Welcome to Just Outside DC — the only local newsletter with more goodies than a clearance sale at the North Pole 🎅

THE BIG IDEA

Is your flight still canceled? Blame last week’s global glitch.

Ever had one of those days where everything just... stops working?

Well, Virginia (and pretty much everyone else in the world) just had one of those on a massive scale. 

But here's the kicker: it wasn't a cyber attack or some nefarious hacking scheme.

Nope — it was just a good old-fashioned software update gone wrong.

The culprit: A faulty update deployed by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike to computers running Microsoft Windows.

Here's how the outage affected Virginia last week:

DMV: Closed — sorry, no driver's licenses for you.

Airports: Reagan and Dulles dealt with massive delays and cancellations, some of which are still affecting Virginians.

Metro: Back on track (literally), but their website was still down.

The real question is: How did we become so dependent on a handful of tech providers? It's like putting all our eggs in one digital basket... and then dropping the basket.

Bulletin Board 📌 

Reader Restaurant Recommendation: One of our readers, Riley, recommends you guys check out Chit Chaat Cafe.

It’s Indian takeout, inside a gas station convenience store.

We actually tried it ourselves once while in Vienna and… it was delicious. Now, I can sleep easy at night knowing there’s a place I can sip mango lassi while I’m pumping gas 🥭 

QUICK HITS

• TIL a plane crashed at Bishop O’ Connell High School in 1988 after running out of fuel 🛩️ 

• The median price of homes in the DC area is up by 22% but sales of houses are still going down 🏠️ 

• Great Falls cracked the top 10 wealthiest suburbs list in the United States. McLean, Vienna, and Wolf Trap all made the top fifty list 📈 

• William & Mary received a $100M donation to study climate change 🌎️ 

LIVE MUSIC

• Fort Hunt Concert Series | the Blue Book Value Band are performing on Sunday at Fort Hunt Park 🎸 

• Ghostbusters in Concert | National Symphony Orchestra performs classics from the film at Wolf Trap tonight 👻 

• Back to the Future: The Musical | the Broadway version of the film is at the Kennedy Center until August ⏳️ 

• Friday Night Live | the DC area’s best outdoor concert series continues tonight with a mashup performance by It’s All Good + Twisted Flags 🤘 

• Green Day: The Saviors Tour | Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and The Linda Lindas are performing at Nationals Park on Monday. Here’s to celebrating 20 years of American Idiot 🇺🇸 

LIVE EVENT LOWDOWN

• Loudoun County Fair | the fair continues through the weekend with a rabbit dress-up competition, a watermelon eating contest, and pig races 🐷 

• Warrenton BrewFest | the inaugural festival is happening tonight in Old Town 🍺 

• The DC Big Flea | the annual antique show is back this weekend in Chantilly 🪞 

• Peach Fuzztival | a weekend celebration of peach picking and more with tons of farm-fresh goods at Great Country Farms in Bluemont 🧺 

• Summer Renaissance Fair | Shipgarten is hosting this journey through time tomorrow. Enjoy some jousting, archery, and massive turkey legs 🍗 

• Thai Street Food Festival | spend your Sunday at the Manassas Museum enjoying authentic Thai dishes, music, and some boxing 🥊 

• The Science Behind Harry Potter | a tour of the Apothecary Museum on Sunday for kids age 8 and up 🦉 

• Christmas in July | Lost Boy Cider is hosting an outdoor vendor market tomorrow with Christmas themed crafts 🎄 

• Reston Summerbration | an outdoor screening of The Sandlot (1993) at Reston Station tomorrow evening. There’s also going to be an inflatable batting cage ⚾️  

• Medal Madness | there’s going to be a three week long, multi-sport tournament starting tomorrow at Westpost 🏓 

• Water Wars | an action-packed afternoon of water guns, slip n’ slides, and more tomorrow at Segra Field 🔫 

Thanks so much for reading today’s issue of Just Outside D.C.

Are you new here? We write about the latest stories and events happening in Northern VA every week.

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