Leesburg to close block in historic downtown, create weekend outdoor dining areas

Starting July 31, South King Street, between Loudoun and East Market Streets in Leesburg will be closed to traffic, and local restaurants will create temporary weekend outdoor dining areas. This will expand seating capacity for restaurants affected by COVID-19 restrictions. (Neal Augenstein/WTOP)

With the number of dining room customers reduced by COVID-19 restrictions, Leesburg will close a block of South King Street every Friday and Saturday night to create temporary outdoor dining areas for nearby businesses in the Virginia town.

Starting Friday, July 31, South King Street — also known as Virginia Route 15 — will be closed, between Market and Loudoun Streets, at 3:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Participating restaurants will be able to host customers outdoors in the shut-down block, from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m., weather permitting.

Restaurants taking part this weekend include Black Hoof Brewing Company, Delirium Cafe, Echelon Wine Bar, King Street Oyster Bar, Leesburg Gourmet, and The Wine Kitchen, according to a news release from Leesburg.

Customers will not be allowed to congregate in the street, and will be required to maintain appropriate physical distancing, to reduce the risk of coronavirus spread.

There will be no live performances or other outdoor entertainment, although the town in encouraging customers to visit downtown shops.

For customers preferring to eat Leesburg restaurant food at home, there will be designated on-street parking spaces for delivery and pickup on East and West Market Street, adjacent to the King Street intersection.

The expanded outdoor seating capacity program will run through Oct. 24.


More Coronavirus News

Looking for more information? D.C., Maryland and Virginia are each releasing more data every day. Visit their official sites here: Virginia | Maryland | D.C.


Neal Augenstein

Neal Augenstein has been a general assignment reporter with WTOP since 1997. He says he looks forward to coming to work every day, even though that means waking up at 3:30 a.m.

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