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Falls Church is celebrating Women’s History Month and America’s 250th anniversary while residents prepare for a redistricting referendum, a wastewater deal, rising property assessments and a busy calendar of community events.
Women’s History Month Honors Local Leaders
The Falls Church City Council proclaimed March 2026 Women’s History Month on Feb. 23, recognizing women’s contributions to the city, Virginia and the nation.
This year’s Falls Church Women’s History Walk will take place Saturday, May 9. Marty Behr, Sharon Schoeller, Melissa Teates and Sandy Tarpinian will serve as grand marshals, while Young Women of Action from Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School and Meridian High School will also be honored.
Launched in 2017, the walk now features the stories of more than 65 local women. Many are permanently memorialized along South Maple Avenue and Tinner Hill Road.
The city has also created a Women’s History webpage as a growing archive of local achievements. Residents are being encouraged throughout March to visit women-owned restaurants, stores, wellness studios and other businesses.
The Women’s History Group is connecting the observance with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by highlighting local women who helped extend freedom, education and political participation to people once excluded from those promises.
Among them is Sarah Wren, who inherited enslaved people after the death of her husband, James Wren. She arranged for them to learn to read before emancipating them.
Betsy Read later risked violence by secretly teaching Black children and adults. She continued going from house to house when holding classes at her uncle Hiram Read’s home became too dangerous. Her father, abolitionist John Read, was captured and executed by Confederate soldiers in 1864 while serving in the Union Home Guard.
In 1851, Harriet Foote Turner, a free woman of color, was assigned to transport 12 enslaved people purchased at an Alexandria slave market. Instead, she posed as their owner, forged travel documents and led them to freedom in Canada. She later bought land for relatives at what became Tinner Hill.
Eliza Henderson escaped slavery after the Battle of Vicksburg, carrying her infant son hidden in a trunk for protection as she followed Union troops to Washington. After emancipation, she bought property at what is now Broad and Washington streets and operated a grocery store there.
Mattie Gundry founded the Virginia Training School for children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities in 1899. The Falls Church Town Council elected her as a school trustee in 1908, but she was ruled ineligible because women could not vote. She joined the Fairfax suffrage movement and, after ratification of the 19th Amendment, became one of the first two women elected to the Town Council in 1921.
Mary Ellen Henderson spent 32 years teaching and leading Falls Church’s segregated school for Black students. In 1936, she documented disparities between Black and white schools, helping secure construction of a new school for African American children.
Marian Costner Selby became one of the first African American students at George Mason High School in 1961 and its first African American graduate in 1964. She later broke barriers in the Fairfax Education Association and Fairfax County Planning Department.
After fleeing Communist Vietnam with her three children in 1975, Jackie Bong Wright established Indochinese Refugees Social Services, organized vocational training and founded the Vietnamese American Voters Association. That organization registered thousands of voters from 2000 through 2004. Wright has also advocated for victims of sex and labor trafficking.
Falls Church’s VA 250 programming includes a March 11 evening discussion of The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West. A virtual presentation about African American women in the civil rights movement is scheduled for March 15.
Early Voting Opens for Redistricting Referendum
Virginia will hold a special election Tuesday, April 21, on a proposed constitutional amendment involving congressional redistricting.
The ballot asks whether the General Assembly should be temporarily permitted to adopt new congressional districts for upcoming elections, with the state’s standard redistricting process resuming after the 2030 census.
All registered Falls Church voters may cast early ballots at City Hall, 300 Park Ave., without providing a reason or filing an application. Early voting runs from March 6 through April 18.
Weekday hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. City Hall will also open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, April 11 and 18, and remain open until 7 p.m. Thursday, April 16.
Marcus Simon Opposes Fairfax Casino Bill
Del. Marcus Simon voted against SB 756, legislation that would make Fairfax County eligible to host a casino and establish parameters for its possible location.
Simon said Fairfax County had not requested the legislation and that he had received thousands of emails from Northern Virginia residents opposing a casino. He said that response matched what he had consistently heard throughout his district.
Wastewater Capacity Deal Heads to Public Hearing
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing at 4:30 p.m. May 5 on a proposed sale of unused wastewater capacity to Falls Church.
Falls Church’s City Council unanimously approved a capacity-purchase agreement Jan. 27 as development strains the city’s sewer system. The planned $8.8 million purchase in 2026 would provide another 1.5 million gallons per day of treatment capacity.
The agreement lists a maximum total daily volume of 3 million gallons and a current peak-flow limit of 5.38 million gallons per day. Falls Church officials have said existing sewer availability fees would finance the purchase.
Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said the transaction would generate about $9.6 million for Fairfax County’s sewer infrastructure fund while supporting regional growth and environmental sustainability.
RainSmart Grants Double to $3,000
The Village Preservation and Improvement Society has doubled the maximum grant for qualifying rain gardens and conservation landscapes from $1,500 to $3,000.
The RainSmart Program helps Falls Church residents reduce runoff, flooding and water pollution by keeping more rainwater on individual properties. It is administered with city support.
Residents may receive up to half the cost of an approved rain-garden or conservation-landscape project, with a maximum award of $3,000. Projects must be designed and installed by contractors approved through the program.
Separate grants cover as many as two rain barrels at up to $50 each. Residents may buy barrels commercially or purchase them from VPIS for $80 apiece, but they are responsible for installation and maintenance.
Applications will be considered throughout the year until the available money is committed.
Northern Virginia Buyers Find More Choices
Northern Virginia home sales increased in February even as properties took longer to sell and the median price slipped.
A total of 974 homes closed during February 2026, up 3.9% from the same month last year. The value of those transactions climbed 9.7% to $834,845,364.
Active listings rose 11.8% to 1,699, while inventory reached 1.23 months of supply, a 10% annual increase. New pending sales increased 8.8% to 1,195.
The median sale price fell 1.7% to $720,500. Homes spent an average of 30 days on the market, 36.4% longer than a year earlier.
The figures cover Fairfax and Arlington counties; the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church; and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.
Falls Church Assessments Rise 6.9%
Falls Church’s total taxable property value reached $6.858 billion as of Jan. 1, an adjusted increase of $445.4 million, or 6.9%, from 2025. Market growth accounted for 5.3 percentage points, while new construction contributed 1.6 points.
Residential values increased 7.2% overall. Single-family homes rose 8.1%, townhouses 7% and condominiums 3.2%.
Commercial values climbed 6.5%, including 2.3% from market growth and 4.2% from new construction. Multifamily properties increased 6.3%.
New construction was valued at $102.3 million and represented 23% of the overall increase. Residential construction added $43.2 million, while commercial and multifamily projects contributed the remaining $59.2 million.
Assessment notices were mailed in early March, but they are not tax bills. The City Council will set the real estate tax rate May 11 when it adopts the fiscal 2027 budget and capital program. Budget hearings are scheduled for April 13, April 27 and May 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Property-tax installments will be due Dec. 7, 2026, and June 7, 2027.
The deadline to seek a review from the Office of Real Estate Assessment is April 15. Appeals to the Board of Equalization are due June 5. Owners who have not received an initial appeal decision by May 22 should also apply to the board to preserve their rights.
Meridian Students Get Access to Summer Employers
Meridian High School will hold a student job fair from 11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Thursday, March 12.
Organized through Falls Church City Public Schools’ Business in Education Partnerships, the event will connect students with local employers offering summer, seasonal and part-time jobs.
The partnership program also promotes internships, mentorships, career education, volunteer work and other real-world learning opportunities.
Volunteers to Paint Storefront Windows
Falls Church Arts is recruiting volunteers for its Spring Window Painting Festival from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 21 and 22.
Participants will create family-friendly, nonreligious spring designs on storefronts and first-floor business windows along major Falls Church roads. Participation is free, although donations are accepted to offset costs.
Painted windows may be cleaned at any point in mid-April but must be cleared by April 19.
Teddy Bear Clinic Offers Repairs
Learning Quest will hold a Teddy Bear Clinic from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 14, in the lower conference room at Mary Riley Styles Public Library.
Volunteers can reattach limbs, patch holes, close seams, repair unraveled yarn, replace certain plastic eyes and noses, and add carrying or hanging loops to stuffed animals.
Because time and materials are limited, the clinic cannot re-stuff, wash, detangle, construct or personalize items. Volunteers are also welcome to assist with triage and an educational activity about stuffed animals and landfill waste.