For a brief moment, we pause
It’s at this moment the world is merry and bright. Families travel to be with each other. Gifts of appreciation are shared. Memories are made.
The store windows in Occoquan are decorated with garland, while the buildings in Downtown Manassas are adorned with white lights.
A large Christmas Tree overlooks Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center in Woodbridge, while light continues to shine on our very own symbol of freedom — The National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico.
These sights are commonplace in our community at this time of year. The hustle and bustle of our daily lives sometimes make it difficult for us to stop, look around, and appreciate them for all they’re worth.
At Potomac Local, I’m appreciative of you for allowing us to celebrate another Christmas by looking back at all we’ve accomplished over the past year.
We’ve seen the opening of a new Re-Store which helps provide housing to some of our area’s neediest. We saw the renaming of a Dale City middle school and talked to the community who came to be a part of the process.
We learned about the histories of Aden and Smoketown — once settlements that today remembered best by the road signs erected in their honor.
And we saw the community crave sweets with the opening of a new doughnut shop, and lose their appetites when another favorite restaurant closed.
These are just some of my memories from 2016.
Your gift of continued support and readership of Potomac Local goes a long way in helping us to celebrate the season.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Uriah Kiser
Publisher
Recent Stories
On Sunday afternoon, nearly 100 people gathered in a Taco Bell parking lot less than a mile from the clinic’s doors with a shared aim: taking ownership of its now-precarious future.
The project to widen Balls Ford Road between Doane Drive and Ashton Avenue to a four-lane, divided roadway is now officially complete. The county’s Department of Transportation held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the parking lot of the General Shale Brick Company last week.
Another round of weather challenges is in store today as a robust cold front approaches. The front will bring gusty winds and low relative humidity.
Join us on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at 2:00 p.m., for the dedication of the Town of Occoquan’s LOVEworks sign in River Mill Park (415 Mill Street, Occoquan), designed by artist Darby Leondra. This event is free and open to the public.
To celebrate Air Quality Awareness Week (May 6-10, 2024), Clean Air Partners is working with A Few Cool Hardware Stores to exchange DC, Maryland and Virginia residents’ gas-powered lawnmowers, trimmers, and leaf blowers at select Ace Hardware locations in the region. DMV residents who turn in their gas-powered lawn tools will receive a FREE Ego Power+ replacement including batteries and chargers, while supplies last.
Compared to gas, electric lawn equipment can reduce emissions, noise pollution, health risks and maintenance costs and time. The program aims to remove about a hundred gas-powered polluting tools from yards in the greater Baltimore-Washington region.
The exchanges will take place the weekends of May 17-19, 2024, and May 31-June 2, 2024, at A Few Cool Hardware Stores network of employee-owned Ace Hardware stores in the DC and Baltimore metro areas. To participate and get your free Ego Power+ lawn tool, sign up at https://qrco.de/CAPExchange to reserve your tool and select your trade-in date and location.
Are you feeling overwhelmed by life’s challenges? Do stress and anxiety seem to dominate your thoughts? At Peaceful Mind Solutions, we understand that navigating mental health can be daunting, but you don’t have to do it alone.
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Free Irish Music Concert
Welcoming Spring with music from the Emerald Isle, the New Dominion Choraliers offer a FREE concert on Saturday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. at the First United Presbyterian Church of Dale City.
Joined by Legacy Brass and members of Old
Spring Ceili: An Irish Music Festival
The New Dominion Choraliers of Prince William County and McGrath Morgan Academy of Irish Dance invite you to join them at our Ceili, a grand celebration of Irish music and dance.
A gathering of performance groups throughout Prince William County
