On Monday July 4th 2011, enjoy what people living in Silver Spring and Takoma Park have have been enjoying for the past 121 years.   This will be the 122nd annual Takoma Park 4th of July Celebration. 

Parade
The parade starts at 10:00 am beginning at Carroll & Ethan Allen Avenues, follows Carroll Avenue towards DC, crosses over to Maple Avenue along Carroll Street, then returns along Maple Avenue.

Community BBQ – 12:00 to 6:00 pm
Hosted by Steve Francis – Lincoln and Maple Avenues

Wiffleball Tournament – 2:30 pm
Sponsered by Takoma Park Recreation Department
Lee Jordan Field – Takoma Park Middle School

Evening Program and Fireworks - Starts at 7:00 pm
Takoma Park Middle School – 7611 Piney Branch Road, Takoma Park, Md 20912     

Master of Ceremonies: Howard Kohn
Joe Uehlein and the U-Liners
Announcement of Parade Winners
Acro-Airs
Greetings from the Mayor – Bruce Williams
Takoma Park Community Concert Band
Drawing for Raffle Prizes
National Anthem – David Goettee

Fireworks at 9:30 pm by Bay fireworks!

Nice place to pick up fresh, local (with a capitol L) produce at mid-week.   Smaller and not as crowded as the weekend markets, it is open on Wednesdays from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm.  It’s open rain or shine till October.

There was a laid-back guitar duo playing there yesterday, that was very good!

It is stawberry season now.  The strawberries you get here are unlike anything you can buy in the grocery stores.  There is just something about local that is fresher, juicier and tastier. 

I can’t wait till it is tomato season! 

The Crossroads Farmers Market is a producers-only market.  All vendors grow and/or process their own goods within a 125-mile radius of Takoma Park, Maryland.

Vendors for the 2011 Market Season

Check out the Crossroads Farmers Market  website for updates on events, what is in season and some great recipes

 The older sections of the neighborhood of Sligo Park Hills (sections 1 & 2) that run from Sligo creek up to Piney Branch Road might have the best displays, due to a resident that worked with the Director of the National Arboretum to hybridize azaleas.   

Stuart Armstrong lived on Park Crest Drive in Sligo Park Hills from 1938 till his death in 1970.   Armstrong was  an avid amateur horticulturalist who served as president of the American Horticultural Society between 1957 and 1960.  

He was said to have given plants to his neighbors in Sligo Park Hills as gifts.   There is an azalea named “Stuart Armstrong” grown mostly in the mid atlantic and the south. 

Over a period of more than 30 years, Armstrong amassed a sprawling collection of  azaleas in his yard overlooking Sligo Creek Park.

Homes for Sale Now in Sligo Park Hills, Silver
Spring, Maryland 20910

Of course, this won’t work if the toilet has been replaced in your house.  If you have more than one toilet in the house, check them all for the oldest date.
I’ll bet the powder room or basement mud room toilets that weren’t used as much may still have the original toilets installed.

When I was a new real estate agent, a home inspector told me that’s the first place he always looked when trying to date an old house.  Since most of the houses in Silver Spring and Takoma Park are of  older vintage, I was looking in the tanks of all the houses I previewed or showed,  just to see if the date was there and what that date was.   I remember doing this for awhile without regard for how icky or unsanitary it was to be looking inside a bunch of toilets. 

Now that we have ready online access to tax records, I can find out when a house was built without looking in the toilet.  Once in a while I will still look inside a tank or two just for fun.

Someone has started a blog about this called Toilet Birthdays.  This guy has gone far and wide including looking in a lot of  public bar, restaurant and hotel room toilets all over the US and beyond.  This is where I would draw the line, toilet tank checking in public restrooms?   I don’t think I would do that, that is, unless I had a pair of latex gloves and some hand sanitizer with me! 

You can get tips for toilet owners here ( they are serious good tips) and you can/add submit your toilet’s birthday here.

My toilet tank stamp says:  JUN 17 1933.    

What does yours say?

The current proprietor “Hadi” took over the Flower Deli from the original owner  in 1979 and “redecorated” the bar/restaurant.  Nothing fancy here,  just good food, friendly staff and what everyone can appreciate, prices from another era!

One regular named “Jim” has been coming to the Flower Deli since 1975.  Jim Lives in nearby Takoma Park and was in the “music business”.   Jim comes for lunch at least 2 or 3 times a week and always sits at the bar.  He says he loves watching the Redskin games there during the season.

An elderly lady with a cane has been having lunch there for a least 30 years.  She says you can’t beat the prices, “where can you get a hot dog (Genuine Hebrew National) and a cup of coffee for less than $3.00?”  She says the Deli beats the Tastee Diner hands down.

The red headed waitress, Gloria has been working at the Deli for over 27 years.  She’s efficient and personable.  Gloria works the breakfast and lunch shift.  

Some people think that the Deli has the best breakfast in town.  The owner says people rave about his breakfasts.  He say’s it’s all about the sausage.  A few years back he changed the sausage meat brand he was buying, many of  the customers noticed and complained, so he has switched back to his original brand, and no . . no one would tell me what  brand of sausage it is.

The most expensive Breakfast on the menu is the “Flower Special” 
That’s  2 Pancakes – 2 Eggs with choice of bacon,  ham, sausage, corned beef hash or scrapple served with hash browns, white toast, butter and jelly .  $4.59
No wonder the Flower Deli is beloved by all construction workers and contractors.

In my humble opinion, the hamburger is the best one in Silver Spring.  For some reason it tastes familiar, like the burgers my mother used to make when I was a kid. 
The 1/4 lb hamburgers are $2.29 and cheesburger $2.49.

Located at 8707 Flower Avenue,  Silver Spring , Md 20901
Open 6:30 AM – 12 Midnight   Monday through Friday
Saturday and Sundays  7:30 AM – Midnight

BTW  -  The other old fashioned thing about the Flower Deli, besides the ambience and the prices, they don’t take Credit Cards – So bring some good, old fashioned CASH.

Friday

Gates and Concession open at 6:00 pm.  The game starts at 7 pm at the Montgomery Blair Baseball Stadium, Silver Spring, MD.  The Stadium is located at Montgomery Blair High School, 51 East University Blvd., in the Four Corners area. 
Admission is only $5.00 for adults and  $2.00 for kids under 18.
Youth baseball and softball players in uniform and children under 5 get in FREE  

Saturday
On Saturday don’t miss the now very popular Fenton Street Market as the place to be on Saturdays.   From 9am to 3 pm on Saturdays a vacant parking lot at the corner of Fenton Street and Silver Spring Avenue at the edge of  Downtown Silver Spring transforms into a small business festival.  Local artists, craftspeople, entrepreneurs and collectors exhibit their wares.   There are different special events and a scavenger hunt every weekend, each weekend gets more interesting than the last at the Fenton Street Market.

Sunday July 4th
On Sunday enjoy what people living in Silver Spring and Takoma Park have have been enjoying for the past 120 years, the 121st annual Takoma Park 4th of July Celebration.

Parade

The parade starts at 10:00 am at Carroll & Ethan Allen Avenues, follows Carroll Avenue towards DC, crosses over to Maple Avenue along Carroll Street, then returns along Maple Avenue.

Evening Program and Fireworks 

Takoma Park Middle School – 7611 Piney Branch Road, Takoma Park, Md 20912

Starts at 7:00pm

Concerts with Rizzy “King of Harmony”, Acro-Airs and Takoma Park Community Bands
Announement of Parade Winners
Patriotic Songs and the National Anthem
Drawing for Raffle Prizes

                                                Fireworks at 9:30 pm by Bay fireworks!

We closed on 5 Silver Spring Properties in December through the middle of January.  In the last 2 weeks showings on listings have tripled since the previous month.  We’ve recently been involved in 4 multiple contract situations (multiple buyers making offers on the same house), who would have thought in this “terrible” market?  We have 5 ready, willing and able buyers that we’re helping to find Silver Spring Homes for. 

Interest rates are the lowest they have been since 1955!  I think the market will still struggle on in 2009 and we may still be a ways from the bottom but in reality, it’s not as bad as it is being made out to be.

If you listen to the news, watch TV, surf the net or read the paper, you would think houses are selling only when pigs fly!

From now on the Silver Spring Team will be launching pigs.

Click Here to search for your own new Silver Spring piglet, pig or hog

Click Here to find the approximate value of your Silver Spring piglet, pig or hog
              

B.F. Gilbert named his community TAKOMA, an Indian word meaning “High Up – Near Heaven”.  Takoma Park has it’s own city government, police department, library and is served by Montgomery County Schools.

Religion and politics has shaped the Takoma Park community. From the early 1900’s to 1990, Takoma Park was the world headquarters of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Two of the church’s institutions remain today, The Washington Adventist Hospital, and Columbia Union College. The coming of metro service to Takoma Park has made it a perfect ”bedroom community” for young professionals. It is a 15 minute commute to the middle of Downtown D.C. by Metro from the Takoma Station on the Red Line. 

Takoma Park is a friendly “laid back”, independent, small town with liberal politics.  The residents are politically active and have put in place a number of progressive measures such as the declaration of a nuclear-free zone and legal recognition of non-marital partnerships.  

In the historic district you will find grand old Victorians, Bungalows, American Four Squares and other old timey styles, along tree-lined streets. 

The Old Town offers an eclectic, funky mix of small, locally owned specialty shops and small restaurants, cafes and a very popular FOOD COOP.  From the end of April to mid December there is a farmers market every Sunday in the center of town. To celebrate July 4th, the town puts on its own parade and its own fireworks display.