It's Time to Party!

We Shocked the World!  Our little motley crew of misfits was awarded the Virginia State Bar's 2024 Bar Association of the Year award!  Unlike the Bar Leader's Award in which Specialty Bars compete against other Specialty Bars, and Local Bars compete against Local Bars, the Bar Association of the Year award is awarded Local AND Specialty Bars - meaning that we had to beat out the heavyweight local bars to bring home the hardware!

For those of you who weren't able to attend in person, it was a magical event, where NOVABAA was joined by the Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court, Hon. S. Bernard Goodwyn and his wife Sharon, as well as Justice Cleo Powell of the Virginia Supreme Court.  Well, if you weren't able to attend in Va Beach, you have no choice but to come celebrate with us in Person next Tuesday June 18th from 6pm-9pm at the Crystal City Sports Pub in Crystal City.  The address is 529 23rd Street, Arlington, VA 22202 and we will be on the 3rd floor.  For planning purposes, we need a headcount so that they have enough servers and cooks on hand.

It's the evening before Juneteenth, so you don't have to work the next day - come have fun with your NOVABAA Family!  And if your boss/firm/employer is forcing you to work on Juneteenth, what better way to mobilize the NOVABAA Strikeforce to rally the troops to break out the pitchforks, drums, and torches to picket your place of employment the next morning.  It's a WIN/WIN!

On a much more serious note, this is likely to be my final event as President of this incredibly special organization.  As many of you know, I've been recently elected as President of the Statewide African American Bar (the "Old Dominion Bar Association") and it's far more bitter than sweet that I have to leave NOVABAA leadership in the rearview mirror.  As you can probably tell, this wasn't even work for me.  I genuinely enjoyed every moment of the opportunities that I had to help NOVABAA advance the ball in a new or different direction.  This will always be my HOME, and I CANNOT wait to come back and heckle the leaders that follow behind me.  Given the circumstances, and it really hurts to say this, I just have not had the ability to pull together the return to the Salamander this year as I desperately wanted to.  Thus, I'm desperately begging you to come send your boy off in style as we celebrate the fun and success that we've had building our corner of NOVABAA for the past 4 years, as well as celebrating our Bar of the Year celebration.

Again, you don't have to work the next day - and if you do, you better not let us hear about it!  Because the Strikeforce definitely doesn't have to work the next day!  Seriously, this is going to be a fun event - come for a few minutes, jump in some pictures, cut a two-step and leave!  That's all I am asking.  We've got a DJ, Photo Booth and Photographer lined up.

See you next Tuesday the 18th from 6pm - 9pm for the Party of the Year!  Again, please RSVP so that we can give a good headcount to the restaurant - even if it's just a maybe.

Rex