Local authors and artists will converge in Old Town later this month for the inaugural Alexandria Book and Craft Festival.
The free event from Elaine’s Literary Salon and Made in Alexandria will be held Oct. 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the Tavern Square courtyard behind 415 King Street in Old Town’s Historic District. More than 15 artists and 25 authors will be on hand to display and sell their work.
There’s a new gym just off Duke Street in Alexandria.
Over the weekend, the ribbon was cut at KRISSFIT at 3014 Colvin Street, near the intersection of Roth and Duke Streets. The gym is owned by personal trainers Kriss and Viktoria Baychev, who specialize in core training, nutrition, strength training, endurance training, and bodybuilding.
A local Muay Thai dojo recently moved to a new location in Alexandria.
Atlas Muay Thai Gym opened earlier this month in its new location at 2395 S. Dove Street. The gym opened in 2023 in a former CrossFit gym at 215 N. Payne Street, part of The Link coworking office, and is owned by Muay Thai world champion Amine “The Lion” Ballafrikh.
A local bakery just got a big order with a twist, literally.
Bread and Water Co. in the Belle View Shopping Center is now the pretzel maker for Capital One Arena. Throughout the hockey and basketball seasons, as well as during concerts and special events, customers can expect to find pretzels made by Bread and Water’s bakery in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County.
Fragrance boutique Arielle Shoshana is planning to open across the street from City Hall in Old Town in November.
The company planned to open at 313 Cameron Street over the summer, and has a sign on the door with a QR code. The code leads to the company website with the message, “After 10 years as D.C/’s first niche fragrance boutique, Arielle Shoshana is bringing out curated collection of exceptional, exclusive fragrances to Cameron Street!”
Welcome to Friday, Alexandria. Here’s a look at the top stories of the week.
ALXnow’s top story this week is on the man who was struck by a train at the Potomac Yard Metro station on September 22 and later died at George Washington University Hospital. Metro Transit Police stated at the time that the man had trespassed onto the tracks, and an investigation revealed that he was being chased by two alleged fare evaders: a 17-year-old female and an 18-year-old female, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.
A Playa Bowls franchise just submitted paperwork with the city to open at 1229 King Street in Old Town.
The quick-service restaurant will sell “fruit bowls, oatmeal bowls, smoothies, and juices for takeout and pickup,” according to the special use permit (SUP) filed with the city. The chain was founded in New Jersey in 2014, and there are now more than 300 Playa Bowls locations nationwide, with the nearest one in Arlington, located at 2055 15th Street.
Are you a friend of Dorothy?
Since World War II, the coded question has been used to determine whether someone is queer. Now, Dorothy Edwards is using the phrase as the name for the first-ever LGBTQ+ focused cafe in Alexandria. For the last several months, Edwards has been raising money to cover six months of operating expenses at a yet-to-be-determined space, build-out of the space, and equipment. She says that once the cafe is up and running, it’s all she wants to do for the rest of her life.
Two Alexandria companies were recently honored with top public relations awards.
Spotted MP and Meraki Communications Group were named to the PR Net 100 2025, a distinction recognizing the top-performing firms in the world of public relations. The winners were presented with the awards on Sept. 17 in New York City, and chosen from a panel of experts, including L’Oréal Vice President Jackie Staub; Saba Landmann, a senior vice president for Marriott; Brian Strong, Bloomberg Media’s global head of communications; Jessica Stacey, a senior vice president for Sephora; and Colleen Leahy, an executive director with The Estee Lauder Companies.
Several Alexandria businesses are offering discounts and freebies to federal employees affected by the government shutdown.
Made in ALX (415 King Street) is offering discounts on workshops, has items on sale, and is putting out one of their artists’ 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles for anyone to work on during regular business hours. “I’m in a federal family, and have gone through several shutdowns in the past,” Beth Lawton, a cofounder of Made In ALX, told us. “I know firsthand how stressful it is, and if we can make things easier on people affected this year, we’re happy to do that.”
In the event of a government shutdown Wednesday, two Alexandria restaurants are offering impacted federal employees free food.
Pork Barrel BBQ (2312 Mount Vernon Avenue) and Sweet Fire Donna’s (510 John Carlyle Street) are offering a free pulled pork sandwich to federal employees who bring their IDs to the restaurant. The deal is limited to one sandwich per day per federal employee Monday through Friday. Both restaurants are owned by Bill Blackburn and “Mango” Mike Anderson of the Homegrown Restaurant Group.
