Thursday, November 28, trash, food waste, and recycling routes will be collected on Wednesday, November 27. Friday, November 29, trash, food waste and recycling routes will be collected on Saturday, November 30.
The scheduling of demolition and construction timelines are pending weather.
Category for Takoma alert items.
Event Recording:
Listen for a discussion on:
Visit the Housing Webpage for more information: https://takomaparkmd.gov/government/housing-and-community-development/housing/
Juels Bland Concert
Friday, June 14 at 7:30 pm
Takoma Park Community Center
7500 Maple Avenue
Silver Spring native Juels Bland has honed his talents as a singer-songwriter and acoustic guitarist in clubs and venues across the East Coast, and he’ll be performing close to home in a free concert at the Takoma Park Community Center on June 14.
His music and lyrics evoke rich soulful tones, and he was drawn to music at an early age.
“I would just sing along to songs I liked when I was a kid,” he said. “I started to pay attention to music in 2006 when I learned to play guitar and write my own songs.”
After leaving a band called Trees Have Cars in 2011, Bland wrote more songs, recorded some demos, and played solo at gigs and open mics before forming another band called The Darkest Timeline. His second album “Something to Run From” was released in 2018. You can hear some of his music at juelsbland.com.
No tickets or reservations are required, and donations will be accepted. Limited parking is available at the Community Center’s police station parking lot, the adjoining Piney Branch Elementary School lot, or on neighboring streets
This concert is part of the Takoma Park Arts series organized by the City’s Arts and Humanities Division, which includes free concerts, theater, dance, film screenings and art exhibitions at the Takoma Park Community Center. Sign up for our e-newsletter at takomaparkmd.gov/arts for more info about our upcoming events.
Call for Submissions for Takoma ARTery Exhibition
Submission Deadline: June 9, 2024
The City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division is planning an art exhibition featuring Takoma ARTery members in the gallery spaces at the Takoma Park Community Center at 7500 Maple Avenue.
Applicants should be members of the Takoma ARTery, a local volunteer-run artists group that provides many benefits, including an online artist directory, storefront window displays, social media promotion, and artist events. The annual membership fee is $40, and more info and an application form are on the Takoma ARTery website. Some discounts are available based on ability to pay.
ARTery members don’t need to be Takoma Park residents but should have some connection to the city, such as living or working here or in nearby communities.
Applicants for the art exhibition should submit this online form with the requested information and artwork images by the June 9 deadline. More info about the City’s Takoma Park Arts art exhibition program is available here.
The opening reception will be scheduled in September or October 2024, and the exhibition will be on display for 3 to 4 months. Selected artists most likely will be showing two or three pieces depending on the size and suitability of their artwork.
Applicants are not guaranteed inclusion in the art exhibition, and all decisions about the selection of artists and artwork will be made by the City ’s Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith. Artists may sell their artwork, and no commissions are charged on any sales.
Applicants will be notified about their status by July 15, 2024. Accepted artists will need to drop off and pick up their artwork and help promote and attend the opening reception.
Please email Brendan Smith at brendans@takomaparkmd.gov with any questions.
Get ready to dust off your bikes and join us as we pedal our way through the month of May! This month-long celebration is packed with exciting activities and events aimed at promoting cycling as a fun, healthy, and sustainable mode of transportation:
Share your bike month experiences on social media using the hashtag #BikeTKPK. Let’s showcase the power of pedal power!
This budget simulation is a way for you to learn more about the City’s spending and revenues.
From Montgomery Planning (M-NCPPC)
On April 2, the Montgomery County Council voted to approve the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment!
The plan preserves and expands affordable housing and advances economic development and employment opportunities in a section of the City of Takoma Park from the Takoma Park Community Center in the west to the Erie Center and Washington Adventist University and the former Washington Adventist Hospital site in the east.
Read Montgomery Planning’s press release about the plan’s approval for more information. Read the Takoma Park City Council’s March 22, 2024, letter of support for the plan.
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Takoma Park Police and Inova Blood Donor Services are once again teaming up to host a Takoma Park Community Blood Drive! Your selfless act of donating blood can help save lives, and it only takes a short amount of time. Let’s come together as a community to positively impact the health and well-being of those in need. Register today!
Registration is SOLD OUT for the Adult Learn to Ride a Bike Class at the Takoma Park Food Co-op! However, we encourage you to sign-up for the waitlist to help us determine the need for future classes.
WABA’s Adult Learn to Ride class is for participants 18 and older. Our experienced Instructors break the skills down step by step to get you on a bike and rolling in no time. Participants learn to start and stop, balance, glide, pedal and steer a bike and progress at their own pace. Although registration spots are limited, we encourage you to sign up for the waitlist if space runs out to help determine the need for future classes!
Learn more and join the waitlist on the official event posting: https://bit.ly/adultlearntoride
Percussion Discussion Taps Into Happiness
Friday, April 26 at 7:30 pm
Takoma Park Community Center
7500 Maple Avenue
Free Performance
The Knock on Wood Tap Studio in downtown Takoma Park has redefined tap dancing for more than two decades, and the studio’s resident ensembles will share their talents in a free performance at the Takoma Park Community Center on April 26.
Percussion Discussion includes three groups at different age and experience levels. Capitol Tap features youth tap dancers, Monumental Tap includes intermediate-level adult dancers, and District Tap highlights advanced adult performers. Each ensemble has their own repertoire, and they will collaborate in an intergenerational performance.
This event in the Takoma Park Arts series is free, and no tickets or reservations are required. Limited parking is available at the Takoma Park police station and the adjoining Piney Branch Elementary School parking lot.
Lisa Swenton-Eppard founded Capitol Tap in 2010, followed by District Tap and Monumental Tap. She grew up in her mother’s dance studio in southern Maryland where she learned to tap dance at an early age and started teaching when she was 15 years old.
“Tap was the one genre that spoke to me the most, and it’s been a mainstay in my life,” she said. “I’m now in my 38th year as a tap dance educator, not just for my own companies but also for other dance studios in the area.”
Percussion Discussion incorporates both historical and contemporary tap dance and has performed at the Kennedy Center, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Wolf Trap, and other venues.
“My dancers talk about the sense of connection and community they feel when creating music and dance together,” Swenton-Eppard said. “Performing is a form of communication and finding common ground with others through a range of emotions.”
The origins of tap dance are rooted in the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina in 1739 where enslaved Africans used weapons and drums in an unsuccessful uprising that led to a law being passed a year later that prohibited enslaved people from playing musical instruments. This is believed to be the precursor that moved rhythmic patterns of West African step dances from the drum solely to the body, with tap dance evolving over centuries from various cultural influences.
Tap dance took off in the mid-1800s at dance competitions and minstrel shows, and then later in nightclubs, musicals, and vaudeville shows. Metal taps on the bottom of shoes didn’t appear until the early 1900s, replacing wooden-soled shoes and other footwear.
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson gained worldwide fame for his tap dancing in the early 1900s despite discrimination against Black performers. Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly helped develop the Broadway style of tap featured in musicals such as 42nd Street and Anything Goes. Tap dancing reemerged in the 1980s with new dance styles fueled by funk and hip hop and has continued to grow in popularity.
This performance is part of the City of Takoma Park’s Takoma Park Arts series, which includes free concerts, theater, dance, art exhibitions, and film screenings at the Takoma Park Community Center. You can sign up for our e-newsletter to get more info about all of our upcoming events.
Are you a renter in the City of Takoma Park? If so, the City is looking to hear from you! The City’s tenant survey will occur between March 1- April 30. We encourage you to complete the short, 5-minute survey if you rent in the City.
By answering the survey, you will help the City enforce housing laws and develop new programs and policies. We thank you for your time and consideration!
