Get ready for steins of beer, lots of food and a full lineup of live music as Oktoberfest Reston returns to Reston Town Center Oct. 10 and 11.

Oktoberfest Reston is sponsored by the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and is Northern Virginia’s largest outdoor fall festival with about 85,000 visitors.

Here is what you need to know:

Festival hours are Saturday, Oct. 10, noon to 11 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 11, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Oktoberfest Reston event admission is free. Food tickets are $1 per ticket or $20 for 24 tickets. You can purchase advance tickets on sale online at www.OktoberfestReston.com.

Parking is free in Reston Town Center parking garages.

Beers on tap: Blue Moon, Miller Lite, Samuel Adams Oktoberfest, Yuengling. Craft Beer Alley: Flying Dog, Heritage, Old Ox and Old Bust Head.

Food available from American Tap Room, Clyde’s of Reston, Buffalo Wing Factory, Naked Pizza, Pittsburgh Ricks, Tavern 64 Regional Kitchen, The Big Cheese, The Melting Pot, The Sprouted Spoon, and more.

Entertainment: Alpine Dancers, The Low’nBrows German Band, Gonzo’s Nose, DJ Edward Daniels, Kings Park German Band, Herr Metal & Dr FU and DJ B Rok. Visit the event website to see exact schedule.

Oktoberfest Reston can always use volunteers. Check the volunteer page on the event website for more info.

Oktoberfest will also feature the Reston Pumpkin 5K (and kids Pumpkin Dash) on Sunday morning. Runners, feel free to break out your Halloween costume for the race. Visit the Reston Pumpkin 5K site for more information and registration.

Photo courtesy of Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce

The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce honored its own on Wednesday at its annual Awards for Chamber Excellence (ACE) luncheon.

The keynote speaker at the event at the Sheraton Reston was Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google and widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet.”

The Chamber also installed its new officers and board members. Outgoing Chairman Karen Cleveland, President of Cleveland Coaching Group, passed the gavel to incoming chairman, Michael Bradshaw, Director of Cloud Platform of the East Region, Google.

Cleveland led the Chamber through a successful year. Under Karen’s leadership several Chamber initiatives are currently being implemented, including the  Healthy Workplace Initiative; Reston Marketing Initiative; and Re-launching  of IncSpire.

Other officers elected by the membership: Charles Kapur, EagleBank (Chair-Elect and Treasurer for 2015-2016); Matt Clary of the Law Office of Matt Clary (General Counsel);

The new board also includes:

• Eileen Ellsworth, Community Foundation of Northern Virginia
• Jill Norcross, Cornerstones
• Cate Fulkerson, Reston Association
• Denise Hogan, Boston Properties
• Eric Horwitz, Odin Feldman & Pittleman
• Diane Holland, Access National Bank
• Angela Inzerillo, Impact Business Solutions
• Joey Musmar, MillerMusmar, CPAs
• Charlene Wheeless, Bechtel
• Jen Sterling, Red Thinking LLC.

The ACE Awards are annual honors where the Chamber recognizes outstanding businesses, volunteers and committees that make the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce a successful place to do business.

This year’s winnners:

Committee of the Year: Communications Committee
Small Business of the Year: Visual Impact Productions, LLC.
Medium Business of the Year: Able Moving & Storage
Large Business of the Year: Odin, Feldman and Pittleman, PC
Member of the Year: Maggie Parker and Comstock Partners
New Member of the Year: Jason Butler, JB Printing & Specialties
Volunteer of the Year: Janel Giambrone, M&T Bank Reston
President’s Award: Cornerstones
Joe Ritchey Pinnacle Award: Matt Brennan, Brennan & Waite, PLC

Top photo: Google’s Vint Cerf at 2015 ACE Awards/Credit: GRCC; Bottom photo: ACE Award/Credit: GRCC

Reston Town Center will turn into a food festival highlighting Reston’s restaurants as the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of Reston returns June 19 and 20.

The Taste of Reston, celebrating its 25th anniversary, is the largest outdoor food festival in the area and was voted “Northern Virginia’s Best Food Festival”the last four years by readers of Virginia Living Magazine.

Here is what you need to know about the 25th annual Taste of Reston:

Festival hours are Friday, June 19, 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday, June 20, 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. There will be carnival rides only on Sunday, June 21, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Admission is free, but you will need tickets to buy food and drinks and ride rides. You can purchase advance tickets online or in person at the festival.

Some of the participating restaurants: Clyde’s, American Tap Room, Pitango Gelato, Vinifera Wine Bar & Bistro, Obi Sushi and many more. Visit the Taste of Reston website to see the full list.

Beer and wine will be served Friday, June 19, 3 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday, June 20, noon to 10:30 p.m. in the main pavilion and at trucks on Library Street and Explorer Street. Over 21 only, and valid ID required. A mix of national brands and craft brews will be available, including beer from Flying Dog, DC Brau and Old Busthead Brewing Co.

There will be live entertainment on three stages, as well as a Family Fun Zone. See the full lineup and schedule.

Reston Now will have a booth at the festival. Stop by to visit us, ask a question, give some feedback and pick up some Reston Now gift items.

Reston-based businesses from small (Capital Cuisine Caterers, Tailored Living of Reston) to large (Sheraton Reston Hotel, Leidos) are among the nominees for the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce’s 2015 Awards for Chamber Excellence (ACE)

Each year,  the Chamber gives out the awards to recognize outstanding businesses, volunteers and committees that excel through  Chamber involvement and help to make the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce a successful place to do business.

GRCC will announce the ACE winners during its Awards for Chamber Excellence (ACE) and Annual Meeting Luncheon on June 17.

The keynote speaker is Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google and widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet.” His speech will address innovation, jobs and the evolving role of the internet. During the ACE awards the GRCC will also transition the 2014-2015 Board of Directors under Karen Cleveland of Cleveland Coaching Group to the 2015-2016 Board of Directors under Michael Bradshaw of Google.

The 2015 nominees:

Small Business of the Year

• Capital Cuisine Caterers
• Impact Business Solutions LLC
• Metro Printing Center
• Red Thinking LLC
• Restoration Church
• Silver Spoon Caterers
• Tailored Living of Northern Virginia
• Visual Impact Productions

Read More

Tickets are now available for the April 30 Best of Reston Awards Gala at the Hyatt Regency Reston.

The Best of Reston, organized by the  Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and Cornerstones, annually honors community individual and business leaders who have made an impact.

It is also the biggest fundraiser of the year for Cornerstones. The last two Best of Reston galas raised a combined $1,178,000. That money enabled Cornerstones to double its stock of affordable housing in our community.

Tickets for this year’s event begin at $200 (individual) and go up to $5,000 for a table.

Developers Boston Properties, Comstock, and The JBG Companies will serve as co-chairs of the event.

Here are the honorees for 2015:

Larry Butler — Individual Community Leader 

Butler, Reston Association’s Senior Director of Parks and Recreation, has used his passion for the outdoors in volunteer work that includes the Reston Triathlon, the Reston Sprint Triathlon and the Reston Kids Triathlon. The latter event offers scholarships to 50 kids in need to get involved in the sport.

Fran Steinbauer — Individual Community Leader

Steinbauer is an original Restonian, serving as founder Bob Simon’s civil engineer in the planning of the community more than 50 years ago. He has served on the board of Reston Association, Cornerstones, Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and the former Reston Homeowners Association.

Leidos — Corporate Business Leader

New science and tech corporation Leidos opened its headquarters at Reston Town Center less than two years ago, but has quickly become immersed in the community, working with the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life; the American Heart Association’s Run Your Heart Out, Reston; Habitat for Humanity; Greater Reston Arts Center and Initiative for Public Art Reston, among others.

Maximus — Corporate Business Leader

Maximus’ corporate headquarters is in Reston, where it supports Herndon-Reston FISH’s work to help those in need, FACETS, The Women’s Center and the Washington Redskins Foundation, among others.

Maid Bright — Small Business Leader

Maid Bright, a family-run house cleaning business, supported the community by providing dinners to the county hypothermia shelter; cleaning homes free of charge for cancer patients and families moving to transitional housing; participating in Cornerstones’ Help the Homeless Walk; and donating $20,000 for Syrian refugees.

His Hidden Treasures — Civic/Community Organization Leader

Lois and Troy Hughes founded this on profit ministry that helps people work their way out of homelessness and grow self-esteem in newly furnished homes. His Hidden Treasureshelps transform transitional housing into personalized homes, with restored and donated furniture, as well as brand-new beds for clients.

Casey Veatch — Vade Bolton-Anne Rodriguez Legacy Award

This native Restonian is a business leader with Veatch Commercial Real Estate who also gives back in a variety of capacities, helping Cornerstones, Leadership Fairfax, his church, and youth sports teams.

The Second Annual Northern Virginia Restaurant Week returns to Reston March 23-30.

The events is a collaboration of Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce collaborates and Virginia Hospitality & Travel Association, who have organized a wide variety of participating restaurants.

Restaurants will be providing special menus, with lunches from $18.15 to $22.15 and dinners from $30.15 to $33.15.

Among the participating Reston-area restaurants:

• American Tap Room
• McCormick & Schmick’s
• Mon Ami Gabi
• Morton’s
• The Melting Pot
• Mellow Mushroom – Herndon
• Tavern 64
• Il Fornaio
• Europa – Herndon
• Big Bowl
• Naked Pizza
• M & S Grill

There are also several Tysons Corner-area and other Northern Virginia restaurants participating. To see the entire list and to make reservations, visit Open Table.

This year’s Northern Virginia Restaurant Week is also working with Reston Limousine to provide a 10-percent discount to diners showing a receipt indicating they visited a participating Northern Virginia Restaurant.

The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and Cornerstones announced the 2015 Best of Reston honorees — as well as new co-chairs of this year’s event  — at Comstock’s Reston Station Thursday night.

The honorees represent individuals and businesses who have given back to the community. They will be honored at a gala benefitting Cornerstones on April 30.

The last two Best of Reston galas raised a combined $1,178,000. That money enabled Cornerstones to double its stock of affordable housing in our community, said Jill Norcross, Chairman of Cornerstones’ Board of Directors.

Developers Boston Properties, Comstock, and The JBG Companies will serve as co-chairs, Best of Reston organizers announced.

“As a leading developer in Reston, Comstock takes its responsibility of building a strong community very seriously,” said Maggie Parker, Comstock’s Director of Communications and Public Outreach. “A community is more than its stations, roads and buildings; it is made up of the people who come from all walks of life. It’s an honor to be asked to
raise money for this incredible community resource.”

Parker also announced that the Best of Reston has already raised $325,000 — 65 percent of this year’s goal — from Reston businesses and individuals.

The 2015 honorees:

Larry Butler — Individual Community Leader 

Butler, Reston Association’s Senior Director of Parks and Recreation, has used his passion for the outdoors in volunteer work that includes the Reston Triathlon, the Reston Sprint Triathlon and the Reston Kids Triathlon. The latter event offers scholarships to 50 kids in need to get involved in the sport.

“His can-do attitude, insight and advice, and leadership in making connections across the community create the added value in every event or activity in which Larry is involved,” the Best of Reston committee said. Read More

Calling All Restaurants — The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce needs donations for its annual First Responders Holiday Celebration at noon on Dec. 16 at the Fairfax County Police’s Reston District Station. If you are a restaurant or catering business, please consider donating a dish to honor police, fire and rescue, and EMT personnel in Reston and Herndon for their service. Contact Todd Rhoden at 703-707-9045.

Holiday Show At SLHS — The Sounds of the Holidays dance concert will be presented by South Lakes High dance students and members of the school’s Fusion Dance Company on Friday, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. at SLHS. This family friendly dance concert will celebrate the sounds of the holidays with performances set to favorites like Winter Wonderland, Carol of the Bells, and Jingle Bells. Suggested admission donation of $5.

Honors For Buzz Aldrin ES — The National PTA has recognized Reston’s Buzz Aldrin Elementary School and the Buzz Aldrin Elementary School PTA as a National PTA School of Excellence for their achievement in building effective family-school partnerships. Being recognized as a National PTA School of Excellence demonstrates Buzz Aldrin and the PTA’s leadership and commitment to partnering to support student success and continuous school improvement. [Reston Connection]

Do you know a business or individual that represents the Best of Reston?

Then nominate them by Nov. 7 for the 24th annual Best of Reston Awards.

The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and Cornerstones team together annually to honor those who have made an impact in the community.

The 2015 awards will take place on April 30 at the Hyatt Regency Reston.

Proceeds from the Best of Reston benefit the programs of Cornerstones, which provides affordable housing and comprehensive support services to individuals and families in need.

The Best of Reston set — and met — a goal of raising $1 million over the last two years to aid Cornerstones. That enabled the nonprofit to purchase 50 homes to add to its stock of affordable housing in the community, said Cornerstones CEO Kerrie Wilson.

Here is the criteria for selection, which is done by committee:

Awardees will be selected for working selflessly without consideration of recognition to improve the greater Reston community/Dulles Corridor region served by the sponsoring organizations. While the awardee is not required to reside or be headquartered in Reston, the awardee’s contributions must benefit the greater Reston/Dulles area.

Additionally:

• Completed nomination forms are due Friday, Nov. 7 by 5:00 p.m. to allow selection committee review for completeness. The committee may request additional information of nominators who will have up until Nov. 21 to provide clarifying information (if needed).
• Applicants may nominate themselves or their own businesses/organizations.
• Selections and notifications will be completed by mid-December.
• Award recipients will be publicly announced on Jan. 8 at a joint Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and Cornerstones media event.
• Honorees must be able to attend the April 30, 2015 Best of Reston Community Service Awards and be available in January-March for video production.

Click the award category below to nominate online or download the nomination form here.

• Individual/Family Community Leader(s)
• Civic/Community Group(s)/NonprofitOrganization
• Employee-Owned Company/Small Business Leader (2-100 employees)
• Corporate Business Leader (101+ employees)
• Special Award: Vade Bolton-Ann Rodriquez Legacy Award Entrusting Our Community’s Future
• Robert E. Simon Lifetime Achievement Award, which is occasionally given by the Selection Committee in honor of Reston’s founder to a previous Best of Reston award winner whose vision, spirit, compassion and belief in our community has made Reston the great place that it is, and who serves as a model of continued engagement and ongoing service.

Photo: Reston founder and Best of Reston 2014 Gala honorary chair Bob Simon/Credit: Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce.

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

The streets of Reston Town Center will turn into a beer garden and carnival Oct. 11 and 12 as the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce’s Oktoberfest Reston returns.

Here is what you need to know:

Oktoberfest runs noon to 11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11 and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12.

The carnival rides only will be open Friday, Oct. 10 from 5 to 10 p.m.

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

Saturday will also feature the Guns ‘n Hoses Chili Cookoff, where firefighter and police officers from all over Northern Virginia show off their cooking skills and compete for bragging rights and prizes.

Beer

The pavilion beer garden opens at noon both days, as does the craft beer area located on Library Street. Here is what is on tap:

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

Food

Vendors will be located on Market Street, including:

• Buffalo Wing Factory
• Clyde’s
• Milwaukee Custard
• Naked Pizza
• Paisano’s Pizza
• Tailgater by Toby NOVA
• The Melting Pot

Entertainment

There will be live, traditional German music during the day, and pop dance tunes at night at stages in the pavilion and in Library Street.

Full entertainment lineup here.

Photo Courtesy of Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce

The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce honored its members for business contributions to the community at its annual ACE Awards lunch on Thursday.

The annual ACE awards recognize companies and individuals who demonstrated excellence as Chamber and community stewards during 2013-14.

The winners:

• Lisa Nicholls, Tira! Strategies, Member of the Year
• Committee of the Year, Charles Kapur, EagleBank Membership Committee
• Committee of the Year, Sam Cousins, SBIS, Membership Committee
• Silver Spoon Catering, Small Business of the Year
• Business Engineering, Inc., Medium Business of the Year
• Sheraton Reston Hotel, Large Business of the Year
• Ellen Moyer, Re/Max Allegiance, New Member of the Year
• Andy Klaff, Colliers, Volunteer of the Year
• Casey Veatch, Veatch Commercial Real Estate, Joe Ritchey Pinnacle Award
• Tonia Chagnon, Red Thinking, President’s Award

Five individuals and three businesses/nonprofits who have had an impact on Reston through community service were announced as the honorees for the 2014 Best of Reston.

This year’s class will be honored at the 23rd annual gala on April 10 at the Hyatt Regency Reston. Reston founder Robert E. Simon — who will turn 100 in April — is a 2014 Best of Reston honorary chair. He set a goal last year of raising $1 million over 2013 and ’14.

The Best of Reston, sponsored by the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and Cornerstones (formerly Reston Interfaith) brings together the business and nonprofit communities in a “true partnership,” says Karen Cleveland, co-chair of the event.

Last year’s event raised a record $467,000 to benefit Cornerstones, so the committee is well on the way to reaching its goal, said Best of Reston co-chair Casey Veatch.

The honorees were chosen by a volunteer committee. They were introduced at a reception at Google’s Reston offices Thursday. They are:

Individual Community Leaders

Carol Ann Bradley — The former educator has given back to the community through volunteer work with Global Camps Africa, Friends of the Reston Regional Library and the Embry Rucker Community Shelter, among others. She help found the mentoring organizations The Links, Inc., and Educators Then, Now and Forever. She has also served on the board of the Reston Community Center.

Jerry Ferguson — Ferguson is the director of Development and Outreach for Fairfax Public Access. He has donated many hours to produce and film videos to aid fundraising and public relations for organizations such as FACETS, Leadership Fairfax, Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce (GRCC) and Cornerstones.

Cate Fulkerson –The Reston Association CEO is also the chair of Reston’s Character Counts! Coalition, chairs GRCC’s annual Ethics Day and is an Emerging Leaders Institute Mentor.

Bonnie Haukness — A Reston Realtor, Haukness chairs the annual Reston Home Tour to benefit the Reston Historic Trust. She also co-chairs the annual Capital Steps benefit for Cornerstones and was instrumental in establishing scholarships for campers at Reston Association summer camps, among other projects.

Davida Luehrs — Luehrs uses her life experience to aid the low-vision community. She has been a leader with the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the Sterling Lions, the American Council of the Blind and the Visually Impaired People of Reston. She established the local VisionWalk and has raised more than $1 million since 2007. She also volunteers with the Boy and Girl Scouts, Herndon Middle and High School Bands and Reston Swim Team Association.

Civic/Community Leader

HomeAid Northern Virginia — This group was founded in 2001 by members of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association. HomeAid helps renovate shelters, transitional and affordable housing and has completed 70 projects and helped more than 10,000 people.

Small Business Leader

Brennan & Waite, PLC — This legal firm, founded by husband and wife Matthew Brennan and the late Carol Waite, has supported GRCC, Habitat for Humanity, Let’s Help Kids, and other local organizations. Brennan has worked in the community to help other schools adopt and Ethics Day program, recruited candidates for Leadership Fairfax and funded scholarships so nonprofit leaders could participate.

Corporate Business Leader

Cooley, LLC — Large law firm Cooley, with offices at Reston Town Center, encourages employees to give back. The firm matches employee fundraising and cumulatively contributed more than $1 million last year. More than 466 Cooley lawyers have contributed more than 33,000 hours on 687 pro bono matters annually.

For Best of Reston sponsorship and ticket info, visit Cornerstones’ website.