Want to help plan and design the future of Columbia Pike? A series of charrettes — fast-paced, wide-ranging planning sessions — are being held on the Pike over the next week.
The primary public charrette will be held Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Sheraton National Hotel (900 S. Orme Street), and everybody is invited to participate and help guide the Pike’s continuing development. A light lunch will be provided.
The grocery store will be offering wine tastings, tapas samplings and prizes to customers from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Friday and from noon to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Prizes include free bags of Giant brand products and free groceries for a month.
The 60,000 square foot store, located at the corner of Columbia Pike and S. Adams Street, will open its doors at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, June 24.
The Shirlington Branch Library will be screening family-oriented movies all summer, starting this week. At 2:00 p.m., every Friday through the end of August, the library will show a different kid-friendly flick. The selections include Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Sword in the Stone, Cars, Shrek Forever After, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland (1951 version) and The Tale of Despereaux.
For adults, the Westover Branch Library will be taking moviegoers on a cinematic tour of the world. The library will screen the “mid-week movies” every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., starting on July 6 and ending on August 10. The schedule includes Chariots of Fire, Motorcycle Diaries, Out of Africa, the Joy Luck Club, Under the Tuscan Sun and Enchanted April.
The one-day event is expected take place Labor Day weekend along the W&OD Trail in Arlington. It will feature “a sports event with a historic twist, a large-scale environmental action activity (biggest in the park’s history) and a festival featuring a national recording artist which we expect will draw several thousand attendees,” said Chris Browne, Vice President of the Greater Washington Sports Alliance.
“It is going to be BIG and very relevant to our regional community,” Browne added.
If not, here’s an idea: The fourth annual Dash4Dad Four Mile Run and Walk is being held Sunday morning in Pentagon City, complete with entries for daddy-daughter and father-son teams.
The four mile race and one mile walk starts and finishes on S. Joyce Street, in front of the Pentagon Row shops. Proceeds will go to support prostate cancer awareness, outreach and research.
You might get the summertime blues on the Pike this weekend.
The 16th annual Columbia Pike Blues Festival kicks off at 1:00 p.m. Saturday on South Walter Reed Drive and Columbia Pike. The free event runs through 8:00 p.m. and features acclaimed acts like southern blues rocker Tinsley Ellis, along with Columbia Pike’s own blues and soul band, The Curbfeelers.
The seventh annual Montana State Society ‘Testicle Festival’ is being held from 6:00 to 10:00 Saturday night. A $20 ticket buys you “all the Crown Royal you can drink and all the balls you can eat,” as festival co-organizer Brittany Beauleiu told NBC Washington. There will also be all-you-can-drink beer and country music from the Wil Gravatt Band.
Also known as Rocky Mountain oysters or cowboy caviar, bull testicles are said to be chewy and taste like chicken.
The Air Force Cycling Classic will bring exciting races and extensive road closures to Arlington over the weekend.
The nationally-recognized pro cycling event will kick off early in Clarendon on Saturday, then head to Crystal City on Sunday. Here’s the official schedule:
Nonetheless, a “Wild West” Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament and Networking Party to benefit Habitat for Humanity is being held tonight at Caribbean Breeze restaurant in Ballston (4100 N. Fairfax Drive).
Up to 40 players will ante up $100 to compete for a flat screen TV and a pair of gift certificates. Online registration for the tournament is still open.
The students, fifth-grader Keishu Watanabe and his sister, second-grader Saho (both seen in the video, below), moved from Arlington to Tokyo with their parents just weeks before the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Northern Japan earlier this year. With a personal connection to the disaster, “graduating” fifth-grade students and parents at Tuckahoe decided to raise money to help the victims.
Tomorrow, starting at 7:00 p.m., the school will host an “Anime Movie Night” featuring a screening of Ponyo, the Japanese adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. The family-friend film has been dubbed into English, thanks to the voices of Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Matt Damon and Betty White.
A quarter of the proceeds will go to the medical care of Ryan Diviney, the WVU student from Ashburn who was badly beaten outside a convenience store in 2009 and left in a persistent vegetative state.
Another 70 percent of the money raised will benefit the American Cancer Society. The rest will be donated to Arlington’s police and firefighters.
The radio great will reflect on his work at NPR and, most recently, Sirius XM satellite radio. He will also discuss his books about sportscaster Red Barber, Fridays with Red: A Radio Friendship, and legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow, Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism.
Edwards will take the stage at Arlington Central Library Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14. See more about his appearance on the Library Blog.
