Arlington County has selected a contractor to oversee work to build a new second entrance to the Crystal City Metro station.
Over the weekend, the Arlington County Board approved a nearly $8 million contract, plus a contingency of $197,497, with Gannett Fleming, Inc. to provide construction management and quality assurance services for the project.
Outdoor Fire in Courthouse — “Traffic is closed on N Courthouse Rd from 12th Ct N to Fairfax dr… This is reportedly due to a sizable outdoor fire. ACFD on scene… A second fire along Langston Blvd at N. Adams Street was also reported. Per an ACFD spokesperson, investigators are trying to determine if the fires are related and/or intentionally set.” [Twitter]
N. Va.’s Economic Power — “Were Northern Virginia its own independent country – and let’s not give regional leaders any ideas – it would have the world’s 48th largest economy… That would rank Northern Virginia just below the Czech Republic and Finland and just above Iraq, Portugal and New Zealand.” [Gazette Leader]
Every year, for just a few minutes, one of Arlington’s most iconic works of public art comes to life exactly as its artist intended.
On Saturday, Aug. 1, at approximately 9:32 a.m., visitors will gather in Rosslyn to witness the annual shadow alignment at Nancy Holt’s Dark Star Park (1979–84). At that precise moment, the shadows cast by the sculpture’s spheres and poles align with permanent shadow forms embedded in the ground—a phenomenon Holt designed to commemorate the anniversary of Rosslyn’s founding.
The alignment lasts only a few moments, but it has become a beloved Arlington tradition, drawing residents, visitors, artists and architecture enthusiasts alike to experience the intersection of art, astronomy, and history. If the weather cooperates, the park transforms into a striking demonstration of how light, time and place can become part of a work of art.
Created between 1979 and 1984, Dark Star Park was Arlington’s first County-commissioned public artwork and remains one of the nation’s earliest examples of integrated public art—where sculpture, landscape architecture and the surrounding environment function as a single work. Rather than placing an object within a park, Holt made the entire park the artwork, incorporating spheres, pools, steel poles, tunnels, earthworks and carefully positioned plantings into an immersive landscape.
Nancy Holt (1938–2014) was a pioneering artist whose work spanned poetry, film, photography, land art and large-scale public sculpture. Throughout her career, she explored perception, time and humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Dark Star Park remains her most significant urban installation and one of the few major works by the artist that can be experienced in an accessible city setting.
Whether you’ve attended for years or have never visited before, Dark Star Park Day offers a rare opportunity to experience a public artwork that changes with the movement of the sun—and reminds us that some of the most memorable moments in art happen not inside a museum, but out in the world around us.
Dark Star Park Day
When: Saturday, Aug. 1, beginning around 9 a.m.; shadow alignment at approximately 9:32 a.m.
Where: Dark Star Park, 1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Rosslyn
Good Thursday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Dec 21, 2023.
Still reeling from recent shootings, a Green Valley resident took the dais during Saturday’s Arlington County Board meeting to ask the county and police for a plan to address public safety concerns.
Yordanos Woldai, co-founder of Green Valley Matters, a new resident group focused on public safety, says this plan should include regular police patrols and stepped up enforcement of illegal activities.
Join DC Road Runners and Potomac Valley Track Club for our annual Family Night at the Track and Meet of Miles. The event is open to runners of all ages and paces as well as nonmembers.
This event hosts 400 meter and 800 meter races for kids ages 1-8, as well as multiple 1-mile heats for participants of all ages. There is also a 3K race that is open to participants of all ages.
Here in Arlington, real estate is a spectator sport. Let’s take a look at some of the most and least expensive townhouses sold last month (November 2023).
Most expensive townhouses sold
Metro is planning a major closure of two Arlington Metro stations next month.
The Rosslyn and Courthouse stations will be closed the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day — from Friday, Jan. 12 to Monday, Jan. 15. The four-day closure is for repairs and maintenance.
Meet Skylar, the newest Adoptable Pet of the Week!
This beautiful, cream colored pup is currently in foster with the Animal Welfare League of Arlington and searching for her forever home.
The National Park Service is warning commuters of potential shutdowns of the GW Parkway in the event of winter weather
The northern portion of the George Washington Memorial Parkway will close in advance of storms forecasting two or more inches of snow and any amount of freezing rain or ice, NPS said in a press release Wednesday. The road will close four hours before the forecasted start of the storm and drivers will need to seek alternate routes.
Bluefish Bistro Sushi & Kitchen, a new sushi restaurant, has quietly opened at Centro Arlington on Columbia Pike.
Located at the corner of S. George Mason Drive and the Pike, the 1,450-square-foot sushi restaurant celebrated its grand opening last month, taking up residence on the ground floor of the mixed-use development next to the Harris Teeter and the Vietnamese eatery Pho Saigon Pearl.
