One Virginia Lottery player is starting off the new year with a winning $1 million ticket purchased in Del Ray.
The ticket was one of five $1 million winners in the lottery’s New Year’s Millionaire Raffle, announced yesterday (Thursday). It was purchased at the 7-Eleven at 2108 Mount Vernon Avenue and beat one in 125,000 odds to win.
At ALXnow, we’re looking back at this year one last time before turning the page to 2026.
This New Year’s Eve, we’ve prepared a roundup of our most-read stories of the year. In 2025, readers stayed up-to-date on breaking news and public safety, city government and schools, the local business scene and more.
New York City-based food hall Wonder is opening a new location next month at the Potomac Yard Center.
The new food hall opening at 3615 Richmond Hwy plans to offer food from more than two dozen restaurant concepts. It will be the fourth Wonder in Northern Virginia, joining others in Arlington and Fairfax County as the company continues to expand throughout the D.C. region.
First Night Alexandria will bring hours of live music and performances, family-friendly fun and fireworks to Old Town and Carlyle for New Year’s Eve next week.
In its 31st year, the annual holiday festival includes a packed schedule of activities and arts, culminating in a countdown to midnight at the Old Town waterfront.
After being closed for nearly six months, UpCycle Creative Reuse Center has reopened in an industrial area just south of the Carlyle neighborhood.
The shop has sold all manner of “upcycled” materials, including paper goods, fabrics, craft and party supplies, office goods, containers, jewelry and more since its founding in 2013 by Susan Miranda and Kelley Organek.
Santa Claus needs to let loose before handing out all those presents.
On Christmas Eve this Wednesday, Jolly Old St. Nick is returning to the Potomac River for the 40th annual Waterskiing Santa show. The show starts at 1 p.m. outside BARCA Pier & Wine Bar at 2 Pioneer Mill Way.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for Rocket Fizz, the soda pop and candy store in Fairlington Plaza.
Owner Tanya Kemp’s store at 1721 Centre Plaza is full of stocking stuffers, from vintage soda and candy, to tchotchkes and gag gifts like wind-up chattering teeth, Pez dispensers and bobbleheads. She told ALXnow that her shop does more business during the Christmas season than any other time of the year.
What did you read this past fall?
The Alexandria Library system shared its most-checked out books from mid-September through last week with ALXnow, with over a dozen fiction reads topping the charts. The library recorded a grand total of 1,811 check-outs of its top 20 titles during that period.
Fourteen Alexandria artists and groups have received nominations in a program recognizing musical talent across the D.C. area.
Alexandria’s nominees for the 37th Annual Wammie Music Awards represent several genres, from funk and folk and hip-hop and pop. The voting period for the 2026 awards is now open and will run through Jan. 15, ahead of the March 28 awards show in D.C.
Meet Diesel, a sweet, wrinkly-faced pup at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria who is ready to go home for the holidays with fur-ever humans.
The three-year-old cutie patootie is about 89 pounds, “with a heart to match his impressive physical presence,” according to an AWLA volunteer. The social pup is “full of love and curiosity.”
How are you ringing in the new year in Alexandria?
A number of local bars and restaurants are doing it up in style on Dec. 31. From Old Town to Del Ray, Arlandria and the West End, here’s a roundup of shindigs that will send you into the early morning hours of 2026.
