Thursday, October 22, 2026
Good morning. Here's what's in this week's issue:
The Historic Herndon Halloween House is back on Spring Street, with an "Oddities" theme
Supervisor Walter Alcorn says he would vote to end the county's Flock camera contract
Fairfax County received permit applications on Oct. 20 to fit out two Amazon data halls in Herndon
Six things to do, starting with tonight's NASCOW cow race at Frying Pan Farm Park
Kathy & Graham
THE BIG STORY
THE HISTORIC HERNDON HALLOWEEN HOUSE IS BACK ON SPRING STREET, AND THIS YEAR'S THEME IS ODDITIES
Colleen Delawder and Bob Mathews have filled the front yard of their 1898 house on Spring Street in downtown Herndon with skeletons, tombstones and a leprechaun with glowing yellow eyes. They call it the Historic Herndon Halloween House, and they have built it every October since 2005.
The couple bought the house that year and put out a few decorations for Halloween. Only two or three trick-or-treaters came to the door, so the next fall they added more decorations and lights to draw families down Spring Street. A 2011 Patch profile by Chuck Mauro, a former president of the Herndon Historical Society, counted 15 visitors in 2006, 40 in 2007 and as many as 250 children a year by 2011.
Colleen designs the scenes, and Bob builds them. They pick a new theme every year, and 2026's is "Oddities." Its centerpiece is Roy's Antique "Odds" & Ends Shop, a scene the owners built to honor the late father of one of them, stocked with some of his favorite collectibles. More than 50 skeletons share the yard with a deathbed, a graveyard with headstones for Papa Smurf and the Grinch, and a crew of pirate skeletons from the 2020 theme still manning a ship's wheel. A signpost points to Sleepy Hollow, New York, 237 miles away, and to Hell for Certain, Kentucky.
Kids can hunt for small hide-and-seek figures tucked around the display. The owners move a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to a new hiding spot every day and post hints on the house's Facebook page.
The owners suggest arriving in the early evening, while some details still show in daylight, then eating dinner downtown and coming back after dark, when the purple porch lights and the neon sign come on. The house sits on a residential street, so park in a legal spot, keep driveways clear and leave room for traffic.
ALSO THIS WEEK
ALCORN SAYS HE WOULD VOTE TO END FAIRFAX COUNTY'S FLOCK CAMERA CONTRACT
DeFlock Fairfax advocates at the Oct. 20 committee meeting. Photo: Office of Supervisor Walter Alcorn
Walter Alcorn, who represents Reston and the rest of the Hunter Mill District on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, said on Oct. 20 that he would vote to end the county's contract with Flock Safety, the company behind the license plate cameras on poles around the county. He said it during a two-hour discussion at the Board's Safety and Security Committee, which took no vote. The county's 84 Flock cameras stay in service, and the Board has not scheduled a vote.
An automated license plate reader, or ALPR, photographs passing vehicles and turns each plate into searchable text. Alcorn said new artificial intelligence tools raise concerns about plate readers "to a whole new level," and he said Flock does not encrypt the county's data or keep it on a closed network. Flock's written response to the Board says the data is encrypted at rest. Alcorn wants a regional conversation about plate readers, possibly through the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
Fairfax police also run 712 plate readers mounted on cruisers, made by a second vendor, Axon, and can search about 120 Flock cameras owned by homeowners associations and businesses. Since July 2025, state law has required police to delete plate data after 21 days unless it belongs to an investigation. The department credits plate readers with recovering 573 stolen vehicles and locating 60 missing people since November 2022.
County staff offered the Board three options, and none of them ends the program. The other supervisors FFXnow quoted asked for more answers before any vote. Arlington and Henrico counties have ended their Flock contracts, and Richmond will not renew its own.
Herndon runs 10 Flock cameras under its own contract, which the Town Council controls. Council candidate Josif Ezekilov has said he would push to end it, and Herndon voters fill six council seats on Nov. 3.
QUICK HITS
AROUND RESTON AND HERNDON
Fairfax County received nine building permit applications on Oct. 20 for IAD 501, an Amazon building at 13876 Redskin Drive in Renaissance Technology Park, off Route 28 in Herndon. The permits cover the interior of two data halls, the rooms that hold a data center's servers, plus offices and support space. The same day, Loudoun County announced that Amazon had dropped its plan for four data centers on the former George Washington University campus in Ashburn. Read more
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority released renderings on Oct. 20 of a paid VIP terminal at Dulles, where passengers on regular commercial flights will park, clear private security, wait in a lounge and ride across the airfield to their plane. daa International, the overseas arm of the company that runs Dublin Airport, will build and run the 37,000-square-foot building near the cargo area. The authority expects construction to take about 30 months and has not announced a price. Read more
Fairfax County firefighters put out a two-alarm fire late Sunday, Oct. 18, in an empty two-story building at 1624 Hunter Mill Road, on the former Fairfax Christian School campus near the Dulles Toll Road. No one was hurt, and investigators have not named a cause. The school left the campus in 2018. A company that appears to be an affiliate of G&G LLC, the developer that proposed up to 100 homes along that stretch of Hunter Mill Road last year, bought the campus in April for $4 million. Read more
The Board of Supervisors holds its public hearing on Parkline at Woodland Park on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 3 p.m. The plan would replace three office buildings between Sunrise Valley Drive and the Dulles Toll Road, west of the Herndon Metro station, with 429 to 584 homes, most of them townhouses, and 12% of the homes would be priced below market. The Planning Commission recommended approval 9-0. Read more
At 4 p.m. the same day, supervisors hear an amendment that writes a new state parking law into county code. Within half a mile of a Metro station or the Reston Town Center Transit Station on Bluemont Way, the county could require no more than half a parking space for each new apartment or condo and one for each new house or townhouse. The Planning Commission recommended it 9-0. Read more
Herndon's Planning Commission held hearings Oct. 19 on two amendments that copy new state laws into town code. The first lets congregations and nonprofits that have owned land for five years build mostly affordable housing on it without a rezoning, at up to 20 homes per acre, starting Jan. 1. The second caps required parking at half a space per apartment within half a mile of the Herndon Metro station. Read more
The Planning Commission voted 9-0-1 on Oct. 14 to recommend EYA's plan for 956 or 1,042 homes at the Lake Fairfax Business Center in Reston, and it recommended K. Hovnanian's 278 Lincoln Park townhouses on Centreville Road by the same vote. Both go to the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 17. A day earlier, supervisors opened the last vacant parcel at Discovery Square, at Wall Road and Centreville Road, to up to 108 apartments and shops. Read more
Reston Association's board is scheduled to vote today, Oct. 22, on a 2027 assessment of $900, up $10 from this year. Our new guide sorts out which bills a Reston home pays: the RA assessment, cluster dues for most townhouses, and a condo fee for condominiums. Read more
Fairfax County opened 13 more early voting sites today, and Saturday, Oct. 31, is the last day to vote early before the Nov. 3 election. North County Governmental Center, 1801 Cameron Glen Drive in Reston, is open weekdays from 1 to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Read more
MyDefence, a Danish company that builds equipment to detect and jam hostile drones, opened its North American headquarters on Oct. 15 at Makers Point on Sunrise Valley Drive, near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. The office starts with about 35 people, and William Ostrowski, president and CEO of MyDefence North America, expects about 50 within a year. Read more
Smart Shooter, a defense technology company that makes AI-assisted fire control systems for small arms, opened expanded offices in Dulles Office Park in Herndon to support U.S. military customers. The company did not disclose the size of the office or how many people will work there. Read more
Fairfax County staff have drafted a zoning change that would let a home day care in any type of home care for up to 12 children with a staff-approved permit and no public hearing. Today a provider in a Reston townhouse needs a hearing, and in much of Reston two of them, to care for more than five. Homes inside Herndon's town limits follow the town's own zoning. Read more
Fairfax County's transportation department proposes bike lanes on three stretches of Glade Drive and on Bowman Towne Drive between Town Center Parkway and Reston Parkway, to be striped when VDOT repaves them in 2027. The Hunter Mill District meeting is online Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m., and the comment survey closes Nov. 18. Read more
Northern Virginia Magazine's 2026 list of the region's 50 best restaurants includes Clarity, which opened its Reston Town Center location in July, and two Herndon restaurants, La Bonne Vie at 724 Pine St. and Maharani Palace at 1030 Elden St. Read more
OPENINGS & CLOSINGS
WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT
OPEN Kinnera Indian Bar & Grill, 13055 Worldgate Drive, Worldgate Centre, Herndon. The South Indian restaurant opened in a soft launch in the former Kalpasi Indian Cuisine space, with about two dozen biryanis on the menu. No grand opening date is set. Read more
OPEN Peruvian Charcoal Chicken & Grill, Worldgate Centre, Herndon. The restaurant opened earlier this month in the former Qdoba space, serving charcoal-roasted chicken with yuca, plantains and rice. Read more
COMING Voodoo Brewing, 2315 Dulles Station Blvd., Herndon. The taproom opens Saturday, Oct. 24, with 143 seats inside, 40 on the patio, and a menu of pizzas, smash burgers and wings. Read more
COMING Ebbitt House, 1860 Reston Row Plaza, Reston Station. Clyde's Restaurant Group now expects to open in early November, with a raw bar, about 275 seats inside and 125 on a covered patio. Read more
COMING Brewing Alley, 1864 Explorer St., Reston Town Center. The coffee and tea shop received its county health permit on Oct. 15 and is hiring baristas. It has not announced an opening date. Read more
COMING Grazie Nonna and Grazie Grazie, 1951 Opportunity Way, RTC Next. Grazie Grazie filed for a sign permit on Oct. 18 for the corner the Italian restaurant and its deli sibling will share. No opening date yet. Read more
COMING Mpanadas, 11503 Sunrise Valley Drive, Sunrise Valley Center, Reston. The Arlington empanada and coffee cafe hopes to finish construction in early November and open after that. Read more
COMING Andy's Pizza, 11642 Plaza America Drive, Plaza America, Reston. The New York-style pizza shop applied for a beer and wine license for the former MOD Pizza space and expects to open by the end of 2026. Read more
COMING The Big Greek Cafe, 1470 North Point Village Center, Reston. The Maryland Greek chain hopes to open in California Tortilla's former space at the end of this year or in early 2027. Read more
FROM GREATER RESTON LIVING AT COMPASS
What would your home sell for this fall?
We price homes against recent sales in your own neighborhood. Get a range in a couple of minutes.
THINGS TO DO
OUR SIX PICKS FOR THE WEEK
THU., OCT. 22 · 6 P.M. · FRYING PAN FARM PARK, HERNDON
NASCOW FundRACER. Seven of the farm's cows race for brewer's grain at 2709 West Ox Road, and the gates open at 5:30. It's free, and Friends of Frying Pan Farm Park suggests a $20 donation toward the animals' care.
SAT., OCT. 24 · 9:30 A.M. · DOWNTOWN HERNDON
Herndon Homecoming Parade. Floats, marching bands and school groups take on this year's theme, Hollywood Through the Years. Elden Street closes between Locust and Monroe streets at 8 a.m., and the route reopens around 1 p.m.
SAT., OCT. 24 · 5 P.M. · RESTON TOWN CENTER PAVILION
DJ Dance Party. Three DJs play the Pavilion until 9 p.m., and participating restaurants sell Sip & Stroll drinks.
SAT., OCT. 24 · 6 P.M. · RITZ-CARLTON PENTAGON CITY, ARLINGTON
DC's Dancing Stars Gala. Reston's Jeff Virchow, who teaches ballroom and wedding dance through Dance at Home, competes as a celebrity dancer for Operation Renewed Hope Foundation, which serves veterans and their families. The black-tie gala at 1250 S. Hayes St. runs until about midnight, and tickets cost $495 until noon Friday, Oct. 23.
SUN., OCT. 25 · NOON · RESTON TOWN CENTER
Trick or Treat Beyond Market Street. Kids in costume can trick-or-treat along Market Street until 3 p.m.
SUN., OCT. 25 · 4 P.M. · RESTON STATION
Fall-A-Palooza. A DJ plays until 5 and the cover band Gonzo's Nose until 7 at 1900 Reston Metro Plaza, with a petting zoo, a bounce house and apple cider donuts. It's free to attend.
ASK THE INSIDERS
Send us your Reston and Herndon questions
Curious about a building going up, the name on a street sign or a storefront that went dark? Send us your question, and we will answer it here in a coming issue.
READER POLL
How far does your house go for Halloween?
We'll share the results next Thursday.
Last week: No readers voted in our poll on Reston Association's proposed $900 assessment. RA's board takes it up today.
A FINAL NOTE
YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM RESTON WHEN…
…you can name all four lakes, and you know Lake Audubon had another name first.
Openings, closings, questions and corrections
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Reston Insider is written by Kathy and Graham Tracey of Greater Reston Living at Compass, and you can call or text us at (703) 231-7049.
Compass, 11943 Democracy Drive, Reston, VA 20190 | (703) 783-7485
