Northern VA has no great OUTSIDE people watching places (Fairfax: living in, club)

[normie]

Originally Posted by saganista

Heck, even the County Landfill is a popular spot in the nice weather...all sorts of people dropping stuff off...

LOL, this is actually very true!!! I am reallyinto gardening and visit the community mulch pile at least 3-4 times a year. There are always a few people there and the conversations are usually pretty funny.

BTW, if you don't know about the mulch pile... Loudoun County has high quality mulch available for free at the Evergreen facility. If you go now, you are likely to get plenty of ground up christmas trees added to the mix. They do a good job cleaning it (IMO). Help yourself to as much as you want.

[goozer]

Originally Posted by karnovaran

Alexandria's waterfront is a nice spot for people-watching

Agreed. Old Town Alexandria in the summertime is good for people watching. And don't be afraid of the district, there is great people watching just across the Potomac in the many tourist areas in the city. Or you could sit outside and dine at the outdoor seating Also, whenever a festival occurs in DC, such as the Fourth of July, BBQ festival, or Taste of DC, you get tons of good people watching. I actually think DC is better than most cities for this sort of thing.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by normie

BTW, if you don't know about the mulch pile... Loudoun County has high quality mulch available for free at the Evergreen facility. If you go now, you are likely to get plenty of ground up christmas trees added to the mix. They do a good job cleaning it (IMO). Help yourself to as much as you want.

Vienna has the same. The Town does its own leaf and yard debris pickups, so the Town Mulch Pile on Buelah Road ends up being a nice place to pick up some free and high-quality soil amendments. Beats the heck out of Home Depot...

[goldenmom7500]

I'm sure I'm not adding anything new (I've scanned the previous answers, good stuff!), but I would say Great Falls Park and Reston Town Center. I also like the polo matches in Middleburg, and events at Wolf Trap.

[normie]

If you like watching people in historic costume, try the various civil war renactments or Court and Market Days in Leesburg (when everyone in downtown Leesburg puts on revolutionary era outfits and they reenact actual court incidents from Virginia history.

Or, check out the flying circus that performs every wkeened in the summer down in Bealeton.

If you want to people watch while hanging out in a restaurant, try one of the coffee shops at Dulles Airport. You can watch people from every corner of the world walk by.

On the first Friday every month downtown Leesburg throws an open house. There are refreshments (they used to have plenty of wine, too but I don't know if they still have that) and bands playing on the street corners. I haven't been for a few years but that used to be a good place for people watching.

[normie]

Also, if you're bored and like sports, why not check out a game at a local college or high school? I personally like the high school games. You can watch all sorts of people--the cheerleaders, the over-enthusiastic parents, the kids showing off the latest fashions, the couples trying to pretend they aren't couples, the kids on a first date... oh yeah and if that gets boringyou can watch the game, too.

[goldenmom7500]

Originally Posted by normie

Also, if you're bored and like sports, why not check out a game at a local college or high school? I personally like the high school games. You can watch all sorts of people--the cheerleaders, the over-enthusiastic parents, the kids showing off the latest fashions, the couples trying to pretend they aren't couples, the kids on a first date... oh yeah and if that gets boringyou can watch the game, too.

normie - you're a pro at this!

[NOVAmtneer82]

I can't really think of any places that other posters haven't mentioned but I must say it is alarming that someone would say this area is boring.

[Fairfax Mom]

You can say a lot of bad things about this area but one thing you can never say is that it is boring!

[McScootch]

In the summer, go to the Tiki bar at Tim's Rivershore in Prince William County. An extremely eclectic mix of folks. Plus you can hang out with friends, eat crabs and be near the water.