Design Concepts Released for Fairland and Briggs Chaney Placemaking Festival

The Montgomery County Planning Department has unveiled the design concepts for the Fairland and Briggs Chaney Placemaking Festival. The concepts can be viewed below with additional information on the project’s website and were created after hearing feedback and ideas from the community through an online questionnaire and at the project’s kickoff meeting in June. The Fairland and Briggs Chaney Placemaking Festival is a free community event and will be held October 21 and 22 (rain or shine) at the Briggs Chaney Park and Ride near the Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center (3300 Briggs Chaney Road, Silver Spring, MD 20904).

Planners are now asking the community to help bring these concepts to life. The community-led build of the festival will be held October 19 through October 22 with various ways to get involved. Volunteers may be asked to apply paint to create a ground mural, construct tables, chairs, art sculptures, a children’s fort with a bounce path, and provide assistance with festival operations, such as set up, clean up, and parking management. Interested parties can sign up for volunteer slots using the online form. Student Service Learning (SSL) hours will be available for students. To volunteer, you must complete the form and release form provided in the link. Planners are also seeking performers and vendors for the placemaking festival. Applications are due on September 25.

“We have heard from the community on how the Briggs Chaney Park and Ride could be temporarily transformed into an exciting gathering space and we listened,” said Angelica Gonzalez, Montgomery Planning project manager. “We think these design concepts provide great amenities for all age groups and abilities. We are excited to gather with the community for this exciting festival in October.” The Fairland and Briggs Chaney Placemaking Festival is made possible through partnerships with the Better Block Foundation, the Eastern Montgomery Regional Services Center, the Montgomery County Department of Recreation, Montgomery Parks, and the Montgomery County Department of Transportation.

About the Fairland and Briggs Chaney Placemaking Festival

Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of their community, strengthening the connection between people and the places they share. More than just promoting better urban design, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm to maximize shared value. The practice also facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution. Learn more about Montgomery Planning’s placemaking efforts.

The Fairland and Briggs Chaney (FBC) Placemaking Festival is intended to:

• Highlight the vision and recommendations of the ongoing Fairland and Briggs Chaney Master Plan.
• Demonstrate ways of achieving the plan’s vision for public spaces through short-term solutions before major investments are made.
• Embrace placemaking as a means of capturing shared values and generating ideas for public spaces.
• Engage local businesses, schools, and community members in a dialogue about the role of public spaces and streetscape designs within their community.
• Encourage property owners to plan for the long-term transformation of their properties.
• Use temporary placemaking as a tool to gather data and help inform permanent designs for successful public spaces and streetscapes in the Fairland and Briggs Chaney Master Plan.
• Make a positive impact on the community with a public space that can be used for community events after the placemaking festival.