Gaithersburg

The City commemorates Juneteenth/Freedom Day with programs, a tribute at the Jubilation Day Gospel Concert, and an official proclamation. City offices will be closed on Monday, June 20, in observance of the holiday. Recycling will be collected on its regular schedule, but bulk pick ups will not be scheduled.

June 19, 2022, best known as Juneteenth/Freedom Day, marks the 157th anniversary of the arrival of Union soldiers and General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas. On June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union soldiers enforced the President’s order ending enslavement.


Bethesda

Back in April 2021, Shouk announced that it would be opening two new locations this fall– one in Westwood Shopping Center in Bethesda, and another in Rockville’s Montrose Shopping Center. The Rockville location opened in November and the newest location at 5436 Westbard Avenue in the Westwood shopping center is now open and you can view the menu or place an order here.

Shouk is best known for its plant-based, Kosher street food. Per their website, their menu is “Inspired by the bold flavors of the world’s liveliest street markets, we craft our food from real ingredients you can pronounce. Fresh vegetables, beans, grains, and lots of spices.”


Arts

Myles Frost graduated from Wootton High School in Rockville in 2017. Last night, just five years later, he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. In December of 2021, he took over the role of Michael Jackson on Broadway’s MJ.

https://twitter.com/timschraeder/status/1536177923929124871?s=21&t=-rNUEMkGONFbtRyL9RspFw


Event

Beautiful venue; great art, gifts and hand-crafted items; refreshments; and meet the award-winning painters, photographers, mixed media artists, ceramicists, fiber artists, and more – some 40 artists in all. It’s an extraordinary array of framed wall works, 3-d media including sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, and fiber pieces, and unframed prints.

Among them, you’ll see:


MCFRS

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Units were called to the scene of a kitchen fire at Summer House Santa Monica on the 11800 block of Grand Park Avenue in the Pike & Rose development at approximately 4:30pm on Sunday afternoon, according to MCFRS PIO Pete Piringer.

The initial report was of a fire in the kitchen of the commercial restaurant that is located beneath the Perseus apartment complex in Pike & Rose. Multiple units arrived to find a fire in the area of a drive and the wall behind the stove in the kitchen of the restaurant.


Beyond MoCo

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Second District announce an arrest has been made in reference to an Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Gun) offense that occurred on Sunday, April 10, 2022, in the 2300 block of Wisconsin Avenue, Northwest.

Per MPD: At approximately 11:00 pm, the suspects entered an establishment at the listed location. One of the suspects was involved in a verbal altercation with a patron of the establishment when an employee intervened. The suspects and employee exited the establishment when one of the suspects brandished a handgun. The suspect pointed the handgun in the direction of the employee. The suspects then fled the scene.


Business

Montgomery County now represented for first time in Maryland VLT Program; MCEDC given an initial allocation of $1.5 million in state funding

Per The Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC): MCEDC was named last week as the ninth and newest fund manager in the Maryland Small, Minority and Women-Owned Business Program, also known as the Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) Program. There are currently eight VLT fund managers around Maryland that receive state funds to provide loans for small, minority and women-owned companies.


MoCo

Trip Advisor is a popular American online travel company that offers ratings of restaurants primarily from those who have traveled to the area, rather than locals. If you’re interested in seeing the opinions of those who have traveled to the area, you’re in luck, as today we’ll be sharing the top 10 restaurants according to Trip Advisor.

10. Dogfish Head Alehouse (800 W Diamond Ave, Gaithersburg, MD): With a 4 out of 5 rating after 630 reviews, Dogfish Head Alehouse comes in #10 overall in the county and #2 in Gaithersburg. The restaurant recently closed its Falls Church location and announced that it has donated over $1,000,000 to charity in the last 17 years. Dogfish is listed in the American, Bar, and Pub categories.


Restaurants

Lil’ Cakes & Creamery will be opening a new location at 844 Rockville Pike, the former site of Sam’s Cafe & Market, also known as Sam’s Hookah.  Sam’s closed permanently at the end of March.  Lil’ Cakes expects the new location to open in about 3-4 months.

Lil’ Cakes & Creamery offers a rotating selection of cupcakes and ice cream, as well as macarons, pupcakes, cookies, cookie sandwiches, pushpops, and milkshakes.


Education

Poolesville High School held a ceremonial groundbreaking for its modernization and expansion currently underway. Poolesville is adding 160,000 square feet and renovating 60,000 square feet of the existing school. When completed in December 2024, the school, which currently has 1,274 students, will be able to house 1,500 students.

On June 2, Gaithersburg Middle School hosted the second annual joint Model UN Conference with Silver Spring International Middle School. Ninety students participated in the one-day event. The four committee sessions, run by seventh and eighth graders, debated climate change and press freedom. This was the first in-person middle school Model UN conference at an MCPS school. The program is in its seventh year and taught by Julie Sanders.


Germantown

At more than 439,000 square feet, Seneca Valley High School is the largest MCPS project to have achieved certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system, the most widely used green building rating system in the world. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Points are assessed during project design and after construction to achieve a final rating of Certified, Silver or Gold. With Seneca Valley’s Silver certification, the total number of MCPS schools with LEED certification is 37.

“Seneca Valley High School students and families prioritized environmental consciousness throughout the design process for their new building, noting that we must all play our role in ensuring a safe and sustainable future for our children and our community,” said Dr. Marc Cohen, principal at Seneca Valley.