After the Northern Virginia Christmas Market was canceled the first weekend of November, an Alexandria holiday market wants to welcome vendors needing an outlet to showcase their products.
The volunteer-run Markets for Good will host The Gratitude Exchange, a free holiday market at Patrick Henry Recreation Center (4653 Taney Avenue) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12. All booth fees will support Volunteer Alexandria’s TOYS4alx and Center for Alexandria’s Children’s ALX Closet.
About six years ago, John Magri and Adam Froemming met while coaching their boys in Alexandria Little League. Now they’ve teamed up for a new pitch to the community: a place to practice indoors year round.
The veteran-owned D-BAT ALX West End opened Nov. 2 at 6200 D Little River Turnpike just outside city limits in Lincolnia. The 15,000-square-foot facility includes 10 batting cages, three machines throwing baseballs and softballs at varying speeds, five cages for hitting and infield lessons, two dedicated pitching lanes and a Rawlings and Easton pro shop.
The owner of the future Rosie’s Tavern in Del Ray is asking the city to allow for 49 outdoor seats.
The restaurant’s Instagram page says that it aims to open in November at 2018 Mount Vernon Avenue. That’s in the former longtime home of Thai Peppers, which closed over the summer.
Old Town retailer Red Barn Mercantile is wasting no time getting ready for the holiday season.
Red Barn Mercantile (1117 King Street) will host its 18th annual Holiday Unveiling from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday (Nov. 5) along with owner Amy Rutherford’s other stores, Penny Post (1201 King Street) and Pippin Toy Co. (1310 King Street).
Four restaurants in the Alexandria area have been named among the region’s best for 2026 by Northern Virginia Magazine, though only two are located in the city proper.
While the city’s dining scene was completely left out of the magazine’s ranked top 10, which were unveiled last Friday (Oct. 16), it received a bit more love in the full list of Northern Virginia’s 50 Best Restaurants released at noon today (Wednesday).
Halloween festivities are starting to ramp up in Alexandria as October continues on.
This weekend, the “Thriller” Zombie Flash Mob descends upon Old Town, retailers will host the new Sticker Treat sticker crawl, and the Spooky Mad Science Expo returns for an 11th year at Patrick Henry Recreation Center. The Ethiopian Fall Festival has also been rescheduled for this weekend.
A new sticker crawl will join the spooky season festivities this month in Old Town and throughout the city.
Old Town retailer Penny Post is hosting the first-ever Sticker Treat, a Halloween sticker crawl, from Friday, Oct. 16 to Sunday, Oct. 18. Ticketed participants at Penny Post (1201 King Street) will receive a reusable sticker book and treat map designed by local design studio No Plan. Using the map, they can locate where to find stickers and show the sticker book at each participating business to gain a sticker.
After living nearly 100 years in Alexandria, Pat McArtor celebrated her birthday by singing jazz hits in Del Ray on Thursday night (Oct. 8).
McArtor couldn’t miss her weekly Thursday night gig with the Not So Modern Jazz Quartet at St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub (2300 Mount Vernon Avenue). This week, the coffee pub was packed to celebrate the band’s oldest performer, and she sang “Baby Face,” “It Don’t Mean A Thing If You Ain’t Got That Swing” and more.
After years of treating patients with preventable chronic illnesses, Nicole Batts wanted to leave the healthcare industry and help people get healthy before reaching the hospital.
Batts took over ownership of Old Town’s Fitness Together Alexandria (300 N Washington Street, Suite 106) in 2019. That comes after working in nursing in the surgical intensive care unit at Washington Hospital Center, the emergency room at Inova Loudoun Hospital and nursing manager of the clinical cardiac rehab program at Inova Fairfax Hospital.
Despite spots of rain, thousands of people attended the 31st annual Art on the Avenue festival in Del Ray on Saturday (Oct. 6).
Hundreds of juried artists sold their work, live music was performed on four stages and the event welcomed a number of new businesses to the neighborhood. The event also shut down Mount Vernon Avenue from Hume to Bellefonte Avenues.
Two West End restaurants that were forced to close for more than a month after a delivery truck driver hit a power line behind the Shoppes at Foxchase are reopening on Thursday (Oct. 1).
ALXnow confirmed that La Casa Restaurant (4551 Duke Street) and Hong Kong Express (4545 Duke Street) will reopen with their normal operating hours. No other businesses were affected.
