The staff at ARLnow.com wishes you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving.
We are thankful to have had the opportunity to expand our news coverage this year, with the addition of reporter Ethan Rothstein. We are also looking forward to expanding our business staff, so as to better serve advertising and marketing clients.
For those flying on Thanksgiving, expect crowded airports and airport parking lots until Monday, Dec. 2, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. The peak times for holiday flights is early in the morning, between 5:30 and 8:00 a.m., and late afternoon, between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m.
Because of the heavy volume of passengers, MWAA recommends getting to the airport two hours early for domestic flights and three hours early for international flights. Because planes will be so full, MWAA recommends packing lightly to ensure carry-on luggage fits in on-board compartments and under the seats.
Editor’s Note: This sponsored health and fitness column is written by Virginia Wright, founder of BbG Fitness, which offers group fitness classes around Arlington. Sign up for a free class today.
With the holiday season upon us it’s a good idea to take stock. This is a fun time of year for most of us. We get to spend more time with our families and enjoy reconnecting with old friends.
ACFD encourages cooks to stay alert while in the kitchen because the leading cause of cooking fires is leaving equipment unattended. The department also discourages the use of outdoor gas fueled turkey fryers due to fire and burn hazards when hot oil splashes during the cooking process.
The department recommends adhering to the following safety tips from the U.S. Fire Administration:
Schools will be closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. County government offices, courts and libraries will be closed Thursday and Friday, and parking meters will not be enforced.
County pools will be closed Thursday and will operate on a modified schedule Wednesday and Friday. All community centers will be closed Thursday, but the Arlington Mill and Walter Reed centers will be open Friday. The Thomas Jefferson Community Center will be closed throughout the holiday weekend.
AAA says 1,058,000 people will journey out of the Washington area, down from 1,070,5000 last year. A projected 90.7 percent of travelers will get out of town via automobile, while 6.9 percent will take planes. The remainder will take rail and other travel methods.
The D.C. region was home to about 5.9 million residents as of 2012.
There are numerous opportunities for donating your time to a good cause around Arlington, including serving Thanksgiving meals.
In addition to those listed below, other volunteer opportunities throughout the county can be found on the Volunteer Arlington website.
“Burnt food or food on the stove calls are more frequent than turkey fryer incidents,” ACFD spokesman Capt. Gregg Karl told ARLnow.com. “Distracted cooking is hazardous.”
Distracted cooking leads to almost daily fire-related calls to houses and apartment buildings in Arlington. Most food-on-the-stove calls just result in lots of smoke or minor fires that are quickly extinguished, but some can lead to full-scale fires.
Thanksgiving Closures — Most county offices and facilities will be closed Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Arlington courts, meanwhile, close at noon today. Community centers will be closed, except for Barcroft and Walter Reed, which will both be open on Friday. ART and Metro will run on a holiday schedule. Trash collection will operate as normal. [Arlington County]
Streets to Close for Turkey Trot 5K — The Lyon Park neighborhood will host its 7th annual Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving (Thursday) morning. The race, which has sold out, will result in several street closures in the area. [ACPD]
More than 1 million local residents are anticipated to travel 50 miles or more for the holiday, according to AAA. That’s a 1.3 percent increase over last year.
“The consistently solid travel numbers since the 2008 drop, despite high gas prices and a struggling economy, is impressive and reassuring,” said Martha Mitchell Meade, Manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “The ‘recovery’ rate of the number of holiday travelers has out-paced the economic recovery and, as Thanksgiving is primarily a family holiday, speaks to the importance of family in good times and bad.”
Major crime in Arlington took a bit of a holiday over the long Thanksgiving weekend. One weekend assault and battery incident was somewhat notable, however, for the fact that the victim is a Clarendon bar bouncer.
ASSAULT AND BATTERY-ARREST, 11/27/11, 3100 block of Clarendon Boulevard. On November 27 at 1:20 am, a man assaulted a bouncer at a bar. A man, 29, of Alexandria, was charged with Assault and Battery and released on a summons to appear in court. Update on 4/15/14 — Charges in this case were dismissed.
Despite the fact that 29 percent of Americans say they’re seriously trying to lose weight, there are few signs that people are actually cutting back on their annual Thanksgiving feasts.
This year, the National Turkey Federation estimated that 46 million turkeys would be consumed on Thanksgiving — that’s almost 3 pounds of turkey per person, given the average weight of 16 pounds per bird.
