Eden Center: ‘Saigon Blvd.’ Street Signs Unveiled Jan. 22

Signs of good tidings!
Fifty years after the fall of Saigon marking the end of the Vietnam War and just a week before the Tet Lunar New Year of the Snake, community activists from the Viet Place Collective joined federal, state, local and City officials in the frigid morning air to ceremoniously unveil to a delighted crowd three new honorary “Saigon Blvd.” street signs at Eden Center’s Lion’s Gate entrance Jan. 22.
Designed to “celebrate the strong Vietnamese-American community in the City of Falls Church, Fairfax County, and the region,” the three new bilingual "community-designed street signs” were placed on the 6600 and 6700 blocks of Wilson Blvd. at the entrance to Eden Center – the largest Vietnamese shopping and dining center on the East Coast – and at the intersection of Roosevelt Blvd./Wilson Blvd., as well as the entrance to Wilson Plaza across the street.

By unveiling the new signs honoring the local Vietnamese community, the City of Falls Church “rededicated and confirmed [its] 2006 honorary designation of the special cultural area and fulfilled a key “action plan item from [its] East End Small Area Plan adopted June 26, 2023,” the City posted on social media.
The Viet Place Collective’s advocacy for the new signage helped spur the City to action.
Read more about the Viet Place Collective's actions in our Oct. 2024 article here:

The new signage required significant collaboration between Fairfax County and Falls Church City as Eden Center is in the City of Falls Church while across the street, Wilson Plaza is in Fairfax County, as is Wilson Blvd. running east. Given the economic and cultural significance of Eden Center, federal and state officials were also on hand to speak and celebrate the unveiling.

Cindy Mester, community relations director for the City of Falls Church, began the morning’s ceremony by introducing City of Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi.
After joking that she would keep her speech short given the freezing temperatures (14 degrees!), the mayor thanked numerous officials in attendance, including City Council members Underhill, Downs, Connelly and Snyder, Fairfax County supervisors, Jeffrey McKay (Chair), and Andres Jimenez, as well as officials from the offices of Virginia Senators Warner and Kaine, Congressmen Gerry Connolly and Don Beyer, and state Delegates Saddam Salim, Marcus Simon and Kathy Tran.
But to great applause, the Mayor reserved “special thanks to the Viet Place Collective and the Eden Center" for their collaboration.
“Often I say that policies and values are only as good as the actions that follow them. Otherwise, they’re really just fancy words on paper,” Hardi said. “So, thank you for helping us bring words on paper to life. Eighteen months ago, the City Council unanimously adopted the last of our Small Area Plans for the East End of Falls Church. But I’m so glad to see we’re implementing one of its first recommendations today.”
“Nearly 20 years ago, Wilson Blvd. was actually given this honorary designation and it is fitting that this year, 2025, marking 50 years since the Fall of Saigon – a somber and significant day for many Vietnamese people – It is very fitting that we are rededicating Wilson Blvd. with the honorary name of Saigon Blvd.” [Applause].
Mayor Hardi addressed the symbolism of the new signs’ design. “And it’s not just a name or a sign,” the mayor continued. “We are reaffirming our commitment to the cultural diversity and history of this special part of Falls Church and for Northern Virginia, this time with equal billing as a VDOT street name, with a nod to the colors of the Vietnam flag and iconic Ben Thanh Market in Saigon, with great community input. So thank you to all of you!" [Applause].
“I am so proud that business owners at the Eden Center, along the street, and thousands of visitors who come to shop and dine, or who come for special events like Lunar New Year next week, will now see this meaningful way of honoring the Vietnamese heritage and history of a cultural haven in Northern Virginia, and frankly, the East Coast,” Hardi said.
“As a first-generation immigrant myself, who has grown up visiting the Eden Center since we moved to Northern Virginia when I was a teenager, that recognition of diversity, remembering where we came from, the stories, the dreams, the aspirations we bring and the legacy we leave, that really means something. And especially this week, is more important than ever,” the mayor said.

After inviting attendees to Eden Center’s Tet Ceremony and celebrations on Jan. 29, Graham Eddy, vice president of Eden Center, thanked local government officials, the Viet Place Collective and others for carrying out the signs initiative. “It’s wonderful to work with you all,” he said. “It’s really an honor to have a place that the Vietnamese community in the area can call home. And as far as we’re concerned that’s there to stay. That’s what we want. And this honorary renaming of Wilson Blvd. to Saigon Blvd. is a piece of that. And we love it.”
In the most heartfelt and moving part of the ceremony, young Viet Place Collective organizers then spoke in honor of the sacrifices of their parents and grand-parents and elder generations to escape war and displacement and create the beloved Eden Center and local Vietnamese community being celebrated.
“There are so many leaders here” to be thanked, a lead organizer said. “When I started two years ago on the issue of the East End Small Area Plan, we wanted to have part of Wilson Blvd. honorarily named ‘Saigon Blvd.’ and basically this was a way for us to promote, advocate for, and uplift the Vietnamese community here.”
“And the Vietnamese community, you know, we immigrated here from after the war and settled in this area, and it’s had such a great impact,” the organizer continued. “And this was a way to really commemorate that and really mark this place as a special place for our community. This was the culmination of a lot of efforts of a lot of the people I previously mentioned and it’s important to us, because this place is so special to me, so special to our community, we have so many memories here and we have so many just good times here. So this is really just a great, momentous occasion for us!"

“We are so appreciative of the City of Falls Church,” said Core Organizer Binh Ly. “Hopefully, this year we’ll have a staff person in the City Government speaking Vietnamese to connect resources and programming at the city-level with the small businesses in the community as well as the senior citizens who live in Falls Church City. So, we have a lot of projects coming down the pipeline as well and thank you for everyone’s support.”
Binh Ly then offered words that brought tears to the eyes of several elders in the crowd. “We hope our work and our advocacy at Viet Place Collective shows that we are invested in this City. Our community is vested in Fairfax County and the region. And the Vietnamese community is here. And this honorary naming is a gift to our parents, to our elders. They’ve overcome war and displacement and we’re here and thriving today because of them and this honor uplifts their legacy and contributions to this area.”
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay then paid homage to the importance of the local Vietnamese community not only for Fairfax County but for Virginia, the region, and the United States. “It’s so important that we in local government work together because we understand the importance of this moment and Eden Center and this renaming,” he said. “Not just for the City of Falls Church, and not just for Fairfax County, but for the whole DMV region, because we know this center attracts people from the entire DMV and how important it is to our Vietnamese community to make sure locally that we do everything we possibly can to preserve the cultural traditions and heritages of so many people who’ve immigrated to this part of the country and have made the DMV area the economic engine of the United States of America.”

“It’s important we never forget that,” McKay continued. “And it’s more important than ever that we celebrate… those folks who’ve been coming to the United States to make a better life for themselves and, in doing so, have made a better life for everyone who lives here.”
McKay was also moved by earlier speeches. “I also want to celebrate this younger generation of the Viet Place Collective here because I was watching as they were speaking, some of the more mature residents who were watching them, and the emotion they had for making sure that the legacy continues on for future generations, and the protection of the cultural values of the Vietnamese community, are carried on by our younger generations. It’s so important. So thank you to the Collective members for all the work you’ve done as well." [Applause]. "And they should get the biggest applause!”
McKay then joined with Supervisor Jimenez to read out a formal resolution passed by Fairfax County to honor the local Vietnamese community with the new street signs. “The Vietnamese-American community in Northern Virginia has created vibrant neighborhoods and businesses, significantly enhancing Fairfax County’s status as a ‘majority-minority’ locality and a symbol of cultural diversity," a clause in the Resolution reads.

A rhythmic, brilliant and evocative Lion Dance performance then capped off the formal ceremony prior to the countdown for the unveiling of the new Saigon Blvd. sign at the Lion’s Gate entrance.
Interviews on the Occasion
Following the ceremony, Mayor Hardi described her feelings to The Falls Church Independent, “It’s lovely to see the excitement and happiness this brings because it’s not just symbolic. It recognizes the heritage, the history of what’s here, and celebrates the diversity of the region… I think it’s more important than ever to show our values with actions beyond words.”
“The Eden Center is a special part of Falls Church,” Hardi said. “It’s a destination for not only the DMV and the region, but actually for the whole East Coast. I looked at stats and people come here from all over. We see tour buses rolling up on the weekend because it's a great destination for shopping, eating, and – you know I like to eat – And I also, on a personal note, grew up visiting the Eden Center. We moved to Northern Virginia when I was 14. I grew up eating at the same restaurants for 30 years now. So, for me and my family it’s also a special place.”
City Council member Marybeth Connelly told The Falls Church Independent how much the Eden Center means for the Little City. “There’s nothing like Eden Center anywhere,” she said. And we’re so lucky to have it in Falls Church. That’s really why it’s so important. The food, the people, the celebration, all of it!”
Connelly was particularly moved by the Viet Place Collective’s shout-out to their parents and grandparents. “The emotion and the pride those parents and grandparents had and the pride they had in their children who made this happen," were especially emotional. "And the Viet Place Collective, all the young people there, they feel so strongly about their heritage and they made this happen. They pushed the Falls Church City Council and the Falls Church City Staff to really do something, not just do an Area Plan that was just words on paper, but to actually make this happen.”

Finally, we asked Binh Ly of the Viet Place Collective for his thoughts on the day. “The sun is shining. Our hearts are full. And the weather didn’t deter the community from showing up. And we’re all very happy.”
“For us it’s the first tangible result from our two years of advocacy in the East End Small Area Plan,” he said. “And the first of many strategies to help recognize the community’s contributions to the City of Falls Church and also to the region. This is just the start and we’re very excited.”
“We wouldn’t be here without the sacrifices of our family, our elders, and our parents. We have the privileges we have today because of their sacrifices. They fled war, overcame displacement from their homes, and started over. My parents started over from scratch here in their 40s. So, this honorary renaming is of their old homeland, their old capital – and it’s a gift to them.”
For a happy Instagram Reel of the occasion, go here:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFJOLqySKqg/?igsh=bmFreGc1bmw2Mzhr
By Christopher Jones
Member discussion