Reston’s Halley Rise development to feature new urban farm, fall festival

Halley Rise — a major mixed use development at the door of the Reston Town Center Metro station — will debut its inaugural Halley Rise Fall Festival on Oct. 22.

The event, which includes live music, food and activities, also kicks off the introduction of the Farm at Halley Rise, an urban farm by Up Top Acres that grows food and donates products to organizations that work to reduce food insecurity.

Just under half an acre in size, the farm includes more than 30 vegetable, herb and fruit crops, along with beehives, a native flower garden, a rain garden and a meadow. The farm is intended to provide Cornerstones Food pantry and other local food security organizations with produce.

“At Up Top Acres, our goal is to create productive farms and gardens that foster a sense of community,” Up Top Acres co-founder Kathleen O’Keefe said. “We’re excited to welcome the Farm at Halley Rise into our portfolio and partner with Brookfield to reduce food insecurity and work toward a more equitable food ecosystem.”

Brookfield Properties broke ground on the project in 2019 and has since focused on building The Edmund, a 353-unit apartment building that includes a pool, terrace, and fitness center. The apartment building, which will house Wegmans on the ground floor, is slated to open in spring 2023.

Robert Swennes, Brookfield’s head of the mid-Atlantic and southeast region, said that the festival is part of an ongoing effort to make the development a vibrant community and destination in Reston.

“We are excited to welcome friends and families from across Northern Virginia for a day full of autumnal festivities, live music, delicious food and more, plus the grand opening of our new urban farm — all together should make for a wonderful celebration at Halley Rise,” Swennes wrote in a statement.

The festival will include scavenger hunts, a pumpkin painting station, a bouquet making stand, farm tours, lawn games and performances by local bluegrass band High & Wides. Pepe by Jose Andres, a food truck, will also serve up Spanish flat sandwiches.

At full build-out, Halley Rise will bring 1,600 residential units, 1.9-million-square-feet of office space, 240,000 square feet of retail, five acres of open space and associated infrastructure to the area.

A spokesperson for Brookfield Properties told FFXnow that the company plans to find other ways to engage the local community.

“Following this year’s event, we will continue to explore ways to offer family-friendly programming for the community,” the spokesperson said.