Scene This Week In…

If you ordered a brick from the Columbia Association in the latest batch you can go visit it now in the walkway in front of Clyde’s. The other day, after lunch, I went to check them out and saw that the blogging community was pretty well represented. In addition to yours truly, I also spotted a Columbia Compass family brick and a hocoblogs brick.

Did I miss anyone else?

And then there was this brick. Six years later and the sudden recall of this tragedy still hit me hard.

If you did buy a brick and want to find it the best I can tell you is to go to the walkway along the lakefront in front of Clyde’s and look for the newer bricks. The shiny new ones kind of stand out from the older bricks who’ve endured the weight of HoCo humanity for years. After that, you are on your own. Just be careful not to run into anybody as you search the sidewalk with your head down.

Two years ago, weekend revelry at the Patuxent River in Savage got a little out of hand and loco residents petitioned the county to do something about it. 

I thought about that recently as Mama Wordbones and I took our chairs down to the Patapsco River for a Sunday afternoon chill out. The water was clear and cool and the sun was perfect. We were also not alone.

It wasn't crowded. There was a group of four young women wading in the water and a family of four just getting ready to leave. Further up the river we could hear sounds of a little more raucous group taking turns on a rope swing. 

In other words, there was revelry but it rather reserved as revelry goes. Nobody seemed to be bothering anyone.

It’s nice to know that there are still places, close by, where rules and behavior are self enforced. Watch out for the kids, pick up your trash, respect each others space and don’t behave like an asshole. If everyone adheres to these simple tenets, it works.

It did occur to me that this could just as easily go the other way. That would be unfortunate. 

Scene This Week In…

We went tree shopping this weekend. One of the Leland Cypress trees we planted six years ago never quite took. Despite valiant efforts by Mama Wordbones to nurture the tree back to health, it continued to decline so we finally decided to take it off life support. We needed a new tree.

One of the first places we visited was Williamson’s Nursery on Frederick Road, just outside the historic district in Ellicott City. As we pulled into the nursery I noticed a building that wasn’t there last time we visited. I soon found out that this was the Williamson Snow Shack, a new snow cone stand operated by Nicole (Williamson) Tiede. Nicole told me that she opened the stand last summer “in the middle of the season.”

That's probably why I missed it. I'm early season snowball guy.

It’s a nice setting for a snowball stand, sitting out amongst the nursery stock but that also puts it a bit off the road. It would be easy to miss unless you knew it was there. Now you know.

Nicole opens for the season this Wednesday. Her hours are noon to 8 PM Monday through Saturday but she says she might stay open longer as spring turns into summer.

One of my favorite spots in Columbia is Wilde Lake Park and the path around the lake is one of HoCo’s best kept secrets.

If you haven’t discovered this spot yet, you might want to wait awhile before checking it out. The Columbia Association has now begun a long awaited dredging operation on the Wilde Lake.  It’s going to be a mess for awhile. 

I just hope the Wilde Lake dredging goes better than the Lake Elkhorn dredging did.

As a side note, Wilde Lake is one of wildlife photographer Michael Obermans favorite haunts and the subject of a new exhibit. According to this story by Michael Giuliano in Explore Howard, when looking at Obermans photos “you can't be blamed for thinking you're out in the wilderness rather than in the center of Columbia.”

The exhibit, called “The Nature of Wilde Lake…The Final Chapter,” is in the Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House in the Wilde Lake Village Center. It runs through April 28^th. 

Now you know that too.

Scene This Week In…

The first thing I noticed when I pulled in the parking lot at the Long Reach Village Center today was that the parking was full of cars, at one o’clock in the afternoon. Since the Family Market opened earlier this month in the former Safeway store, the village center is showing new signs of life.

I’ve been in the new store twice now. The first time was Valentines Day when I just popped in for a quick look on my way home. I ended up buying Mama Wordbones a rose. The Family Market has a flower shop.

I also ran into Sarah on that first visit. It was her first time too. “It’s awesome,” she declared clutching her bag of mussels. We both acknowledged HowChows review for piquing our curiosity.

What I found interesting is that Sarah doesn't live in Long Reach. She lives in another part of Columbia, at least a couple of miles away. She had to go out of her way to visit the Family Market. This afternoon I noticed that the majority of the people coming in and out of the store were Asian. I suspect that many of these shoppers don’t actually live in Long Reach either. This leads me to conclude that, as long as the store maintains its focus, the Family Market will make it, even in a post Wegmans world.

Peanut likes the store too. She accompanied me on the second visit and spotted Mochi ice cream in a freezer case the end of an aisle. “That tastes like heaven,” she cooed. Of course I bought a box, opting for the chocolate instead of the red bean. Not bad.

As I was leaving I noticed that I needed gas. The pump price for mid grade at the village center gas station was 3.899 a gallon. I know prices have gone up but that still seemed high. I was headed towards Ellicott City so I took a chance that the price would be lower over there.

It was.

At the station in the rock just across the river in Baltco, the same grade of gas was 3.739. I saved another ten cents by using my Giant gas points. That little program and the hand held scanners have returned me to the Giant fold.

Ellicott City was pretty busy today too. The combination of no school and great weather bought the people down to Main Street and the little black and red dresses gently swaying in the breeze.

Ah spring, it won’t be long now…

Scene This Week In…

Last September, when the flash food ripped through Ellicott City, well above the high water mark, a 19^th century stone wall collapsed onto six cars in Parking Lot C. Those cars may have prevented a bigger catastrophe by halting further erosion and undermining the foundation of St.Pauls Dohony Hall.

Contrary to loco rumor, the cars are no longer buried under the pile of rock. According to this story by Brandi Jefferson in Ellicott City Patch, the six cars were removed about a week later when more stone was added.

This is the way it looks five months later. I understand that the complete restoration of the wall won’t be started until the spring and will likely take awhile. Replacing old stone walls in the historic district can be a little involved.

Better get used to seeing signs like this popping up in Town Center. There are going to be around for the next thirty years or so. Now that the long anticipated redevelopment of Columbia Town has begun in earnest that means more meetings.

We’ve actually enjoyed a brief Town Center meeting hiatus since the Town Center legistlation was passed. It was two years ago this week. That is about to change. In no time at all the familiar faces and arguments will return to the public arena to be endlessly debated at every single step of the process. Count on it.

And if the antics displayed at the recent Pre Submission meeting by GGP are any indication of what we are in for, it should at least be fun to watch.

Scene This Week In…

We waste no time at our house dismantling Christmas. By noon yesterday 98.7% of Christmas was taken down and boxed away for the next twelve months. That includes the tree.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am real tree guy, partially because I’m old school but also because I think it’s the environmentally correct thing to do. That means, to complete the cycle, I recycle my tree for mulch. Fortunately, HoCo is very accommodating in this regard, offering but curbside pick up and drop off stations scattered around the county.

In Columbia there are drop off areas at Grandfathers Garden Center, River Hill Garden Center, Kendalls Hardware and Cedar Lane Park.

After first mistakenly turning into the park entrance off Route 108, I found the drop off point just inside the Cedar Lane entrance. As I pulled up I met Eric Sandoval adding his family tree to the growing pile of evergreens. I commented that I recalled a teacher named Sandoval back at Wilde Lake High School and he told me that he’d just graduated last year from Wilde Lake!

Go Wildecats!

 In my Ellicott City neighborhood we have curbside yard waste pick up which means I also have curbside tree pick up on yard waste days. I wanted to confirm that curb service would continue through January 20^th  when yard waste collection officially ends for the winter, so I called.

“What’s your address?”

After giving my address I was told that I have year round yard waste collection because some in my neighborhood are participating in the food scraps recycling pilot program. That means that even those of us who are not in the program benefit from the fact that the recycling trucks are already scheduled in be in our neighborhood.

So at least I’ve got that working for me, which is nice.

Scene This Week In…

With the holiday season officially underway I figured it was time to update the STW pictures here at To2C and what better way to do than the feature the iconic shopping districts of Ellicott City and Columbia.

 To encourage shoppers to venture down to the historic district, the Ellicott City Business Association, Ellicott City Restoration Foundation and HoCo Government have joined together to suspend metered parking for the holidays. They have been doing this for four years now and each year they seem to expand the free parking period. This year the free parking period runs through January 2nd.

It should be noted however that this courtesy only applies to metered parking. The two hour limit for parking along Main Street still applies and violators of that rule will still be ticketed. I spotted a parking enforcement officer writing someone up near Ellicott Mills Brew Pub this past weekend.

Parking at The Mall during the holidays can also be a challenge. I know of some HoCo locos who actually forswear going anywhere near the The Mall between Thanksgiving and New Years.

It isn’t all that bad. I’ve learned that it is all about timing, especially on the weekends. The trick is to go early. Yesterday I arrived at about 11:00 AM and found plenty of parking and found the manageable crowds in every store except the Apple store.

There was even plenty of room to take a break and put up your feet for a spell.

For me, no trip to The Mall during the holidays is complete without a visit to our poinsettia tree and I do consider this particular shopping center holiday décor item to be uniquely ours. While there are other poinsettia trees across the country, ours has a history. You can read more about that here.

Scene This Week In…

It has been awhile since I’ve updated the STW pics in the right hand column. There is a reason for that of course. I just don’t want to throw any old thing up there. I try to make these pictures at least mildly interesting or amusing.

And there has be two pictures, from two separate parts of HoCo. When I originally conceived this idea I was going to limit it to Columbia and Ellicott City scenes.

I don’t do well with limitations, particularly the self imposed kind. This time around the scenes are from Savage and Ellicott City.

The Savage scene comes courtesy of my Biz Mo colleague, George Berkheimer. George spotted this new Parks and Rec sign on the recently reopened Patuxent Branch Trail and emailed it to me.

Who knew that nudity was a problem on HoCo trails!

George speculates that it may have something to do with the popularity of the Savage waters for swimming and cavorting.

“I suppose some people don't bring swimming suits and just strip down, but I haven't seen it myself and also haven't inquired about the reason for that particular prohibition yet.”

I note that in the graphic that the female figure is only holding the bottom portion of a swimsuit. Does this mean it’s okay to go topless?

Keeping with the same theme, I spotted this bumper sticker a car in the parking lot of Ellicott Mills Middle School last week. According to this article by Chris Mercer in Beverage Daily wines that depict an animal on the label tend to sell more to the "younger, fun-seeking consumers.". I wonder if a suggestion of drinking in the buff works the same way?

No matter, you can’t do either on the Patuxent Branch trail anyway.

Scene This Week In…

It’s been a pretty wet week in HoCo. Though Lee was only a tropical storm it bought more rain with it than Hurricane Irene last week. For the residents of the historic district in Ellicott City, today was a day of pumping out basements, mopping up floors, and even getting rocks off cars.

The surprising thing was how quickly the county was able to get things back to normal. Last night the bridge over the Patapsco River leading in Baltimore County was closed. This morning it was back in business, though the water level in the river still wasn’t that far below the deck.

Columbia fared a little better in the storm. In Town Center the pier that stretches out into Lake Kittaqundi was under still under water this morning. Over at Wilde Lake the water continued raging over the dam.

Not everyone was bothered by the tropical storm deluge. This heron perched atop the dam seemed content just watching the passing waters.

Scene This Week In…

It seems that no matter when I go by the Apple store in The Mall it is always busy. At 11 o’clock today, there were more people in the upper level cool toy emporium than any of the other 202 stores in the center.

Today, according to this report by George Anders in Bloomberg, Apple, Inc became the top ranked company in terms of global stock market capitalization. Despite the current market turmoil, Apple became “the world's most valuable company, with a stock-market capitalization of about $342 billion.”

“Just 14 years ago, Apple's business consisted almost entirely of a small and dwindling share of the personal computer market. Today, as Bloomberg's Adam Satariano points out, Apple gets two-thirds of its revenue from iPhones and iPads, two products that didn't exist five years ago. Apple keeps its growth-stock valuation because investors feel confident that the company hasn't run out of big ideas.”

I am old enough to remember when IBM was eating Apples lunch in PC sales. In the mid to late eighties, John Sculley was the CEO and the stock was selling for under six bucks a share. Of course back then I could no better afford the stock than I can now. Some things never change.

Over in Ellicott City some merchants and historic purists are chafing at the arrival of a Subway sandwich shop on Main Street. As I commented back in March, I think these people are missing the point. As Doug Miller wrote in a recent opinion piece in Explore Howard, “Subway can't kill what Main Street has going for it.”

Subway seems to be approaching their Main Street with a little respect for its unique location. The store has been branded a “Subway Café,” the chains new upscale store format. It is decidedly fancier than your run of the mill strip center Subway.

In any event, it will be a vast improvement over Sweets Bakery which formerly occupied the space.

Scene This Week In…

After erroneously reporting that the Wecker boys were involved in the reincarnation of the Friendly Inn in Ellicott City, I decided to take a drive out to shuttered roadhouse.

There’s not much to see. There didn’t appear to be any renovation work going on and according to this story by Kellie Woodhouse in Explore Howard there won't be any for awhile at least. The owner, Jason Cooke has experienced an “unexpected hiccup in his plans to renovate the building before opening a new restaurant.”

“In order to renovate, Cooke needs a building permit. But if he gets a permit, Cooke said, the building would lose its "grandfathered" status and need major upgrades to comply with the county's building code.”

It’s a bit tricky to renovate these old roadhouses. For example, the Friendly Inn is much closer to the road than current codes allow. The parking lot and storm water management would likely need upgrades as well.

Still, it’s been done before in HoCo. Maybe Jason should talk to those guys.

Who said that?

In Columbia the highly contested Walgreens in Oakland Mills has finally opened. Well, it was contested by some people anyway.

It looks a helluva lot nicer than an abandoned bank building.

My one critigue is that there is no straight in pedestrian path at the corner of Twin Knolls Road and Thunder Hill Road. The sidewalk takes you all the way down to the vehicle entrance on Twin Knolls, away from the building entrance. That doesn’t make sense to me.

Other than that I like it just fine.

Scene This Week In…

Driving back to Columbia from Elkridge on Old Montgomery Road today I spotted this graffiti on the underpass of Route 100. I immediately thought of Pants On Fire, one of the favorites in the Kentucky Derby. I'm not a huge horse racing fan so when I pick my Derby horse, I usually go for the name. I liked the name Pants On Fire. He finished ninth thereby proving this statement is not an absolute.

I should have bet on the Maryland horse. 

This message also put the song “Happiness is a Warm Gun” in my head and as I write this its still there.

On Sunday, after picking up some mulch from Home Depot, I decided to walk across the parking lot to the Giant to pick up something to grill for dinner. As I approached the store I noticed a Verizon pay phone on the wall. Once ubiquitous in and around HoCo, pay phones, particularly ones owned by a major carrier, have  become increasingly rare.

I wondered if it still actually worked. It did. I picked up the receiver and heard a dial tone. It felt odd. I can't recall the last time I picked up a pay phone.

I suspect the days are numbered for this one too. It’s twin on the other side had already been removed.

Scene This Week In…

A little over a year ago, I wrote a STW post  that included what was then new signs warning people to stay off the big boulders that line Main Street across from Johnny’s Bistro. Up until that point, particularly on warm days, people would routinely climb the rocks and sometimes find a place to sit and watch the world below. This was one of Peanuts favorite activities whenever we walked down Main Street together.

Those signs read “No Trespassing or Climbing Rocks.”

They've been replaced. The new signs attempt to convey a more civil tone, asking people to “respect the rock.”

Really?

In Columbia, I've been driving past this simple message on Old Dobbin Road for at least a month now. Each time it makes me smile.

I mean, who really knows what’s ahead anyway?

Scene This Week In…

The closing of an established watering hole signals a cultural shift in a community. The closing of Michael’s Pub in the Kings Contrivance Village Center on Monday felt like one of those shifts.

Michael’s certainly qualifies as being established. It opened in the summer of 1986 long before anyone ever heard of Looney’s Pub or Rams Head. It enjoyed a long reign as the Happy Hour of choice for folks working in the Route 32 corridor. I was one those patrons in those early years when I worked in the Crystal Heights Office Center on Old Columbia Road.

As befitting a public house of high stature, it’s closing was well covered in the HoCo loco press. The most comprehensive coverage was provided by David Greisman in Columbia Patch, complete with video.

Michael’s Pub will now join other notable Columbia pubs that have given their last call; Lucky Ned Peppers, JK’s Pub, The Last Chance and the Rusty Scupper to name a few.

For those who practice the Christian faith this is the Lenten season, a time of reflection and renewal. Perhaps no chapel is more symbolic of reflection and renewal than Our Lady’s Center on Rogers Avenue in Ellicott City. This is the third incarnation of Our Lady’s Center after the first two were destroyed by fire.

 It also lies in flood plain.

It is a beautiful setting though, tucked down in the trees behind a car dealership, nestled along a creek. It is strikingly peaceful given its commercial and residential surroundings. You begin to relax even as you drive down the long tree lined entrance road.

As good a place as any for reflection and renewal I suppose. 

Scene This Week In…

My neighbor was born and raised in Egypt. I’m not sure when exactly he emigrated to the United States but he still maintains close ties to the land of his birth. We watched their house when he took whole family went back to Egypt for a winter vacation this past December.

“We missed all the excitement by two weeks,” he told me. 

And he was excited. On February 11^th he hung the Egyptian flag over his garage in celebration of the political upheaval that some have called the Facebook revolution. He told me that this was a very proud moment for all Egyptians. He found it difficult to adequately express how he felt but suggested that February 11^th will henceforth become as meaningful to Egyptians as the 4^th of July is to Americans.

It reminded me of how fortunate we are to live in such a diverse county.

At the risk of eating my words with a topping of grit encrusted snow, I think the worst of winter is now behind us. To be sure, March can be a fickle month as far as weather goes. I can recall St. Patrick's Day celebrations where it was warm enough to wear shorts and others that required snow gear. I’m hoping that this year will trend more towards the former than the latter.

I choose this picture of a snow mound in the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Columbia because it captures how I feel about snow at this point in winter. As much as I enjoy the quiet beauty of a fresh fallen snow in November by now I am so done with the cold white stuff. 

Scene This Week In…

It was before last Christmas since I updated my STW pics at the top of the right hand column. The truth of the matter is that it’s not every week that something catches my eye in both Ellicott City and Columbia. Sometimes I’ll see something post worthy in one locale but not the other.

On Thursday, with Peanut home from school because of the snowstorm, I decided to focus on this. It was also a way to get us both out of the house to see what Mother Nature had wrought.

We decided to go for a walk outside of the neighborhood so I drove over  to Meadowbrook Park. It was closed. We drove to Centennial Park. It was closed. Then we headed down through Running Brook to Wilde Lake Park. Not only was it open, CA crews were out plowing the pathways. I know I have been a harsh critic of the Columbia Association in the past so I wanted to make sure that I also give them accolades when they do good. In this case, they done good. We took a nice walk along the lake taking pictures and throwing snowballs out onto to ice.

It was a perfect way to capture winters beauty.

And speaking of snowballs, on Thursday night, as the storm was raging, I received an email from Kimberly Kepnes inviting me to a friendly community snowball fight in the courtyard in front of The Little French Market in downtown Ellicott City. I was intriqued by the idea of a massive snowball fight so I headed down the hill at high noon to check it out.

I suppose these things take time to develop. There were only about ten people on the field of battle. No matter, those who did show up seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was even covered by Nikki Gamer in Ellicott City Patch.

And yes, I did toss a snowball and received return fire.

Scene This Week In…

The early season snows are the best snows. They herald the arrival of indoor time and warm fires. In December, winter is still a novelty and winter scenes like this one of Bonnie Branch in Ellicott City help set the mood.

In another month we’ll be sick of it.

I can usually sustain a modicum of winter enthusiasm through February 6^th when the Super Bowl is played. After that the shortest month of the year always seems like the longest month of the year.

In Columbia it was another sign of change that captured my camera lens. Yesterday a new sign appeared in front of the former Rouse Company headquarters building in Town Center. For the third time since it opened in 1974, the Frank Gehry building has a new name out front, The Howard Hughes Corporation.

Of course there was more than a sign change at  HHC. The new company dismissed Greg Hamm who had been the public face of the companies’ efforts to transform the Town Center area over the next thirty years. Greg immersed himself in the HoCo community to craft a plan that is economically feasible and that holds true to the vision and promise of Columbia’s original planners.

This also marks a vindication of sorts for those who have supported the plan. Alan Klein, the plans most visible and vocal critic, ominously warned that the plan was unenforceable. He was Columbia’s own Chicken Little. Yet now, with a new company already replacing the original petitioner, General Growth Properties, the plan is moving forward as anticipated. While HHC has removed Greg Hamm, they kept his entire staff in Columbia who has worked tirelessly behind the scenes for the past five years on this project and will continue to do so.

Scene This Week In…

When I dropped off my car at Benchmark Motors on Red Branch Road last week this classic roadster stood out amongst the Mercedes and BMW’s parked outside. I asked the owner Danny Grant about it.

“It’s a 1936 Ford Phaeton.”

It’s in pretty impressive condition. Danny told me that the car has been in the same family since it was two months old. When it’s not being attended to at Danny’s place it resides in a garage in Farside.

This past Sunday Peanut and I decided to have breakfast in Ellicott City before dropping in on the November edition of the Second Sunday Market. As we crossed back over the river from the Trolley Stop, a pile of red leaves stood out in an otherwise carpet of golden leaves. It was Peanut who got it first.

“It’s a heart!”

We usually look for the artfully stacked rocks in the water when we cross over the Patapsco at the gateway to Ellicott City. This time the art was on the shore. 

Scene This Week In…

I suppose it’s time to take down the Halloween stuff on my STW feature. I hate folks who leave holiday décor up long after the holiday passes.

 In Ellicott City I received inspiration when I dropped in for a cup of coffee at the Little French Market this morning. The historic mill town exudes that feeling of fall and this Sunday it will be on full display with the November edition of the Second Sunday Market. The monthly market does a fairly good job of presenting seasonal offerings. Since the Ravens play on Thursday this week my Sunday afternoon will be free.

Right now it looks as if the weather will hold out too.

Yesterday I attended a press conference at HoCo General Hospital for the new LIFENET system. The LIFENET system “is a state-of-the-art system that connects emergency medical service (EMS) teams and hospital personnel with emergency patient data.” It is basically an EKG with a modem that gives the hospital critical data on heart patients in advance of their arrival at the hospital. In heart attacks, time is critical to preserve heart muscle. With the LIFENET system the doctor can even review an incoming patients EKG on their smart phone.

I’ve had a little first hand experience with this.

Coincidentally, as I was driving down to EC this morning I heard another report about heart attacks on NPR’s Morning Edition. According to a recent study conducted by the University of Michigan speeding up the treatment of heart attacks has not reduced the overall survival rate.

“The study's author believes the problem is with the patient, and says educating people to recognize heart attack symptoms and getting victims the hospital faster is key.”

I did everything wrong when I had mine.

Scene This Week In…

Peanut needed new shoes. As any parent will attest, buying shoes for your kids is something you always feel like you just did.

"Didn't I just buy you a new pair of shoes?"

"Those were sneakers dad."

And so they were. What she wanted yesterday was replacements for her L.L. Bean slip on shoes so we headed on over to The Mall. Outside the Scouts were selling popcorn while inside the shoe department was hopping. Anthony, our sales clerk, had beads of sweat on his forehead as he worked to handle the onslaught of customers. When he asked if there was anything else we needed today my eyes drifted to the snow boots.

Last season I waited too long to buy her snow boots and it was only after running all around town that I snagged one of the last remaining pairs at Nordstrom.

She's already grown out of those so I went ahead and picked up snow boots yesterday too.

"We sold out of snow boots by December last year," Anthony told me. I know, I know.

Of course buying snow boots this early pretty much guarantees that we won't have much snow this year. When we got home my neighbor was putting the final touches of his Halloween decor. Peter goes all out with his spooky vignettes and each year is an original production. The theme this year is zombies.

When I spoke with Peter he was trying to figure out what to do with the coffin he built for last years display.

Later on I went down to the Wine Bin in Ellicott City to replenish my wine supply. As I pulled into the parking lot I noticed that the movie screen was still attached to the side of the store. I thought the Saturday night movie nights were over now that the fall weather has arrived so I asked  Dave Carney, the store owner, what was up.

"We're doing a movie on the Saturday night before Halloween," he told me. On Saturday October 30th at 6:30 PM they will be showing Ghostbusters in the parking lot. "Then we'll do one more for Midnight Madness  on December 3rd. I've rented ten California heaters and stand up tables." They will also be selling a warm spiced cider. He realizes that it will probably be too cold for people to stay for a whole movie so that nights feature film will be an old holiday favorite, "It's a Wonderful Life." It's a movie that most folks have seen at least once so if they arrive or leave in the middle of the film it's no big deal.

Scene This Week In...

The theme for this installment of "Scene This Week In..." is rocks...both stackin' and rollin'.

All throughout this past summer I’ve kept a lookout for the rock stackers in the Patapsco River in Ellicott City. Beginning back in the summer of 2008, people began making temporary rock art by stacking rocks in the river and this impromptu art happening was revived in the summer of 2009. This summer however, the rock stackers seemed to have lost interest until now, the last official week of summer.

I was glad to see the tradition revived, even it was a bit late.

Over in Columbia, Symphony Woods was bustling with another type of rock activity today as final preparations were underway for Saturdays Virgin Mobile Free Fest at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Both inside the pavilion grounds and out in the parking areas, tents were going up and stages were being constructed for the eleven hour free music festival courtesy of Sir Richard Branson.

This event has a huge economic impact on Howard County, not only on the day and evening of the event but also the days leading up to it and the days following when everything gets packed up and put away. Without Merriweather and the events like Free Fest, Symphony Woods would just be a pretty stand of woods with no people. Hopefully CA will keep this mind as they finalize their plans for the remaking of Columbia’s central park.