Congratulations to George and Susan at 1944 Lakeport Way for winning the “December Holiday Decoration Contest”.

The Lakeport Board

Starting now until Sunday night, we ask everyone to vote for the “December Holiday Decoration Contest” winner. To be a judge is very easy and you will have a great time. The best way to judge the winner is a quick and fun walk around our community. Once it’s dark, stroll around Lakeport. Don’t forget Lakespray or the trail near the common dock. There are some nice decorations on the homes facing the common dock.

Some people walk with neighbors, some with friends or others make it a family event. You will have a great time trying to select the winners. We ask you to select your top three winners. No rules. Just choose who you think was 1st, 2nd and 3^rd. Email your results to board@lakeportcluster.org.

The winner has bragging rights for the year and a gift certificate to a local restaurant. In a way, we are all winner because Lakeport makes your winter holiday a little brighter. We thank those that decorated their home. You have brought a smile to all of us.

Fact of the Day.

Lake Thoreau has a normal maximum depth of 38 feet with a water volume of 26.5 million gallons.

We wish everyone a great weekend.

The Lakeport Board

Already, many homeowners have decorated their homes (taking advantage of the warm weather) but that doesn’t mean you can’t add those creative ideas that could put your home over the top. You may want to walk around our community and checkout the competition. How many communities have an alligator pulling Santa’s sleigh? Is that Santa’s hat in the alligator’s mouth? We have boats with lights, holiday tunes playing every night and tons of lights but we could always have more!

This is the best time of the year and Lakeport is making it even more festive with our decorations. We thank those that have brightened our lives and our community.

Fact of the Day

The winners of the Halloween contest were the Fleischer’s at 1953 Lakeport Way. Congratulations!

The Lakeport Board

We will kickoff the Halloween weekend on Friday night with “Spooky Movie Night”. This is the last movie of the year but we saved the best for last. Everyone is invited. So, bring the kids, grandkids, friends and the whole family.

Bring a blanket and chair and join in some ghoulish fun with your neighbors and friends for some delicious witches brew and treats with tricks as we show our last movie of the season–Spooky Buddies (with a special presentation of the Halloween episode from Modern Family). If you want to watch from your boat, that’s great. Bring your radio for better sound (FM Frequency 88.1).

On Saturday and Sunday, all Lakeport residents are asked to judge the best decorated Halloween home. This will be easy and a really fun walk around our community to see the decorated homes. We suggest that you wait until its dark and walk around the whole community. Make sure you find the “black raven” and the surprises on Lakespray.

We ask you to rate the top three best decorated homes. So send us the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd rated homes at board@lakeportcluster.org. Please send your results by Monday October 31. Who will win this year?

Monday is Halloween. Lakeport will be visited by little Ghosts & Goblins for trick or treat. Please make sure that you drive slowly. Let’s all have a great time!!

Fact of Day

The Origin of Halloween

Halloween’s roots can be traced back to Celtic culture in Ireland. According to their “Druid” religion, November 1st was New Years’ on their calendar. The celebration would begin on October 31st, and last into the following day. The spirits of all who died in the prior year would rise up and roam the earth on this night.

The Lakeport Board

• On Friday October 28^th, PanCook Production Company will have the last movie of the year.  Put this on your calendar. You will have a great time. Come to the common dock at 7PM.

• Many Lakeport homeowners are starting to put out their Fall decorations. So, it’s time to have our annual Fall decoration challenge. Judging will be the last week of October when we will be visited by little Ghosts & Goblins. Who will have the best decorated home this Fall?

• Halloween Fun at Reston Association is Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, 10-11 a.m. This is for 3-5 years old children who must be accompanied by an adult. The event will be held at Reston Association, 12001 Sunrise Valley Drive. The Fee: $3/RA Members, $6/Non-members. Dress up in your favorite costume and join the fun with hands on activities, crafts and go trick-or-treating around the Association office. Registration is required and payments are due at the event. Contact Ashleigh@reston.org or call 703-435-6530 to register.

• Halloween House & Trick-or-Treat Trail Walker Nature Education Center, will be held rain or shine at 11450 Glade Drive, Reston. Tickets: $10 per person. ($1.54 service fee per ticket will be applied to online sales.) You may also purchase tickets at the Walker Nature Education Center’s Nature House. Call 703-476-9689. See links below for details and online ticket sales. Note: Ticket sales begin on Oct. 1.Choose from one of four event times:

Oct. 28, 6-7:15 p.m.  http://halloweenhousefri1.eventbrite.com Oct. 28, 7:30-8:45 p.m.  http://halloweenhousefri2.eventbrite.com
Oct. 29, 6-7:15 p.m.  http://halloweenhousesat1.eventbrite.comÂ
Oct. 29, 7:30-8:45 p.m. http://halloweenhousefri2.eventbrite.com

• Reston Town Center on Saturday, October 29 2011 at 12:00pm – 4:00pm will have Trick-or-Treating at participating retailers. Costumed children can visit participating retailers for treats and goodies. Look for the pumpkin flyer in the window!

Here’s the Fact of Day.

On Tuesday, November 1 2011, Ice Skating opens at Reston Town Center Pavilion.

Public skating and skate rentals are daily. Also available: private lessons, birthday parties, and reservations for private and corporate parties. For information, rates and schedules call 703-709-6300, email skating@restontowncenter.com or visit the Ice Skating link www.restontowncenter.com for more information!

We hope that everyone at Lakeport has a great October.

The Lakeport Board

The presentation will be placed on the Website (www.lakeportcluster.org) under Meeting Minutes. If you have any questions, feel free to email the Board at board@lakeportcluster.org. We want to thank the volunteers for helping with the meeting. They include Terrill Evon at 1928 Lakeport Way for checking in, verifying the quorum and certifying the election results, Marilyn Bursch and Lani Seeley for providing treats and drinks for everyone. Special thanks to the group at Member Services Reston Association. They set up the conference room and provided AV support at no cost to Lakeport.

During the meeting, we announced the Summer Landscaping winners. This summer, residents voted in July and September for the top two landscaped homes. Lakeport had a lot of great competitors and the front of our homes never looked better. We thank everyone for making our community look so great. Plus, thanks to everyone that took the time to vote. Bragging rights go to the winners. We take our hats off to you!

2011 Summer Landscaping Contest

Richard & Trudy Stevens 1928 Lakeport Way

Rob & Tanya Coogan 11118 Lakespray Way

Before the meeting, we held an election for two open Board positions. Board Members are voted to a two year term. One year two positions are open and the next year three positions are open. When possible this allows continuity for the Board. We thank these homeowners for volunteering to run for the Board. We congratulate the two winners.

Marilyn Bursch 1954 Lakeport Way

Dan Kilcup 1917 Lakeport Way

This year, the Board wants to help educate all Lakeport Residents. We will add a fact about Lakeport and/or Reston to all of the Board’s emails. Here’s our first fact.

The surface area of Lake Thoreau is 40 acres

The Lakeport Board

The Board will review our financials, present accomplishments since our last annual meeting, and detail planned activities for the up-coming year. The proposed agenda will be distributed 15 days before the meeting. Please send the Board any suggested agenda items that you feel will interest and benefit the Lakeport community.  As in the past, we encourage homeowner participation.

In accordance with our by-laws, two board members’ positions will be open for election. The election will be held during the annual meeting. Any homeowner that would like to run for a position should contact the Board.  To keep our Lakeport Community as one of the best places to live in Northern Virginia, we require strong homeowner participation at the Board level.  Please consider running for the open positions and participating on the Board.

The Lakeport Board

We have been told that there are two reasons for this postponement. First, it seems the weather man has gone to the dark side! Secondly, we need the rain and we all know if we schedule a movie night, it will rain!

Have a nice weekend.

The Lakeport Board

Here are the details. Everyone is invited. That means all Lakeport residents, family near and far, friends no matter were they are from and most importantly we are very kid friendly. Last movie night we had grandchildren, neighborhood kids, and many visitors. This is meant to be a very family oriented event but that also means that older kids (say 30 plus) should invite their friends and have a lovely evening under the stars. You have two options. You can watch on land (bring a blanket or chairs) or on the lake. If you select the lake, you may want to bring a boat but that’s your option.

You may want to bring some snacks and drinks.  That is totally up to you. The old kids (21+) have been known to drink a bottle or two of wine but its dark so who knows! The screen is large so everyone will easily see the movie. The sound system is good but you can also tune-in on FM Frequency 88.1 of your radio to hear the movie.

We are also planning two more movie nights, one in September and another before Halloween. This is a great event that everyone has enjoyed. We hope that you can attend.

The Lakeport Board

We all have small areas in front of our homes. So, anybody can win. The rules are simple. Just impress the judges and get their votes. You can go to your favorite garden store to select your plants (many are now on sale) or let them make the selection. You can ask for help! Call your mother or maybe another family member or anybody you know who can help you win. Call in a professional or just do it yourself.  You never know what you can do with a few plants, a bag of mulch and water every couple of days. You could win. If not, it looks good and you help to improve our community. So, we will all be winners.

This will be an entire summer challenge. We will judge everyone’s landscaping twice. The first time will be right after July 4^th and the second time will be right after Labor Day. To be one of the winners, you have to have the highest combined scores from the two judging periods. Yes, we said winners; the top two homes will win! We hear rumors that the winners will get gifts certificates to Cafesano and/or Starbucks.

So the challenge is on. If you have already planted or need to pull out some weeds, let’s get started. Check out the competition. You have all summer to add new and different plants. If you see a neighbor with great landscaping, knock on their door and let them know. We have a lot of great people at Lakeport and this is a great way to meet them. Who knows, they may help you with your landscaping or better yet you could make a new friend!

Happy planting!

The Lakeport Board