We did it again! Our second annual block party was a huge success, with more vendors, more performers, more participating restaurants and yes – more heat. Mother nature may have blessed us by holding off on the thunderstorms, but she certainly gave us reason to enjoy voluminous amounts of Moorenko’s ice cream and Rainbows’ Italian ices. Residents from every corner of Silver Spring, Takoma Park, other parts of Montgomery County and the District braved the hot pavement to show their support for our community, as did many of our elected officials: State Senator Jaime Raskin, Delegate Tom Hucker and County Council members George Leventhal, Nancy Floreen and Marc Elrich.

At the end of the day, dozens of neighbors won gift certificates donated by the best restaurants in Silver Spring (winners will be posted on southsilverspring.org), local artists had the opportunity to exhibit their crafts and most importantly, many of you left the comfort of your air conditioned apartments and came out to Kennett Street to see your neighbors and make new friends. In other words, you helped build a stronger community!

The block party would not have been possible without the hard work over the last few months of the following South Silver Springers: David Fogel, Dana Beam, John Murphy, Henry Odenarian, Kristin Callahan, Jason Gedeik, Jennifer Deseo, Jimmy Obomsawin, Edgar Diaz-Cruz and Elisa Kerneklian, all of whom dedicated many hours to ensure that the party was a success. They should all be proud.

Just because our marquee event is over doesn’t mean we don’t have anything else to do. Expect to see many more events over the year, including our monthly socials, working with local non-profits to further improve our community and also a highly requested “dog day” at Jesup Blair park,. Your comments, suggestions and ideas are always welcome and remember to stay tuned because the best is yet to come!

Your neighbor,
Evan Glass