Author: Mary Stachyra Lopez

Mary Stachyra Lopez is a staff reporter covering business, public safety, education, and other community issues for Local News Now. She has previously worked at Patch.com, the Arlington Catholic Herald, and The Atlantic.

Around Town

King Arthur Baking Company to close Fairfax Corner pop-up this June

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
King Arthur Baking Company's pop-up store in Fairfax Corner (Staff photo by Mary Stachyra Lopez)

King Arthur Baking Company’s popular pop-up store at Fairfax Corner is getting ready to close, as the company shifts its focus to a permanent location coming later this year to Northern Virginia.

The pop-up at 11948 Grand Commons Avenue, which opened in September 2024, is slated to close on June 25. As of yesterday (Monday), the remaining inventory is on sale until the store’s closure.

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News

New U.S. citizens celebrate end of long journeys at Gunston Hall, home of founding father

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
Candidates raise their hands and repeat the oath of allegiance that makes their citizenship official during a naturalization ceremony at Gunston Hall on June 12. (Staff photo by Mary Stachyra Lopez)

Fifty new citizens took an oath of allegiance to the U.S. last week during a naturalization ceremony held at a founding father’s home 250 years to the day that Virginia adopted his seminal prelude to the Declaration of Independence.

As part of two days of “Declaration Day” festivities, citizens from 17 different countries on Friday (June 12) raised their right hands and promised to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States” on the grounds of Gunston Hall, once owned by George Mason, who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights.

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Centreville ‘town center’ concept wins planning commission’s support

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
New Braddock Road near Centre Ridge Elementary School in Centreville (Staff photo by Mary Stachyra Lopez)

A proposed amendment to Fairfax County’s comprehensive plan that could transform Centreville over the next few decades gained a key endorsement from the county’s planning commission this week.

The commission voted Wednesday (June 10) to recommend adoption of the amendment, which envisions a more walkable 2,700-acre area with a defined “town center,” more affordable and mixed-use housing, and enhanced public transportation.

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Around Town

IKEA assembles Chantilly store for opening next week

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
IKEA's new store in Chantilly, at the site of the former Dulles Expo Center (staff photo by Mary Stachyra Lopez)

IKEA will open its new Chantilly store at the site of the former Dulles Expo Center on June 18, the company announced yesterday.

The 107,000 square-foot space at 4320 Chantilly Shopping Center Drive is the Swedish furniture company’s first full-sized store in Fairfax County and its third in Virginia.

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Mount Vernon debuts $20 million redesigned education center as ‘birthday gift to America’

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
A look inside the new exhibition, “George Washington: A Revolutionary Life” (Courtesy Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)

Just in time for the nation’s 250th birthday, an immersive new exhibit that includes household objects owned by the first president will open inside a fully reimagined education center at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

A ribbon cutting for the $20 million transformation — touted by Mount Vernon officials as a “birthday gift to America” — is slated for today (June 11).

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Fairfax City Council unanimously updates noise restrictions, adds criminal penalty

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
Traffic on North Street in Fairfax City passes the clock in Old Town Square (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

The Fairfax City Council has unanimously approved an updated noise ordinance that clarifies the maximum possible sound levels, tweaks the hours the law is applicable, and gives the city more ability to enforce noise violations — including a new criminal penalty intended for rare cases.

Passed at yesterday’s city council meeting, the ordinance expands prohibitions on certain noises that are currently banned from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Starting July 15, restrictions will change to be in effect from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. daily.

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Around Town

Reston community invited to ‘Play All Day’ with free recreational activities

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
Paddleboats docked at Lake Anne Plaza in Reston (file photo)

Reston residents will have many free ways to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors as part of Play All Day VA celebrations, which fall on Father’s Day this year.

As a part of a statewide initiative to get residents active in their own communities, Reston Association is offering a number of activities at its facilities that are free or reduced in price on June 21, the longest day of the year.

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Around Town

DMV Chocolate & Coffee Festival finds new venues after four years at Dulles Expo Center

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
Shoppers browse at the 2025 DMV Chocolate and Coffee Festival (Courtesy DMV Chocolate and Coffee Festival)

When the owners of the Dulles Expo Center announced last fall that the building would be turned into an IKEA, the husband-and-wife team that hosts the DMV Chocolate & Coffee Festival had to move quickly to find a new venue for 2026 — one capable of hosting over 200 small businesses and artisans, and thousands of visitors.

Now, co-founders John and Lindsay Hill have not only found a new venue to keep the festival running in its fifth anniversary year. They’re also expanding to a second location.

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Three teenagers accused of ‘grab and run’ thefts in Tysons

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
Clothes reportedly stolen from stores in Tysons and Merrifield on June 3, 2026 (courtesy FCPD)

Fairfax County detectives have charged three teenagers with grand larceny after recovering more than $4,500 of allegedly stolen merchandise from a vehicle the trio was in, following reports of multiple thefts in Tysons.

According to the Fairfax County Police Department, detectives from the Tysons Urban Team responded to a report of a larceny at a store in the 1900 block of Chain Bridge Road in Tysons around 12:38 p.m. on June 3.

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New documentary tells story of students who challenged Virginia’s Jim Crow bus law

By Mary Stachyra Lopez
NOVA Parks historian Paul McCray stands in front of a plaque installed at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in honor of Howard University students who protested Jim Crow in 1944 (Courtesy NOVA Parks)

In 1944, eight young black women boarded a segregated bus heading from Fairfax County to D.C. and sat in the front area, setting in motion a fierce challenge to Virginia’s Jim Crow laws.

The Howard University students’ story is the subject of a new, nine-minute documentary released last week by NOVA Parks and Howard University, “The Student Bus Protest That Challenged Jim Crow.”

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