WHERE WE LIVE | The Fairfax County, Va., community has 107 single-family homes, most on about one-third of an acre.
In recent years, however, young families have brought a shout of new life to Marlan Forest. Kids in bike helmets now pedal up and down the neighborhood’s curved streets and play games — like twilight favorite “Dark Tag” — that daisy-chain through backyards and fill summer evenings with laughter.
"The houses are close enough that your neighbors don't feel like strangers, but you're also not right on top of them," Martin, 45, said."So the opportunity to have a sense of community is kind of baked in by the distance between the homes. I've got some other friends who are in the suburbs, and you can see their neighbors, but there's not the connectivity that we have.
The magic of Marlan Forest is also the result of thoughtful development on the part of the Marlan Forest Citizens’ Association. Organization president Lindsay Hutter, who moved into her two-story brick home on Marine Drive in 1998, hosted a Christmas party her first year in Marlan Forest, inviting neighbors to support the Head Start program run by Alexandria’s Campagna Center.
Hutter said she has also tried to make sure the citizens association accurately represents the community, occasionally recruiting neighbors to run for the board. This push to involve all voices has helped local traditions evolve and grow. The Oktoberfest celebration, for example, began as a low-key gathering among neighbors and expanded with a German theme thanks, in part, to a local beer-brewer who lent his talents.
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