Friday Download, 12/27: Menorah lightings, a Harry Potter movie marathon and Fredericksburg’s Riverside Christmas Spectacular

The weekend forecast and things to do, plus the week’s top Fairfax County headlines

Dec 27, 2024

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Happy Friday, all. I used my first extended stretch of time off in a while to watch one movie every day, and The Machine reluctantly must acknowledge: Chalamet has done it again.

Here are the holiday week’s top local headlines, a rainy-but-warmer forecast for the weekend, and 11 ways to spend it around NoVA — from comedy shows to Fredericksburg’s singing-and-dancing Christmas extravaganza.

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Local news I read this week

Business and development 📈

Businesses keep flocking to Fairfax County’s entertainment hubs, helping retail thrive (WTOP)

Criminal justice and public safety 🚓

Culture ✌️

Education 📖

How Fairfax’s middle school cellphone pilot program is working (WTOP)
15-year-old graduates from GMU with a 4.0 GPA (Northern Virginia Mag)

Transportation 🚍

Inside the loneliest Metro stop: Loudoun Gateway (WaPo)

Weekend weather (from the National Weather Service)

Friday: Partly sunny, with clouds and a chance of rain come evening. Highs in the lower 40s, lows in the upper 30s. ⛅
Saturday: Rainy, with patchy fog. Temps will hover in the upper 40s. 🌧️
Sunday: Rainy and windy. Highs in the lower 60s, lows in the upper 40s. 🌧️

Things to do

🎤 End 2024 with a maybe-needed laugh by seeing:

Cedric the Entertainer host a(n early) New Year’s Comedy Jam at EagleBank Arena (Friday, 8 p.m.; tickets start at $59)
A lineup at Crystal City Sports Pub led by Casey James Salengo (Friday, 8 p.m.; tickets start at $20)
Purcellville’s Last Ham Standing Comedy Improv (Saturday, 8 to 10 p.m.; tickets start at $10)

🎄 Keep your Christmas celebrations going with:

Fredericksburg’s Riverside Christmas Spectacular (performances through Sunday; tickets start at $60 without dinner)
A Very Maysa Christmas at the Birchmere in Alexandria, starring jazz singer Maysa Leak and her 11-piece Jazz Funk Soul Orchestra (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; $69.50)

🎉 If your kids are too young to stay up until midnight on Tuesday, fake it with the Oakton Library’s Noon Year’s Eve Party (Saturday, 11:30 a.m.)

⚡ Marathon the last four Harry Potter movies at Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse (Sunday, starting at 11:30 a.m.; $15 for full marathon, or $8 for one movie)

🐾 Spend an afternoon with Paw Patrol characters and (an impersonator of) Taylor Swift at Shipgarten’s Kids & Family Festival (Sunday, noon to 6; free)

🕎 Eat latkes and donuts, listen to music, and see menorah lightings at:

Kidwell Farm at Frying Pan Farm Park, featuring its annual Chocolate Gelt Drop (Sunday, 4 p.m.)
Springfield Town Center, featuring a magician, face-painting and an attempt to “build Nova’s largest bubble gum Menorah” (Sunday, 4:30 to 6 p.m.; free, but RSVP “appreciated”)
Light Up Arlington, featuring a nine-foot-tall menorah (Sunday, 5 to 7 p.m.; free, but registration required)

Ongoing winter events

Speaking of Harry Potter, Leesburg’s “Forbidden Forest Experience” runs through Jan. 26.
Meadowlark Botanical Gardens’ Winter Walk of Lights (in Vienna), Bull Run Regional Park’s drive-through Festival of Lights (in Centreville) and Cameron Run Regional Park’s Winter Village (in Alexandria) are all operating through Jan. 5.
Reston Town Center’s ice-skating rink is open through the end of January.

My plans

We’re driving back today from celebrating Christmas in New Jersey so we can continue celebrating Hanukkah in Reston (and eat some Korean BBQ).

Now that we’re suburbanites, do we still have what it takes to stay up till midnight on New Year’s Eve? I guess we’ll find out.

Share this post with someone you could watch a whole Harry Potter marathon with.