Fair City Mall To Celebrate 2nd Annual Park(ing) Day In September

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City plans to celebrate Park(ing) Day for the second consecutive year on Friday, Sept. 18 at Fair City Mall.

The parking lot of the mall, at 9650 Main Street, will be transformed into an interactive "parklet" from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. as businesses, George Mason University students, and Fairfax City departments collaborate to celebrate the city and open space.

“Park(ing) Day is a fun day to turn a parking spot into a mini-park for a day,” said Amy Stephenson with HHH Properties Corp., the asset manager of Fair City Mall.

The event will feature a balloon garden where attendees will be encouraged to share their thoughts on their favorite things about Fairfax City. Each idea will be attached to a balloon in the balloon garden so that visitors can read messages as they walk through it.

The Dewberry School of Music Flute Ensemble of George Mason University College of Visual and Performing Arts, led by Julianna Nickel, will be performing at the event. The event also will have giveaways and raffle drawings from businesses located at Fair City Mall.

To ensure the health and safety of the public, the Fairfax City Economic Development Office will be implementing protocols to keep attendees safe. The protocols include:

• Temporal temperature checks upon entering.
• Limited occupancy.
• Attendees are asked to wear face coverings.
• Use of hand sanitizer for all attendees and avoidance of casual touching.
• Entrances and exits will be monitored for one-way traffic.
• Social distancing will be required between artists and patrons.

Park(ing) Day began in 2005 when ReBar, a San Francisco art and design studio converted a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in downtown San Francisco. Since then, the event has become an international movement with public spaces turning into pop-up parks.