Morning Notes
Rockville Pike BRAC Crossing Project Meeting Tonight — The Montgomery County Department of Transportation will brief the public on the status of its MD 355 crossing project at the Medical Center Metro station today at 7:30 p.m. at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center (4805 Edgemoor Lane). [Montgomery County]
Thursday Concert Series At North Bethesda Market — The series takes place at the plaza (near 11351 Woodglen Dr.) on Thursday nights from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the July 25 season finale. [North Bethesda Market]
County Creates Farmers Market Map — Information on every farmers market in the county is now in one place. [Montgomery Economic Development]
“Becky Shaw” Gets Good Review, But Who’s There To See It? — Round House Theatre’s production of “Becky Shaw” is “worth the trip” from D.C., according to this Washington City Paper writer, but a half-filled audience of seniors were the only people there to see a recent performance. [Washington City Paper]
Bethesda Man Dies In Delaware Crash — Delaware State Police say Thomas F. Ferry, 78, was killed in a collision around 11 a.m. on Friday near Georgetown, Del. Police say Ferry was in his SUV when he crossed into oncoming traffic and hit a pickup truck. Police are investigating why. [NBC4]
Flickr photo by juliems3
Farmers Market Launches Kids Composting Program
Central Farm Markets is launching a food recycling and composting program geared at encouraging kids to take up the practice.
Starting Saturday, June 22 and continuing each week through Sunday, Sept. 1, Central Farm Markets and the CompostCrew representatives at its Bethesda and North Bethesda markets will offer treats for each canister of compost a child brings in.
Kids age 5-16 who want to participate will sign up and pick up a canister. Each child will get a card with ten punch-holes and information on what sorts of items to put in the canister each week. Three “punches” will earn participants a free t-shirt. Those who get all 10 punches by Sept. 1 will get a bag of compost for their gardens and a gift card to Staples for school supplies.
The market takes place each Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mid-Pike Plaza (11806 Rockville Pike) and each Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Bethesda Elementary School (7600 Arlington Rd.)
Morning Notes
Central Farm Markets Combining Markets This Weekend — Central Farm Markets will combine its White Flint and Bethesda farmers markets into Saturday’s Pike Central Market at Mid-Pike Plaza (11810 Rockville Pike). Bethesda Central Market will be closed on Sunday due to a Bethesda Elementary School PTA fundraiser. [Central Farm Market]
B-CC Jazz Band To Perform At Bethesda Blues and Jazz — The Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Jazz Band will take the show around the block when it performs at the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club (7719 Wisconsin Ave.) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 23. Tickets are $10. [Bethesda Blues and Jazz]
Leggett In Annapolis As O’Malley Signs Transportation Bill — County Executive Isiah Leggett was in Annapolis on Thursday as Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) signed the recently passed transportation bill and gas tax increase that will send state revenue toward county transportation projects including the Purple Line light rail. O’Malley called Leggett “a consistently strong advocate,” for the measure. Leggett first proposed raising the state’s gas tax in 2006, at a time when he says the position was particularly unpopular. [Montgomery County]
Town Of Chevy Chase Looking For Help With New Website — The Town of Chevy Chase is redesigning its website and wants help finding photos that will make it more attractive, interactive and user friendly. The photos would go in a photo gallery featuring pictures of town events, landscapes architecture and other sites. Email digital photos to Eric Glidden at eglidden@townofchevychase.org or on a CD or flash drive to the Town Office.
Flickr photo by ehpien
Morning Notes
Food, Wine & Co. Gets Makeover, New Menu — The downtown favorite (7272 Wisconsin Ave.) introduced a new color scheme and a new, more adventurous menu according to chef Michael Harr. [Bethesda Magazine]
New Farmers Market Coming To Twinbrook — In nearby Rockville, developer JBG Cos. is brining a mid-day farmers market geared at office workers to the area of Fishers Lane just east of the Twinbrook Metro Station. The market starts May 7 and will run every Tuesday through Novemeber from 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. with vendors including Twin Springs Farm, Upper Crust Bakery and MeatCrafters.
B-CC Baseball Starts Hot With New Stars — The Barons are 10-2 and four wins away from last season’s win total despite losing their three top pitchers and middle-of-the-lineup stars. [The Gazette]
Flickr photo by Craig Thoburn
Central Farm Markets Opens This Weekend, FRESHFARM Is Out
UPDATE 1:50 p.m. It’s been five years since Mitch Berliner and Debra Moser founded the Bethesda Central Farm Market and this weekend marks both the Bethesda full market opening and the Pike Central Farm Market opening in White Flint.
It may also mark their rise to the top of the Bethesda farm market food chain.
A Bethesda Urban Partnership spokesperson confirmed that FRESHFARM Market, the Saturday market in Woodmont Triangle, will not return to Bethesda this May.
That leaves just Central Farm Market and the Montgomery Farm Women’s Cooperative at 7155 Wisconsin Ave.
On Saturday, the Pike Central Farm Market will re-open in the parking lot of the Mid-Pike Plaza, despite construction on phase one of the Pike & Rose redevelopment project. The Pike Market will include more than 40 farmers and artisan food producers. The Bethesda Market, located at Bethesda Elementary School (7600 Arlington Rd.), has been open during the spring but will ramp up to more than 50 farmers and booths on Sunday.
The White Flint market will include a new feature, described in a blog post from Central Farm Market today:
Cook’s Corner, located at Pike Central Farm Market, is our new initiative for all things food. Chef Lynn [Foster], who celebrity chef Carla Hall called “a tall ball of energy and a food force to be reckoned with,” will direct a season full of cooking classes for adults & children, food demonstrations, market food tours, knife skills & small gadget demos and many other wonderful things to help you to discover how to bring the market into your life.
The market season will also include the popular Bake Bethesda a Pie Contest, a second annual Oyster Festival and other holiday-themed events.
The FRESHFARM Market, which partnered with Bethesda Cares and the Bethesda Urban Partnership to do a market on Saturday mornings in Woodmont Triangle, was one of a number of area markets that FRESHFARM organized. It also served as the food provider for the award-winning “Farm to Freezer” project that provided meals for homeless in the Bethesda Cares program.
Photo via Central Farm Markets
Unique Bethesda Food Donation Program Up For National Recognition
Farm to Freezer, a nonprofit that prepares and donates frozen food leftovers to homeless people in Bethesda, is up for a chance to speak at the TEDxManhattan event for “changing the way we eat,” in February.
After starting the effort this year, the group is one of five national finalists for the event that will be broadcast to local viewing parties of similar nonprofit groups and could open up some new opportunities.
Cheryl Kollin and Sue Kirk, executive director of the homeless prevention nonprofit Bethesda Cares, got together to create the program with a wide net of partners including area church commercial kitchens, Whole Foods grocery store and farmers who sell at the weekly Bethesda FRESHFARM farmers market.
Kirk told Kollin that Bethesda Cares had more fresh produce donated to them by farmers at the market then they could use without it wasting.
So she built a volunteer network that collected between 300 and 400 pounds of donated food a week and saved a portion of it in freezers either by making it into tomato sauces or by using other preservation methods.
After 20 weeks of the project, Farm to Freezer successfully gleaned 5,100 pounds of food from the market (much of it from Pennsylvania’s Spiral Path Farm) and left Bethesda Cares with 1,500 pounds of food in its freezer that will be used in hot meals served every day this winter to some of Bethesda’s more than 70 homeless people.
“It starts to connect all these various parts of what I call rebuilding our sustainable food systems,” said Kollin, who is a business consultant.
The farmers get tax deductions for donations, the homeless get food and the community gets informed about the homeless problem in Bethesda, Kollin said. The group also partnered with Montgomery County’s pre-release program. County prisoners months away from being released came to the market to help weigh and distribute items for preparation as a way to satisfy their community service requirements.
Kollin and Bethesda Green have hosted a local viewing party for the TEDxManhattan talks the past two years.
Now, Kollin has a chance to give it when it happens in February. She also hopes to bring back and perhaps widen the program next year.
For more information on Farm to Freezer and to vote, visit the website.
Photo via TEDxManhattan
Morning Notes
Special Thanksgiving Farmers Market Today — Central Farm Markets is having a special Thanksgiving market today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at its North Bethesda Mid-Pike Plaza location (11806 Rockville Pike). Fresh food and produce will be available as well as prepared turkey day fare ready for pick-up. [Central Farm Markets]
Bethesda Row Clothing Store Introduces ‘e-commerce showroom’ — Bonobos, the pop-up men’s fashion store on Bethesda Row (7216 Bethesda Lane), is employing a fresh concept for Bethesda shoppers. Customers make appointments to try on clothes they see on the store’s website. [Modern Fellows]
December Exhibit Features Work By Former Local Teacher — Bethesda Urban Partnership’s Gallery B art studio (7700 Wisconsin Ave., Suite E) will feature works by former Montgomery Blair art teacher and department head Jude Nagel, who died last year. [Bethesda Urban Partnership]
B-CC High School Newspaper Looking For Funding — The Tattler, one of the oldest high school newspapers in the country, needs donations to keep printing. The staff would like to publish bi-weekly and is hosting a fundraiser next week. [Bethesda Patch]
Flickr photo by rczeien
Gingerbread House Workshop Raises Money For Food Bank
The Central Farm Markets 2nd Annual Gingerbread Workshop to raise money for the Manna Food Center will take place on Dec. 8 in downtown Bethesda.
The event, at the Hyatt Regency (1 Bethesda Metro Center), will work as a fundraiser for Manna, the county’s main food bank that has partnerships with a wide-ranging network of community nonprofits.
Central Farm Markets will provide all of the materials necessary for building the gingerbread houses and expert instruction from artist Harriet Lesser.
Participants can sign up for a morning or afternoon session. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. One house, recommended for a family of up to four, costs $25 and two houses cost $40.
Those interested can register here. Central Farm Markets says it will not accept walk-ins this year. The event sold out in 2011.
Bethesda Farmers Market Celebrates Halloween
Halloween is less than a week away and the Bethesda Central Farm Market hopes market-goers aren’t the only ones bringing costumes.
This coming Sunday, the market is scheduled to hold a Dog Costume contest at 11 a.m., in addition to a more traditional Costume Parade, trick-or-treating at vendor stands, pumpkin painting and make-your-own apple cider from an antique cider press.
The Bethesda Central Farm Market happens every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of Bethesda Elementary School (7600 Arlington Rd.)
The 4th Annual Halloween Extravaganza will begin at 10 a.m this Sunday, Oct. 28.
For more info, visit the event page.
Photo via Central Farm Markets.
Oyster Shucking, Barbecue At Pike Central Farm Market
The Pike Central Farm Market is putting on its First Annual Oyster and BBQ Festival on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The market, one of three from Central Farm Markets, takes place on Saturdays at 11806 Rockville Pike in North Bethesda, in the Mid-Pike Plaza shopping center near the White Flint Metro station.
The founders of Chesapeake Gold Oysters will provide fresh oysters and teach those interested how to shuck oysters and about oyster aquaculture in Maryland.
The band “White Loafer” will join the event, which also includes barbecue, face painting and an opportunity to make your own apple cider with Central Farm Market’s antique apple press.
Central Farm Markets also runs the Bethesda Market on Sundays at Bethesda Elementary School. Past activities to go along with the markets include yoga demonstrations and the annual “Bake Bethesda A Pie” contest.
For more information on the event, visit the Central Farm Markets website.
Morning Notes
Central Farm Markets Holds Bake Bethesda a Pie Contest — A Chevy Chase, D.C. woman won both the sweet and savory pie-baking competitions Sunday at the Bethesda Central Farm Market. There were 33 entries. [Bethesda Magazine]
Bethesda Row Adds Electric Vehicle Charging Stations — Federal Realty, the property manager of Bethesda Row has added two new electric vehicle charging stations near its flagship Bethesda development. [Bethesda Patch]
More on Bethesda Fortune 500 Company’s Sale — Coventry Health Care (6720-B Rockledge Drive) was acquired for $7.3 billion last month by health care giant Aetna. The company, which has about 14,000 employees nationwide, moved its corporate offices to Bethesda in 1998. [Washington Post]
Flickr pool photo by AmyMarieMoore
Special Events This Labor Day Weekend
This Labor Day weekend will feature a number of special events around the Bethesda area, including the Town of Kensington’s 45th Annual Labor Day Parade & Festival and art shows at Glen Echo Park and Bethesda Urban Partnership’s downtown gallery.
The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards — Finalists in the running for this year’s Trawick Prize will be featured in Gallery B (7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E) starting Saturday, Sept. 1. The winners will be named Sept. 5. Admission is free. For more information, visit BUP’s website.
42nd Annual Labor Day Art Show at Glen Echo Park — The three-day exhibition and sale in Glen Echo’s historic Spanish Ballroom will begin Saturday at noon and run all three days from noon until 6 p.m. A reception, open to the public, will be tomorrow (Friday) at 7 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit the Art Show website.
Glen Echo Park Irish Music & Dance Showcase — Glen Echo Park will also host an Irish Music & Dance Showcase to go along with the art show on Saturday and Monday, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Bumper Car Pavilion. Admission is free.
Bake Bethesda a Pie Contest — Central Farm Markets will put on a judged pie-baking contest at its Bethesda location on Sunday, starting at 11 a.m. at its regular spot, Bethesda Elementary School (7600 Arlington Rd.). Observers are invited to watch the judging and try some of the pies after the contest. For more information, visit Central Farm Market’s website.
Town of Kensington Labor Day Parade — Kensington’s 45th Annual Labor Day Parade & Festival will kick off at 10 a.m., starting at Plyers Mill Road and St. Paul Street toward the grandstand at Kensington Parkway.
Flickr photo by johnhane
Farmers Markets Of All Kinds Keep Popping Up In Bethesda
After years of talking about it, six months of planning it and the arduous process of completing the right Montgomery County permits to sanction it, friends Dave Ebner and Steve Thomas started their Little Falls Parkway Farm Market a month ago.
Their Farmers Market is in a “pilot stage” now — two overhead tarps and a few tables in the parking lot at the intersection of Little Falls Parkway and Arlington Road and as much produce as Thomas can pack in his truck from local farmers co-ops.
But they think it can grow, from two days to five or six days and perhaps with other locations. In a county flooded with Farmers Markets (23 according to an official county list) and an area with at least five “Farmers Markets” of different sizes and types, the apetite is not going away.
“There’s plenty of room for everybody,” Ebner said. “There’s plenty of room for educating people who still don’t know the difference between a fresh peach you can get locally and one you get in the store that is hit or miss really. We’re doing it for a love of the food as much as anything. And we want to spread the love.”
Ebner and Thomas’ enterprise, on Fridays from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., is wholly concentrated on produce grown at local farms. Others, such as the weekly Central Farmers Market in North Bethesda and Bethesda Elementary School, add to that formula with small restaurants or caterers selling foods including pasta, teas and gelato.
Like the Bethesda FRESHFARM Market, which is one of 11 Farmers Markets FRESHFARM runs in the region, the bigger markets turn into “events,” Thomas said.
The Rock Spring Park Owner Association Farmers Market, each Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., is another example. Property owners in the office buildings that line Rockledge and Rock Spring Drives got together and recruited a farm stand to sell local produce and invited a number of local caterers and food trucks to serve office workers lunch.
It’s an entirely different set-up and audience than what Ebner and Thomas have at Little Falls, but it proves the widespread interest in the Farmers Market concept.
“People around here really know their food,” Ebner said. “Our goal is not just to find whatever is available, but to find really good stuff, because we know that.”
‘Bake Bethesda a Pie Contest’ Accepting Entries
Debra Moser handles marketing for Central Farm Markets, which will hold its 3rd annual “Bake Bethesda a Pie Contest” on Sept. 2. She’s also a certified pastry chef, so it’s safe to say she knows what she wants in a pie.
“First, the crust has to be a good crust and it has to be cooked. Many times you will find amateur bakers are not familiar with how to bake a pie crust so it doesn’t get soggy,” Moser said. “A good fruit pie should be bursting with fruit juice and fruit flavor. A good crust will use real lard or butter. You’ll taste the crust. You want it to look good as well.”
This contest is not for the faint of heart.
Last year’s contest had 40 entries. So far, 22 have committed to having their baked creations examined and tasted by a panel of three judges: pastry chef Joseph Poupon from Georgetown’s Patisserie Poupon, food writer Carole Sugarman from Bethesda Magazine and a yet-to-be-determined food writer from The Washington Post.
“It’s fun to watch people get into this,” Moser said.
Entries include the traditional (apple, blueberry and pecan) and the not-so-traditional. Moser said a contestant entered a tamale-like pie last year. Tomato pies are also growing in popularity. Both sweet and savory selections are allowed, but all dishes must have at least a crust on the bottom to qualify as a pie.
Each pie will be judged on overall appearance, crust color, flavor, texture and doneness, filling consistency, flavor and originality.
Pre-made crusts aren’t allowed. They have chemicals in them, not the sort of thing that goes along with an organic foods farm market. Also, no cream pies or pies that require refrigeration. The contest is happening outside at Bethesda Elementary School (7600 Arlington Rd.), Central Farm Market’s usual Bethesda spot.
Entries will be accepted until Aug. 26. There is a separate kids contest and spectators will get to taste the pies after the winners are announced. Check out Central Farm Markets’ website for more info.
