Good Wednesday 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 — Nov 1, 2023.
The end of the election is drawing nearer: early voting ends on Saturday and Tuesday is Election Day.
At this point, the roughly 12,000 early votes cast are almost evenly split between in-person and mailed-in ballots, per the Arlington County election turnout dashboard. Some 44,000 ballots need to be returned between now and the close of the polls on Tuesday to surpass turnout in 2019, the last similar election year.
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
A day of remembrance for lives lost — in Arlington, Northern Virginia, and around the world — to vehicular crashes will be held at Wakefield High School this month.
It is a local instantiation of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims held annually on the third Sunday of November around the world. The events will mark the deaths of approximately 1.35 million people annually in traffic crashes.
Rappahannock Coffee is set to close at the end of November, making way for a new café with a different name.
Located at 2406 Columbia Pike, the independent coffee shop first opened in May 2001, according to its website. Owner Gi Lee said that after two decades of brewing coffee, he is ready to retire.
Join the Rosslyn BID and Arlington Arts at the 34th Rosslyn Jazz Fest 2026 featuring live jazz, food trucks, local vendors, and family-friendly activities in the heart of Rosslyn! This year’s lineup is bringing a diverse mix of performers and bands redefining the jazz music genre including Plena Libre, Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars, Parlor Greens, and Dogo du Togo & the Alagaa Beat Band.
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(Updated at 11 a.m.) VHC Health, formerly Virginia Hospital Center, debuted a new women’s health center Monday afternoon that handles everything from pregnancy to menopause to breast health.
The Charlotte S. Benjamin Center for Women’s Health is located on the fifth floor of the hospital’s new, $250 million outpatient pavilion that opened in the Hall’s Hill neighborhood in June.
It’s time to protect those sensitive plants and drain that outdoor plumbing.
Arlington is expected to get its first freeze of the season overnight tonight. The county and most of the D.C. region is under a Freeze Warning as a result.
Wardian Second in MCM 50K — “Arlingtonian Michael Wardian, 49, snagged second place in the men’s 50K (3:10:19). Wardian clinched first place in the inaugural MCM 50K in 2019, and came in second last year. Abnormally hot October temps shut down the marathon early, and many runners — including Wardian — say they were impacted by the humidity.” [Axios, Twitter]
Police Toy Drive Returns — “This holiday season, consider adding an Arlington child in need to your shopping list. Beginning in November, the Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) will be hosting the ninth annual Fill the Cruiser Holiday Toy Drive benefitting children in need in the Arlington community. Bring joy to someone’s holiday by donating new, unwrapped toys at one of our collection events or stationary drop box locations.” [ACPD]
Good Tuesday 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 — Oct 31, 2023.
After some Swanson Middle School students reportedly egged customers and employees at The Italian Store, management at the popular Westover grocer discontinued a student special.
Italian Store Director of Operations Mike Tramonte tells ARLnow he is also trying to identify the students who lobbed the eggs, who also allegedly stole the eggs from Walgreens. He says store employees and patrons were struck three days in a row last week and that when he went onto the patio to deter the egging, he was targeted, too.