News

In a developed city like Alexandria, residents may soon be surprised to find four-legged landscapers wandering a West End park.

Alexandria’s Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities is launching a pilot program to bring 35 to 40 goats to All Veterans Park (4725 Duke Street). Starting Sept. 8, the herd of goats will be brought to graze on invasive plants on the slopes of the park. The invasive plants being targeted in the pilot program are kudzu, garlic mustard and multiflora rose.


Around Town

The Mount Vernon Trail has secured a place in Rails to Trails Conservancy’s catalog of the nation’s best trails.

Trails advocacy organization Rails to Trails Conservancy announced that the Mount Vernon Trail received 58% of public votes to win the Hall of Fame accolade. The other nominees were National Battlefield Trail in Texas and the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail in Ohio. Public voting was open from Aug. 5 to 16.


News

Three Alexandria City Public Schools facilities that the School Board voted to rename will be dedicated in the next two months.

The Alexandria City School Board voted in December 2025 to name Keith Burns Field at Alexandria City High School’s Parker-Gray Memorial Stadium after a 1990 T.C. Williams High School graduate who had an NFL career. The athletic field complex at the high school’s Minnie Howard Campus will be named after the late Alexandria Mayor Kerry Donley, and a media center at Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School will be named after Jean Reid, who taught at various ACPS schools.


News

An IndyCar in the Freedom 250 Grand Prix will be making its way from the King Street Metro station in Alexandria this morning (Aug. 20).

Metro said the IndyCar will make its way through the Yellow Line between the King Street Metro and D.C.’s Mount Vernon Square. The trip will happen between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m., and there will be brief stops at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and L’Enfant Plaza stations. A return trip from Mount Vernon Square is expected to end by 12 p.m.


News

Alexandria nonprofits were among the 52 nonprofit recipients of nearly 1.3 million diapers and wipes from HomeAid National Capital Region’s latest donation drive.

HomeAid, which builds housing and programming space for nonprofits serving the homeless, organized the 2026 Builders for Babies diaper drive to benefit organizations serving families in the D.C. region and Richmond. Builders, trade partners, suppliers, community collection sites and donors helped HomeAid distribute a record 1,292,097 diapers.


Around Town

Hypergoat Coffee Roasters, an Alexandria-founded coffee shop, is planning a second location in Del Ray.

Co-owner and head roaster Rodrigo Ramos confirmed to ALXnow the second Hypergoat location is in the works. The 3,051-square-foot location at 2423B Mount Vernon Avenue and the adjacent, vacant 2423A Mount Vernon Avenue used to be home to First Agape Baptist Community of Faith and were converted into two tenant spaces.


News

Residents from eight ZIP codes packed a room in Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library Saturday (Aug. 15) to discuss concerns with the Plaza 500 data center plans just outside Alexandria city limits.

The Alexandria People’s Assembly, an advocacy group formerly known as PLTI of Alexandria that seeks to support marginalized people, organized the community forum.


News

Alexandria’s Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center will be among the landing places for the National Symphony Orchestra amid the Kennedy Center’s planned shutdown for renovations.

Forced from the Kennedy Center following approval of a reconstruction project by allies of President Donald Trump, the NSO will split its 2026-27 season among six venues in Washington, D.C., and the capital’s suburbs.


Around Town

The deployment of autonomous sidewalk delivery robots is expanding further in Alexandria.

Serve Robotics announced today (Monday) that the Wonder food hall at 3615 Richmond Highway will offer robot deliveries. The New York City-based Wonder, which has been rapidly expanding in the D.C. region and beyond, opened the Potomac Yard location in January.


News

Alexandria City Public Schools will be returning to school on Monday, Aug. 24, and that means speed cameras will also be reactivated to enforce school zone speeding violations.

The City of Alexandria said enforcement of school zone speed cameras will begin on the first day of school following testing of the school zone flashers and camera systems on Aug. 21. The cameras will automatically issue tickets for speeding violations when school zone signs are flashing.


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