Reston residents and fans can celebrate Reston’s 50th anniversary this weekend by walking through local homes.

The 13th annual Reston Home Tour will be held Saturday, with the theme “Reston@50: Celebrating the Decades.”

The tour will start with a 1960s Hickory Cluster townhouse that’s a “perfect example of the land-use innovation, design excellence and physical harmony of place” that Reston founder Robert E. Simon sought to create, according to tour organizer the Reston Historic Trust and Museum.

A 1990s home overlooking Lake Newport, a 1970s home with a loft and a creatively renovated New England-style home will also be included on the tour set to be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets are available for $30 each, or $20 each if 10 or more are purchased. They can be purchased online or at Reston Museum and Lake Anne Florist on Lake Anne Plaza, The Wine Cabinet at North Point and Appalachian Spring and GRACE at Reston Town Center.

(Updated at 3:10 p.m.) The annual fee paid by all Reston homeowners and renters may increase by $8 in 2015, following greater increases in recent years.

Reston Association documents show the Board of Directors has proposed a 2015 assessment of $642, which is just 1.3 percent more than the 2014 amount of $634.

Thorough planning helped the RA keep the assessment cost down this year, the group said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.

“The budget process last year incorporated cost-saving measures as well as accounting for the additional units to be added to the RA membership early next year,” the statement said. “In addition, RA staff has been steadily increasing the amount of non-assessment revenue, including merchandise sales and facility rentals.”

The RA expects to collect more than $13 million in assessments in 2015 to cover the costs of pool and tennis court maintenance, tree planting, free and low-cost recreation programs and more. Total estimated revenue for the year comes in at more than $16 million.

Expenses in 2015 reach nearly $14 million, with $5.4 million spent on management and headquarters costs, $2.7 million spent on recreation services and $2.1 million spent on park maintenance.

Residents paid these assessments in previous years, according to the RA.

RA ASSESSMENTS SINCE 2000

Year    Amount    Percent Increase 
2000    $370.00
2001    $375.00   1.35%
2002    $387.00   3.20%
2003    $399.00   3.10%
2004    $415.00   4.01%
2005    $425.00   2.41%
2006    $437.00   2.82%
2007    $437.00   0.00%
2008    $475.00   8.70%
2009    $491.00   3.37%
2010    $515.00   4.89%
2011    $540.00   4.85%
2012    $565.00   4.50%
2013    $590.00  4.50%
2014    $634.00   7.45%

Residents who pay assessments after March 1 of each year are subject to a late fee of 10 percent, according to the RA’s website. An additional 10 percent will be applied if the amount is not received by August. An annual 12 percent interest rate also applies to all past due balances, the site says.

Locals can weigh in on the proposed 2015 assessment amount and next year’s budget at a public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23 at 12001 Sunrise Valley Dr.

Aspiring gardeners, interior designers and home-improvers of all sorts can head to the Reston Home & Garden Expo on Saturday.

Free to Reston residents, the event will be held in the Reston Association’s conference center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The expo set to be held for the fifth time will include three workshops and more than 20 exhibitions by companies that specialize in design, paving, lighting and more.

The focus of the event will be on how residents can seamlessly work within Reston’s covenant design review rules, RA communications and community engagement director Kirsten Carr said Friday.

“As you’re talking with people who can do your windows and do your remodeling, we’ll have covenant staff who can go through the whole process with you,” she said. “It will be one-stop shopping.”

The following workshops will be offered.

Let Covenants Work for You, 10:30 to 11:15 a.m.
Presenter: Reston Association covenants staff

How to Qualify a Contractor, 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Presenter: Mark Fies, Synergy Design & Construction

Color Trends in Interior Design, 12:30-1:15 p.m.
Presenter: Amelia Vallone, Amelia Vallone Interiors

 The Reston Home & Garden Expo will take place at 12001 Sunrise Valley Dr. 

Travelers can now get a taste of Reston at Dulles International Airport.

An outpost of the burger joint Be Right Burger opened at Dulles late last month, general manager Christina Sawyer said Friday.

Known for speedy gourmet burgers and hot dogs, the Concourse C restaurant is the second location for the Reston Town Center-based business. The company aims to give travelers the same experience they would get in Reston.

“We’re offering great, quick service, a wonderful meal and friendly environment,” Sawyer said.

Unlike the Reston location that opened in 2011, Be Right Burger is serving breakfast at Dulles, starting at 5 a.m.

The company has 14 locations in Canada and will continue to open U.S. locations, Sawyer said.

The burger vendors already at Dulles include Five Guys, Fuddruckers and Wendy’s, and a Smashburger is opening soon, according to the local burger blog Burger Days.

Get ready for bagpipes, beer gardens and sauerkraut.

Oktoberfest will take over Reston Town Center this weekend, with carnival rides set up starting Friday night and live music, food vendors and more on Saturday and Sunday.

Admission is free, but you’ll need tickets for beer, wine, food and carnival rides. Visit the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce’s website to purchase tickets in advance, or buy them on site.

The Guns ‘n Hoses Chili Cookoff will be fought Saturday starting at noon. Firefighters and police officers from across Northern Virginia will show off their cooking skills and compete for prizes and bragging rights.

There will be live, traditional German music during the day, and pop tunes at night at stages in the pavilion and in Library Street. Children can try the “Ultimate Fire Fighter Kids’ Obstacle Course” from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday. The full entertainment lineup can be found here.

Food
Vendors will be located on Market Street, including:

• Buffalo Wing Factory
• Clyde’s
• Milwaukee Custard
• Naked Pizza
• Paisano’s Pizza
• The Melting Pot

Beer
The pavilion beer garden will open at noon both days, as will the craft beer area on Library Street. Here’s what’s on tap:

• Pavilion Beer Garden — Blue Moon, Miller Lite, Samuel Adams and Yuengling Traditional Lager
• Craft Beer Garden — Old Ox, Old Bust Head Brewing Co., New Belgium, Flying Dog and D.C. Brau

A “celebration” of the life of Reston-based actor Ralph Cosham will be held Monday, Oct. 20.

The British-born regular at Washington’s Arena Stage and Shakespeare Theater will be remembered at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Reston Community Center (2310 Colts Neck Rd.), said his widow, actress Beverly Cosham.

Cosham acted on stage and in films including “The Pelican Brief” and “Shadow Conspiracy” and was praised as a voiceover actor. Called “magnificent” by reviewers, Cosham’s distinctive voice was used in more than 100 audiobooks, sometimes under the pseudonym Geoffrey Howard. His credits include the Chief Inspector Gamache mystery novels by Louise Penny, “Heart of Darkness” and “The Divine Comedy.”

He made many of his recordings in a home studio, The Washington Post reported in August.

Cosham died Sept. 30 after an illness. He was 78.

More kids at Forest Edge Elementary School got moving Wednesday morning than at any other Reston school.

Students at the area’s eight public elementary schools got to class by participating in International Walk to School Day, created to promote physical activity and pedestrian safety.

Forest Edge had the most walkers, with 371 students participating, according to data compiled by Kelley Westenhoff, chairwoman of the Reston Association’s pedestrian and bicycling committee.

Lake Anne Elementary School was also recognized in the Reston Elementary School Challenge. The school had the highest percentage of students who walked to school Wednesday, with 364 of its 670 total students involved, for a 54 percent participation rate.

Thirty percent of Reston’s 5,583 elementary school students walked to school Wednesday, according to the data.

The winning schools will be awarded trophies at the November meeting of the Reston Association. A similar competition will take place in May, when kids will be encouraged to bike to school.

Election results for the Reston Community Center’s Board of Governors are in: voters selected former RCC board member William Keefe and incumbents William Penniman and Vicky Wingert.

According to results published Tuesday, Wingert, a former Reston Association CEO, commanded 1,241 votes in the race to help lead the Colts Neck Road activity and educational center.

Keefe, a former RCC board member who was not re-elected in 2013, came in second with 1,119 votes. Penniman, who has served on the board for eight years, received 1,103 votes. And candidate Linda Singer, who has been involved in many local groups, came in fourth with 984 votes.

The newly elected board members discussed the RCC’s future at a community meeting last month. They weighed in how the center can accommodate growth, and a proposal to build a new pool.

Penniman said then that he’ll work to improve the center.

“No other community center has this kind of energy — it is important we preserve it,” he said. “It is important we continue to strengthen and rise to meet needs that will grow.”

Marching bands, floats and homecoming courts will flood the streets of Reston and Herndon this weekend. South Lakes High School and Herndon High School are both celebrating their annual homecoming weekends.

The festivities will kick off in Reston at 5 p.m. Friday, when a parade will begin near the Hunters Woods Plaza Safeway. The procession will move north on Colts Neck Road and head east on South Lakes Drive to South Lakes High.

The Seahawks will play Thomas Jefferson High School starting at 7:30 p.m. Students will attend the homecoming dance in the school gym Saturday night.

Herndon High School’s carnival-themed parade is set to kick off at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in downtown Herndon. Participants will begin to march on Sterling Road, head east onto Elden Street, turn left onto Lynn Street and end on Center Street.

“Neighbors, families and friends are invited to line Elden Street and cheer on our home team and the whole community,” the town website reads.

Floats will be judged based on “creativity and theme interpretation,” the site says.

The Hornets will play the Edison Eagles at 1:30 p.m., and then students will attend a dance that night.

Reston residents and workers can expect to see food trucks in more places.

Food trucks can now do business at shopping centers, office buildings and construction sites, after the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved new rules on Tuesday.

The changes dropped the fees for vendors from more than $16,000 to just $100, making it easier for the trucks to do business. Fairfax County Chairman Sharon Bulova said locals will see more of this “complement to Fairfax County’s dining experiences.”

“I expect to see more of them operating at popular destinations such as Tysons, Mosaic District, Reston Town Center and the newly renovated Springfield Mall,” Bulova said in a statement.

The trucks can park at a single location for a maximum of four hours and must have property owners’ written consent to operate there. As many as three trucks can operate at a single location.

Vendors may only set up shop at developed industrial or commercial properties with a minimum of 25,000 square feet of floor area. The trucks are still forbidden from being parked on public roads.