The last weekend of May brings a variety of activities, from spring markets to the city’s D-Day tribute.
Shoppers can check out the Carlyle Crossing Spring Hue Market Friday and Volunteer Alexandria and Made in ALX Arts & Crafts Fairs Sunday. Foodies will get a chance Saturday to try Little Birdie before it opens in Del Ray later in June.
The Hotel Heron in Old Town wants to add live DJ entertainment at its rooftop restaurant, according to a plan going before the Planning Commission next week.
The 134-room boutique hotel at 699 Prince Street, near the intersection with S. Washington Street, opened in 2024 and is owned by the Aparium Hotel Group. The hotel’s rooftop restaurant, Good Fortune, opened soon after, and now the hotel owners are asking the city to approve DJ and live music Thursday to Sunday nights.
Just in time for the hot summer months, Old Town’s ice cream scene continues to expand with the arrival of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.
The New York City-based ice cream brand has announced it will hold a grand opening on Thursday, June 18 for its new shop at 400 King Street. Customers can receive celebratory $1 scoops from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on opening day, and the first 100 guests will get a branded tote bag.
The City of Alexandria will celebrate the Croatian National Team’s use of the city as a home base during the World Cup with a welcome event next month.
The city will host “Flavors & Sounds of Croatia – Alexandria” from 5-8 p.m. Saturday, June 6 at Waterfront Park (1 Prince Street) to celebrate Croatian heritage. The event is free to attend. The Croatian National Football Team will not be in attendance.
An earlier version of the story said “Analog Bag Weekend” would occur this weekend, but businesses have updated the event timing to June 12-14.
Five local businesses in Old Town are hosting a weekend of discounts to encourage hands-on, screen-free activities.
After 20 years in journalism, Beth Lawton says she’s traded the stress of deadlines for the stress of owning a business in Old Town.
In addition to being a mom with two kids, Lawton has spent the last five years selling handmade items from dozens of local artists at her shop, Made In ALX. At the end of 2024, she had to hang up her journalism hat as the publisher of Alexandria Living Magazine and at least temporarily left behind a long career in journalism.
More details have been released regarding the former D.C. police officer facing more than two dozen felony sexual assault charges in Alexandria.
Timothy Valentin, 30, of Fort Washington, Md., goes to court in August on charges of rape by force, rape by incapacitation and abduction with intent to defile after a sexual assault that allegedly occurred in the overnight hours between Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13, 2025.
As Alexandria prepares for a major waterfront festival next month, the Office of Historic Alexandria is seeking hundreds of volunteers to assist with four tall ship tours.
The city put out a call for volunteers to take shifts at the Sails on the Potomac waterfront festival from June 12-14, one of the city’s America250 events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. A highlight of the three-day festival will be free timed tours of four tall ships — Swedish Navy warship replica Kalmar Nyckel, Royal Navy schooner replica Sultana, historic fishing vessel Gazela and Alexandria’s own Continental Navy ship replica Providence.
Alexandria’s Amy Decker can’t say exactly what happens in her upcoming appearance on Food Network’s new show “100 Cooks.” Still, she felt comfortable enough to say that she didn’t win the $250,000 final prize but told ALXnow, “I got pretty damn far.”
Decker lives in Old Town with her husband and started cooking in 2020 while working as a staff operations officer for the CIA’s director of operations. She says she learned everything from cookbooks and that same year started Decker Delights, creating how-to videos for people stuck at home during the pandemic. That same year, she applied to be on a Food Network show hosted by Valerie Bertinelli, but it didn’t get picked up.
Alexandria’s world champion whistler Chris Ullman has his sights — and lips — set on whistling at an NFL game and before the Pope.
Ullman, the subject of a recent Wall Street Journal profile, sat down with ALXnow to talk about being a four-time national and international whistling champion (1994, 1996, 1999 and 2000) and the author of the memoir “Find Your Whistle.” Ullman has whistled for President George W. Bush and top administration officials in the oval office, on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno and “The Today Show” with Katie Couric, at Major League Baseball games, college basketball games, with jazz bands and symphony orchestras, and even a funeral.
In 2023, Jess Moak left behind a career as a program manager for large nonprofits to start her own interior design shop in Old Town.
The New York native opened her store Eries Interiors opened Eries Interiors at a 300-square-foot space at 101 S. St. Asaph Street in October 2024. The following month, a fire next door at 103 S. St. Asaph Street temporarily shuttered three women-owned businesses. The landlord spent nearly a year renovating the 1,800-square-foot space and approached Moak with a proposal to help design the interior and move in. Last October, Moak signed a lease and opened in time for Black Friday at 103 S. St. Asaph Street.
