Apartment Showcase Blog

Down the stretch: From live music to lively street performers, the Reston Festival promises a number of attractions to keep you entertained. (Reston Festival)

Having lived in Reston, even if it was a decade ago, I feel particularly qualified writing about this planned community of some renown. Though, wouldn’t you know it, today I’m writing about something I didn’t attend while living there?

That would be the Reston Festival, which takes place July 9-10 at Reston Town Center.

This year’s theme is “Reston Through the Decades.” The Reston Festival gives residents the opportunity to celebrate the anniversary of the community’s founding “in a convivial and entertaining atmosphere.”

By golly, who wouldn’t want to do that?

[ Related: Reston Town Center: Live, Work and Play Without Ever Leaving Home ]

Both Saturday and Sunday feature a Street Festival from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. In celebration of its theme, the 2011 festival will feature four color-coordinated areas representing the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and Today and Beyond, where a host of musicians, comedians, acrobats, jugglers, you name it, will entertainment you busker style. Of course, there will be children’s activities, as well: video game contests, painting, t-shirt making. The kids will have a ball.

Also in conjunction with the festival’s theme, there’ll be an Historical Display: pictures, documents and other artifacts that will take you through the town’s history.

Food? You want food, too? Are you like this at home? A bit demanding, but we shall let it slide.

Where was I? Food. OK.

Along with the Reston Town Center sitting there like a veritable smorgasbord of gluttony where they’ll be more than happy to take your money, this year each of the festival’s four areas will feature a single restaurant (scroll to the bottom of the page for each one) with a theme-related menu and entertainment.

For those who crave souvenirs and merchandise, there will also be select vendors on hand, along with other businesses that will show their wares.

But that’s not all. How could it be with an event this fabulous?

The event’s main pavilion will include a Beer and Wine Garden, featuring Port City Brewing Company and South Africa’s Arabella Wines, respectively; the Social Lounge, where you can enjoy comfortable seating while listening to a DJ spin lounge music; and Special Stage Events.

[ Related: Big, Bad Wolf Trap Brings Music to the Vienna Masses ]

These special events will include the Saturday night concert with Time Machine from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., followed by DJ Edward Daniels, who from 10 p.m. to midnight will end things by spinning some contemporary hits. For what it’s worth, those staying late will also get to witness the Reston Birthday Cake presentation, a festival tradition dating back more than 40 years.

On Sunday night at the main pavilion, things close down with a Costume Dance Party and Awards Ceremony from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. While the DJ spins records from each era, there will be prizes handed out for the snazziest costumes from each decade; other festival contest winners will be honored there as well.

The Reston Festival is free and usually attracts around 20,000-25,000 people. Here are a good set of directions to the event.

Apartment renters in Reston, come out and celebrate a very unique town’s history.

Why go anywhere else: With more than 50 shops, 30 restaurants, and several offices and high-rise apartment buildings, Reston Town Center is like a self-contained city. (vishal charles via Flickr)

On its website, Reston Town Center calls itself the “successful, oft-emulated mixed-use Reston Town Center.”

A heady combination of retail and business, “mixed-use” projects have become popular with city planners these days, and with phase one of the Reston project opened to the public in 1990, they may be on to something. But I’m not here to debate whether the folks behind Reston Town Center are urban-planning trailblazers. I’m just here to show the future Reston apartment renter what their particular “mixed-use” palace of retail and business offers. It’s quite a lot.

[ Related: Reston: A Planned Community with Numerous Accolades ]

Having lived here a decade ago, I know a lot about Reston Town Center, and thanks to some research, I know a bit more. Reston Town Center is of course known for a wide variety of retail, restaurant and service choices, but it’s also home to business heavyweights Accenture, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, among others.

In addition, Reston Town Center is home to the 518-room Hyatt Regency Reston, the 13-screen Reston Town Center Cinema and the Open Air Pavilion, which hosts seasonal ice skating, a free summer concert series, and both the Reston Festival and the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival.

As for shopping, Reston Town Center gives you Apple Store Reston, Anthropologie, Ann Taylor, and AT&T, and that’s not even all the As. Admittedly, the As give us more to munch on than most other letters; though, rather ironically, letter B (Banana Republic, bebe and The Bike Lane) is probably number two on that front. Other standouts are Nine West, Jos. A. Bank and Chico’s.

After all this shopping, you say you wanna eat? What do I look like, a deli cart? OK, OK, take the joke for once.

Restaurants and eateries include both McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant and its sidekick M & S Grill, Così, Morton’s The Steakhouse, Obi Sushi, Clyde’s of Reston, and Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande Café, so mentioned in honor of the great Julio Cesar Chavez being inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010.

The discerning shopper and gormandizer would do well to checkout the full listing of Reston Town Center’s charms.

I know what you’re thinking out there in Cyberville. Isn’t he leaving out something huge? A couple somethings huge? Yeah. It’s called The Spectrum at Reston Town Center. Since it’s not owned by the same company as Reston Town Center, they’re separate entities. But, as they’re both right next to each other, that hardly matters to you and me.

More open than Reston Town Center, Spectrum at Reston Town Center offers a great compliment to its neighbor with big-box stores like Best Buy, Barnes & Noble (with a Starbucks), PetSmart and Office Depot. They also feature Harris Teeter, la Madeleine and Romano’s Macaroni Grill.

Well, I’ve said enough. Get in the car, come on out to Reston, Va., and decide to stay awhile. Or, you’ll get another post from me!

Easy does it: The Aquatics Center at the Reston Community Center features a 25-meter pool and 16-seat hot tub, perfect for unwinding after work.

Ah, Reston, Va.

With its highly manicured lawns and public spaces replete with shrubbery, trees and bucolic green grass, Reston is a picturesque alternative to urban sprawl. If you’re into convenience (shopping, restaurants, town services), location (18 miles away from Washington, D.C.), and a safe and beautiful area, renting an apartment in Reston is hard to beat. In fact, in 2008, it ranked 37th on CNNMoney.com’s “Best Places to Live” list.

Better yet, in 2013, the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority is scheduled to provide Metrorail service to the area.

Reston has a unique history. The original 6,750 acres were purchased by Simon Enterprises (650 additional acres were added later to bring the total to 7,400) with an eye toward becoming the United States’ first large, self-contained city on the perimeter of a major metropolitan area.

Reston, named after the initials of company president Robert E. Simon, was developed so the town’s residents could not only live there, but work and play there as well. Having lived in Reston myself, I can attest to its creature comforts. One highlight is the Reston Community Center, which features arts and aquatics programs, and facility rentals.

And, for those who like to tee off, there are two 18-hole golf courses in town proper – Reston National and Hidden Creek – and a bunch more within a short drive.

A good Saturday in Reston might start off with a jog along the labyrinthine wooded pathways that connect the town’s various neighborhoods, followed by lunch at one of the planned community’s eateries. After that, you may want to walk or drive to the park or lake closest to you (there are four man-made lakes in Reston), and read a book or even shoot some hoops.

In the evening, you might dress up in casual wear and take your family, date, group of friends or even yourself (not saying you’re unlovable or anything) to the Reston Town Center for dinner at Uno Chicago Grill.

When you’re all good and stuffed with salad, Corona Light and Chicken Spinoccoli, you can mosey on over to the Reston Town Center Cinema to watch the latest spy thriller or sci-fi flick, or maybe even an art house obscurity.

But don’t let us decide what awesome day you’ll plan as a renter here. We live in America, so it’s up to you. See that? You spent a whole, fulfilling day and evening, and you didn’t even leave town! Washington, D.C., is not looking like the only game in town anymore, eh?

When you live in Reston, the world is literally at your doorstep.