So Long, Big Tree — Frying Pan Park recently had to remove one of its longest residents, a giant but rotting oak tree that was in danger of damaging buildings and a historic cemetery. [Fairfax County Park Authority]

Now Open: Absentee Voting — Want to vote in the March 1 Presidential Primary but may not be able to make it to the polls? Absentee voting is now available in person and by mail. [Fairfax County]

Buy Jewelry Help Others — Reston Town Center’s Kendra Scott store will be launching its spring 2016 collection Wednesday. The store will be donating a portion of in-store (11924 Market St.) and online jewelry sales that day to the National Art Education Association (NAEA). Funds donated by Kendra Scott will support the development of the NAEA Art Educator Scholarship Fund, which will support art educators in professional development programs. The event starts at 4 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 18 is Martin Luther King Day. It’s a federal holiday, so that means no mail delivery, banks are closed and no work for government employees.

Reston Now will not be publishing Monday.

Fairfax County Public Schools have the day off, as well as a student holiday scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 19.

Looking for something to do? Entry to all U.S. National Parks nationwide will be free of charge. Here’s a list of parks (some are free anyway;others have fees) in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia.

There is also a full schedule of events this weekend in Reston.

Fairfax County services that will be affected by the holiday:

• Libraries – closed
• Courts – closed
• Fairfax Connector bus service – holiday weekend schedule
• Metro – on a Saturday schedule (12 minutes between trains)
• Fairfax County REC Centers and parks are open. Colvin Run Mill and Sully Historic Site are closed.
• Reston Community Centers at Hunters Woods and Lake Anne are open

Martin Luther King/Public domain photo

Monday is Martin Luther King Day, a national holiday to remember the late civil rights leader and also give back to the community.

Reston Community Center is sponsoring a full slate of activities beginning Saturday. Here is what is on the schedule for RCC’s “Are We Keeping The Promise?” events:

Saturday, Jan. 16

Community Service Projects
9 a.m., Southgate Community Center, 12125 Pinecrest Rd. All ages. Free.

RCC is partnering with Southgate Community Center, Reston Association, Cornerstones, and The Closet on community service projects. Indoor projects include making bag lunches for the Embry Rucker Community Shelter, sorting and organizing items from The Closet and several other projects at Southgate Community Center. There will also be several outdoor projects such as cleaning up the natural areas, pathways, and hardscape surrounding the area, weather permitting. Read More

The space at 1436 North Point Village Center will not be vacant for long.

Fotoimage 1HR, Reston’s last remaining photo processing store, will close Jan. 30. A barber shop is slated to open in its place soon.

Permits have been filed by the owners of what will be called North Point Barber. No word yet on whether it will be a traditional barber shop or a high-end one in the style of Joe Grooming and Roosters Men’s Grooming (coming soon) at Reston Town Center.

North Point has several other personal care storefronts, including KLS Salon, Hair Cuttery, Massage Envy and Sahel’s Medical Spa & Beauty Studio.

No opening date has been announced.

Paul Kim, a recent South Lakes High School graduate, died earlier this week following complications from surgery.

Kim, 20, graduated from SLHS in 2014 and was a second-year student at the University of Virginia.

Allen W. Groves, the University of Virginia Dean of Students, sent out a statement informing students of Kim’s death:

To the University Community:

I am very sorry to inform you of the death of second-year student Paul Kim, who died yesterday, January 12, at his home in Reston, Virginia, due to apparent complications following surgery.

Paul transferred to UVA this year after studying his first year at Christopher Newport University. He lived in Weedon House, was active in the Johnson Malone Weedon Community Council, and was involved with Chi Alpha, the Christian fraternal organization. His friends have noted his love of music, especially hip-hop.

Paul’s academic and career interests included economics, finance, and international business. He had hoped to be admitted to the McIntire School of Commerce. Another of his goals was to study Korean so he could communicate fluently in his family’s native language. He had planned to visit family members in Korea and become more familiar with his cultural heritage.

In his admission essay, he described his interest in cryptocurrencies. “The egalitarian values exhibited,” he said, “are captivating and have prompted my curiosity and interest in the innovations of today that could change our future tomorrow.” Paul was equally committed to being a good person, stating, “My academic and professional goals are a high priority but giving back to others and being a virtuous human being is more important to me.”

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Adams-Green Funeral Home, 721 Elden St., Herndon.

Photo Courtesy Adams-Green Funeral Home

From a local yoga studio to corporate giant Google, eight individuals and businesses who have had an impact on making Reston a better place will be honored this year as the Best of Reston.

The 25th annual awards for community service are a collaboration between the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and Cornerstones. The awards gala April 7 at the Hyatt Regency Reston is a major fundraiser for Cornerstones, the Reston non- profit that helps people in need find affordable housing, food and other necessities.

This year’s gala has a goal of raising $500,000, says Cornerstones. That’s similar to the amount raised each of the last two years, says Cornerstones chair Jill Norcross. Two years ago, Cornerstones was able to double its stock of affordable housing with money raised.

The community gathered at Reston Station Thursday night to announce the 2016 honorees:

Individual Community Leader

Jim Elder — A coach with Reston Association’s tennis program since 1997, Elder is being honored for teaching Reston youth that good sportsmanship and fair play are as essential to playing the games they love as skills, stats and strategy.

Leila Gordon — Gordon, the executive director of the Reston Community Center was chosen for “putting community at the center of the Reston experience.” Gordon has been instrumental in increasing community arts, education and recreation programs for people of all ages and incomes in Reston.

Small Business Leader

Beloved Yoga — Maryam Ovissi, founder of Beloved Yoga, earns the award for “providing the tools for self-empowerment, self-healing and self-realization coupled with the belief that giving back to community is powerful when we thrive together.” Ovissi takes her yoga and meditation programs into the community to bring it to new participants such as youth and seniors. She is also founder of Reston Town Center’s annual Love Your Body Day. Read More

Volunteer Awards — Know a super volunteer? Nominate them for Volunteer Fairfax’s 2016 Awards. [Volunteer Fairfax]

Restaurant Week Soon — Metropolitan Washington’s Winter Restaurant Week starts Jan. 25. Check out which Reston restaurants are participating. [Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington]

Stuff The Bus At Fox Mill — The Fairfax County “Stuff the Bus,” a food pantry giving project, will be at Fox Mill’s Giant on Saturday. Food is collected and donated to local food pantries.  In 2015 more than 30,000 meals worth of food was collected and distributed through the food pantry network.

VY Not? — Restonian has some fun with the new name for Reston Heights’ expansion, as well as some thoughts for other Reston monikers. [Restonian]

It’s just January, but winter (usually) happens fast in Reston.

Most Reston youth spring sports leagues are holding registration now, so act soon if you want your children to play. Some are even offering early signup discounts.

Here is what you need to know:

Reston Soccer registration closes Feb. 6. Reston Soccer has house and travel teams for boys and girls ages U5 to 18.

Reston Youth Football has co-ed spring flag football. Registration is open.

Herndon Reston Youth Lacrosse has boys and girls teams. Registration is  now open and early bird discounts ($30) available through Jan. 15.

http://herndonlacrosse.org/#340618Herndon-Reston Youth Softball has fastpitch softball for girls 5 to 18. Registration is open. Players 10 and older have to have a skills assessment and need to register by February 15.

Herndon Reston Little League – Baseball for kids 4 to 12. Reston Little League now can include players from Herndon, hence the name change and new website. Regstration is open. Skills assessments begin on Jan 31.

Reston Little League players/file photo

The little glass retail huts at Reston Station have some new tenants.

Urban Pop, a retail concept that began on the plaza by the Wiehle-Reston East Metro in late November, will have a changing list of vendors. Vendors — which range from crafters to a bookstore to specialty food sellers — commit to just a month at a time.

But that brings in a constant rotation of vendors who can test the market for a retail operation. The stores are open 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays and at the owners discretion on Saturdays.

Here’s who is at Urban Pop this month:

Arthur Christine — Vienna-based hand screened graphic T-shirts and bags.

Cafe9 Catering — offering snacks and sandwiches.

Green Fare — An outpost of a full-service, organic vegetarian restaurant in Herndon offering to-go selections.

Pearl Fine Teas — Returns with custom and carefully selected tea blends.

Scrawl Books — Reston’s new independent book seller.

She-Rise — Handmade jewelry, scarves and other accessories.

Farm 2 Carb — A collaboration between a Great Falls farmer and a pastry chef, this shop sells farm products such a pear balsamic vinegar along as well as creations such as pear tarts.

Now that Reston is becoming a transit-oriented community, how should the streets surrounding the Metro stations be organized?

That is the subject of a Feb. 1 meeting of the Reston Network Analysis Group.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. at Lake Anne Elementary School, 11510 North Shore Dr.

The Reston Master Plan calls for an urban-style layout of streets near Silver Line stations at Wiehle-Reston East and Reston Town Center (which will open in 2020). County officials have organized the Reston Network Analysis Advisory Group to get feedback from citizens about about the plans for the street grid.

Residents can also comment online on the Reston Network Analysis page.

See more about the committee’s analysis in the presentation below.

Updated 12:40 p.m. Thursday with name of victim.

Herndon Police are asking for witnesses to a fatal motorcycle crash that happened Wednesday morning on Monroe Street.

At about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, a motorcycle was traveling eastbound on Monroe Street and a vehicle traveling northbound on Van Buren Street when they collided.

The 19-year-old male motorcyclist was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He has been identified by police as Steven Tyler Radich of Ashburn.

All parties remained on scene and fully cooperated with police.

No charges have been placed at this time, the accident remains under investigation, Herndon Police said in a release.

Anyone who witnessed or may have information about this accident is asked to call the Herndon Police at 703-435-6828.

Reston’s last photo developing store will shut its doors on Jan. 30.

The owner of Fotoimage 1HR, which had been at 1436 North Point Village Center since 2003, says its lease it expiring and will close.

Just a few years ago, there were camera stores/processing centers at South Lakes Village Center and Plaza America, to name a few.

But with the popularity of camera phones, digital cameras and self-service photo kiosks at places like CVS and Target, storefront photo operations are becoming a thing of the past.

“This has been a hard business to be in the last few years,” said owner Tim Klement.

Meanwhile, everything in the store, which also has framing services, is on sale. Camera bags are $5, for instance. Frames are buy one, get one 50 percent off.

No word from North Point owner Lerner Enterprises whether a new tenant has been signed.

SLHS Runner Breaks Records — South Lakes High School senior Skander Ballard won the 300 meters, in 35.11 eclipsing the indoor track school record of 35.15 set by Adrian Vaughn (2009-10) at the Freedom Games in New York on Saturday. He also teamed with Eric Kirlew, Anas Fain and junior Timiebi Ogobri for third in the 4×200 meter relay. Their time of 1:32.18 in the preliminaries broke the school record of 1:32.92 set in 2011-12.

Curtain Up — Reston Community Players’ production of Master Class opens Friday at CenterStage at Reston Community Center Hunters Woods. The Terrance McNally play is a comedy about legendary opera singer Maria Callas. The show runs weekends through Jan. 30. [Reston Players]

Band Deadline Nears — Tuesday, Jan. 19 is the deadline for teen bands to enter SLHS’ Battle of the Bands. The Feb. 21 competition at Ned Devine’s in Herndon benefits the SLHS Marching Band. [Battle of the Bands]

T-Shirt Mix Up Mixes Up Upskirt Story — Fox5 apparently pictured a different trainer at Reston’s Fusion 360 gym in a story about Michael Wayne Edwards Jr., recently convicted for filming women at South Lakes Safeway without their consent. [Washington Post]

Photo: South Lakes runner Skander Ballard at Freedom Games/Credit: Val Lister

Get your costume and a really, really warm towel ready as the 9th Annual Freezin’ for a Reason Virginia Polar Dip is set for Lake Anne Plaza on Feb. 6.

The event raises money to send children to Camp Sunshine, an overnight camp in Maine for kids suffering from the effects of life-threatening illnesses.

Closer to home, the Virginia Polar Dip is a popular community event, drawing hundreds of spectators to Lake Anne Plaza to witness the “dippers” — some of them in whacky costumes — plunge into the lake in the middle of winter.

The event kicks off at 12:30 p.m. with music by Danny DJ, family friendly activities, and other warmup fun hosted by WASH-FM radio personality Chili Amar. The dip begins at 2 p.m.

Last year’s event raised more than $100,000. This year’s goal is to raise $125,000, which will enable about 50 Mid-Atlantic families to attend Camp Sunshine. Read More

Updated Thursday with information on what “VY” means.

JBG Companies’ Reston Heights Phase II has a new name: VY at Reston Heights, according to signage at the construction site.

A JBG spokeswoman said this about the name:

“VY is an abbreviation of very, and creates a unique word that allows us to inject further meaning into it when the marketing campaign is launched. Once the name VY is inserted within the context of the brand, it will evoke the vitality and velocity of this new addition to Reston Heights.”

The former site of the Reston International Center’s convenience stores, a bank and a Chili’s Bar and Grill were razed in recent weeks to make way for the mixed-use development.

The Westin Reston Heights, Mercer Condominiums and office buildings make up the first phase of Reston Heights, which was completed several years ago.

The second phase, approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2013, will have a six-story residential building, a 15-story residential building, a five-story building that incorporates a parking garage with residences and retail space; and a 10-story building that mixes office space, parking and retail space.

The plan includes 145,000 square feet of above-grade retail, 100,00 square feet of below-grade retail, 428,225 square feet of office and 498 residential units.

The only major tenant signed thus far is 24 Hour Fitness, a JBG spokeswoman said.

However, a rendering at the construction site gives a sneak peek into the cafes, shops and outdoor seating that will eventually be at the development.