Good morning, Alexandria! Today is Wednesday, Sept. 10, the 253rd day of 2025. There are 112 days left in the year.
☀️ Today’s weather: A chance of showers, mainly before 8 a.m. Cloudy, with a high near 72. North wind around 9 mph. The chance of precipitation is 30%. Mostly cloudy tonight, with a low around 59. North wind 3 to 6 mph.
About 50 family members, friends, and city officials gathered at Alexandria City Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 9, to celebrate the city’s 13 centenarians during the annual recognition ceremony.
The event, held in the Vola Lawson Lobby, honored residents age 100 and older with personalized birthday displays, music from the Alexandria Citizens Band, and a decorated sheet cake reading “Celebrating Alexandria’s Centenarians!”
Alexandria celebrated its 276th and the U.S.’s 249th birthday in style along the Potomac River at Oronoco Bay Park on Saturday (July 12).
Thousands attended the annual event. For about four hours, the park was turned into a maze of beach blankets, lawn chairs, and barefoot kids with lightsabers and bubble guns. Flanked onstage by City Council and city staff, Mayor Alyia Gaskins and Poet Laureate Maria Cristina Donoso made brief remarks before the program was turned over to the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, which wrapped up in time for a spectacular fireworks show (see video below).
Alexandria’s Market Square was covered in rainbows Saturday for the City’s 8th Annual Pride Fair.
The event included dozens of vendors from businesses, nonprofits and the city. Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley read a city proclamation to the audience that exemplified the city’s support of the LGBTQ+ community. Inside City Hall, young children and their families listened to drag queen story hour with queen Lemon X Fluiditea.
Against a backdrop of political and economic uncertainty, Alexandria’s City Council unanimously adopted its $956.5 million operating budget.
City Manager Jim Parajon said it was challenging crafting a budget that keeps city services without increasing real estate or property taxes. The city’s budget grew 3.2% over the current fiscal year, with its largest line item being a fully-funded Alexandria City Public Schools, as well as significant stormwater management funding for the city’s $2.1 billion FY 2026 – 2035 Capital Improvement Program.
Role model, history maker and mayor — being Mayor of Alexandria is more than just chairing meetings. On Wednesday (April 2), Mayor Alyia Gaskins was honored with a party by her peers as the first Black female mayor of the city.
The event, which wasn’t a fundraiser, was held at Junction Bakery & Bistro (1508 Mount Vernon Avenue) in Del Ray, and was organized by City Council Member Jacinta Greene, retired Sheriff Dana Lawhorne, and Monika Chapman.
After years under development, the ribbon was cut today on the new synthetic turf sports field at Patrick Henry K-8 School.
It took six years to construct the field in front of the renovated West End school at 4643 Taney Avenue, which reopened next to the old school in early 2019.
Got an issue to raise to local leaders in Alexandria? Later this month, City Council will hold a town hall meeting to get feedback and discuss upcoming projects.
The meeting will be held on Saturday, March 29, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Redella S. “Del” Pepper Community Resource Center (4850 Mark Center Drive) in the city’s West End.
Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins and the new City Council were sworn into office on Thursday (Jan. 2), ushering in a new era of city governance with the new year.
Gaskins is the first Black woman to be elected mayor of the city. She stood alongside her husband and two children and took the oath of office from Clerk of the Court Greg Parks onstage at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center (4915 E. Campus Drive) at Northern Virginia Community College’s Alexandria campus.
Pretty soon email inboxes won’t get those monthly newsletters from Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson. It’s the end of an era in the city, as Wilson leaves office in January.
Wilson is looking forward to it.
Alexandria City Council Member Sarah Bagley won the most votes in Tuesday’s election, making her the presumptive vice mayor-elect.
Bagley won a second term, receiving 42,291 votes in Tuesday’s election, just 664 votes more than Council Member John Taylor Chapman, who got the second-most votes with 41,627 votes.
