Central Place Plaza in Rosslyn will be alive with holiday cheer tomorrow (Thursday) for the Rosslyn Carols! Holiday Concert.
Hosted by the Rosslyn Business Improvement District for the first time at the public plaza at 1800 N. Lynn Street, the event will include a lunchtime concert, then in the evening a DJ, games and food and drink.
A choir from H-B Woodlawn will lead the singing of Christmas carols from 6:15 p.m., then local band The Woodshedders will play a live concert from 7 p.m.
And throughout the day, attendees can have free photographs taken in a life-size snow globe.
The full list of festivities on offer is below:
- Noon-10 p.m.: Free photo-ops in the life-size snow globe.
- Noon-2 p.m.: Holiday lunchtime concert.
- 4:30 p.m.: Festivities start on the plaza with a DJ, holiday games, drinks and food for purchase.
- 6:15 p.m.: Holiday caroling from H-B Woodlawn
- 7:00 p.m.: Live concert featuring The Woodshedders
Disparities in New Middle School Boundaries — “Under a staff plan slated to go to the School Board Dec. 14, middle schools will have economically-disadvantaged populations ranging from 1 percent of the student body at Williamsburg Middle School to 52 percent of the student body at Kenmore Middle School, with the other schools falling in between.” [InsideNova]
Winner of Marine Corps Marathon Works at 7-Eleven — The winner of this year’s Marine Corps Marathon lives in Nauck and works at an Arlington 7-Eleven store. Desta Beriso Morkama, a 32-year-old Ethiopian immigrant, arrived in the U.S. in September 2016. He has been receiving training and assistance settling into his new Arlington life from a number of local people and groups, including local running coach Jay Jacob Wind. [Falls Church News-Press]
JBG Installing Giant Screens at Central Place — JBG Smith plans to exceed the county-imposed public art requirement at its new Central Place development, thanks to a project that will install giant screens in various places around the apartment and office building. The screens will display moving images, including artwork and nature scenes. [Washington Business Journal]
Hybla Valley = The Next Shirlington? — Fairfax County has big plans for a car-oriented neighborhood south of Alexandria: “The plans also include a 3.1-mile extension of the Yellow Line that would connect the Huntington station to the Hybla Valley section of Richmond Highway, in hopes of creating a pedestrian-friendly urban neighborhood akin to nearby Shirlington.” [Washington Post]
Flickr pool photo by Joe Green
With Halloween around the corner, Arlingtonians will have several chances to celebrate the upcoming holiday.
The Ballston Halloween Market is set for tomorrow (Thursday, October 26) at Welburn Square (901 N. Taylor Street).
This week’s market, part of the neighborhood’s regular farmers market, will include a beer and wine garden with live music, as well as pumpkin decorating and face painting. The market is open from 3-7 p.m., with attendees encouraged to wear a spooky costume.
And the last of Crystal City’s Fridays at the Fountain events for the season will have a Halloween theme too, with pumpkin painting, seasonal drinks and candy available at the beer and wine garden on Friday, October 27 from 5-9 p.m. at the Crystal City Water Park (1750 Crystal Drive).
Meanwhile, Rosslyn will host its first harvest festival on Friday, October 27 from 4-10 p.m. and Saturday, October 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Continental Beer Garden, Central Place Plaza and Gateway Park East.
More than 20 vendors will sell various crafts and gifts, while there will be live entertainment and activities including a pie eating contest, corn hole, a pumpkin toss, costumes contests for children and pets.
Central Place Plaza (1800 N. Lynn Street) in Rosslyn will host a harvest festival next month during Halloween weekend, the neighborhood’s first.
On Friday, October 27 from 4-10 p.m. and Saturday, October 28 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., more than 20 vendors will sell various crafts and gifts, while there will be live entertainment and activities including a pie eating contest, cornhole, a pumpkin toss, costumes contests for children and pets.
The event is part of a series of autumnal happenings in Rosslyn.
The neighborhood’s Business Improvement District is hosting Cinema & Pub in the Park at Gateway Park (1300 Lee Highway) tonight — extending its summer film festival into September.
From 6-11 p.m. for the next three Fridays, beer, wine and sangria will be on offer, with food available from on-site food trucks. September 22 will be a family night, with activities beginning at 5 p.m.
The movie schedule is as follows:
- September 15: “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”
- September 22: “Lego Batman”
- September 29: “Golden Eye”
On Tuesdays beginning September 19, Gateway Park will host Yoga in the Park, a yoga class for all experience levels from 6-7:30 p.m. The entire session of five classes costs $20 per person, and attendees should bring a yoga mat.
And on Thursday evenings from 6-8 p.m. starting September 21, Gateway Park will host Bonfire Concerts around its bonfire pit. Seasonal beers, ciders and wines will be available for purchase, with a different fashion truck on site each week as well as donuts from Mama’s Donut Bites and s’mores from Capital Candy Jar.
The following acts will perform:
- September 21: Trailer Grass Orchestra
- September 28 Scott Kurt & Memphis 59
- October 5: Moose Jaw
- October 12: Justin Trawick and The Common Good
Photos via Rosslyn BID.
Rosslyn’s new Sweetgreen will open its doors on the ground floor of the Central Place apartment tower next week.
The D.C.-founded salad purveyor will be fully open for customers on July 11 at 1800 N. Lynn Street, after staff training and a soft opening in the days before.
A spokeswoman for the Rosslyn Business Improvement District said that new employees are being trained on making Sweetgreen’s various salads, then donating them to the homeless. Local advocacy group A-SPAN and D.C. Central Kitchen across the Potomac River will receive the prepared salads.
For the soft opening, customers can receive free lunch or dinner at an RSVP-only event, while on Monday, July 10, Sweetgreen will host a free lunch in honor of Neighborhood Day, another RSVP-only event.
All proceeds from the eatery’s official launch on Tuesday will be donated to Dreaming Out Loud, a local nonprofit that looks to build healthy, equitable food systems.
This will be the fifth Sweetgreen in Arlington. Other locations are in Ballston, Clarendon, Crystal City and Pentagon City.
McDonald’s may have been the first restaurant to open on the ground floor of the new Central Place apartment tower in Rosslyn, but two health-oriented eateries will soon join it.
D.C.-founded salad purveyor Sweetgreen and NYC-based, fast-casual vegetarian chain Little Beet are both under construction along the 1800 block of N. Lynn Street.
There’s no word yet on an exact opening date but Sweetgreen is now hiring and appears to be nearing the completion of its interior build-out, while Little Beet is closer to the beginning of its construction process.
Also planned for Central Place are a Compass Coffee, a Cava Grill, and a Nando’s Peri-Peri. Nando’s has applied for a license to serve wine and beer. A cursory check around the block did not reveal active construction for any of the three.
(Updated 1:10 p.m.) Construction in Rosslyn has led many people on foot to make a dubious choice after the temporary closure of a pedestrian walkway: walking in a busy street.
Crews closed the temporary walkway on Wilson Blvd between N. Lynn and N. Moore streets, adjacent to the Central Place development, where work is ongoing on the new CEB Tower.
And during lunchtime Thursday, numerous people made the risky decision to walk on the outside of the walkway along Wilson Blvd, just inches from cars traveling west on that major thoroughfare.
A reader emailed to say that pedestrians had been “forced” to walk in the street, although the sidewalk on the other side of Wilson Blvd remains open for use.
A spokeswoman for the county’s Dept. of Environmental Services said the closure will last until June 29 for utility work. She said signs direct pedestrians to the opposite sidewalk.
A new free rock concert series will kick off next week at Rosslyn’s Central Place Plaza.
The Rosslyn Rocks! Concerts are scheduled to take place each Thursday in June from 6-8 p.m. at the plaza on N. Lynn Street. Each week, a new cover band will entertain concertgoers.
Attendees can also enjoy a drink in the neighborhood’s newest outdoor space, with proceeds from sales going to the Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network.
The schedule for the month-long concert series is below.
- June 1: White Ford Bronco
- June 8: Lloyd Dobler Effect
- June 15: The 19th Street Band
- June 22: Jeff from Accounting
- June 29: The Monster Band
The public plaza already hosts the newly-opened Rosslyn farmers market and is adjacent to a 31-story mixed-use building that includes apartments and retail, including a new McDonald’s.
The county’s newest farmers market is set to open tomorrow afternoon in Rosslyn’s Central Place plaza.
Approved by the County Board last month, the market at 1800 N. Lynn Street will run each Wednesday evening from 4-8 p.m. until November.
Nonprofit FRESHFARM will operate the market in partnership with the Rosslyn Business Improvement District. The pair anticipate having up to 10 vendors during its first year.
Vendors already confirmed for the market are Atwater’s, selling breads, pastries, baked goods and soups; Black Rock Orchard selling tree fruit, heirloom tomatoes, specialty vegetables and preserves; local pickles, pickled beets and sauerkraut vendor D.C. Dills; fresh meat and produce vendor Hillside Meadow Farm; and Loblolly Organic Farm selling cut flowers, wreaths, fruit and vegetables.
The Rosslyn market becomes the ninth in the county, with FRESHFARM already operating the markets in Ballston and Crystal City.
“Community spaces, like the Central Place Plaza, are all about bringing together people,” said Mary-Claire Burick, Rosslyn BID president, in a statement last month. “So it’s fitting that one of the first events in the plaza is a farmers market, where Rosslyn residents and workers can meet and enjoy some of the incredible fruits and vegetables our region has to offer.”
Image via Rosslyn BID
Rosslyn could be getting its own farmers market. The Arlington County Board is scheduled to take up the issue at its meeting on Saturday.
FRESHFARM has applied to operate a farmers market in the Central Place plaza (1800 N. Lynn Street), which would run on Wednesday evenings from 4-8 p.m. from April to November.
FRESHFARM anticipates that up to 10 vendors would sell at the market for the first year.
County staff have not identified any issues with the request and recommend that the Board approves the permit for the farmers market, with a review in one year.
(Updated 4:10 p.m.) A new McDonald’s in Rosslyn appears close to opening in the new Central Place building.
External signage is up for the fast food restaurant, and on Tuesday morning construction crews were installing signs inside the windows too. Preparations continue inside the ground-floor space, while the sidewalks around the property appear largely complete.
Rosslyn’s previous McDonald’s at 1823 N. Moore Street closed in 2014 to make way for the Central Place development. At that time, a sign in the McDonald’s window stated it would be closed “indefinitely,” which left open the possibility that the eatery would return to Rosslyn in the future.
A company spokeswoman said the eatery is set to open this spring, although an exact date is to be determined.
