The City of Alexandria and other agencies serving the city have announced closures and other schedule changes for the Juneteenth holiday.
All City of Alexandria government offices will be closed Juneteenth (Friday, June 19). The holiday recognizes the end of slavery in the U.S. as the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free on June 19, 1865 — two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
The city has announced various events planned for Juneteenth, a federally observed holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S.
On June 19, 1865, the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free — two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Today, Juneteenth celebrates African American history and freedom.
The City of Alexandria and other agencies serving the city have announced closures and other schedule changes for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
All City of Alexandria government offices will be closed Memorial Day (Monday, May 25). The city will co-host a Memorial Day ceremony with the Friends of Rocky Versace at the Captain Rocky Versace Plaza & Vietnam Veterans Memorial outside the Mount Vernon Recreation Center (2701 Commonwealth Avenue). The ceremony runs from 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and honor Versace, a posthumous Medal of Honor recipient, 68 Alexandrians who died in the Vietnam War, and others who have served in the military or are missing in action.
Alexandria’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade may have come and gone, but there are plenty more festivities coming to Alexandria celebrating the Emerald Isle.
Across the city, upcoming events include multiple bar crawls, live performances of Irish music and a feline-friendly “St. Catrick’s Day” at Mount Purrnon Cat Café + Wine Bar.
Free Lyft rides will be available on St. Patrick’s Day as part of a D.C.-area nonprofit’s efforts to curb drunk driving.
Free rides totaling up to $15 will be available on Lyft from 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 17 through 4 a.m. the next morning, courtesy of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program’s SoberRide initiative.
Festivals and other events in celebration of Lunar New Year have started in Alexandria, kicking off the Year of the Horse.
Lunar New Year officially begins on Tuesday, Feb. 17, but some festivities are happening before then. The holiday is celebrated in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and numerous other Asian cultures, marking the start of the 15-day Spring Festival.
SoberRide, the initiative that has been offering free Lyft rides home in the D.C. area this holiday season, will continue to operate for New Year’s Eve.
Rides will become available starting at 10 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) and lasting until 4 a.m. tomorrow. During that period, residents 21 and older can enter a promotional code into Lyft’s “Payment” tab to receive a ride home. Tonight’s promotional code will be posted at 9 p.m. on www.SoberRide.com.
Friends of Guest House residents will have a comfy new year, as more than 75 sets of new pajamas and cozy socks were donated to the nonprofit and handed out on Christmas Eve.
The donations are enough to keep the residents outfitted with pajamas for an entire year, and were made possible by Maureen Clyne, a local realtor, who started the holiday effort seven years ago.
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.
Alexandria and the rest of the D.C. area are expected to see a record-breaking amount of travel through New Year’s Day this holiday season.
Holiday travel is ramping up nationwide, with an estimated 3.4 million Virginians predicted to drive at least 50 miles from home between Dec. 20 and Jan. 1. They join a record-breaking 122.4 million estimated travelers across the country, according to the American Automobile Association.
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.
