Arlington Connection

Ninety-three-year old Alease Brooks, wearing one of her signature pickleball outfits, readies her serve at 4-4. She has already competed in five Northern Virginia Senior Olympics (NVSO) events and is headed for rock climbing for ages 70-99 on Thursday, Oct. 1. Brooks says every year her children give her a new pickleball outfit to wear during the competition. Today she is wearing last year’s fluorescent green, having initiated this year’s dual pink ensemble last Friday.

Neighbors drove by for months, curious about the large vacant building that had been a Giant Grocery Store at the Lyon Village Shopping Center for 60 years until it closed two years ago. They got their answer when a new Sprouts organic grocery opened in its place on Friday, Sept. 25. Cars circled the parking lot starting early Friday morning, waiting to grab any space that became available and grab a free tote bag.

Latin music livens the Kiwanis Club of Arlington Health Fair at Carlin Springs Elementary School on Saturday. The event is the third annual collaboration between the Arlington Kiwanis Club and Virginia Hospital Center (VHC) Health Division. The first thing you notice is the long line waiting on the far side of the room for free eye tests. The eye test is followed by the opportunity to choose a pair of free reading glasses and a pair of sunglasses from a selection donated by the Lions.

“Barry Barnett Keith: An American Artist” will open with a reception at the FOTHA Gallery on October 2 at 4:30 pm and will run until December 18. Keith says this is his 26th solo show and his third at the FOTHA Gallery. Keith explains this show features a variety of 11 landscapes, and you will see the play of light. He explains this show features new color choices and different perspectives of landscape painting he has never done before.

Those still up at midnight on Saturday, September 5 watched as the clock clicked off on their microwave, their computer shut down, the tv screen went blank just at the best part of their movie, and all their lights suddenly disappeared, leaving them in total darkness. Others didn’t discover the power outage until the next morning when they started to prepare breakfast and discovered their refrigerator temperature had dropped to 42 degrees.

For many in public safety, 9/11 did not end in 2001; it continues to claim lives through fatal cancers and chronic diseases contracted during post-attack operations. The 25th Anniversary 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony at the Fairfax County Public Safety Headquarters Members of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department leadership render a salute during the national anthem at the 25th Anniversary 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony at Public Safety Headquarters.

Jacqueline Jules was a local school teacher and librarian when 911 hit the Pentagon. “Everyone still remembers where they were that day. It was a conversation for days, and every year when the anniversary came up, they talked about it. “But I discovered children in Arlington may have known about the Twin Towers in New York but didn’t seem to know what happened at the Pentagon, the seat of our military, in their own backyard.

It’s Aug. 31, that time of year again in Arlington. Backpacks are loaded with number 2 pencils and composition books. Excited but slightly anxious children squirm in their school bus seats. Newly polished and welcoming classrooms stand ready for the first day of school. Additional speed cameras have been installed and will be in operation before and after school during the week.

On Aug. 15, 2026, the Afghanistan Refugee Rescue Organization (ARRO‑USA) hosted a conference titled “Remembrance, Truth, Solidarity and Action” at the North County Governmental Center in Reston. The event — one of several held nationwide on the fifth anniversary of the fall of Kabul — brought together evacuees, local officials, and advocates to confront ongoing resettlement hurdles following emergency airlifts to nearby Dulles International Airport. The conference mixed gratitude with frustration.

Arlington resident Janine Ali was standing at the starting line at the Gaza 5K race on Saturday morning, Sept. 22, to support her son and grandson. Ali is a Palestinian-American, born in Dearborn, Mich. Her son, Jehad Ali, now lives in Centreville.