The Reston area has a new entry for Asian food. La Ong Thai Bistro opened last week at Fox Mill Shopping Center.

La Ong is located at 2521 John Milton Dr. in the space formerly occupied by Five Guys.

It is a new business for owner Joe Wongchaikasem and his wife, Ying. The couple lives in Bristow, but has been eying a Fairfax County spot for a while, said Wongchaikasem.

Wongchaikasem has 15 years of restaurant experience. Ying Wongchaikasem, meanwhile, learned to cook from her aunt La Ong, who raised her in Thailand. The restaurant is named in her honor, Wongchaikasem said.

La Ong has the usual Thai favorites such as Chicken Satay, Pad Thai and Tom Yum, but also some very creative dishes as well. The Chicken Pad Thai spring roll features cellophane noodles, tofu, chicken and vegetables wrapped inside and there is red and green curry with a variety of meat choices on the menu.

La Ong is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Outdoor seating is available. Delivery is available in a three-mile radius. visit them online at www.laongthai.com.

Groundbreaking For New County Police HQ — Fairfax County officials, including Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova and Police Chief Edwin Roessler will break ground Tuesday on the new joint headquarters for the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue and Police Departments. The new headquarters will rise next to the Herrity Building at Monument Drive and Government Center Parkway. It will replace the 44-year-old Massey Building in the City of Fairfax that houses first responders now. The headquarters is slated to open in 2017.

Peek At New Voting Machines Today — Reston-area residents are invited to look at Fairfax County’s new voting machines and apply for a photo ID if they need one at Reston Regional Library Tuesday from 3 to 5 p.m. The county has purchased more than 1,100 new integrated machines. [Fairfax County]

Reston’s StreetShares Matching Investors, Business Owners — A new Reston-based online lending platform to connect investors and small business owners, calls itself “Shark Tank meets eBay.” The new company has made 14 commercial loans since June totaling about $200,000. [Washington Business Journal]

Support SLHS at Chipotle — If you eat at the South Lakes Village Center Chipotle Tuesday between 4 and 8 p.m., 50 percent of the proceeds will go to Seahawk Athletics. Mention to the cashier you are with the Seahawks.

Photo: Walker Nature Center/Credit: Reston Association

Fairfax County has a new athletic complex that features a dedicated synthetic turf cricket field.

County officials officially opened Sully Highlands Park at 13808 Wall Rd. on Saturday. The park is located off of Centreville Road in unincorporated Herndon.

This park was established through a partnership between the Fairfax County government, athletic organizations and local developer proffers.

Developers Timber Ridge at Discovery Square, Inc. provided $6 million, which covered most of the cost of the 17-acre park, county officials said.

The facilities at Sully Highlands were developed in part to replace multiple diamond and rectangular fields that Chantilly Youth Association (CYA) had developed and maintained for several years on private property close to the park.

New features at Sully Highlands: two side-by-side lighted synthetic rectangular fields with a cricket pitch between them; two lighted and irrigated 60-foot baseball diamonds; one lighted and irrigated 90-foot ball diamond; a trail system, and a 270-space parking lot.

Sully District Fairfax County Park Authority Board rep Harold Strickland said Sully Supervisor Michael Frey played a key role in obtaining the necessary proffers.

“To begin with, Supervisor Michael Frey insisted that proffers be used to ensure replacement of the fields that development took away,” Strickland said in a release. “The folks at Timber Ridge, especially manager Stan Settle and partner Rick Dibella, really worked closely with us.”

Strickland also said that CYA contributed significant money to the project.

More facilities will be built at Sully Highlands. CYA contributed $120,000 and is partnering with the park authority to build two batting cages for the 60-foot diamonds, a fenced pitcher’s warm up area for the 90-foot diamond, a playground, and picnic tables with concrete pads.

The Park Authority Board also approved a $20,000 Mastenbrook matching grant and approximately $35,000 in park proffers for the batting cages and other new amenities.The total project budget for these additions is $174,490.65, the county says.

Sully Highlands is the second Fairfax County park to feature a synthetic cricket field to accommodate the growing sport. The other one is at Oak Marr Rec Center. There is a natural grass cricket field at Lake Fairfax Park in Reston.

Photo: Sully Highlands Park/Credit: Fairfax County Park Authority

Music, dance, food and other cultural displays from around the world will return to Lake Anne Plaza on Saturday, Sept. 27 at the Reston Multicultural Festival.

The Reston Multicultural Festival celebrates the diversity and community spirit of Reston, says Reston Community Center, which sponsors the annual event along with Reston Association and other local organizations and businesses.

The fun starts at 11 a.m. with a naturalization ceremony of brand new United State citizens and a release of doves.

Live entertainment begins at 1 p.m. on two stages. Admission is free.

World Stage 

1 p.m.
Elaine Hoffman Watts, National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow, Klezmer Music

2 p.m.
Christylez Bacon-Washington Sound Museum with Wytold and Nitsha Raj, Cross-Cultural Collaborative Music Experience

2:55 p.m.
Angel Roman, Middle Eastern Dance

3:30 p.m.
Kalavaridhi Dance, Indian Classical Dance

4:10 p.m.
Khinezin Win, Burmese (Myanmar Dance)

5 p.m.
Elikeh, Afro-pop

Global Stage

12:15 p.m.
Tom Teasley,  UN Cultural Ambassador for Percussion

1:10 p.m.
Shaolin Temple, Chinese Martial Arts Read More

Reston residents Pat and Steve Macintyre, who have deep roots in various Reston-area arts organizations, will be honored next month by the Arts Council of Fairfax County (ACFC).

The Macintyres will be awarded the 2014 Arts Philanthropy Award for their “tireless support and public service to community arts during the past three decades,“ the council says.

Pat Macintyre has been a key figure in Reston art circles for nearly as long as Reston has been around.

Pat was a student at the Corcoran College of Art & Design in 1968, when Rev. Embry Rucker asked if she would organize art shows Common Ground, a coffeehouse/community center located at Lake Anne Village Center. By the time she briefly moved away in the mid-1970s, she had helped form the League of Reston Artists.

The Macintyres returned in 1977 and found a still-vibrant art scene here. In 1986, Pat became the owner and director of Reston Art Gallery & Studios (RAGS), a cooperative of 11 professional artists located at Lake Anne Plaza.

Pat is also committed to teaching children a love for art. She leads free Children’s Art Workshops every Saturday morning at RAGS, as well as classes at Reston Children’s Center.

“We were surprised and honored to be recognized,” Pat Macintyre said in a release. “The arts are part of our lives.”

The Arts Council says the Macintyres earned the award because they have supported organizations such as the Council for the Arts of Herndon, Herndon Foundation for the Cultural Arts, League of Reston Artists, and Initiative for Public Art Reston. They have helped grow a thriving local arts community, providing enriching experiences for residents in Herndon and Reston.

The Macintyres support arts programming such as Art In Public Places and the Technology and the Arts Scholarships in Herndon.

The Macintyres will receive the honor at the annual ACFC Awards at the Fairview Park Marriott on Friday, Oct. 24.

Photo: Pat Mcintyre/Credit: League of Reston Artists 

U.S. Senate candidates Mark Warner (D) and Ed Gillespie (R) will talk about Virginia’s role in business and technology at a “Battleground Forum” sponsored by the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce on Friday.

The forum — not a debate — will take place at the Center for Innovative Technology, 2214 Rock Hill Road, Herndon, at 11 a.m.  Visit the Chamber website for ticket information.

Incumbent Warner, first elected to the Senate in 2008, and challenger Gillespie, former Republican National Committee chair, have made similar appearances around Northern Virginia in recent weeks, including another Reston forum last week. at that event, sponsored by the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Warner defended his reputation as a centrist when Gillespie said that Warner’s voting record showed across-the-board support for President Obama.

A poll released last week by the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University showed Warner leading Gillespie 53 percent to 31 percent.

Friday’s event  is presented in partnership with the Loudoun County, Prince William and Fredricksburg Regional Chambers of Commerce.

Photos: Top, Sen. Mark Warner/file photo; Bottom, Ed Gillespie/file photo

A Reston basketball coach who pleaded no contest in June to sexually assaulting a minor, was sentenced in Loudoun County last week to 15 years in prison.

Marlow Mikassas Afshartous, 40, who also goes by the name Marlow Talley, was arrested Aug. 3, 2013, and charged with sexual assault and solicitation of child pornography.

Afshartous coached youth basketball for more than 12 years at Claude Moore Recreation Center in Sterling, the former Hoop Magic in Chantilly, and Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C.

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Afshartous in June 2013 and was able to arrest him with assistance from the Fairfax County Police Department.

According to previous court testimony, the abuse of a 12-year-old girl took place from April to November 2012 at three locations: Claude Moore Recreation Center; a church off Evergreen Mills Road; and in Fairfax County at an outdoor basketball court on Braddock Road.

The victim testified to police that Afshartous molested her on multiple occasions. Investigators also retrieved approximately 8,600 text and email messages between the vistim nd Afshartous.

In addition to the 15-year prison sentence, Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge J. Howell Brown also gave Afshartous an indefinite probation sentence.

Once he’s released from prison, Afshartous must register as a sex offender and have no unsupervised contact with children.

Photo: Marlow Mikassas Afshartous/Courtesy Loudoun Commonwealth Attorney’s Office

Take A Free Ride — Motorists can earn free tolls on the 495 Express Lanes next week. If you register on the 495 Express Lanes website this week, you can spend the week of Sept. 22 riding the lanes for free from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. [WTOP]

Bring Your Own Device — It wasn’t that long ago that area school systems banned cellphones and other personal technology. Now they are embracing personal tech as an aid to learning. [Washington Post]

Football Wrapup — The South Lakes Seahawks dropped their third straight game, falling 34-21 to Washington-Lee on Friday at home. The Seahawks are now 0-3. Herndon is now 1-1 after the Hornets were defeated by West Springfield 51-28. Herndon hosts South Lakes on Friday.

Virginia Tourism Tops $20 Billion — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced last week that Virginia generated $21.5 billion in revenue from tourists in 2013, a 1.4 percent increase over 2012. In 2013, tourism in Virginia supported 213,000 jobs, an increase of 1.4 percent in employment, and provided more than $1.42 billion in state and local taxes. [Office of the Governor]

This is a sponsored article from Eve Thompson of Reston Real Estate.  

This week in Reston, 37 new properties came on the market. That brings the total inventory of homes for sale to 275 — the highest number in two years but still only slightly more than a 2.5-months supply of homes.

Real estate agents keep a careful eye on the number of homes for sale because it’s the primary indicator of what type of market we are in — is it a buyer’s market, a seller’s market or is it neutral?

Typical of Reston, we don’t adhere to simple labels. If you’ve taken care with getting your home ready to sell by deep cleaning, organizing and de-cluttering and you’ve resisted the temptation to price your home as if it were the very best one ever,  you will likely be rewarded with a contract in less than 30 days.

We are seeing a lot more requests for seller paid closing costs in contracts and buyers are being more demanding about home inspection items, all things to keep in mind as you prepare your home for market.

Here are a few of the new listings for this week:

2116 GREEN WATCH WAY.#201, 2BR. 2 Bath, $275,000

11192 SILENTWOOD LN. 2BR, 2 BA, $335,000

1144 ROUND PEBBLE LN. 5BR, 4.5 BA, $998,900

1565 OLD EATON LN. 5BR ,3.5 BA, $839,300

1409 NEWPORT SPRING CT. 3BR, 3.5 Bath, $535,000

12001 MARKET ST #242. 2BR, 2 Bath, $469,500

Check out these open houses this weekend in Reston

11401 Gate Hill Place
2 BR, 2 BA Condo
$359,000
Open Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m.
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.

1515 North Point Drive
2 BR, 2 BA Condo
$339,900
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.

11016 Granby Court
3 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$389,900
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.

2354 Generation Drive
3 BR, 2 BA TH
$400,000
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.

11403 Wild Bramble Drive
6 BR, 4.5 BA SFH
$1,148,900
Open Sunday, 1 to 3 p.m.

12025 New Dominion Parkway
1 BR, 1 BA Condo
$439,000
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.

12031 Lake Newport Road
4 BR, 3.5 BA SFH
$695,000
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.

11523 Ivy Bush Court

3 BR, 1.5 BA TH

$359,000

Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.

 
For more open houses and complete real estate information, visit Reston Now’ Real Estate section.

There will be a sobriety checkpoint in the Reston District on Friday, Sept. 12, Fairfax County Police said.

The Fairfax County Police Department routinely patrols the roadways for drunk and impaired drivers. Police say that sobriety checkpoints are one of the tools they use to make sure drivers are not drinking and driving.

Police did not say the time or location of the checkpoint.

In other news from this week’s crime report:

LARCENIES

11700 block of Ledura Court, bicycle from residence.

11900 block of Freedom Drive, laptop computer and electronic device from vehicle.

1800 block of Breathill Way, property from residence.

2300 block of Hunters Woods Plaza, merchandise from business.

1500 block of Inlet Court, merchandise from business.

1400 block of Northgate Square, electronic equipment from business.

Solar Plant Tanning Salon shut its doors at Hunters Woods Village Center in August.

The departure of the longtime tenant leaves an empty storefront at Hunters Woods Village Center.

There are already a few empty spots at Hunters Woods. The former Lady of America gym space has been vacant for a year. The space that houses Cafe at Play children’s play space has been empty for several years, as a small space next to edible arrangements has been vacant for some time.

So, what do you think should go in this spot? What is Hunters Woods missing? Tell us in the comments.

This weekend’s annual Fall for the Book Festival at George Mason University will pay special tribute to Reston-area author Wendi Kaufman, who died in August after a long battle with cancer.

Kaufman, 50, will be honored at Stillhouse Press’ literary salon at 7 p.m. Saturday at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts.

Kaufman’s book, Helen on 86th Street and Other Stories, is being released this week by Stillhouse, a new publishing collaboration between the festival, the MFA program in creative writing at George Mason University, and the Dallas Hudgens, founder of Relegation Books, who is a Mason MFA alum.

“Wendi earned her BA and then her MFA here at Mason, and those of us who knew her through those years and since were honored to be able to bring out her first book of stories,” said William Miller, festival executive director and director of Mason’s creative writing program.

“The title story appeared in the New Yorker and many of the other stories appeared in literary journals and magazines, but the whole book didn’t find a publisher. That is the kind of book the students running Stillhouse Press wanted to pick as their first project.”

Many high-profile authors and others in the literary world have paid tribute to Kaufman in recent weeks. Critic Bethanne Patrick wrote a memorial in Washingtonian, and novelist Joyce Maynard, writing for the New York Observer, offered a touching reflection on a “friend she never met.”

A memorial service for Kaufman will be be held Sunday at 7 p.m. at

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, 2709 Hunter Mill Rd., Oakton.

The Stillhouse Salon says Saturday’s event “will be both a remembrance of this gifted and generous author and a celebration of the work that she left for her friends and fans “

The Stillhouse event is requesting a donation of $20 ($10 for students). Attendees receive a Helen on 86th Street tote bag, plus food and drinks.

Following the reception, there will be presentations from other authors, including Roxane Gay, author of the highly acclaimed debut novel An Untamed State and the equally celebrated essay collection Bad Feminist; Ronna Wineberg, author of the debut novel On Bittersweet Place, published by Relegation Books; and Mary Kay Zuravleff, who will read from Helen on 86th Street and Other Stories.

Fall for the Book also has a long list of events at Mason and at other locations in Northern Virginia and in D.C. Visit the Fall for the Book website for more information for the week-long event.

Ninety Years Of Appreciating Music — The family of one Reston nonagenarian is having a musical work commissioned and performed at an October performance in honor of the big day. [Reston Connection]

Back To School Nights — In case you lost the “Save the Date” for Back to School Night (in that mountain of first day of school papers), Fairfax County Public Schools’ website can help you. Back to School Night info for all schools are listed. [FCPS]

Rally For A Cause Next Week — Reston Tennis will host its third annual Rally for a Cause tennis tournament Sept. 20-21 at Lake Newport tennis courts. The charity event will feature brackets for 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 and above players, competing in men’s and women’s doubles and singles matches. Entry is $30; proceeds will go to the charity organization of  participant’s choice: USTA Serves Foundation/Wounded Warriors Program Curriculum or Cornerstones. For more information or to sign up, email [email protected].

On The Schedule At RCC — Modern Reston went through the Reston Community Center Fall catalogue and highlighted some of the most eye-catching classes. [Modern Reston]