McLean Day, the largest community event sponsored by the McLean Community Center, will be held in Lewinsville Park on May 21 this year and will feature rides, food and fun for the whole family.
“The Big Scat will be coming back this year,” said Sam Roberts, director of events at the McLean Community Center. The ride is a centrifugal force contraption, where people stand inside a large, enclosed, circular chamber and are spun around at high speeds, he said.
“New this year is a punt, pass and kick competition, sponsored by local athletic groups,” Roberts said. People will be able to throw or hit a baseball, kick a football and measure their speeds, he said. “There will also be rides for little kids and inflatable rides for them, like a moon bounce,” he said.
Large mechanical rides will be $2 per ride, while smaller rides and inflatable devices will be free, he said.
There will be a business expo area, Roberts said, with local companies handing out information about their business, along with arts and craft displays.
“We think it’s going to be a wonderful day. We just hope the weather is as nice as last year,” Roberts said.
The Fairfax County Police Department will send their Medivac helicopter to fly around Lewinsville Park and land on the baseball diamond, he said, to coincide with a model airplane demonstration.
“The McLean Community Center’s governing board will hold their elections from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. in their tent,” he said. All other activities begin at 11 a.m.
“There will be great food from all over the area, it’s a nice variety of goods,” Roberts said. “Hopefully there will be enough to choose from that people won’t have to wait long.”
The Old Firehouse 5K run will begin the day, with registration starting at 7 a.m. and the run starting officially at 8 a.m. The American Legion office in McLean will have an American flag retirement ceremony early in the day, and there will be a display of police equipment from the McLean branch office of the Fairfax County police throughout the day, he said.
Two shuttle buses, one starting at the Community Center and the other at Redeemer Lutheran Church, will run the entire day to ease some parking troubles, he said.
“This is a nice, old-fashioned community event,” Roberts said. “People know if you want to be seen in our community, you come out to Lewinsville Park and participate in some way. Even though there’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,500 people, it’s a nice, relaxing day.”
The McLean Citizens Association will be conducting a poll at their tent to allow residents to voice their opinion on the home of McLean Day in the future, as the Fairfax County Park Authority has requested a study into moving the event from Lewinsville Park, according to Susan Turner, president of the association.
Also at McLean Day, the MCA will honor two high school students with the Teen Character Awards in recognition for their work in the community and schools.
A junior at Langley High School, Emily Canis, started the Students Serving Seniors program, where high school students spend time and offer services to residents of the Powhatan Nursing Home. The students make cards for the residents and take them small gifts on holidays, in addition to regular visits to talk with those who live in the home.
For his work mentoring a 12-year-old boy, Kane Kanagawa, a junior at the Potomac School, will also receive the Teen Character Award. Kanagawa helped the boy with homework and school projects and would invite him to watch his lacrosse games, and the boy, who had been having problems in school, has been accepted into a private school on both academic and athletic scholarships.
The presentation of these awards will be at 2 p.m. and will be conducted by Janie Strauss, Dranesville District representative to the county School Board, and Supervisor Joan DuBois.