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Reston’s annual celebration of its founding is set to return tomorrow (Saturday) — only this time, the festival will honor the nation’s origins as well.

The 2026 edition of Celebrate Reston, which was renamed last year after two decades as Founder’s Day, will feature a number of activities nodding to the U.S.’s 250th anniversary, while also putting a spotlight on the local community.


Around Town

Reston’s annual cardboard boat race is set to make a splash this weekend.

The Cardboard Boat Regatta will return to the waters of Lake Anne on Saturday (Aug. 9) for a friendly competition to raise money for the Reston Museum, the nonprofit that organizes the event.


Around Town

Founder’s Day is out, Celebrate Reston! is in.

The annual festival honoring Reston founder Robert E. Simon’s birthday will return to Lake Anne Plaza on April 5 from 11:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. under a new name that organizers believe more clearly conveys the event’s “spirit of enjoyment and celebration,” Reston Museum Executive Director Lisa Watts says.


Around Town

Customers who stop by Tysons Corner Center’s Nordstrom this weekend will get a chance to sample free food — and meet the chefs behind the culinary creations.

As part of a Black History Month collaboration, the department store’s Marketplace Cafe will host chefs David and Tonya Thomas, founders of the Baltimore-based catering company H3irloom Food Group, for a pop-up meet and greet on Sunday (Feb. 23) from 12:30-2:30 p.m.


Around Town

Dozens of cardboard boats will populate the waters of Lake Anne in Reston this Saturday (Aug. 10) for the 2024 Cardboard Boat Regatta.

The popular annual event, where community members race each other in life-sized cardboard boats that they built and decorated by hand, will return Lake Anne Plaza (1639 Washington Plaza North), starting at noon and ending at 3 p.m.


News

After a several-month-long search, the Reston Museum Board of Directors announced that Lisa Watts will be its new executive director starting this month.

Watts, previously a Recreational Program Manager at Bull Run Academy of Gymnastics, will succeed Alex Campbell, the museum’s previous executive director.


News

Reston is sort of an odd duck — an Epcot-like planned community named for its founder Robert E. Simon — and anyone curious about how it came together can learn all about it at a walking tour this weekend.

The Reston Museum has opened registration for a historic walking tour.


Around Town

Reston founder Bob Simon Jr. will once again be the focus of celebrations next month during the annual Founder’s Day celebration.

The festivities are set to take place at Lake Anne Plaza (1609 Washington Plaza North) on April 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It began as a celebration of Simon’s 90th birthday in 2004, when artist Zachary Oxman unveiled a sculpture commemorating him.


News

It’s been 20 years since an iconic sculpture honoring Reston’s founder Robert E. Simon was unveiled at Lake Anne Plaza.

To celebrate the anniversary of the sculpture’s installation, Reston Museum is hosting an event featuring its creator, artist Zachary Oxman. The event will take place at Reston Community Center Lake Anne (1609-A Washington Plaza North) next Wednesday, March 13 at 7 p.m.


News

Restonians now have a chance to own a piece of their community’s history.

Reston Museum, which is located at Lake Anne Plaza, will hold a raffle over the next month for a chance to win vintage plates that were used at the Bowman House during the early years of Reston’s formation.


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