Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) responded to a basement fire on Sunday, November 12 on Troy Rd in Kensington. According to MCFRS Battalion Chief Jason Blake, residents of the home were alerted by a working smoke detector/fire alarm and there were no injuries reported. One family and their pets have been displaced. Blake did not give a cause/source of the fire. We will provide an update if additional information becomes available.
Sandra Lucas, owner of Kensington consignment shop The Growing Years for the last 30 years, has announced that the shop will be closing on November 18th. Lucas worked at a consignment store in college and had such a great experience working there during my winter and summer vacations that she moved into a full-time position upon graduating, according to her website. With encouragement from family and friends, she bought The Growing Years in 1998 and has operated the store ever since. The full letter announcing the closure, titled “Thank You and Farewell” can be seen below:
“Dear Consignors and Customers,
“I like to check to see how many top prizes are still out there for each game,” the Prince George’s County resident said. “It feels like I have a better shot at finding a big one.”
Before leaving home to meet friends, the 47-year-old frequent player noticed that Money Bag Multiplier, a $10 scratch-off game that debuted in April, still had one $100,000 top prize available. He also noted that three of the game’s $50,000 second-tier prizes had not yet been claimed.
11:05am UPDATE: Albert Einstein HS has been cleared. Students, faculty, and staff are returning to the building. Once Newport Mill Rd. is open, parents can reunite with their child at the main office of Albert Einstein HS.
We will provide an update if additional information becomes available.
This Saturday, October 28th, the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department and the Town of Kensington are once again hosting their annual Halloween Movie Night. This year, “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” will be shown at dusk in St. Paul Park on the big screen. Costumes are encouraged for all attendees. The Kensington Volunteer Fire Department and the Town of Kensington will have refreshments available for purchase in the Park, including pizza, popcorn, and candy. Glowsticks will be available as well!
This year, the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department will also be visiting BabyCat Brewery’s 1st Halloween-iversary party. According to the Department’s Instagram story, they’ll bring one of their Fire Engines to the Brewery from 12PM-3PM.
Holly Agouridis started “The Catalina Haunt” (video below) at her Kensington home back in 2015. The haunted house, located on Catalina Terrace, is now in its 9th year with a growing audience each year. “Between October 1st and Halloween night I have about 500-600 people stop by. The last Halloweens I have been on the news and we have about 300+ come on Halloween night.” Agouridis told us in 2022.
She started really getting into decorating in 2015- initially using small props and homemade scarecrows and pumpkins. Then, she found the store Spirit Halloween and it took off from there. Agouridis has lived in MoCo for nearly 20 years, since 2003. When she was trying to figure out a name for her haunted house, a neighbor’s child who was 7 or 8 and would sit on her driveway everyday to watch her work on the house said “Ms. Holly, we live on Catalina Terrace so let’s call it the Catalina Haunt Yard” and the rest was history.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxyGQrCuaCK/
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx4CS4gOZio/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=0f71d286-286f-47f2-bd2a-02bb51f27c98
A driving lesson didn’t go as planned in Kensington on Saturday afternoon, as we are told a teen drove off the side of a parking garage during a driving lesson with an adult. The incident occurred on the 10600 block of Nash Place, off of Plyers Mill Rd, in Kensington shortly after 3pm. Luckily for both vehicle occupants, there were no injuries sustained.
According to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services Chief Spokesperson Pete Piringer, a single vehicle rolled over/off barrier of the parking garage (about a 10′ drop) which is located behind a house on Nash Pl.” The vehicle ended up getting wedged between the backyard of the home and a wall. Both occupants were assisted in getting out of the vehicle and evaluated by EMS. No injuries were sustained.
Yelp’s “Yelp MD Burbs” released its list of “Top 25 Places to Eat in MD Burbs” and 18 of the 25 restaurants on the list are in Montgomery County, including four of the top five. Yelp is a popular company that publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses with a major focus on restaurants. According to Yelp, “The MD Burbs knows how to eat, and these locally-loved spots are proof of that! We’re excited to announce the MD Burbs’ Top 25 Places to Eat (2023), backed by Yelp data and approved by taste buds everywhere!”
https://www.facebook.com/tastemoco/posts/pfbid0GEXYRbUvfamiJfACVenm1maeQ87vw5UkPVRPWQxurXvabFqqQVYfnRwKNoaSn4pFl
The Kensington Volunteer Fire Department will be hosting its family-friendly open house on Sunday, October 8th at 10620 Connecticut Ave from 11am-3pm. The event will offer experiences for the entire family, including firefighter and EMS demonstrations, a DJ with music, clowns, temporary tattoos, balloon animals, gift basket raffle, blood pressure checks, fire prevention, fire hose station, fire safety bounce house, station tours, apparatus showcase, and more. Additional information in the flyer below.
Brief History of the KVFD: On October 26, 1899 a large fire was discovered around 6:00 AM. The bell at St. Paul’s M. E. Church was vigorously rung to alert the town citizens to the disaster. There was little that could be done however, and the fire destroyed the Montgomery Press office and the Town Hall. Realizing that the town needed protection from fire, the citizens met that night at the town library. Mr. Leslie W. Maxson was elected chief of the Kensington Fire Company and was instructed to organize a fire company immediately.