Good Thursday morning, Alexandria!
🌤 Today’s weather: Clear throughout the day. High of 53 and low of 36.
☔ Tomorrow: Light rain until evening. High of 46 and low of 36. Sunrise at 6:29 am and sunset at 6:10 pm.
🚨 You need to know
Beloved Alexandria biscuit restaurant Stomping Ground is closing next month, Alexandria Living Magazine first reported.
Owner Nicole Jones said in an insightful letter that despite community support, in several ways the restaurant never fully recovered from the pandemic
The Del Ray staple was at a high pre-pandemic, having just opened a new location in Tysons Galleria and Jones helped launch bagel shop, Bagel Uprising, next door in Del Ray. But Jones said the restaurant has been mostly treading water since the Covid pandemic.
“You would think after all of these efforts I would be happy that Stomping Ground survived the pandemic,” Jones said. “But that’s all we did, we survived. We didn’t flourish. We didn’t grow. We got hard. We lost the magic that made our 1400 square feet a place you wanted to come every day. Everything feels a little less bright.”
Jones said the newest challenge has been struggling to keep up with the rise in ingredient costs.
“Earlier this year, as we fought our newest battle; the raw cost of our ingredients, I knew I had to do something,” Jones said. “While watching the price of flour, dairy and eggs, the soul of our recipes, skyrocket, I watched my staff become more complacent every day. Without the community, Stomping Ground is not the third space it once was and working there feels more and more like just another job.”
Jones said since the pandemic, she’s watched tips go down and hours reduced. Seeing a need for change, Jones said the restaurant will close in April, but something new is in the works.
While I’m not ready to totally give up, I am ready for a change. Our team has decided that in April 2023, we will shutter our beloved biscuit house to make way for something entirely new. We will share more details as they become available – we are so very excited about the project. It makes financial sense, it makes my team renewed at the idea of something REALLY new. We know that the next chapter will hopefully delight our customers again. In the meantime, please join me in saying goodbye to my beloved first restaurant. She has been so good to all of us.
Locals took the news of the award-winning restaurant’s impending close hard.
Waking up to the news that Stomping Ground is closing pic.twitter.com/A03K5r9QA5
— Becky Hammer (@beckyhammer) March 9, 2023
Third spaces are the secret sauce of a thriving community, as this beautiful letter on the closure of Stomping Ground makes clear. Many current friends started as people I nodded and smiled at every time I was in Stomp – can’t thank you enough Nicole.https://t.co/vczIq8yK2u
— Jesse O'Connell (@jesseocnl) March 9, 2023
📈 Wednesday’s most read
The following are the most-read ALXnow articles for Mar 8, 2023.
- Arlington attorney arrested for allegedly stealing credit cards from Alexandria office building (3405 views)
- Grammy winners and other stars send in letters supporting The Birchmere’s new electric sign (421 views)
- Power (mostly) restored after early morning outage in Del Ray | ALXnow (369 views)
- Arlington attorney arrested for allegedly stealing credit cards from Alexandria office building (303 views)
🗞 Other local coverage
- St. Patrick’s Day 2023: Pub Crawls, Events Around Alexandria
Patch (Wednesday @ 4:55 pm)
- Alexandria Restaurant Inspections: Rodent Droppings Violation
Patch (Wednesday @ 12:33 pm)
- ‘King Lear’ Smashes All Shakespeare Theatre Company Sales Records
Zebra (Wednesday @ 11:48 am)
- Bad Ass Coffee Opens in Alexandria
Alexandria Living (Wednesday @ 11:08 am)
🐦 Tweets of note
Congratulations to our 2️⃣0️⃣ ACPS teachers who have been awarded new or renewed National Board Certification in 2022. @NBPTS is the most respected professional certification in education, designed to develop, retain and recognize accomplished teachers.https://t.co/busBRMTXac
— Alexandria City Public Schools (@ACPSk12) March 6, 2023
📅 Upcoming events
Here is what’s going on today in Alexandria, from our event calendar.
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Monarch Montessori School is now enrolling infants, toddlers and three year-olds for its full-time Montessori program. We offer a seamless enrollment process which involves submitting an application for review, paying the enrollment fee and submitting the remaining enrollment materials before your proposed start date.
At Monarch Montessori School, we aim to provide an authentic Montessori learning experience. At our Alexandria location, we currently have 8 openings in our Primary classroom (ages 3-6), and 6 openings in our Toddler classroom. Additionally, there are 3 infant openings at this time.
Our first floor space is an open concept. Infants and toddlers share the same large classroom. Children ages 3-6 are in two classrooms on our second floor. Each classroom has one lead and assistant guide. We offer a year-round program, with intermittent breaks for Spring Break and Winter Break.
Scholarship Fund of Alexandria Annual Gala & Auction
Do good while having a good time at the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria’s 38th Annual Gala and Auction at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center. The fun begins with a 2-hour open bar reception while mingling with 499 other Alexandrians who
