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Outdoor office spaces appear in Virginia as people find ways to soak up the warmer weather

With the weather warming up, more people are merging from their COVID-19 cocoons and heading outdoors to work.

ARLINGTON, Va. — After months of working from home, some people are trying to get creative. In Rosslyn, Va., there will soon be outdoor office spaces popping up in Gateway Park.

Starting Tuesday, you will see standing desks, tables for group meetings, whiteboards and Wi-Fi stations set up throughout the park.

Mary-Claire Burick with the Rosslyn Business Improvement District said the project is not only helping people safely reconnect, but also helps support local businesses in the area.

“It actually was born from our own staff thinking we want to be together and we miss collaboration but we’re not quite ready to sit in a small conference room together. What we really wanted to do was be outdoors in the fresh air and we thought why not come up with a space that would enable people to do that,” said Burick.

Before showing up for your meeting, you can reserve your outdoor office space online. Burick said it’s their way of knowing exactly how many people are in the park at a time.

Between meetings, crews come and sanitize each workplace station.

“We were really thinking of how to help people maximize the neighborhood and really understand all there is to do there,” said Burick.

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The pandemic continues to impact small business owners around the nation.

Burick said they’ve been focused on finding ways to support the small business owners, including launching a staycation passport. The program highlights all the ways to support locals and plan a perfect weekend getaway in the DMV.

“It really is an effort to support our small businesses. They’ve been hit so hard by this pandemic and it’s so important to help keep them moving through this and so this is a way of showing that support. When you think local and shop local, this is a way that each of us can do our small part to support these businesses,” said Mary-Claire Burick.

The staycation guide is happening in Rosslyn.

“We created a really fun staycation guide that has everything you need to have a date night, a time out with girlfriends including hotel stays and coffee and lunch and dinner,” said Burick.

   

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