DCist Writes About Crystal Flight

One of the metropolitan area's premier blogs, DCist, posted a response to a reader's question about the Crystal Flight planes. Read the blog entry here.

U.S. Air Force Cycling Classic

On Sunday, May 4th the Crystal City BID continued its support of all things Flight in Crystal City! The area played host to the the U.S. Airforce Cycling Classic, a professional cycling race with a community participatory ride, Crystal Ride, to benefit the Rasin Hope Foundation.

Results Press Release
Race Photos 1

Race Photos 2

Visitor Blog Entry

A colleague of a Crystal City BID staff member recently sent over this wonderful excerpt from a personal blog post that just had to be shared! It encapsaltes everything the Crystal Flight project was intended to bring to the streets of Crystal City.

Excerpt from Anonymous Blog Post
Buggy plane
After having dinner out [a rare treat], we happened upon this piece of public art. A neighborhood in Arlington is near the airport so they have all this (sic) planes on display that have been decorated by various artists. This plane, sponsored by the U.S. Air Force, is called "Fly Zone" by Jessica Van Brakle. It features these rather large flies on it. Vaughan thought it was pretty cool!
Hey! Look there are more flies over here!
Yep, there is a fly!
He got one last close look at a fly before we went home, he got a bath and went to bed. Whew! --

Crystal Flight In the News - Air & Space

Check out the latest mention of Crystal Flight in the Smithsonian's Air & Space magazine! They put together a great article after multiple site visits photographing sessions in the studio and on the street!

Crystal Block - A Celebration of Art & Air

The second annual Crystal Block party was a stunning success! Despite looming rain clouds and unseasonably cool temperatures, the festivities of Crystal Block, which included musical acts Wicked Jezabel, Folsom Prisoners, and the Reflex, children's moon bounces and slides, cotton candy, popcorn, and tons of give-aways from area businesses, attracted several thousand visitors!

In addition to the three planes located in the area - Freddie's Flotsam & Jetsam, CC Sports Pub's Bounce Off and BB&T's Pennies from Heaven - 23rd Street was the temporary home for Chalk It Up and Graffiti Plane. Graffiti Artist Kevin Irvin spent most of the 5-hours of the party painting his plane for Arlington Sports in the middle of the road! Interested Block Party attendees had the chance to see him in action and his design evolve! Chalk It Up offered children and adults the opportunity to put their own creative energies to work! Painted with chalkboard paint, the plane was certainly "Chalked Up" by the end of the day.

BB&T also treated visitors to their both with a contest using their plane as inspiration. Can you guess how many pennies (or how much money) is actually on the BB&T plane, Pennies from Heaven?

The Planes Have Landed!

In case you have not noticed, the completed Crystal Flight Airplanes have "landed" all around Crystal City! JK Moving & Storage sent a Flat Bed Truck, a fork Lift, a box truck, and plenty of man power to get all 50 planes placed at their designated location.

The task was quite an event as eleven planes could be loaded directly onto the flatbed before it needed to be unloaded. It was certainly a sight to see the trailer traveling down the roads of Crystal City at about 5 MPH with dozens of on-lookers with smiling faces, cameras, and camera phones all pointed towards the spectacle! Many asked questions and expressed their delight at the arrivals, but nothing outdid the reaction of the Bright Horizon children who responded to a honk from the truck driver by rushing the window! Jaws dropped at hands waved as they saw the very plane they worked on unloaded and placed directly in front of their window!

Be sure to stop by one of the area restauraunts for an official map, but you can get a sneak peak at the 4.5-mile "Flight Path" that will take you to all 50 planes by downloading this map.

Crystal Flight Artists Complete!

It has been a busy few final weeks in the Crystal Flight Artist's Studio. The Crystal Flight artists have been striving to compelte the designs they proposed nearly four months ago and began implementing in January. Only four planes remain to be completed - Arlington Sports' Graffiti plane which will be painted by talented graffiti artist, Kevin Irvin at Crystal Block and the three planes that make up Solar Sorcery, the three planes sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and being completed by Butch Anthony.

After being compelted, the planes were treated with a Clear Coat application to protect the paint from the damaging and color-depleting sun's UV rays as well as a protection against vandalism. The Crystal City BID would like to thank Byron Peck and City Arts for agreeing to assist with the application of the coating on all of the planes.

Be ready this week to see the planes landing all over Crystal City courtesy of our Crystal Flight partner, JK Moving & Storage! Be certain to stop by Crystal Block along Restaurant Row on 23rd Street between S. Fern and S. Eads Streets. You can pick up a "Flight Plan" showing all of the plane locations throughout Crystal City at local restaurants and stores throughout the area.