Locavino, the wine café that overlooks Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring, has been recognized with a 2020 Award of Excellence by Wine Spectator magazine. The award “recognizes thoughtfully chosen wine lists that offer quality and diversity, as well as compatibility with the restaurant’s style and menu,” according to the announcement.
The Hair Cuttery in Ellsworth Place has permanently closed, joining other salons shut down by its parent company even as others are preparing to reopen. Creative Hairdressers Inc. announced in January it intended to close more than 80 stores due to financial issues.
A portion of Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring will be temporarily closed as of 5 p.m. June 12 to allow restaurants additional space to provide customers outdoor dining. The right lanes of Georgia will be shut down between Silver Spring and Thayer avenues in a pilot project that will run through at least June 21. The pilot, known as Streetdine, is the result of a collaboration between the State Highway Administration, the Silver Spring Urban District, County Council Vice President Tom Hucker (D-District 5) and local business owners.
Several Silver Spring arts organizations will offer virtual summer art camps for youth from pre-K to 18 years old, according to an announcement from the Silver Spring Arts & Entertainment District. “Many children have been away from their classmates, family members and friends for several months,” said Silver Spring Regional Services Center Director Reemberto Rodriguez in the press release. “The arts organizations in our Silver Spring Arts & Entertainment District are bringing to life summer offerings that fill an important need within our community.”
VanGo, the free downtown Silver Spring circulator bus service, resumes service today (June 8) after being suspended during the county’s COVID-19 restrictions. In addition, the county has announced a return of certain RideOn routes in an “Essential Plus” plan.
The Montgomery County Planning Board yesterday unanimously approved a Scope of Work for the Silver Spring Downtown Plan that adds portions of adjacent neighborhoods to the study area. The decision at the virtual meeting adopted staff boundary Option D, an expansion within a half-mile/ten-minute pedestrian “walkshed” from the future Silver Spring Library Purple Line Station.
Willow Street Yoga is closing its downtown Silver Spring studio on the second level of 8561 Fenton St., according to an announcement on the company’s Facebook page. In a email to clients on June 3, signed “Joe Miller and the Willow Street team,” the company wrote, “Our biggest challenge in maintaining the studio has always been our high rent obligations.”
The Montgomery Planning Board will consider a proposed scope of work for a Silver Spring Downtown Sector Plan at a virtual meeting Thursday, June 4. The work, the first step in the planning process, is intended as an update to the 2000 Silver Spring Central Business District Plan. It includes consideration of the boundaries of the current CBD and whether expansion of the area into the downtown sector plan would be a part of the process.
Editor’s note: This guest post and photo is from Jonna Huseman, who began the Voices project to document the lives of friends and neighbors in Silver Spring and Takoma Park and how they may have changed since the shelter in place order. It originally appeared on her blog, The Sligo Creek Photographer.