Hallie, Tyler, and Ben Butler (of Butler’s Orchard) have announced that they’ve purchased neighboring Doc Waters Cidery from their aunt Susan Butler and her husband Washington White. Per the announcement, made earlier this week via social media, the Butlers are “committed to continuing and expanding the dream that Susan and Wash had for the Cidery and Orchard.”

The Cidery, which has been open around the corner from Butler’s Orchard in Germantown since 2018, features food trucks, live music, cider made on site, and more. The full statement can be seen below:


Ella Bresee, the younger sister of Clemson football star and former Damascus High School standout Bryan Bresee, died after a battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer, her family announced on Thursday.

Bryan Bresee posted the following message on Instagram on Thursday, “My beautiful sister Ella you amazed me every single day with the fight that you put up and how joyful you were constantly through this battle. Never did I think I would be sitting here today saying bye to you. I want to thank you for bringing happiness to not only me but so many people. You are the best sister a brother could ask for and I know for a fact heaven has gained a beautiful angel today, Love you forever and always Ella bear.❤️


The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial intelligence (TFI) has selected Germantown-based Amentum, under its METIS Solutions entity, to provide a full range of state-of-the-art investigative and analytic solutions to counter cyber-enabled financial crime under a new multi-award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) contract. The BPA has a maximum value of $500 million over five years.

Per the press release: “Our confidence to meet the Treasury TFI mission stems from our proven performance providing analysis of financial intelligence, and a thorough understanding of the changing financial crimes landscape and illicit financial typologies,” said Jill Bruning, President of Amentum’s Engineering, Science and Technology Group. “We can bring to bear our successful partnerships and collaboration with financial analysis industry leaders, and our extensive knowledge of the many tools and datasets required to safeguard the nation’s financial system against threats.” Under this contract, Amentum will compete for task orders to provide intelligence, financial, and investigative expertise and technology-enabled approaches across Treasury TFI at the Bureau level, including sanctions investigation and enforcement, transaction licensing, analysis and investigation of financial crimes, and other analytic solutions.


Pumpkin Festival returns to Butler’s Orchard (22222 Davis Mill Road, Germantown) this year from September 24th-October 30th.  Admission includes access to Pick Your Own Pumpkins, hay rides, tractor pulls, a straw maze, games, and more. The event runs each Wednesday – Friday: 1-6pm (Last entry 4:30 PM) and Saturday – Sunday, and Columbus Day: 9am-6pm (Last entry 4:30 PM).


At approximately 7:30 p.m., 5th District officers responded to the location for the report of an armed robbery.

The investigation by detectives has determined that an unknown male suspect entered the store and walked behind the cashier counter, reaching around the employee to open the cash register. The suspect then pointed a gun at the employee’s neck and demanded that he open the cash registers. The employee complied with the suspect’s demands. The suspect removed the cash from both registers. A customer attempted to leave the store and the suspect redirected the gun to him, telling him not to move. The suspect then demanded Newport cigarettes, prior to leaving the store.


Rio Grande Grill at 13541 Clopper Rd in the Seneca Plaza shopping center in Germantown has been sold. Former owner Erika Myers tells us that the new owners will be keeping the same name and menu.  The restaurant is currently closed for renovations and is expected to reopen in a few weeks.

Rio Grande opened in December 2020, in the location that was previously home to the Mistik Taverna, Germantown Kabob & Sweets, Bhima’s Kitchen & Bakery, and Arirang Korean restaurant. The restaurant offers an extensive menu that goes beyond Tex-Mex cuisine. Menu items consist of “bar food” such as crab pretzels, spinach dip, mozzarella sticks, etc., various salads, build-your-own burgers, fried chicken and pasta dishes, tacos al carbon, bowls, and a wide variety of entrees.


The Germantown Volunteer Fire Department is hosting its annual open house event at the department (20001 Crystal Rock Dr. Germantown, MD 20874) on Saturday, September 17th from 12pm until 3pm. The open house will consist of a big mix of activities, vendors, and things to see. “As a department, we’re just excited to reach back out into the community after three long years! We got a last minute notification that we were allowed to hold this event again and we jumped at the opportunity to hold it. This event has all come together in just under 5 weeks.”

People will be able to park in the Regal Movie Theater Parking Lot and Aircraft Dr will be closed down between Century and Crystal Rock on the day of the event. Most of the activities will be on Aircraft drive just in front of the department. Activities and vendors will include:


Back in December we let you know that Pizza Hut is moving into the Cloppers Mill shopping center in Germantown. It will be located at 18070 Mateny Rd, between Shoppers and Popeyes. Construction began earlier this summer and today we were told by a worker that the restaurant should be open in “a couple months” (photo of progress below).

The location is smaller, so it will likely be similar to the upcoming Pizza Hut location that is taking over part of the former GameStop location in Four Corners, which is also a smaller store.


Through investigation, the 5th District Community Action Team was contacted and received information from a confidential source, of a large gathering that was scheduled to occur on September 1, 2022, around 6 pm at an unknown location in Clarksburg. Additional information was provided to officers stating that many of the individuals attending would also be carrying illegal firearms during this gathering. At approximately 7:40 p.m., the individuals were all seen leaving the location in multiple vehicles. Officers obtained probable cause and conducted two simultaneous traffic stops at two separate locations. Officers detected and observed controlled dangerous substances (CDS) in both vehicles that were stopped.

A search of the vehicles revealed one loaded Sig Sauer .45 caliber handgun, one loaded Glock 43 style P80 9mm ghost gun, one loaded Glock style P80 9mm ghost gun with a 30-round extended magazine and assorted CDS and paraphernalia.


Crumbl Cookies is now open at 20650 Seneca Meadows Pkwy, in what used to be home to Sprint, next to Sally Beauty in Germantown.  The store is open Monday-Thursday 8am-10pm and Friday & Saturday 8am-midnight. Crumbl Cookies opened its first MoCo location at Federal Plaza in Rockville in 2020 and the upcoming Crumbl location at 277 Kentlands Blvd, next to Panera, is expected to open within the next month.

From the Crumbl Cookies Facebook: “Rob Davis and Mark Sumsion are the franchise partners to the Germantown Crumbl! They love Crumbl Cookies because the company’s mission is to bring friends and family together over a box of the best cookies in the world! Mark is married to Rob’s oldest daughter, Kayla. Rob and Mark have worked together for many years and enjoy running this business as a family! They’ve found a lot of joy in bringing other families in the community together and helping them create memories by trying Crumbl’s new and exciting cookie flavors!”


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