While Black Friday is just around the corner, the holiday shopping season will begin in earnest for many this weekend with the return of holiday marketplaces and bazaars across Northern Virginia.
While one of the best-known events in the local area, the Northern Virginia Christmas Market, was cancelled, Fairfax County will still have plenty of markets to check out over the next few weeks — including a virtual option for those who prefer to do their shopping at home.
For many in Northern Virginia, there’s a small upside to the days getting dark at 5 p.m.: holiday lights are back. By this weekend, all three of NOVA Parks’ popular lights shows will be open.
Meadowlark Botanical Garden’s Winter Walk of Lights already opened for the season yesterday (Nov. 11), while the Festival of Lights at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville and Bright Nights at Cameron Run Regional Park in the City of Alexandria will open Saturday (Nov. 14).
Reston Town Center is shaking up its annual holiday parade.
Set to return for a 34th year on Black Friday (Nov. 27), the popular celebration will no longer include some of the larger balloons or horse-drawn carriage rides featured in the past, says a spokesperson for BXP, the main property owner and developer behind the town center.
For the last four years, Krissy Reynolds has loaded up her truck with colorful handmade soaps, then driven more than three hours from Roanoke to Northern Virginia, ready to greet the crowds streaming in at the Northern Virginia Christmas Market at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly.
When the Chantilly events center closed at the end of 2025 to make way for an IKEA, Events Management Group (EMG), the company that organizes the Christmas market, shifted to a new venue: the DTC Expo & Events Center, which was anticipated to open this fall at Dulles Town Center in Sterling.
Hoping to alleviate parents’ concerns about the frequency of disruptions this school year, the Fairfax County School Board has backed a calendar for the upcoming academic year that cuts down on the number of early-release days and nixes Veterans Day as a holiday.
At its meeting Thursday (April 9), the board debated the calendar for the upcoming school year in an effort to cut down on weeks with fewer than five days of classes.
As the current school year enters its final stretch, the Fairfax County School Board is considering tweaking the calendar for the next year in response to mounting complaints about disruptions to class schedules.
At the board’s meeting tomorrow (Thursday), members led by governance committee chair Melanie Meren will propose nixing Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Veterans Day as official student holidays and limiting the number of scheduled early release days to four per year.
For many small businesses, the holiday shopping season is the most critical time of the year, determining their ability to continue operating, and Mode on Main by Mara is no exception.
The lifestyle boutique in Old Town Fairfax shared on Instagram this week that had processed 611 orders at that point since Nov. 1, leaving it shy of the 1,000 orders it says are needed to ensure it can keep its doors open at 10417 Main Street in 2026.
All is bright for the Town of Vienna’s volunteer fire department headed into the thick of the holiday season.
A recent fundraising campaign organized to provide upkeep for Santa’s special sleigh — a 79-year-old antique fire engine — shattered the initial goal by more than $27,000, the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department announced last week.
Vending machines that encourage charitable giving are returning to Tysons Corner Center just in time for the holidays.
The Light the World Giving Machines, which are sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, will be unveiled outside the AMC Theatres (7850 Tysons Corner Center) at noon tomorrow (Saturday) and continue operations through Jan. 4.
Though fall leaves are still clinging to many trees, wintry events have already started to take over the calendar in Fairfax County.
In addition to Tysons Corner Center’s previously reported holiday lineup, the coming weeks will bring the return of ice skating to Reston Town Center, an expanded McLean Winterfest Parade, multiple Santa photo opportunities and other festive attractions for both Christmas devotees and agnostics.
