Glencarlyn residents used the weekend to celebrate their community, get an early start on the nation’s 250th birthday and express concerns about ongoing issues.
The two-day Glencarlyn Neighborhood Days event is an annual opportunity for the South Arlington community to both reflect and look forward.
“It’s been going pretty great,” said Courtney Holmes, vice president of the Glencarlyn Civic Association and one of the primary organizers of events held on Friday evening and all day Saturday.
She was speaking as organizers were lining up participants for the association’s neighborhood parade. Given the 2026 theme celebrating the nation’s birthday, youth were encouraged to festoon their bicycles with red, white and blue paraphernalia.
“Every year, we try to pick a new theme,” Holmes said. “This one was kind of a no-brainer.”
Led by an Arlington heavy-rescue fire truck, the parade stepped off from St. John’s Episcopal Church, making a loop through the community.
Other events during the weekend included a barbecue, pancake breakfast, house tour and picnic.
The barbecue drew “the most people I have ever seen” at the event, said Brandon Hemel, president of the civic association. It honored Glencarlyn resident Peter Olivere for his years of civic advocacy.
County Board and School Board members attended the Saturday pancake breakfast and likely heard some community residents’ concerns.
The issues drawing the most community attention in Glencarlyn at the moment are traffic — both along S. Carlin Springs Road and on the narrow neighborhood streets — and the planned VHC Health/LifePoint Health facility nearby, Hemel said.
The community also is facing transition, as evidenced by the number of residential lots cleared of their previous homes and awaiting new construction. Holmes said the influx of new residents was celebrated by those living there.
“Younger families coming in makes us old-timers happy,” she said.
From one perspective, Glencarlyn’s roots go back as far as the nation itself. Early settlers Moses Ball and John Ball carved farms out of the landscape.
The Ball-Sellers House, dating to the 1750s and located in the community, is Arlington’s oldest residential dwelling. It now serves as a museum operated by the Arlington Historical Society.
The Glencarlyn Civic Association traces its roots to the 1880s, with the neighborhood seeing several growth spurts since. Today, the community is home to nearly 500 households.
