The Anime USA convention, an annual celebration of Japanese arts and popular culture, has brought plenty of colorful, costumed characters to Crystal City over the years.
This year’s convention at the Crystal City Hyatt was no exception — but it also represented what may be the last hurrah for the convention’s tenure in Arlington. Next year Anime USA will be held at the Washington Marriott Wardman, off of Connecticut Avenue in Northwest D.C.
On Saturday, the public will be introduced to the new Long Bridge Park — just north of Crystal City — when county leaders hold an 11:00 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.
First-time visitors will be pleasantly surprised to find that the 18-acre park is quite a sight to behold. A year and a half after construction on the park began, what was once a muddy brown field is now a welcoming green space, with picturesque views of Reagan National Airport, the Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary, the Crystal City skyline and the Washington Monument.
Some Arlington residents went all-out when it came to dressing up their homes for Halloween. Just before the kids started trick-or-treating last night, we stopped by two local streets that were said to have some of the best decorations around.
On the 700 block of N. Illinois Street in Bluemont, two homeowners were duking it out for the title of scariest house. One home was not only spook-ified on the outside, but the creepy decorations and frightful lighting continued well inside the front door as well.
We’re continuing to follow the Yorktown High School varsity football team’s undefeated season.
The Patriots are now 8-0, having defeated the Falls Church Jaguars 55-6 on Friday night. The blowout is just the latest triumph for the team, which is hoping to close out a perfect regular season after going on the road at Mount Vernon (Oct. 28) and hosting the cross-town rival Washington-Lee Generals (Nov. 4).
Fox 5 Morning News anchor Steve Chenevey, 94.7 Fresh FM morning show host Tommy McFly and an Arlington County K-9 police officer were among the guest judges at the ‘Top Dog’ talent contest in Crystal City last week.
The contest was held by the pet-friendly Residence Inn Arlington Capital View, in order to select a new canine mascot for the hotel. Pooches were put through a series of “American Idol”-style challenges, complete with commentary from the judges after each pair of performances.
Thousands jammed the streets of Shirlington on Saturday for the annual Oktoberfest celebration, which features beers from dozens of breweries and food from a number of local restaurants..
While the ID check/ticket lines seemed even longer than usual, the lines for beer seemed more manageable.
The Yorktown Patriots are now 4-0 after defeating National District football rival Hayfield before a home crowd Friday night.
Despite a slow start on offense, the Yorktown defense held up and led the team to a 21-0 victory. The Patriots will try to improve to 5-0 this week when the team faces J.E.B. Stuart on the road.
Live music. Dancing. Food. Exhibitors. Kid’s activities. Arts and Crafts. A skateboarding demonstration.
Clarendon Day has a little something for everyone. The annual street fair, held on several streets in the heart of Clarendon, went off without a hitch on Saturday.
The annual wine and food festival known as Vintage Crystal: A Taste of Wine and Jazz was held Sunday afternoon in Crystal City.
The event featured tastings of more than 30 types of Spanish and South American wines, as well as free food samples from local eateries like Jaleo, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Kora. There was also live performances of Latin jazz, rumba, salsa, and samba music — complete with dancing.
On Saturday night Arlington County held a ceremony to mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.
The ceremony, held at the Air Force Memorial, was attended by Arlington police officers and firefighters who responded to the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as top county officials, military personnel and interested citizens.
Despite dozens of flooded basements and a couple of thousand Dominion customers without power, Arlington was largely spared the flooded roads and swift water rescues that took place elsewhere in Northern Virginia.
In fact, Arlington firefighters were able to help out neighboring jurisdictions like Falls Church, Fairfax County and Alexandria during the worst of flooding last night.
Arlington residents woke up this morning to power outages and scores of downed trees and tree branches, thanks to the high winds and torrential rains of Hurricane Irene.
“It’s just terrible,” said County Board member Walter Tejada as he toured some of the worst scenes of destruction around the county with Acting County Manager Marsha Allgeier and Deputy Police Chief Michael Dunne. While many areas escaped with just a few downed tree limbs, some areas remain blocked and without power due to large trees that fell across roads and power lines.
