The 2026 Spring Egg Hunt was an incredible success thanks in part to all of our attendees as well as our amazing volunteers.
We had lots of candy…and more than 3,500 plastic eggs. What does that mean? Another fabulous Spring egg hunt in Lyon Park. Numerous volunteers spent hours stuffing candy into those little plastic eggs the weekend before the event.
The weather on Saturday was better than we could have planned. Lyon Park was full of kids (and parents) having fun (and collecting thousands of eggs in a hurry). We hope you were able to join us. If you watch the videos of the event posted online, you will laugh. The kids are excited and hilarious. We had a large number of kids find Lucky Eggs. They turned them in for special Peeps® prizes and lots of smiles.
When our Giant Bunny made his appearance, everyone went wild. It was a great addition to our event, and a fabulous photo op. Thanks to Neel Vaidya from Troy’s for being such a trooper.
Thank you to my amazing team of volunteers (young and “slightly” older)…without you, the event would not have been possible. Your hard work made it a successful event.
These types of events make Lyon Park special and a true asset for our community. Please step up and get involved in our next big event, the 100th Lyon Park Spring Fair.
Governor Spanberger on April 13 submitted amendments to the Virginia Houe and Senate for a controversial “Faith in Housing bill” that would allow faith based and 501(c)3-based tax-exempt organizations who own property to gain significant new value from properties if they choose to develop them for new mixed use housing projects.
Many of the properties are in low-residential areas of commercial zones that do not allow much beyond low residential or low-commercial density, which often tops out at 3 stores and about 10 units of housing per acre. Arlington nonetheless has done approximately 6 church/non-profit conversions in the past 15 years, providing additional density for affordable housing. These were not done “by-right”; they involved extensive community and County Board inputs. The new bills if passed, will allow the mixed-use projects in residential and low-density commercial areas by-right, as was done for “expanded housing options” or EHO in 2023, removing the community/county board reviews of new permits.
There are preconditions:
The property must have been owned by the non-profit for at least 5 years,
60% of the rental units must be available to household making 80% of AMI ($123,750 for a family of four);
60% of the ownership units must be available to households making 120% of AMI ($196,680 for a family of four);
The affordable units must remain affordable at those levels for 30 years.
While there are additional conditions for properties in a revitalization zone or historic district, the basic allowance for these “mixed-use” projects (also allowing for day cares/cafes/ancillary uses) is for up to 20 units of housing per acre (u/a) at heights of 45’. (The current height limits in low density residential zones such as much of Lyon Park is 35’.) Richmond legislators are jockeying over amendments, including one that would limit the House/Senate versions of the bill that propose allowing any building within 500’ of such a proposed development to “confer” its height or density upon that new project, also “by-right.” We probably won’t know outcomes until late April. LPCA will briefly touch on this topic at its May meeting, but in-depth discussion will occur at the June LPCA meeting, so please join us. We will also discuss in June other new zoning laws that will affect requirements for onsite parking for singe family and multifamily home development.
Have you been to the playground at Lyon Park after a good rain? The high tide stems from a stream running under the park. Years ago there was a pond in the park! Recognizing that our playground is well-loved and well-used, but aging, a Playground Committee, under the auspices of the Lyon Park Community Center’s Board of Governors and the Lyon Park Citizens Association, is working on a plan to address the water issues, add child-and environment-friendly play surfaces, and upgrade the aging playground equipment and picnic areas.
The Committee’s work is led by our neighbor Mark Ilich. New committee members are still welcome, as the Committee continues to seek community input and begin fundraising. Fundamental principles of this project include: (1) we want to protect our tree canopy, (2) any new gardens must be low maintenance, focusing on resilient native plants, (3) we want to protect open areas of the park, as much as possible, (4) we want community input, but there will be a cutoff, allowing plans to move forward; (5) funding will come from donations or perhaps some small grants; and (6) no phase of work will begin until we have funds to cover the cost. For more information about the project, check out our website at https://lyonpark.org/explore/parks-green-spaces/lyon-park-playground-renovation/. You also can look for information tables at some Lyon Park community events, watch for future articles in the Lyon Park and Ashton Heights newsletters, and keep an eye on the LP and AH community list servs. To get involved, send an email to Mark Illich at milich@mkdevelopmentllc.com. You also can contact the Lyon Park Board of Governors at LPCCGovernors@gmail.com, if you have questions.
If you were not able to visit the playground renovation informational tent at the egg hunt, you will have at least two more opportunities to learn about the plans.
Representatives of the Playground Committee will present at the LPCA meeting on Wednesday 5/13 at 7:00 pm.
An informational tent and people who can answer your questions will also be in Lyon Park during the Spring Fair on Saturday, May 16th.
It was Tuesday, March 24, 2026, exactly 68 years after Elvis Presley was inducted into the US Army, that five women, including four principal players from the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and a guest artist, performed at the Lyon Park Community Center in the “Music by Women in honor of Women’s History Month” concert. For 90 minutes, a full-house audience was transported, by flute, harp, violin, and cello, to a world where everything was beautiful. The LPCC Board of Governors worked with long-time neighbor, friend, and LPCC supporter, Susan Robinson, the harpist, to bring the performance to the community, but it was the Musical Performance Trust Fund and the American Federation of Musicians Local 161-710, which made it possible for the concert to be offered free of charge. The concert was a reminder of how important it is to support the musicians who perform at the Kennedy Center, including the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the Washington National Opera, the National Symphony Orchestra.
An evening out with my young neighbors at Pho & Banh Mi Eatery Café was a hit. Before we even get to the food, 10-year-old Harrison and 7-year-old Brayden asked me to mention the friendly staff. April opened the Café a year and a half ago with her husband, Chris, as the primary “chef, husband, father, and worker.” The couple have three children, ages 12-22 and each family member is represented by a cartoon character on the fun mural featured on one of the restaurant’s walls. Presumedly because of his role as parent, Chris was extremely accommodating to Harrison and Brayden’s special requests (He asked repeatedly, ‘Are you sure you only want plain shrimp on a plain taco shell’ for Harrison. We were.)
Surprisingly, the winning dish of the evening was neither the Pho nor the Banh Mi for which the restaurant is named. The birria soft taco was awarded “15 out of 10 points” by my companions (“The meat has lots of juice” reported Brayden). Of course, we tried both of the namesake dishes, with chicken and with shrimp. For anyone unfamiliar, Pho (pronounced “fuh” (rhymes with “duh”) is a Vietnamese noodle soup whose signature broth is simmered for hours and is the heart of the dish. It’s definitely a distinct flavor, which some people will appreciate and others less so (hence the request for shrimps in a taco shell). Banh Mi (“bon me”) is a sandwich on a light airy baguette (interestingly, AI informed me the origin of using a baguette is the French Colonial period of Vietnamese history) filled with seasoned meat, pickled daikon, carrot, cucumber, cilantro, etc. It’s considered one of the great street foods of the world. The flavor of the banh mi was delicious. Just watch out for some very spicy peppers (or ask for them to be omitted)!
The menu also features poke bowls and drinks. Lots of drinks – Milk teas, fruit teas, smoothies, slushes, and fresh fruit lemonade, all with about a dozen options for toppings (from honey boba to mango star jelly or Oreo). We tried the brown sugar milk tea, strawberry slushies, and strawberry lemonade (“If you like a sour/sweet combination that’s mostly sweet, then you’ll love this,” says Harrison). The boys intend to return for refreshing, delicious slushies as the weather heats up.
Chris used to sell healthy and vegetarian foods from a food truck in Clarendon. When the location for a restaurant became available, they took the opportunity to open a business here right away. The couple live in Woodbridge and drive the two hours round-trip each day because this is a great neighborhood and a great location. The Eatery employs 3 additional cooks and about 6 cashiers.
Give Pho & Banh Mi Eatery Café a try. And, if you mention you read about it here, the owners will give you 20% off.
Pho & Banh Mi Eatery Cafe (3000 Washington Blvd): Hours of operation 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Monday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m. Sunday. Phone number: 703–489–8212. Visit https://eaterycafeva.com for additional information.
The 2026 version of the Lyon Park Chili Cookoff is now history and for the second year, Susan Demske took home the winner’s ribbon with “Highland Street Heaven Chili”. A very good example of what a bowl of red should look like. Second place went to Marie Edwartoski with “My Best Chili”—mild and sweet with gentle heat. Third: Rhodri Morgan with “The Fighting Irish Chili”-gentle on the classic spices leaving the shredded brisket sweet and mild. Best Vegetarian Chili was Helen White with her punny “Hel Hath No Fury Chili,” which critics said was mild and tasty. Honorable mention—spiciest chili—Phillippe Alepin’s “5-Chile Chili,” a classic bowl of red, properly spiced with vigorous taste and spirit.
The rest, more or less in descending order of votes: The Surendra Family with “Ginger Chili,” a jolt of traditional Indian spices giving a new face to an old friend; Ben Henry’s “Chili Verde”—spicy and surprising in a good way; Trish Montgomery’s “Sweet with Heat”—if you like sweet potatoes, you’ll love this one—the Chiliheads gave thumbs up on this one; The Hawkins Family with “An Exciting and Delightful Chili”—the critics said it could have used more spice—”Like kissing your cousin!: Gary Putnam’s “Dog Breath” was aptly named; Sara Alepin’s “Mole Chili”—the meat was properly cubed rather than ground, nice balance of heat; Lisa Morgan’s “Christmas Eve Chili”—definitely not a typical Bowl of Red—an interesting blend of chopped vegetables with a unique finish; (Anonymous)”Bacon Beef Bean Supreme” was unique, a bit on the thin side with good flavor …but why No Name? It wasn’t THAT bad!; Sara Newman’s “Go Easy Turkey Chili”—mild chili flavors with ground turkey, two kinds of beans and the gentle hint of very very mild chili.
Winners were selected by popular vote of the diners. Evaluation and critiquing of the entries was done by Theo Roiniotis and his assistant, Spiro. Notes were taken by Gary Putnam—badly. None of whom accept responsibility for this, yet another chili culinary travesty. Very little cash was received to influence the voting.
By Jonathan Zuckerman, Mosquito Reduction Enthusiast
Once again as the temperatures start to rise we can begin to look forward to the resurgence of nature, but one thing nobody ever looks forward to is the scourge of mosquitoes. How can we enjoy the outdoors this year without the constant nuisance of bug bites? Many companies will try to sell you a pesticide spraying service, but spraying for mosquitos is ineffective and harmful to all living creatures.
The first neighborhood-level action we should take to reduce this nuisance without harming other wildlife is to regularly eliminate standing water in our yards so there’s no place for mosquitoes to breed. Some mosquitoes can breed in only a tablespoon of water. If we all walked our yards within 3-5 days of a rainfall to check for standing water, it would be sufficient to disrupt their lifecycle. Be sure to check places you might not regularly notice, such as rain gutters, drainage pipes/tubes, and dense ivy patches. I would also suggest that you offer to do the same for your less mobile or outdoorsy neighbors—some of our mosquitos range only about 600 feet but other species go as far as 2 miles. Just imagine: if every household within 2 miles of you spent 5 minutes after a rain shower to ensure there were no breeding spots for mosquitos, we might completely eliminate them from our own backyards. If you have a birdbath or other water feature, keep the water moving, refresh it every few days, or add chemical larvicide to the water.
The next thing we can do is to set up mosquito traps in our yards—any mosquitos that do breed nearby can be lured to lay their eggs in a trap where a larvicide will ensure the larvae do not mature into more adult mosquitos. Making the traps takes about 5 minutes and you may already have the materials at hand: it requires only a bucket, some yard detritus, water, and a mosquito dunk. You can buy larvicide dunks for the traps at any hardware store but to get the best deal I make an annual bulk order and distribute them to participating neighbors in April.
In the last issue of the Citizen, I wrote about a pizza place. This month, I needed to find a more upscale restaurant for a birthday dinner for my husband. As we are new(ish) to the neighborhood, I looked online for recommendations. I was surprised that one of the more highly rated places for special occasions was right in the center of town! If, like me, you’ve also missed Maison Cheryl (which, despite it’s Wilson Boulevard address is actually tucked in beside Ethan Allen on North Filmore), this French New-American bistro, is a neighborhood gem!
Robert Maher, is the owner and chef, and lives right around the corner on Clarendon Blvd. He opened Maison Cheryl, his first restaurant, in 2021. When asked why he chose to open here in Clarendon, he told me he’d seen how amazing the neighborhood was. “There’s something about the area and community that is welcoming,” he said, “It has all the hustle and bustle of a city, but is more relaxed and felt like home.”
The ambiance was just what I was looking for for Jeff’s birthday celebration. One restaurant reviewer calls it a “sleek, New York-influenced interior,” which is no surprise. Maher is from New York and the photographs of that city hanging on the walls were taken by his brother. Maison Cheryl also decorates for the season, with cherry blossom decorations currently warming up the place. Maher also makes a cherry croissant donut to usher in the turn of the weather. Menus change seasonally with a focus on quality, fresh food and an enhanced customer experience. “It’s what I look for in restaurants when I go out,” Maher notes.
Our appetizers were terrific. We had the Brussels sprouts (minus the bacon for my vegetarian husband), which were spectacular and are among the more popular dishes, as well as the cauliflower, another standout. For dinner, my husband had the vegan vegetable curry, which, to be honest, wasn’t as good as the rest of our food. My orecchiette pasta with bay scallops and shrimp (pictured) is a best seller—for good reason. The entrées Maison Cheryl is known for are the duck for dinner and the truffle steak and cheese omelet for brunch (served every day of the week). Then there’s Maher’s own favorite, the bucatini with zucchini herb sauce and fried burrata on top, a staple menu item since day one.
All this talk about the great food ignores the extensive bar. Maison Cheryl has a Happy Hour every night and a carefully curated wine list. Additionally, Maher likes to make a cheaper option available, like this month’s lychee cherry mule offered at $9. “I want to give back a little,” he says. “Dining out has become expensive and I try to find little things that can help.” “I love this community and having a restaurant here. It’s flattering to have enough business to have been here for five years. It’s fun to see faces coming back over and over again.”
Full from our dinners, my husband and I skipped dessert (despite the neon sign in back of the restaurant proclaiming, “Life is short; get the dessert.”) It seems we missed something pretty amazing, as all of the online reviews of the place rave about the cooked-to-order madelines and other sweet treats. Ah, well, dessert is a great reason to go back again to Maison Cheryl!
Maison Cheryl (2900 Wilson Blvd.; Suite 104): Hours of operation 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.–12 a.m. Friday, 11 a.m.–12 a.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Sunday. Phone number: 703-664-0509. Visit https://www.maisoncheryl.com for additional information.
Did you know it takes more than 70 individuals to ensure the Lyon Park Citizen newsletter arrives at your home every month? Kerin Seward and Elizabeth Sheehy complete the layout each month, send it to the printer, and then it lands at Kim Franklin’s house. She distributes boxes of newsletters to Zone Captains, who then distribute to Block Captains, and they deliver it to you! On Sunday March 8, the newsletter distribution team enjoyed tea, cookies, and good company in the Lyon Park Community House sunroom, as well as some well-deserved thanks for their commitment to getting out the newsletter in rain, shine, and snowcrete!
If you are interested in joining the team (less than a two-hour commitment per month) please contact Elizabeth at LyonParkEditor@gmail.com.
The Lyon Park Womans Club did it again! Many of us look forward to the Valentine’s Cupcake Sale all winter. To suggest that every delectable cupcake is made with LOVE is an understatement. With about 10 bakers and nearly 1,000 cupcakes, the Womans Club sold out early and made many Valentines in Lyon Park and Ashton Heights very happy—what a success! Combined with the cheese sales, they raised $2,500.
There were a number of new flavors this year, including Salted Caramel, Black Walnut, and Pineapple, Banana Smoothie baked by Shelya White, and the intriguing High Hat Chocolate Dipped cupcakes offered up by sisters Donna and Deb—delicious! Speaking of chocolate, at first glance there sure was a lot of chocolate on the list. But as it turned out, it was lovely: chocolate fudge, chocolate cream cheese, cherry chocolate chili (with a little bit of a kick), devils food chocolate with chocolate chips in the mix, the High Hats, the High Hat minis…lots of chocolate, but not boring!
It took lots of volunteers to make it all happen….bakers, organizers, cupcake guides (there were SO many choices!) and neighbors to purchase the treats. Lindy Love (so aptly named!) kept everyone on task and created the beautiful red-and-pink themed ambience in the Lyon Park Community House. A big THANK YOU to everyone who made it possible, especially Margaret Fibel who organized behind the scenes with who was baking what and how many, Elizabeth Wray and Jim Burke for managing the money, and EVERYONE who helped set and clean up. Can’t wait till next year!
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