Could Pickleball Be A Scheme To Bring Reston Back To Its Nudist Colony Roots? Um, Maybe?

It's been a few years since pickleball finally made it to Reston, as our favorite defunct source of DRB-themed word finds once put it.  But now we're wondering if the arrival of everyone's favorite sport was the brainchild of a conspiracy of shadowy developers actors who want to return our favorite earth-toned community to its roots -- as a homicidal nudist colony. 

Check it, as the kids haven't said since before they had kids of their own, who in turn have since had kids of their own:

According to the filthy web log "The Pickler," which sounds somewhat NSFW in its own right, "nude pickleball is beating the pants off its competition." Oof.

Give us some titillating PG-13 blockquote, BFFs at the Pickler:

Clothing-optional resorts are advertising their pickleball facilities, holding tournaments, and putting in more courts to meet the demand... Sullivan is arranging home-and-away pickleball matches with other Florida nudist resorts and getting ready for his community’s July 4th pickleball tournament, which is called the “Clothing Independence Day Tournament.”

“We tell people, just bring your tennis shoes. We provide the paddles and the balls,” Sullivan said.

People who play pickleball in the nude say that it’s much more comfortable than playing while clothed. There’s no sweaty, clinging clothing to deal with, and it’s easier to cool down after playing a few games.

There's no telling what games they played at the Green Forest Nudist Colony, described in print as the "nudist colony that is now Reston," except murder, but if a developer of nudist colonies is involved in this diabolical plan, we've got to say that this is an even better "long game" than, wedunno, pretending to care about invasive plants in order to replace hundreds of acres of open space with a bit of ivy growing around the trees with endless rows of crappy midrise condos. Hypothetically, of course.

However, nekkid pickleball could be a slippery slope. Along with talking about how to "win more dink battles" (heh), here's what "The Pickler" had to say about another popular activity at a Florida nudist resort:

The only recreational pursuit other than pickleball that is holding its own at Cypress Cove is cornhole.

Not touching that one with a 10-foot pole pickleball paddle, the end.

Happy Pride, Reston Style

It's Pride month, and after the festival at Lake Anne earlier in the month and the bigger one in DC last weekend, it's nice to see a display that fits right into Reston's earth-toned zeitgeist:

My wife just got done decorating for pride. As she said, "Alfred Cadaverous Von Skeletor welcomes you all to his safe space here in Reston, VA!" #pride #12ftskeleton - not just for Halloween! pic.twitter.com/JWGXawvAIC

— Bree Fram (@BFram3) June 4, 2022

Hopefully this got a better reception than a similarly themed car last year, the end.

At Lake Anne, Reminders of Reston's First Murder, a 50-Year-Old Cold Case

Last weekend, a series of signs were hung from the top of the Van Gogh Bridge near Lake Anne reminding passersby of Reston's first homicide, the strangling death of 17-year-old Gwen Ames in 1972. "Still no suspect? How come, FCPD?" the signs asked.

A Herndon High School junior, Ames was murdered early in the morning on June 4, 1972, walking home to Waterview Cluster from a dance held at Lake Anne Plaza as part of a weekend-long celebration of Reston's birthday. Our BFFs at Reston Patch published a timeline and other details in 2021.

The Ames family was one of the first to move to Reston, and her mother remained active in the community until her death in 2016, including playing a key role in the Embry Rucker homeless shelter.

The cold case is still open and posted on FCPD's website; one other murder from the same year was resolved in 2020.  Ames' cousin told Patch last year that the family still wants closure:

[Carol] Hertle-Sena reached out recently to FCPD's Cold Case Unit and spoke to the detective in charge of the case. She wanted him to know that despite the passage of time, Gwen Ames had family who are still waiting for answers.

"We still care. We still want to know what happened to her," she said. "Who did this? Somebody out there must know something, maybe the person that did it. Maybe he or she is long gone, but there has to be somebody in that area still. I just wanted him to know that her family up here in New York still thinks about her. We still care. We want closure."

It's not clear who posted the signs, which were quickly taken down. But (cue true crime podcast voice) the mystery remains unsolved. Information about submitting tips about this and other cold cases to Fairfax County Police is available here.