
  • My Fellow Americans — June 22
  • Dick — June 29
  • The American President — July 6
  • All the President’s Men — July 13
  • Dave — July 20
  • Swing Vote — July 27
  • Head of State — August 3
  • Man of the Year — August 10
  • Wag the Dog — August 17
  • Canadian Bacon — August 24

Bluemont Residents to Vote on Bocce Court Request

By ARLnow.com

Bluemont residents will vote tonight on a petition (below) that calls for the county parks department to build and pay for a Petanque-Bocce court in the neighborhood.

The vote will take place at tonight’s Bluemont Civic Association meeting. Supporters say the court would “foster community spirit in a fun way for all ages.”

BLUEMONT PETANQUE COURT PETITION

We, the undersigned Bluemont residents, support the petition to construct a 4-meter wide and 15 meters (13’ x 50’) long Petanque-Bocce court along the Bluemont Junction Trail. At the Bluemont Civic Association (BCA) general membership meeting on April 25, 2012, this petition will be submitted to the BCA for approval. Upon approval, the petition will be forwarded to the Arlington County Parks & Recreation Department to fund design and construction. We request the BCA to create a working group to coordinate with the Parks department, and homeowners residing along the Bluemont Trail to determine the site location between N. Illinois and N. Emerson Street.

Outdoor Movie Coming to the Pike

By ARLnow.com

Crystal City has ’em. Rosslyn has ’em. Now Columbia Pike is getting in on the act.

On Saturday, Aug. 27, the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization will host its first outdoor movie. The inspirational football flick The Blind Side will be screened at the new, grassy public square at the Penrose Square development, starting at 8:00 p.m. Giant is co-sponsoring the family-friendly movie night.

CPRO Executive Director Takis Karantonis says the screening is a trial of sorts — a one-time event that will hopefully lead to a full-fledged outdoor summer film festival on the Pike next year.

“We are trying to find ways to use the public spaces” along the Pike, Karantonis said. “We can’t put pressure to create new public spaces if we don’t use the ones we have.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Local Real Estate Market Lags — While the average home sales price in Arlington was up 4.6 percent for the first half of 2011, the total volume of sales was down 19 percent compared to 2010. [Sun Gazette]

Garvey ‘Home’ in Alexandria, Arlington — State Senate candidate and Arlington School Board member Libby Garvey is trying to play up her local chops to both Arlington and Alexandria Democrats. “Garvey, a resident of Fairlington, considers Alexandria to be her neighborhood,” the Huntington-Belle Haven Patch reported yesterday. Meanwhile, Garvey told the Arlington County Democratic Committee last night that after debates in Fairfax and Alexandria, “it’s really nice to be home tonight.”

Shirlington Jazz Festival Starts Tonight — Shirlington’s outdoor summer jazz festival starts tonight. Local jazz group The Oscillators will perform at the Village at Shirlington Plaza from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The festival runs on Thursday nights through August 25. [Shirlington Village Blog Spot]

Shirlington Hilton Garden Inn Gets a Chef — The Shirlington Hilton Garden Inn (4271 Campbell Avenue), which has been trying to lure local diners to its Great American Grill restaurant, recently hired a new chef. [Shirlington Village Blog]

Lubber Run Performance Schedule Announced

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 10:55 a.m.) Two years after being “mothballed” by Arlington County, and less than two months after being saved by the approval of $100,000 worth of repairs, the Lubber Run Amphitheater is nearly ready to reopen.

Amphitheater supporters just released a schedule of performances for the upcoming summer season. The season will kick off on Friday, July 29, with a performance by Blues/R&B singer/songwriter Mary Ann Redmond. Organizers are planning on serving cake to attendees to celebrate the new season — the first since 2009.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without a community that appreciates the unique venue for family entertainment the Lubber Run amphitheater has offered for many years and a caring and responsive County government,” Lubber Run Amphitheater Foundation President Esther Bowring said in a statement. “We are looking forward to the amphitheater’s reopening and to working with Arlington County and the community to bring great entertainment to the Lubber Run stage for summers to come.”

All shows will begin at 8:00 p.m. The complete performance schedule includes:

Lubber Run Amphitheater Repairs Approved

By ARLnow.com

The Lubber Run Amphitheater will be open for performances later this summer thanks to the efforts of community members and county staff.

Just two months ago, a 107-page county-commissioned study suggested that it could cost up to $3.5 million to get the deteriorating amphitheater back up to current code standards. With tight county finances, amphitheater supporters feared that it could be years before the amphitheater would be restored and reopened.

Shortly after the study was released, though, a group called the Lubber Run Amphitheater Foundation was formed and began arguing that only a few relatively inexpensive fixes were necessary to reopen the local landmark. As we found out at this afternoon’s County Board meeting, they were right and they were able to work with county staff to turn their convictions into action.

For less than $100,000 — the amount allotted by the County Board this year for a floodplain study — contractors will soon commence a number of repairs to make the 43-year-old amphitheater safer and more accessible. They will replace the wooden stage, replace area and stage lighting, purchase portable hearing devices, and install handicap-accessible parking spaces, portable restrooms and designated seating.

“With the community’s help, we have developed a plan to make the amphitheater a safe, seasonal venue for outdoor entertainment,” County Manager Barbara Donnellan said in a statement today. “These basic repairs and modest improvements will make the amphitheater accessible to persons with disabilities and keep it in compliance with federal, state, and local guidelines for work in a 100-year floodplain and Resource Protection Area (RPA).”

Donnellan first announced the repairs at a Lubber Run Amphitheater Foundation-sponsored meeting last night.

“To say they were thrilled was an understatement,” Donnellan told the board today. “This is not a perfect solution, but it is do-able.”

The repairs are expected to take until the end of July. After that, there’s ample money in the budget to fund outdoor programming at the amphitheater.

With Funding in Place, Lubber Run Meeting Planned

By ARLnow.com

Outspoken supporters of Arlington’s Lubber Run Amphitheatre managed to convince the county to include nearly $150,000 worth of funding for the aging amphitheatre in the FY 2012 budget. Now, with the funding in place, the Lubber Run Amphitheatre Foundation is helping to organize a meeting regarding the facility’s future.

The public meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. on May 16, at the Lubber Run Recreation Center (300 North Park Drive) Barrett Elementary School library (4401 N. Henderson Road). Among those expected to be in attendance is County Manager Barbara Donnellan. This is the second such meeting organized by the foundation.

The county is providing up to $45,000 for programming at Lubber Run this summer. Another $100,000 is going to “study capital needs toward restoration of the Lubber Run Amphitheatre.”

Rosslyn Outdoor Film Fest Starts This Week With ‘SNL’ Theme

By ARLnow.com

They’re calling it “Saturday night, one day early.”

Rosslyn’s outdoor film festival returns to Gateway Park on Friday, and this year’s theme is “Saturday Night Live performers.” Every Friday night from now until August 26, different movies starring different Saturday Night Live stars will be shown on a big inflatable screen.

The movies get underway just after dusk — about 8:00 p.m. After 6:00 p.m., parking is available for $3 at 1901 and 1911 N. Fort Myer Drive, across the street from the park.

“Movie-goers are encouraged to bring blankets and low chairs to picnic in the park,” Rosslyn BID said today in a press release. “Attendees should arrive early for the best seating, and for pre-show games and prizes.”

Last year’s theme was “I [Heart] The 90’s.”

See this year’s movie line-up after the jump.

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