Volunteers at the Knights of Columbus in Arlington (5115 Little Falls Road) prepared Thanksgiving dinners for more than 2,500 needy people on Thursday.
About 250 volunteers worked to make the turkey, stuffing and fixings, which was served at the Knights’ north Arlington facility and also delivered to older residents who couldn’t make the trip.
TV station WJLA (ABC 7) covered the preparations.
ARLnow.com is taking a day off for the holiday, but we wanted to wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks in part to the status of “Black Friday” as the most prominent shopping day of the year, Thanksgiving seems to be getting ever more commercialized. At its heart, however the holiday is about recognizing and giving thanks for the blessings of our lives.
If you’re taking a break between cooking dinner, watching parades and football, and reminiscing with friends and family, tell us what you’re thankful for this year, in the comments.
The annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 5K returns tomorrow at 8:00 a.m., and motorists hoping for an early Thanksgiving drive should avoid Lyon Park.
The race is organized by, and starts at, Christ Church of Arlington at 3020 N. Pershing Drive. The course takes runners west on Pershing Drive, turning around on 5th Street N. before heading back west on Pershing Drive. Runners will then turn left on N. Fillmore Street and right on 9th Street N. before turning on the southbound lanes of Washington Blvd.
The course goes along Washington Blvd until runners turn right at the intersection with Arlington Blvd. They will turn right on N. Bedford Street and continue until it turns into Brookside Drive and intersects again with Washington Blvd. Runners will turn off Washington on 3rd Street, turn right on Fillmore and end at the church on Pershing.
Roads are expected to close all morning in the area. There is no word from the Arlington County Police Department if the northbound lanes of Washington Blvd will be open to either one or both directions of traffic.
Michael Wardian, Arlington’s own champion distance runner, will both officiate and participate in the 5K, according to the race website.
More than 3,000 runners are expected to participate, and registration is full. Proceeds from the race will go to benefit the Arlington Food Assistance Center, Doorways for Women and Families and the Arlington-Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless.
VDOT has about 400 trucks staged in Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William and Arlington counties this morning, in preparation for a storm that’s bringing a combination of rain and snow to much of the the east coast.
The timing of the storm, on one of the busiest travel day of the year, could create major problems on local highways and byways.
VDOT urges drivers to “use extra caution, particularly on bridges, overpasses, curves, hills and ramps, which become slippery first,” as the snow starts falling later today. Crews are not pre-treating roads since the rain would just wash the treatment away.
The snow is expected to start falling in Arlington as the storm begins to taper off, between 3:00 and 7:00 p.m., according to the Capital Weather Gang. It’s expected to begin snowing this morning in northern and western parts of the region.
AAA Mid-Atlantic, meanwhile, is warning of the potential for “massive traffic woes and havoc on the treacherous roadways.”
“Wednesday can turn into a chaotic and frightening scene of events on the roadways along the East Coast,” said AAA Mid-Atlantic’s John Townsend. “With over one million travelers in Washington, D.C., another 1.1 in Virginia, and nearly 900,000 in Maryland taking to the roads this Thanksgiving, AAA is warning motorists to heed all travel warnings and stay home until road conditions improve.”
Some 24 percent of weather-related crashes happen due to snowy or icy pavement, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
For those who do have to travel today, WJLA meteorologist Lauryn Ricketts is advising that the best time to head north is before 10:00 a.m., while the best time to travel south is after 7:00 p.m. All major area highways are expected to see weather impacts, Ricketts said.
Arlington Public Schools students have a pre-scheduled off day today for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Arlington County government offices, courts and schools will be closed on Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving weekend.
Arlington Public Schools close Wednesday and remain closed until Monday, Dec. 1. Arlington’s Circuit Court, General District Court, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court will all close at noon Wednesday and reopen after the holiday break.
Arlington County Police Department won’t enforce parking meters on either day, but Saturday will be treated as a regular weekend day before parkers get another day off from meters on Sunday.
Park grounds will be open, but all parks and recreation classes, programs and indoor facilities, like community centers, will be closed on Thursday and Friday.
Trash, recycling and leaf pickup will continue on a normal schedule, the county says, as will brush, metal and electronics pickup. Leaf pickup is cancelled for Thursday, but if you live in Zone 5, your service will resume on Friday.
Only ART routes 41 and 51 will run on Thanksgiving Day, and they will run on Sunday schedules. On Friday, route 41, 42, 51, 77 and 87 will run on Sunday schedules.
An east coast storm could bring some sloppy snow and rain to Arlington and up to a half foot of snow accumulation to the outer northern and western parts of the D.C. region tomorrow.
Forecasters say above-freezing temperatures should preclude more than an inch or so of accumulation locally. Still, the storm has the potential to have a major impact on Thanksgiving travel from Washington to Boston on Wednesday.
If you’re planning to travel for the holiday, is the storm affecting your travel plans?
Bond Chairs: Listen to Concerns — The co-chairs of the 2014 school bond committee warned Arlington School Board members that they should not take continued voter support for granted, despite the approval of a $105.8 million school bond earlier this month. The co-chairs told the Board that they should listen to voter concerns, including concerns about the cost of new school facilities. [InsideNova]
Post Tries ‘Divide’ Storyline Again — The Washington Post has published another article blaming a class and a racial divide between north and south Arlington on the cancellation of the Columbia Pike and Crystal City streetcar system. A letter to the editor writer, in response, asks if the divide is worth the ink. “Where is the problem… is anyone’s goal to make South Arlington as expensive as North Arlington so that only rich people can live there?” [Washington Post]
New eBooks at Library — You can now download “Catch 22” and “Team of Rivals” from the library. Arlington Public Library has added eBooks from publisher Simon & Schuster to its downloadable books collection. [Arlington Public Library]
Thanksgiving Eve Party in Clarendon — Clarendon Ballroom is hosting “Arlington’s biggest Thanksgiving Eve party” Wednesday night, starting at 8:00 p.m. The event will feature multiple DJs and “plenty of booze and fun to get you through a weekend with the family.” [Clarendon Nights]
Flick pool photo by Joseph Gruber
AAA Thanksgiving Travel Forecast — About 1.1 million Washington area residents will travel 50 more more miles this Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic. That’s up 3.1 percent over 2013. About 90 percent of those travelers will journey to grandma’s house via automobile, AAA says. The lowest gas prices since Dec. 2010 are helping to drive some additional travel this year. [Reston Now]
What’s Next for the Pike? — Now that the streetcar is dead, articulated buses may be next for Columbia Pike. But that would require reinforcing the roadway and building a new bus depot. [Greater Greater Washington]
Beyer Joins ‘New Democrat Coalition’ — Arlington’s newly-elected representative in Congress, Don Beyer, has joined the House New Democrat Coalition, a group of pro-growth Democrats. [Blue Virginia]
Moran Laments Loss of Earmarks — Outgoing Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) says earmarks, while demonized by the media and some politicians, actually helped the legislative process. The loss of earmarks has slowed Congress to a crawl, Moran said. [InsideNova]
Flickr pool photo by Erinn Shirley
Wizards Practice Facility in Arlington? — There’s a potential plan for a Washington Wizards basketball practice facility in Arlington, reports NBC4’s Mark Segraves. However, the more likely plan for the practice facility is for it to be built in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood. Wizards owner Ted Leonsis also owns the Washington Capitals, which has a practice facility at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Ballston. [NBC Washington]
Arlington Warns of ‘Potential Severe Traffic’ — Arlington County is warning residents about “potential severe traffic” today due to the massive crowds expected for the Concert for Valor on the National Mall, along with Metrorail service changes and numerous road closures in D.C. that are in place for the Veterans Day event.
Cherrydale Abuzz Over Sound Check — The Cherrydale community email listserv was “going crazy with complaints about the sound check” for the Concert for Valor last night, a tipster tells ARLnow.com. We’re told the neighborhood could hear bass and feel vibrations from the sound check. “One person reported that the Arlington County police were getting so many calls they were telling people to call the D.C. police who then told people to call [U.S.] Park Police,” the tipster said.
Cost of Thanksgiving Dips in Va. — Virginia families will save about $5 per person this year on Thanksgiving dinner thanks to lower food prices, according to the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. [InsideNova]
Lyon Park ‘Sewer Justice’ Petition — A group called Arlingtonians for Sewer Justice — which represents 11 Lyon Park households that are being compelled to pay $10,000-20,000 for a new sewer connection because the county says it will no longer maintain a failing, private sewer line behind their homes — has created a new petition. The petition, which has so far gathered 95 supporters, calls for Arlington County to pay for the upkeep of privately owned sewer lines via a bond referendum. [Change.org]
Va. Square Eatery Up for ‘Restaurant of the Year’ — Water & Wall, which opened last year in the Virginia Square area, is a finalist for Eater.com’s D.C. Restaurant of the Year award. [Eater]
Flickr pool photo by Ian Livingston
Bayou Bakery chef and owner David Guas will join retiring Rep. Jim Moran next Monday, Nov. 17, to pass out turkeys to families in need at the Arlington Food Assistance Center.
The annual drive will provide Thanksgiving meals to a growing number of families that are relying on AFAC to supplement their food purchases. This year, AFAC is seeing record demand for its services and spent beyond its allocated food budget to provide food to all its clients.
In June, AFAC Executive Director Charles Meng told ARLnow.com that AFAC was serving 40 percent more families than the year before, a surge he attributed to cuts from federal food stamp programs. This year, AFAC has purchased 2,200 turkeys to give out next week.
Guas and Moran will kick off the giving at about 10:15 a.m. next Monday, according to AFAC spokeswoman Claire McIntyre. AFAC will be conducting turkey drives from 10:00 a.m. to noon from Monday through Friday, Nov. 21, to provide the centerpiece of Thanksgiving meals for its clients.
This year, for the first time, Bayou Bakery, at 1515 N. Courthouse Road, will be donating a pie to AFAC for every dozen it sells. The Louisiana-themed bakery and restaurant is offering sweet potato, pecan, bourbon chocolate chip, Virginia peanut, apple crumble and bacon cayenne pies.
“This is the first year we’ve partnered with [Guas] for that,” McIntyre said. “Because the pie purchasing happens during the holiday season, he can’t bring all the pies at once to us. We still wanted him to be a part of the day. It was really exciting that we got to pair him and Congressman Moran together to hand out the turkeys.”
File photos
Across the nation, mall parking lots are jammed and cash registers are ringing.
Yes, another Black Friday is here, complete with the massive pile of circulars in the newspaper and the requisite TV news images of shoppers rampaging through big box stores at midnight.
Of course, Black Friday is no longer the only post-Thanksgiving shopping game in town. Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday have joined the ranks as industry-created shopping holidays.
