Birding, hiking, crafting, volunteering, and more! Discover these and other activities happening around Montgomery Parks this weekend:
Nature: Help Locust Grove Nature Center staff with a community science project during FeederWatch Fridays(opens in a new tab) this Friday, February 3, from 11 am to 12 pm. Dress for the weather and come count birds at feeders around the facility. Free program.
Beach Drive will be closed from Cedar Lane to Knowles Avenue in Kensington from Tuesday, February 7, through Thursday, February 9, from 8:30 pm to 12:30 am. The closure is part of ongoing Park Police deer population management operations.
Beach Drive will be closed from Cedar Lane to Knowles Avenue Tuesday, February 7, through Thursday, February 9, from 8:30 pm to 12:30 am, as part of ongoing Park Police deer population management operations. pic.twitter.com/n6C4c2HPLv
Montgomery Parks, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, recently received recognition from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) for excellence in digital video campaigns at the 2022 VIDDY Awards and 2023 AVA Digital Awards. The international competitions received thousands of entries from the United States and 21 other countries.
The department received two Gold VIDDY Awards in the Commercials/Ad Campaign category for its “Discover Your Happy Place” ads in English and Spanish and an Honorable Mention for the social media campaign, “Work for Montgomery Parks: Your Next Adventure Starts Here.” The group also won a Platinum AVA Award for the digital marketing campaign “Work for Montgomery Parks,” a Gold for a short-form web video on the Parks’ native plant program, and three honorable mentions for short-form videos and a web element. “We are very proud of the communications work we do at Montgomery Parks,” said Mike Riley, director of Montgomery Parks. “It’s wonderful and gratifying when that work is recognized on the international stage.”
Montgomery Parks is offering a diverse selection of educational and entertaining programs to celebrate Black History Month. “Montgomery Parks not only has an exciting lineup of events for Black History Month, we also have year-round offerings focused on African American history and culture,” said Shirl Spicer, cultural resources museums manager at Montgomery Parks. “We invite visitors to take advantage of these resources throughout the year, not just in February.”
Unshakable: The Rise of Newmantown at the Agricultural History Farm Park | Every Friday and Saturday in February | 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Agricultural History Farm Park, 18400 Muncaster Road, Derwood, MD 20855 The exhibit “Unshakable” explores the history of Albert and Mary Newman, freedmen who emigrated in 1862 from Virginia to Montgomery County, Md., and became landowning farmers despite unprecedented circumstances. Albert and Mary Newman, and their children, built a thriving African American kinship community known as “Newmantown,” located on the grounds of the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood. The exhibit showcases photographs, documents, family mementos, local history, and rarely seen artifacts excavated from the site. Free.
Montgomery Parks, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, has an engaging lineup of special events and programs in February, including birdwatching opportunities, the annual GreenScapes landscape design symposium, and special programs in celebration of Black History Month.
February events in Montgomery Parks include:
Montgomery Parks part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, announces a donation of $2,300 by Montgomery County Planning Board members to the Marye Wells-Harley Dream Camp Scholarship fund to help send kids to Montgomery Parks’ summer camps. The Marye Wells-Harley Dream Camp Scholarship is administered by the Montgomery Parks Foundation and provides summer camp scholarships for kids and teens (ages 3 – 18 years old), based on financial need.
“We appreciate the generosity of the Montgomery County Planning Board members and their help to send kids to camp,” said Katie Rictor, executive director of the Montgomery Parks Foundation. “Camp is a special place where kids come together to learn, discover, and explore while making new friends. What a great way for the commissioners to support the community. We encourage everyone to follow their lead.”
It may be winter, but there are plenty of events and activities at Montgomery parks and facilities. Check them out below, courtesy of Montgomery Parks:
Gardens: Winter is the perfect time to learn about the bones of a botanical garden without the distraction of leaves or flowers. Explore architectural elements that shape the Brookside Gardens during its Winter Tour(opens in a new tab) on Saturday, January 28, at 10 am. This event is for adults eighteen and older only.
Montgomery Parks, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, announces Brookside Gardens’ annual symposium GreenScapes on Friday, February 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The focus of this year’s program is “Designing with Purpose.” The symposium features experts discussing the latest advancements in landscape design strategies to achieve a range of goals, from public gardens that engage diverse audiences to landscapes that reduce carbon footprints and are resilient to climate change. The following topics will be explored:
GreenScapes will be offered as a series of live online lectures using Zoom with audience Q&A incorporated into the program. Each session will be recorded and a link to watch the symposium will be emailed to all participants. Tickets for GreenScapes are $55. Register online or call 301-962-1470. Continuing education credits are available from a variety of landscape design and master gardener professional organizations.
Join naturalist Kerry Wixted on January 30, 2023, at 11 a.m. to learn about Maryland’s rare, threatened and endangered species.
Montgomery Parks invites the public to the January 2023 virtual session of its Parks Speaker Series on the topic of rare, threatened and endangered species in Maryland. The free session will take place online on January 30, 2023, from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. During this presentation, Kerry Wixted will discuss the over 1,200 species that have been listed as rare, threatened, or endangered in Maryland and how the Maryland Natural Heritage Program ranks and manages rare species across the state. She will also cover a few ways to help with the conservation of rare species and their habitats.
Montgomery Parks will host a virtual community meeting on Thursday, February 2, 2023, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. The meeting will be presented in English and Spanish and provide an overview of design recommendations for Long Branch Local Park and Long Branch-Arliss Neighborhood Park. The recommendations are a result of community feedback received during the Long Branch Parks Initiative(opens in a new tab) that Montgomery Parks launched in April 2022. “Since launching this initiative, we have had meaningful conversations with residents of Long Branch about improvements to their parks,” said Christie Ciabotti, project landscape architect at Montgomery Parks. “As a next step, we are excited to share the concepts for these two parks with the community for their feedback so that we can continue progressing with the plans.”
Community members will have 30 days after the community meeting to provide their feedback on the parks department’s open town hall (opens in a new tab)online forum about the park concepts. Following the 30-day period parks’ staff will review the input to inform the next steps in the design process.
Montgomery Parks will host a virtual public meeting on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, from 7 – 8:30 p.m. to present data from traffic studies conducted on Little Falls Parkway between Arlington Road and Dorset Avenue. The meeting will take place on Zoom. (Click the link to join.) Participants have the option to register online for the meeting to receive project updates. The traffic counts were conducted during May, July, September, and December of 2022 as part of the Little Falls Parkway pilot project, The pilot project was initiated to address concerns with cut-through traffic in adjacent neighborhoods associated with the weekend closures of Little Falls Parkway while retaining space for recreation on the parkway. “We initiated the Little Falls Parkway pilot project to study whether two lanes between Dorset Avenue and Arlington Road could adequately accommodate vehicle traffic and potentially create more space for park users,” said Mike Riley, director of Montgomery Parks. “Now that the analysis is complete, we want to share this information with the public.”
After the public meeting, Montgomery Parks will present the findings of the traffic studies to the Montgomery Planning Board in a hearing during which members of the public will have the opportunity to testify. The Planning Board will then review the Parks Department’s recommendations and the public testimony and determine whether to proceed with the pilot project in a subsequent meeting. The Planning Board public hearing and meeting dates are yet to be determined but will likely be held in late March and early April. Once the dates are set, they will be publicly announced and posted on the Parks Department’s website on the project page.