A Show of Hands Hosting 'Ladies Night Out' on Friday

Mount Vernon Avenue shop will also host a "Men's Night Out" on Wednesday.

A Show of Hands on Mount Vernon Avenue is hosting a “Ladies Night Out” from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday with a focus on helping customers knock off their holiday shopping with a heavy dose of fun. Customers will be able to spend time with several local artists to help find and create special and personalized gifts. Paul Moran will be on hand to make handmade deco boxes. Ladies are invited to bring photos that Moran can use to make personalized boxes. Jeweler Divya Talwar will be in attendance showcasing her crystal Christmas tree earring and Liz Hutcheson will be exhibiting her line of Fastnail cards and prints. “Bubbly and chocolate profiteroles will be served while you shop,” owner Pat Miller said. A Show of Hands will follow its evening for…

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Polish Delegation Visits Del Ray

Group makes stops at Del Ray Artisans and several businesses.

A Polish delegation visited several spots in Del Ray on Tuesday as part of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. About a dozen school, museum and theater personnel, cafe owners and representatives from various cultural organizations from the Eastern European nation made stops at Del Ray Artisans, Artfully Chocolate, A Show of Hands and St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub. Amber Gordon of the Alexandria Commission for the Arts helped lead the delegation through Del Ray on a tour titled “The Role of Culture in the Development of Local Communities.” Gordon and others shared how the local art scene helped revitalize Mt. Vernon Avenue and Del Ray in the 1990s, a subject that was touched on in a March Del Ray Patch article …

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At Home in the Garden

Making the Slow Build to Serenity

A grand American Foursquare on East Hume Avenue, once a ramshackle boarding house, is one of 12 houses on the 2012 Del Ray House and Garden Tour.

It takes a discerning, optimistic eye to stand outside a dilapidated boarding house and see grandeur. And it takes a fair amount of bravery and blind faith to buy the house without a do-it-yourself bone in your body.  But that's just what Maria Wasowski and her husband, Mark Blackden, did 25 years ago when they bought the ramshackle American Foursquare at 306 E. Hume Ave. With six major renovations over two and a half decades, they transformed the house into an open, beautifully-decorated space surrounded by a large, lush garden. They saw promise in a place others deemed impossible.  Organizers of the 2012 Del Ray House and Garden Tour say the 12 houses on the tour Saturday, including Wasowski and Blackden's, illustrate this power of …

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DRBA Seeking Halloween Costume Donations

Costumes for in-need children can be dropped off at Caboose Cafe and A Show of Hands.

With the Oct. 30 Del Ray Halloween Parade quickly approaching, the Del Ray Business Association is currently collecting new Halloween costumes for children who would otherwise celebrate the holiday without one. Orange bins for collection are currently in place at the Caboose Cafe and A Show of Hands for interested donors. Organizers say there is a particular need for larger-sized costumes. The Caboose Cafe, located at 2419 Mt. Vernon Avenue, is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A Show of Hands, located at 2301 Mt. Vernon Avenue, is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The store is closed on Mondays. The costumes …

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A Show of Hands Collecting Coats for Children

Avenue shop, DRBA and DRCA reach out to assist the Child and Family Network Centers.

With recent temperatures venturing into the chilly, it’s been a good time to take those heavy coats out of the closet for the season. For some children in Alexandria and Arlington, however, those winter coats do not exist. A Show of Hands, the Del Ray Business Association and the Del Ray Citizens Association have joined with the Child and Family Network Centers in collecting coats for in-need children in the area. “Two companies helped out [the Child and Family Network Centers] in the past, but they had dropped out,” said Pat Miller, an owner of A Show of Hands and an active member with both the DRBA and the DRCA. “I told them that I think this is something that the Del Ray community would love to help out with.” If interested in helping, …

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Drew Hansen

5:54 pm on Thursday, October 6, 2011

Just new coats.   more ›