It wouldn’t be October if there weren’t some creepy creations crawling onto lawns around Arlington.
We encountered residents who surrendered their yard to frightful grave-dwellers on N. Jackson Street, in Ashton Heights, and in two yards within a block of S. Joyce Street in Aurora Highlands.
The study, conducted by financial advice company NerdWallet using data from online event platform EventBrite, says Arlington’s “overall score for Halloween parties,” which is a combination of number of RSVPs and affordability, is 83.79 out of 100.
Arlington registered a seven out of 10 for its “party engagement score” and has an average party cost of $12.15, second-lowest in the top 10, behind No. 8 Nashville, Tenn., at $12.11. Washington, D.C., is the 17th-best city in the country for parties with an overall score of 81.73 and an average cost of $25.64.
Halloween Bar Crawl Begins Discounting — Tickets for the Nov. 1 Halloween bar crawl in Clarendon are being discounted from $15 to $9 on LivingSocial. So far, 63 tickets have been purchased on the site. A police source tells ARLnow.com that ACPD is planning on having “a number of officers specifically detailed to Clarendon for the crawl and throughout the night until a little after closing time.” [LivingSocial]
APS Finds Ways to Make Kids Want Veggies — The Arlington School Board was flabbergasted to learn that the school system’s food services division has apparently found a way to make kids want to eat their veggies. The secret: creatively pairing veggies with other foods. For instance, while spinach alone had an anemic 8 percent selection rate, a spinach and strawberry salad was selected by 78 percent of elementary students. [InsideNova]
Falloween runs from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, with a petting zoo, trick-or-treating and “strolling entertainment” throughout the event. The festival is intended for families to dress up, along with their pets, and all events during the day are free.
In addition to the petting zoo and trick-or-treating at retailers, starting at 10:00 a.m., D.C.-based children’s performer Mr. Knick Knack will bring his guitar and entertain the youngsters for the morning. At 11:45 a.m., Rocknoceros will take the stage with its three-man band of multiple instruments, including the accordion, ukelele and keyboard and continue to play for the little ones.
Just in case you need an excuse to dress up your dog in a costume while walking around Clarendon, there’s an event for that. Plus, it benefits two Arlington nonprofit organizations.
The Howl-O-Ween Walk runs from 9:00-11:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 25. Doorways for Women and Families teamed up with Homeward Trails Animal Rescue for the fundraiser, which also serves to raise awareness about domestic violence against women, children and pets.
Participants are encouraged to wear their spooky and creative costumes to the event on Saturday, November 1. The crawl, dubbed “The rise of the day drinkers,” will take place from 2:00-9:00 p.m.
Tickets currently are available online for $15, and a limited number of tickets will be available at the door for $20. The fee gets participants a souvenir mug, food and drink specials at bars in Clarendon and a raffle entry. There will be prizes for the most festively dressed participants.
Buses to Use I-66 Shoulder — Buses will be allowed to use the shoulder lane on I-66 inside the Beltway during heavy traffic, starting next month. VDOT is launching the program as a way to relieve some congestion and improve the on-time performance of bus routes that utilize the traffic-choked corridor. [Washington Post]
Parkmobile Now Available in Courthouse, Rosslyn — Arlington County has completed the implementation of the Parkmobile parking payment system for the Courthouse and Rosslyn neighborhoods, ahead of schedule. [Twitter]
Hundreds of grade-schoolers flooded the sidewalks of Courthouse this morning, trick-or-treating for Halloween.
Key Elementary School students, along with teachers and parents, went up and down Clarendon and Wilson Blvd just after 9:00 a.m., collecting candy from tables local businesses like John Marshall Bank and the Bank of Georgetown.
Halloween is here and while children prepare to loot local homes of their sweets, adults may still be pondering what to do tonight.
Going out to a Halloween party? Accompanying your kids while trick-or-treating? Staying home to hand out candy?
Despite a full slate of Halloween activities last weekend, the actual holiday is this week, meaning coworkers in costumes and, of course, kids trick-or-treating.
As in years past, there’s no official time period for trick-or-treating in Arlington, but parents have traditionally taken their children around the neighborhood just after sundown.
SoberRide to Offer Free Halloween Cab Rides — The Washington Regional Alcohol Program is offering free taxi rides next Thursday on the night of Halloween. From 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., revelers can dial 1-800-200-TAXI, be picked up and taken to their destination free of charge, within a $30 fare. The service is offered in D.C. as well as the Maryland suburbs and other Northern Virginia municipalities. The service is being offered to prevent drunk driving, and WRAP says that 52 percent of traffic deaths on Halloween come from drunk drivers. [SoberRide]
Crystal City BID to Give Away Free Bike Lights — The Crystal City Business Improvement District will be giving away free bicycle lights this afternoon (Friday). The giveaway is taking place at the Crystal City exit of the Mount Vernon Trail from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. At the bike light giveaway last year, cyclists received front and tail “Bug Eye” lights. [Crystal City BID]
There are a number of events happening around Arlington for the holiday this weekend. Among them:
Photo courtesy of Doorways
