Weekly · every Thursday
Issue 2Thursday, October 15, 20264 minute read
By Ahmed Makkiyah, REALTOR® · Douglas Realty of Virginia
Good news only
Great FallsGreat Falls artists open their studios this weekend.
Artist's renderings of real places.
Get official county alerts: Fairfax Alerts Fairfax City Alert Falls Church Alerts Arlington Alert Alexandria eNews alerts Alert Loudoun PWC Alert Alert Manassas Manassas Park alerts
Your town's weather and what to wear
Forecast: National Weather Service, Sterling office.
Good morning, NoVA. Great Falls artists open their studios on Saturday and Sunday, Centreville throws its 34th Centreville Day, and Fairfax Corner hosts an Oktoberfest market on Saturday. Next weekend brings harvest days at Mount Vernon and the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington. Here is the week, town by town, with the weather and what to wear.
In short
This weekend
FairfaxCentreville
A free day at Historic Centreville Park, 5714 Mount Gilead Road, 10 am to 4 pm: a parade, a main stage, a marketplace, a children's area, safety and eco expos, and a pets-in-the-park village.
FairfaxGreat Falls
The 23rd Great Falls Studio Tour is self-guided, 10 am to 5 pm both days. Road signs and the tour map on Great Falls Studios' site lead to each studio, where you can watch artists at work and buy from them directly.
FairfaxFairfax
A free Saturday market on the Plaza at Fairfax Corner with more than 40 local artisans, hand-twisted pretzels and live music, 11 am to 5 pm. A free RSVP on Eventbrite is encouraged, and the first 250 people to show it get a free pretzel.
FairfaxReston
A free dog festival at Brown's Chapel Park, 1575 Browns Chapel Road, starting at 1 pm: costume contests, live entertainment, pet vendors, food and adoption groups. Reston Association asks you to register ahead.
LoudounSterling
Pickle-inspired food, dishes from around the world, live music and family activities at Crooked Run Fermentation, 22455 Davis Drive, 11 am to 6 pm both days. Tickets are sold online and at the door, where general admission is $5 plus a card fee; kids 12 and under get in free.
City of Manassas
A free Sunday market of vintage clothes, jewelry, home goods, antiques and art in the Prince William Street commuter lot, 11 am to 5 pm, with candy handed out to trick-or-treaters.
Mark your calendar
FairfaxHerndon
Visit the farm animals, make crafts, play games and walk through the decorated farmhouse in one-hour sessions starting at 5, 6 or 7 pm. Registration is $12, and children come with a registered adult.
FairfaxMount Vernon
Fall Harvest Family Days bring 18th-century wheat treading, cooking and soap-making demonstrations to the farm at Mount Vernon, along with Washington's farm animals, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm both days. Included with regular admission ($30 for ages 12 and up, $16 for ages 6 to 11, free under 6); the wheat treading in the 16-sided barn at 11 am and 1 pm needs a free ticket, handed out 15 minutes before each show.
City of Manassas Park
Trick-or-treat from car trunk to car trunk at the Manassas Park Community Center, 99 Adams Street, 1 to 3 pm, as listed on the city's 2026 events calendar.
ArlingtonArlington
The 51st running of the People's Marathon starts on Route 110 at 7:20 am, a few minutes after the wheelchair and duo starts, and the finish festival runs in Rosslyn from 8 am to 4 pm. Cheering is free; plan around road closures, and Metro to Rosslyn station is the easy way in.
LoudounLeesburg
Floats and costumed walkers head down King Street between Battlefield Parkway and Catoctin Circle at 6:30 pm, rain or shine; King Street closes to cars around 5:45. Free to watch. Marchers can drop off nonperishable food for Loudoun Hunger Relief when they sign in.
City of Alexandria
The classic romantic musical plays at the theater's home at 600 Wolfe Street in Old Town from October 17 to November 7, with evening shows Thursday to Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday matinees at 2 pm. Tickets are $36 plus a $4 service charge.
Good news
FairfaxFairfax County
Fairfax County Public Schools kicked off Water S.A.F.E., a new program open to every student in grades 3 to 5 that teaches how to fit a life jacket, spot hazards and respond in an emergency. At the launch on October 13 at the Skyview High School pool, students tried basic swimming and heard from two-time Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones.
Prince WilliamPrince William County
Prince William County Parks and Recreation earned reaccreditation from the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies, the only national accreditation for park and recreation agencies, scoring 100 percent on its review visit. The department met 154 standards; it was first accredited in 2020.
City of Alexandria
Readers of Condé Nast Traveler ranked Alexandria second only to Charleston, South Carolina, in the magazine's 2026 Readers' Choice Awards, up from third place last year. Nearly 800,000 readers voted.
LoudounOak Hill
Two National Park Service grants, half from the Save America's Treasures program and half from grants for the nation's 250th anniversary, will help preserve President James Monroe's home on the 1,200-acre estate south of Leesburg, which is being turned into a state park.
ArlingtonArlington
Arlington Public Library counted 100,835 card holders in September, more than before the pandemic, after a drop in active users in 2022. The milestone came during National Library Card Sign-Up Month.
Prince WilliamPrince William County
PWC 311, the county's one place for questions and service requests by web, app, phone, email or chat since May 2025, has won a run of state and national awards. It was also a core part of the county's No. 1 national ranking for digital innovation among counties of 500,000 to 999,999 people in the 2026 Digital Counties Survey.
Fall color
Virginia State Parks' October 15 report finds color steadily building across its northern region, with bright reds, golds and oranges along the roads and trails at Leesylvania State Park in Prince William, though many trees are still partly green. It gives no new figure; on October 8 the region was at about 10 to 15 percent. The Virginia Department of Forestry's report the same day calls this fall patchy and a little muted after drought and heat, with maples turning orange to red in the Piedmont and maples and sweetgums starting to blush in the Coastal Plain. Last weekend's rain brought down some leaves, but cooler nights could still deepen the reds in the oaks.
Source: Virginia State Parks.
Market minute
From the NoVA Index, Ahmed's monthly report: the median Northern Virginia house or townhouse that closed from September 1 to 30, 2026 sold for $785,000, the same as in September 2025, and 29 percent of homes sold for more than their asking price, down from 33 percent a year earlier. Condos are not included.
Closed sales from September 1 to 30, 2026, against September 1 to 30, 2025, houses and townhouses, condos not included, Bright MLS, pulled by Ahmed Makkiyah on October 6, 2026. The NoVA Index for September 2026.
A festival, a new park, a school win, a trail opening. Send it and it may be in next Thursday's issue.
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This is the edition of Thursday, October 15, 2026. Read the newest What's Up, NoVA?
Every item links to its source. Headlines and summaries are written here; no article text or photos are copied. Events are listed as a service to readers and never as paid placements. Weather: National Weather Service forecast for each town, read in your browser.
