The Mosaic District will celebrate an unusually long cherry blossom season this weekend with the return of its annual Art Blooms festival.
Organized in partnership with the National Cherry Blossom Festival, the two-day event will bring artisan and farmers’ markets, live entertainment and family-friendly activities to the Merrifield neighborhood from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday (April 6-7).
Typically open on Sundays, FreshFarm’s farmers market will also be present at the Mosaic District this Saturday for the Art Blooms festival. More than 50 local produce and food vendors are expected, along with a pumpkin painting area for kids.
An additional 90 vendors selling artwork, clothes and other handmade goods will be on site from URBN Market.
Festival emcee Tommy McFly will kick off the live entertainment around 10:45 a.m. on both days.
Saturday, April 6
- 11 a.m. — Vienna Singing Princesses
- Noon — The Cassaday Concoction
- 2 p.m. — A Mosaic Partners Fashion Show
- 4 p.m. — The Significant Others
Sunday, April 7
- 11 a.m. — Vienna Singing Princesses
- 11:15 a.m. — Tiny Dancers
- 12:30 p.m. — School of Rock
- 4 p.m. — So Fetch
Other attractions will include a games corner, spring-themed selfie stations created by the Merrifield Garden Center and the option to sip cocktails from participating restaurants in the Mosaic District while walking outside.
Complimentary shuttles will be provided from the Dunn Loring Metro station, according to the event page.
The famed Yoshino cherry trees at the Tidal Basin in D.C. reached peak bloom — when 70% of their flowers have opened — on March 17, the second-earliest date on record. But inconsistent weather this spring has kept trees around the D.C. area flowering for much longer than usual, according to the Washington Post.
In addition to attending Art Blooms at Mosaic, those looking to celebrate the extended bloom without leaving Fairfax County can still visit the Children’s Science Center lab in Fair Oaks Mall, where they can make a kite and origami and partake in an educational scavenger hunt. Timed tickets are available for $15.
Though it’s not part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival this time, the Tysons Community Alliance is bringing back its Pedal with Petals Family Bicycle Ride. This year’s event will take place on May 11 during National Bike Month at the Tysons Concourse business park (1593 Spring Hill Road).
Registration for family and advanced bicycle rides is now open. There will also be a food truck, free bike repairs, a DJ and other activities.
Merrifield will welcome a new kids’ clothing store next month, just in time for parents to update their little ones’ wardrobes for the spring.
The Beaufort Bonnet Company will open its first retail store in the D.C. area on March 2 at 2920 District Avenue, Suite 143, in the Mosaic District.
Headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, the business focuses on clothes and accessories for babies and young children, but it also stocks some shirts, swimwear and lounge wear for adults.
“The Beaufort Bonnet Company is a children’s lifestyle brand,” a company spokesperson said. “Our mission is to make babyhood and childhood special. We encourage parents to dress their little ones up and take lots of pictures. They are only little for a little while — we believe it’s important to embrace this sweet yet fleeting stage in life.”
Beaufort Bonnet originated as a small operation in Beaufort, South Carolina, that made baby bonnets. After getting a bonnet as a gift for her baby daughter, CEO Markey Hutchinson bought the business from the original owners in 2012 and renamed it in honor of its original product.
A stay-at-home mom in Lexington, Hutchinson initially worked out of her basement, but she soon struggled to keep up with demand, according to a profile by Smiley Pete Publishing. She found the support she needed in a partnership with Oxford Industries, a clothing company whose labels include Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer.
With the addition of the Mosaic District, Beaufort Bonnet will have just four corporate stores, including two in Florida and one in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. However, its products are sold by hundreds of boutiques nationwide, including Lemoncello in Arlington and The Purple Goose and Monday’s Child in Alexandria.
Designed with an Americana theme in a nod to its proximity to D.C., the 1,344-square-foot store at the Mosaic District will feature a miniature colonial house with a playhouse, kitchen and Lego wall.
“The beautiful seating area was designed in collaboration with Lauren Deloach, an Atlanta-based interior designer using a variety of patterns and textures that lend to the timeless but fresh style that is synonymous with T.B.B.C.,” the spokesperson said.
Other relatively recent openings at the Mosaic District include Mimi’s Handmade Ice Cream, which had a soft opening last November. The Asian street food restaurant Hawkers is also expected to open in the former Four Sisters space later this year.
A Merrifield bakery that specializes in poffertjes — a traditional Dutch snack that resembles puffed-up pancakes — has closed up shop.
Poffy ceased operations during the weekend after Thanksgiving, opening its doors in the Mosaic District (2985 District Avenue, Suite 170) for the last time on Nov. 25, the business announced on Instagram.
“We have enjoyed meeting and getting to know each one of you,” Poffy said. “THANK YOU for getting to know us…for cheering us on and supporting us…for your friendship.”
Opened in May 2021, Poffy was started by owners Lilian Wanandy-Perez and Kevin Perez, who adapted a poffertje recipe from Wanandy-Perez’s grandmother to avoid dairy, eggs and other allergens, according to a profile by Northern Virginia Magazine.
Here’s more from Poffy’s farewell message:
Our journey started as a scribble of ideas in our notebook.
✨ An idea to create food & space that are safe for those diagnosed with food allergies just like our kids so that they can have fun and eat without worry (even just for a bit)
✨An idea to create ‘not your everyday’ culinary experience that is simple, delicious and fun for everyone
✨An idea to create a space to connect with one another and form human connection in this instant, fast paced environment
✨An idea to be able to make a positive impact even in the smallest way for anyone we serve each dayTHANK YOU for being part of our journey … .our journey in an effort to make an impact in one’s life… our journey in an effort to bring joy to your day!
Unfortunately the twists & turns, ups & downs have brought us to the end of this journey.
Come & visit us this week as we would like to meet you all and thank you in person!
For our allergy community and beyond, please head to #linkinbio or DM us as we would love to continue connecting with you as we craft our new journey… to receive updates on our upcoming projects.
Last but not least, a special THANK YOU to all Poffy crew members that have become an integral part of our journey. Thank you for being YOU…for your heart…your grit…your hardwork….your creativity..your passion. We’re forever grateful!
Thank you Mosaic!
There’s no indication yet of what will replace Poffy, but the ice cream shop Mimi’s Handmade opened next door around the same time that its neighbor closed. The Mosaic District is also slated to add Beaufort Bonnet Company, a children’s clothing store, and the Asian street food chain Hawkers in the coming months.
Hat tip to Adam Rubinstein
Mimi’s Handmade is now chilling at the Mosaic District in Merrifield.
The ice cream maker quietly opened its newest shop at 2985 District Avenue, Suite 160, about a month ago, owner Rollin Amore told FFXnow yesterday (Wednesday).
“So far, we’ve been very well received, and I’m pretty pleased about that,” Amore said, noting that the business also recently expanded to Rockville, Maryland.
Started in Pentagon City in December 2021, Mimi’s is named after Amore’s youngest daughter and builds on gelato and sweets recipes passed down by his grandmothers. All of the ice cream is made in-house, and there are 32 flavors available at a time, many of them unusual.
While most flavors are the same at each location, there’s some variation between neighborhoods. For example, wasabi peas didn’t gain much traction in Arlington, but it has emerged as a favorite at the Merrifield store, whose customers tend to be “very discerning on quality,” Amore says.
“If you have a lot of children, the flavor selection will be a lot different than if you have Gen Xers or you have an older crowd, so it’ll vary depending on the demographics,” he said. “…Chocolate, butterscotch, Oreo sell great in every community, but some of the more unique flavors, each community has its own characteristics.”
In addition to ice cream scoops, the menu offers sundaes, milkshakes, ice cream sandwiches and hot drinks.
With foot traffic coming at a slower pace for the winter, Amore anticipates waiting for spring to schedule a grand opening event, which would be similar timing to the original Arlington store’s launch. The shop in Merrifield is open from noon to 9 p.m. on Mon through Friday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Also found in Chevy Chase’s The Heights food hall, Mimi’s has a fifth location in the works at Pinecrest Plaza in Lincolnia. Amore says the team hopes to open that shop in the summer.
Coming in the new year to the Mosaic District will be the Beaufort Bonnet Company, a children’s clothing store that says it expects to open in late February or early March. In addition, the Asian street food chain Hawkers will take over the former Four Sisters restaurant, but an opening time frame hasn’t been confirmed.
A growing, Florida-based Asian street food chain has its sights set on Merrifield.
Hawkers is planning to open a restaurant in the Mosaic District next year, an employee at the company’s Arlington location confirmed to FFXnow.
According to Fairfax County’s permit database, the 5,312-square-foot eatery will be located at 8190 Strawberry Lane, Suite 1 — the space occupied by the Vietnamese restaurant Four Sisters until it closed on May 14, concluding 30 years of business in Fairfax County.
Hawkers was created in 2011 by four friends who wanted “to bring the bold flavors of Asian street food to the streets of Orlando,” according to its website. The company has since expanded to 15 locations across seven states, breaking into the D.C. area with a Bethesda restaurant in 2020 and a Ballston one that opened last year.
Drawing from a mix of East Asian cuisines, the menu features dim sum, meat and shrimp skewers, noodles, fried rice, green papaya salad, a Po Po Lo’s curry based on a family recipe and more. The beverage menu includes cocktails, sake, wine, beer and Japanese whisky.
Oath Pizza has closed
In other Mosaic District news, Oath Pizza appears to have closed, but it’s not entirely clear whether the shutdown is temporary or permanent. A sign posted to the restaurant’s door since late November states that it “will be pausing pizza operations for a short period of time.”
“We look forward to fulfilling your delicious pizza needs again soon,” says the notice signed by the Oath Pizza team. “Thank you all for your ongoing support and we look forward to serving you our brand of Feel Good Pizza again soon.”
However, the company’s website no longer functions, and other locations have also reportedly closed, including in D.C. and its home state of Massachusetts. According to the Nantucket Current, the slew of closures might stem from a lawsuit filed by investors in May that accused Oath Pizza CEO Andrew Kellogg of self-dealing.
Even with the lawsuit, though, Oath Pizza has continued adding franchises, including its first California location, which opened in early August. The Mosaic District restaurant (2920 District Avenue, Suite 150) opened in October 2017 as the chain’s first expansion outside the Boston area.
Oath Pizza didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Just a couple of doors away, interior renovations have begun on a store from the Beaufort Bonnet Company, which sells baby and children’s clothes. The shop will be 1,344 square feet in size and located at 2920 District Avenue, Suite 143.
Signs posted to the storefront indicate that the shop is “coming soon.” The company didn’t respond to inquiries from FFXnow by press time.
Hat tip to Adam Rubinstein
Three men have been arrested for coercing women into sex work at “high-end” brothels in Massachusetts and Virginia, the Department of Justice announced yesterday (Wednesday).
Locations used for the brothels include units in Hanover Tysons and Avalon Mosaic, apartment buildings in Tysons and Merrifield, according to a court affidavit by a Department of Homeland Security special agent.
Federal prosecutors have charged Massachusetts residents Han Lee and Junmyung Lee as well as California resident James Lee “with conspiracy to coerce and entice to travel to engage in illegal sexual activity,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Massachusetts said in a press release.
According to the DOJ, since at least July 2020, the men enticed primarily Asian women to travel to and work in the brothels, whose clients included “politicians, high tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors that possess security clearances, professors, lawyers, scientists and accountants.”
Specifically, the defendants allegedly rented high-end apartment complexes as brothel locations, which they furnished and regularly maintained. The monthly rent for the brothel locations were as high as $3,664. It is further alleged that the defendants coordinated the women’s airline travel and transportation and permitted women to stay overnight in the brothel locations so they did not have to find lodging elsewhere, therefore enticing women to participate in their prostitution network.
The locations in Tysons and Merrifield were advertised on a website claiming to be for nude photography models, but the DHS agent says he believes the ads are a “front” for commercial escort or prostitution services.
“Approximately twenty (20) sex buyers were interviewed in connection with this multi-yearlong investigation,” the agent said in the affidavit.
Clients were charged anywhere from $350 up to $600 per hour that they paid in cash, the DOJ says. Prosecutors allege that the defendants concealed “hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash” from the prostitution ring through deposits in their personal bank accounts and “peer-to-peer transfers.”
“Additionally, it is alleged that the defendants regularly used hundreds of thousands of dollars of the cash proceeds from the prostitution business to purchase money orders (in values under an amount that would trigger reporting and identification requirements) to conceal the source of the funds,” the press release said. “These money orders were then used to pay for rent and utilities at brothel locations in Massachusetts and Virginia.”
The defendants could face up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and fines of up to $250,000 under the sex trafficking charges, according to the DOJ.
Han Lee and Junmyung Lee appeared in a federal court in Boston yesterday after getting arrested that morning, while James Lee was arrested in California and “will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
There’s a new shop in Merrifield focusing on an eclectic, “curated collection” of handcrafted goods.
Vivid Chill hosted a grand opening this past weekend in the Mosaic District, moving into Suite 150 at 2910 District Avenue from a spot in Great Falls.
The shop offers everything from jewelry and clothing to books, face oils and playdough.
According to Vivid Chill’s website, its focus is on “handcrafted, ethically made, sustainable, nontoxic, eco-friendly” goods.
Originally opened at Great Falls Village Centre in early 2021, the shop won a spot on Washingtonian’s Best New Shopsof 2021 list, which highlighted owner Marika Tsombikos’s dedication to selling only the best assorted items she can find, typically with clean design and bright colors.
Vivid Chill’s website says the store is open from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
(Updated at 5:40 p.m.) The Mosaic District has reeled in a different kind of seafood restaurant.
Kreole, a new concept that blends flavors from Creole and Asian cuisines, will open in the Merrifield neighborhood tomorrow (Tuesday) next Monday (Oct. 23) at 2985 District Avenue, Unit 115. The news was first reported by Eater DC.
“We felt that there were no other concepts that connect the dirty south and far east in this area,” Kreole chef and owner Chad Sparrow said. “The food diversity in Mosaic has most things covered, but this hasn’t been done. We also think it will be a destination spot as so many ppl love seafood and the way we are preparing it is unique and bursting with flavor.”
Kreole takes the place of Junction Bar & Bistro, which opened last fall and comes from the same Alexandria-based restaurant group, Common Plate Hospitality.
Sparrow says the company determined it wasn’t “getting the legs that we had hoped for” from Junction, which still has locations in Alexandria, Capitol Hill and Chevy Chase. But Common Plate Hospitality is confident that Kreole will be a more successful catch for the Mosaic District.
“We thought that this concept is very different and would work better in this space,” Sparrow said.
Located next door to Urbano, a Tex-Mex eatery that also came from Common Plate, the 3,000-square-foot restaurant will have 90 indoor seats and 15 seats outside.
The menu consists of seafood “catches,” including crabs, lobster, shrimps, clams and oysters, that can be customized with different sauces, spice levels and add-ons, such as corn, potato, sticky rice or cajun fries. There are also some items like krispy wings and shaky beef that are designed to be shareable, along with soups and salads.
Hours of operation for the new restaurant will be 4-10 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday and 4 p.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday.
(Updated at 4:35 p.m.) Merrifield’s Mosaic District is bringing its “Films in the Park” screening series back for the fall — this time, with three times more Lin-Manuel Miranda.
While the live recording of “Hamilton” on Broadway remains walled off on Disney Plus, the prolific Tony, Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winner wrote songs for three out of the four featured movies, including tonight’s opener, “Encanto.”
In contrast, this summer’s edition of the outdoor movie series had just one film — “Moana” — with contributions from Miranda. The three-month lineup also highlighted recent blockbusters like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”
The Mosaic District describes this as a “special fall edition” of the series to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, which lasts from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.
The full schedule is below, with each screening starting at 6 p.m. in Strawberry Park:
September
- Sept. 21 — Encanto (2021, 1h 42m, PG)
- Sept. 28 — Vivo (2021, 1h 35m, PG-13)
October
- Oct. 5 — In The Heights (2021, 2h 23m, PG-13)
- Oct. 12 — Coco (2017, 1h 45m, PG-13)
The U.S. has observed National Hispanic Heritage Month since 1988. Intended to recognize the cultures, histories and contributions of the country’s Spanish, Caribbean, and Central and South American residents, the occasion began as Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968 before expanding to a full 30 days.
Fairfax County was planning its first-ever festival to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month this Saturday (Sept. 23) at the PARC at Tysons (8508 Leesburg Pike). However, the Fairfax Fiesta has been canceled due to expected inclement weather, including “heavy rain, high winds and uncomfortably cool temperatures.”
“We received a tremendous outpouring of interest from the community to participate and attend this event,” Celebrate Fairfax, which organized the event, said. “…Safety is our highest priority for the artists, vendors, community organizations, elected officials, event staff and volunteers scheduled to set up, break down, and participate in the event.”
The similarly named Fiesta Fairfax in Fairfax City, however, will go on. Originally set to take place this Saturday in Old Town Square, the event has been relocated indoors to Old Town Hall (3999 University Drive).
Expect more music and food, along with other kinds of live entertainment and “educational exhibits,” according to the city’s website.
About 17.3% of Fairfax County’s population identifies as Hispanic, as of the 2020 Census, which found that the county’s growing Asian and Latino communities had turned it into the second most racially diverse county in Virginia.
A two-day outdoor fall festival returns to the Mosaic District on Sept. 23 and 24.
The annual Fall Festival will bring activities and entertainment to the mixed-use neighborhood in Merrifield from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
URBNmarket — a curated marketplace — will include a mix of 80 handmade, artists and vintage good vendors to the festival. FRESHFARM — the D.C.-based nonprofit that runs the Mosaic District’s weekly farmers market — will also feature local vendors with produce and snacks.
Activities for kids will include a moon bounce, pumpkin painting and a games corner. A glamour tent by the Vienna Signing Princesses will also offer face painting and hair braiding.
Performances are planned throughout both days on the main stage on Strawberry Lane:
Saturday, September 23
- 11 a.m. — Vienna Singing Princesses
- 11:15 a.m. — Tea with Mrs. B
- 12:30 p.m. — School of Rock – House Band
- 2 p.m. — Patrick Alban and Noche Latino
- 4 p.m. — Izis La Enfermera de La Salsa
Sunday, September 24
- 11 a.m. — Vienna Singing Princesses
- 11:15 a.m. — Tiny Dancers
- 12:30 p.m. — The Cassaday Concoction
- 4 p.m. — Royals USA
There will also be fall-themed selfie stations, along with a sip-and-stroll at participating locations.
The event is free, and complimentary shuttle service will be available from the Dunn Loring Metro station.
