Reston Residents Applaud Coronavirus First Responders Nightly

RESTON, VA — Something is happening at 7 p.m. each day in a cluster of high rises in the heart of Reston. Residents of Midtown at Reston Town Center are stepping out onto their balconies each night to show their support by applauding for healthcare workers and first responders dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Heidi Clark, a long-time Fairfax County resident, lives in Midtown. While she's hesitant to take credit for the nightly display of public support, she did take steps promote it.

"Like everybody else, my moods are vacillating between extreme despair and eternal optimism," Clark said, with a laugh. "I saw what was going on in Italy and Spain and New York City with this clapping and I thought, 'Why can't we do that?' I saw the benefits of doing that."

Thus inspired, Clark went to the Reston-Herndon Community Group on Facebook Group late Saturday night and posted:

"Let’s start a 7 p.m. daily porch/balcony/window round of applause in Reston-Herndon for our brave health care workers, first responders, grocery clerks, etc. Who’s in?"

Almost immediately, other members of the group shared their support for Clark's idea. She then posted the same message on her building's website.

On Sunday night, Clark stepped out through her sliding balcony door to see what would happen.

"I just went out on the balcony after posting it in those two places and I started clapping and everybody started clapping," she said.

According to Clark, a least 100 people were yelling and clapping from their balconies. The same thing happened on the next night.

"Sunday and Monday night, it's been very active and I actually look forward to it," she said. "It's sort of a fun part of the day."

Clark's neighbors in the building came up to her during the day to thank her for starting the effort. She's planning to continue clapping every night and hopes more people will join in.

"If you were to just go to St. Francis and Freedom in Reston Town Center, you will see all the people on their balconies waving and shouting and smiling," she said. "It's just such a cool thing. I can't tell you the high that I get from this every night."

Patch would love to hear about similar efforts going on in the Reston and Herndon communities. If you are clapping each night or participating in a similar event, send a photo to michael.oconnell@patch.com. We'll post them in an upcoming story. Please only submit photos that you have taken and have permission to share. By submitting them you are giving us the right to reproduce them on Patch.com.