Aside from the week between Christmas and New Year’s, the Friday before Labor Day is one of the quietest days of the year in the D.C. area.
Many are on vacation, but even those still here and working might be, well, checked out for the weekend. On top of that, there’s no school today for Arlington Public Schools and, traditionally, it’s a very slow day for readership on ARLnow.
Arlington students could be getting an additional five-day weekend this November.
Proposed changes to the 2024-25 calendar would give Arlington Public Schools students off between Nov. 1 and Nov. 5, shortly before another five-day weekend for Thanksgiving the last week of November.
You might have noticed that it’s a bit quieter around Arlington in recent days.
Based on traffic volumes and out-of-office email responses it’s pretty clear that a lot of people are on vacation (including, at least in theory, the person writing this poll).
It could be a big summer for vacations, particularly if Covid stays at relatively low levels.
From a press release last month:
August is the month of vacations.
Congress goes on recess, schools are still on summer break, and legions of D.C. area residents head out of town, to the beach or elsewhere. That leads to less local traffic and more out-of-office email replies.
The unofficial end to summer is almost here. Not the calendar season, mind you, but the fun part of summer where schools are out, pools are open and vacations are taken.
Some Arlingtonians maximize their summer fun by taking long vacations abroad, to the beach or to visit family. Others keep their nose to the grindstone and take some vacation days here and there.
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.
Imagine filling in an online questionnaire, paying a fee and having someone else plan a surprise vacation for you, from the destination to the activities you will do once there.
It’s been barely a year of business for the Arlington-based family tour firm TripUSAFrance, but in that time, dozens of travelers have experienced the South of France with Julia Girard-Gervois and her Montpellier-based father Stephane, and the rave reviews are pouring in.
“I loved eating at places frequented by the locals and the picnic lunch catered by Julia’s mom at the beach was beautiful and delicious,” said Katie L. “We saw so much — from walled cities to Medieval castles to rides on Montpellier’s trolleys. Much better than fighting tourists in Paris!”
Congress is out of session. People are fleeing the area left and right to get their vacations in before the summer ends. This year, many media and political types are on the campaign trail. Heck, traffic becomes somewhat bearable and even the Arlington County Board gets a break for the month.
On ARLnow.com, we haven’t run out of local stories to cover — in fact, this is shaping up to be our highest-traffic August yet — but there’s no denying that the pace of news coverage drags big time compared to a busier month like April or October.
Kids are getting ready to go back to school and the Redskins just played a preseason football game. That can only mean one thing: summer is starting to wind down.
Labor Day may be only three weeks away, but don’t fret yet: the 10-day forecast is currently calling for six 90 degree days.
