Cherry Hill Park was the place to be last Friday night, July 24, as a band serenaded a community gathered to honor the nation’s 250th birthday in style.
Positioned near the park’s playground, the celebration dubbed Civic Jam offered plenty of room to spread a blanket and enjoy live music from the park’s stage. Nearby, a bouncy house kept the kids occupied and volunteers handed out scorecards for those daring enough to enter the Civic Cup Competition.
Dozens of community organizations turned out for the event with booths extending down a long path across the lawn. The event also featured food trucks, a beer garden, a basketball toss game, axe throwing, and a mechanical bull.
The sheer volume of community booths at Civic Jam offered an unmatched opportunity to learn more about the wonderful organizations that help make Falls Church such an amazing place to live. My first stop was at the City of Falls Church 250 Committee booth where a volunteer gamely applied a “250” temporary tattoo to my arm. As an aficionado of temporary tattoos, I can tell you this was one of the best.
Nearby, the Victorian Society at Falls Church had an eye-catching display that included a cardboard cutout of the Statue of Liberty that rivaled the height of the volunteers at the booth. A display board detailed the history of the statue, which opened to the public in New York Harbor in 1886. The statue holds a torch in one hand, and a tablet inscribed with Roman numerals corresponding to July 4, 1776, in the other hand. The society participates in annual reenactments, such as a Civil War Thanksgiving held at Cherry Hill Farm, and they handed out a map detailing dozens of Victorian-style homes in Falls Church.
The Friends of Cherry Hill Foundation also turned out for the celebration. The organization does essential work running programs at the Cherry Hill Farmhouse, including the recent Mother’s Day Tea preceded by a costumed docent who explained what life was like in the mid-19th century. The foundation is actively looking for volunteers and members so please check them out online at: cherryhillfallschurch.org.
I stopped by the Falls Church Indivisible booth, a non-partisan organization that’s devoted to liberal democratic principles, including rule of law, civil discourse, fairness, and our constitution. They had a button-making machine on hand, so I selected a Statue of Liberty sketch with the words “With Liberty and Justice for all.”
A miniature doll’s house was part of the display booth for the Falls Church Climate Action Network (FCCAN). The house’s solar panels, and other eco-friendly enhancements, were meant to represent the kinds of fossil-fuel alternatives offered to homeowners who want to switch to cleaner, all-electric devices. Through the City of Falls Church, residents can apply for a free home energy audit that will identify inefficiencies and ways to reduce operating costs while improving comfort and safety. The Residential Energy Audit Program is still accepting applications. Learn more at: fallschurchva.gov/EnergyAudit.
The volunteers at the League of Women Voters booth were kind enough to offer me an extra clue for the location of the Civic Stand at the Falls Church, which is part of the Scavenger Hunt taking place in the Little City through August 4. (Hint: the Civic Stand is on Washington St. near Fairfax Dr.) If you haven’t checked out the Scavenger Hunt yet, I highly recommend it.
Other participating organizations included the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, City of Falls Church Independent Media, Falls Church Arts, Falls Church Rotary Club, Homestretch, Learning Quest, Little City Concerts, Mary Riley Styles Public Library, the National Spiritualist Association, Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, Shepherd’s Center, the Tinner Hill Foundation, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9724, the Village Preservation and Improvement Society, and Welcoming Falls Church.
All in all, Civic Jam was a wonderful way to honor our nation’s 250th birthday, as well as celebrate the great Little City we all call home.
