Month: September 2025

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

As we approached the turn lane for Arnold Station off the northbound lanes of Ritchie Highway, we were astonished to see a poster bearing the image of a proud rooster urging the community to “Stop Chick fil A”.

We’d first heard about the Arnold community’s efforts to stop a proposed Chick fil A from being built there during an interview with Arnold Preservation Council director Elizabeth Rosborg in May of 2024. As the council is unable to file an appeal because one can only be filed by a property owner directly involved, Rosborg filed as owner of the property at 18 Severn Way LLC (with the support of the council). We were on the way to meet her near that property along the B&A Trail behind Arnold station when we spied a second colorful poster next to a fence.

A recent article in the Capital Gazette newspaper Business Section by Benjamin Rothstein covered the fourth of six hearings before the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals. During the first three hearings, Chick fil A outlined their preliminary plan. According to Rothstein, lawyer Dan Fligsten, the attorney representing Rosborg and three witnesses spoke on behalf of the council followed by a brief presentation of Anne Arundel County’s case by assistant county attorney Curran Ritter.

Rosborg noted that the preliminary plan for the Chick fil A has already been approved by the County.

She described the proposed site for the fast-food restaurant, the first Drive-Thru Only Chick fil A in the state of Maryland, as being located off the southbound lanes of Ritchie Highway just past Arnold Road and CVS Pharmacy and between the Sunoco and a private driveway. It is opposite the Arnold Volunteer Fire Department.

“We are not against Chick fil A. In fact, many Arnold residents frequent the Chick fil A just up the highway in Severna Park,” Rosborg said. “Something will be built at the site and we’re not against that. We’re just not for having a Chick fil A at this site from a safety point of view. Traffic is heavy here and, since 2018, there have been three traffic fatalities in proximity to the intersection.”

She further explained that where Rt. 648 merges with Ritchie Highway south, the road expands to three lanes. The far-right lane continues south past Arnold Road until the highway narrows back to two lanes right in front of the proposed Chick fil A.

There is also an issue related specifically to Arnold Road which is illustrated in the map below.

Chick fil A proposes ingress and egress on Ritchie Highway but they also propose to build a road behind the CVS Pharmacy with entrance and exit to/from the site off Arnold Road. Though the Chick fil A would be a Drive-Thru Only property, it would have a window for Door Dash and Grub Hub pick-ups. Thus, it would have a lot with 42 parking spaces – 20 for employees and the remainder for Door Dash and Grub Hub pick-ups or orders from aps.

Drivers leaving Arnold Station shopping center would mix with drivers entering or exiting the road behind the CVS to the Chick fil A site – a possible cause of traffic back-ups.

Anne Arundel County’s largely unchecked development has meant there is bumper-to-bumper traffic on our highways most times of the day, especially on the span of Ritchie Highway (Route 2) running from Route 50 to Route 100.

For Elizabeth Rosborg, the Arnold Preservation Council and the community, the appeal process has been difficult. They are inexperienced in mounting such an effort in opposition to a big corporation and it has also been costly. To go before the Board of Appeals, they’ve had to raise money for three experts – a lawyer, a traffic engineer and a civil engineer who charge expensive by-the-hour fees. There have been other costs for the printing of necessary documents. Sadly, no one from the business community has stepped up to help them so they’ve needed to raise the money via a Go Fund Me page.

Rosberg said the most frustrating thing about the process is that they’ve had no actual communication with Chick fil A and have tried to meet with the County, but that has proved difficult as well.

Two more hearings are scheduled though only one may be needed. The Arnold Preservation Council is hoping to rally enough community members to fill the gallery, which holds 200 people, at the next Board of Appeals hearing which is scheduled for 5 pm October 1st at Arundel Center Council Chambers at44 Calvert Street in Annapolis.

Following public comments at that meeting, the Arnold group will be finished. Anyone is welcome to come to the hearing and speak with two conditions. You must speak on why this development will affect you and you must include what you would like to see built on the site instead. (There have already been three suggestions including one for a public library.)

For more information about the appeal, visit Stop Arnold Chick-Fill A page at Facebook.

Wellness Business Connections Happy Hour a breath of fresh air

The Greater Severna Park & Arnold Chamber of Commerce’s Wellness Business Connections happy hours are always fun and informative. One of the chamber’s networking groups, Wellness Business Connections was formed several years ago by a collaboration of health-related companies. The informal gatherings are held monthly, often at businesses or restaurants like The Social in Severna Park, and range in size from eight to twenty members depending on the season. Those hosted by longtime chamber member Barbara Gill are among the most looked forward to gatherings.

The happy hour hosted by Gill on September 18th began with members meeting one another in the beautiful garden of her Crownsville home. Seated in comfy chairs with a beverage of choice, they introduced themselves, traded business cards, and chatted about recent films, books, a new form of yoga, and meditation aps.

In attendance were holistic life coach Carrie Baquie, realtor and journalist Loren Edelstein, GYMGUYZ co-owner Lauren Brewington, certified Optiva Coach Jennifer Freeland, Center for Transformative Dentistry owner Yasaman Roland, and Fenix Wellness owner Krista Hernandez.

Gill, a distributor for Melaleuca: The Wellness Company and founder of City Coffee Connections is a most gracious hostess and invited everyone inside to her dining room table where she’d set out a buffet of healthy fruits, salads and other taste tempters.

Once seated in an adjoining studio/office area, Gill called the meeting to order and gave each attendee a chance to formally introduce and explain her business, starting with Jennifer Freeland.

Freeland, from Arnold, noted that she and her husband are Optiva Health Coaches.

“The main areas we focus on are weight loss and maintenance and optimization through personal training,” she said.

Next to speak was Lauren Brewington who owns and operates GYMGUYZ Annapolis & Columbia along with husband Alan.

“We bring the workout to you,” Brewington said. “We do not do the training ourselves but hire six certified professional trainers that will go to your home or wherever you are. We can do group sessions, semi-private sessions or private sessions.”

Krista Hernandez is a certified holistic wellness coach. Her business focuses on helping women relieve stress through, among other things, her Rise & Shine Weekly Women’s Circle that meets every Saturday at Fenix Wellness at 2705 Mountain Road in Pasadena. Hernandez also does Wellness Workshops including an upcoming one on October 3 at Element at Mill Creek, 76 Old Mill Bottom Road in Annapolis.

Loren Edelstein, a realtor with Long & Foster’s Eastport office is also a writer specializing in branding and marketing for small businesses. She can create website content, newsletters or white papers for them.

Carrie Baquie is a holistic conscious transformation coach specializing in helping women in mid-life who have retired from business or whose children are grown that would like to move forward. Held back by subconscious doubt, they are unsure how to go about it. Baquie retrains the subconscious.

Center for Transformative Dentistry owner Yasaman Roland came next. In practice for 15 years, Roland practices functional whole body dentistry for adults and children.

“We focus on a healthy approach to dental care,” said Roland. “We’re devoted to using healthy ingredients, reducing inflammation, using oxygenated ozone for cleaning and standard dentistry because it cleanses the area being worked on and do not use toxic materials or metals.”

Barbara Gill came last, describing Melaleuca as a U.S. company that started 40 years ago to sell Tea Tree Oil. The founders created a product line using seven essential oils and natural ingredients and wanted to sell them in stores but processing them to compete with Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson would be too expensive. Thus, they created a shopping club where people pay a nominal membership fee and their orders for exceptional products at reasonable prices are delivered to them. Gill produced a product list containing hundreds of Melaleuca products and made a game of selecting a winner based on how many products they could find similar to ones they use. Roland won the contest.

Before ending the meeting, Gill pitched her annual Coffee Connections holiday luncheon that will be held December 2nd at Cafe Mezzanotte this year and will feature “lipologist” Ariana who reads lips based on a lipstick imprint on a card.

As a final bit of fun, Gill handed out little gift bags to each Wellness Connections member as they left.

20th Annversary of Higgins and Friends Pet Sitting celebrated on October 2nd

A quick reminder that Jill Weissenbach will be marking the “20 Plus One” Year Anniversary of Higgins and Friends Pet Sitting, LLC on Thursday, October 2nd from 5 to 6 pm at The Social in Severna Park. For information, visit Facebook.

The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility whilereducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!

and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high quality consistent care.

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

Having held her original Homeschool Fair at Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi in Arnold, Macaroni KID Pasadena, publisher Laura McElwain Colquhoun found the success of that event attracted the attention of more than two dozen vendors interested in marketing their services to the homeschool population. Thus, she teamed with friend Gloria who publishes Macaroni KID Annapolis and Macaroni KID Bowie to produce another homeschool fair and searched for a larger venue.

The Severna Park Community Center agreed to host the event this past Friday, September 12th in its spacious Andy Borland gymnasium. A quick count on our arrival revealed that 27 vendors were situated throughout the gym. We were not really surprised to see the community center’s own table set up right past the entrance. SPCC not only has offered a popular home school swim program for several years but is home to many other activities that home school students are drawn to. As can be seen from the opening photograph, there was a constant stream of parents and children at the Severna Park Community Center table throughout the event.

Parallel to SPCC’s table, we found two Severna Park businesses that market their programs to the homeschool community and often partner with each other to hold back-to-back activities. Danielle Bowen from Blended Essentials noted that homeschool kids seem to enjoy the hands-on classes where they not only create products like soaps or candles but must focus on details like measurements for ingredients, essential oils and essences as well as chemical reactions and densities.

With more than two dozen tables to visit, it was interesting to see the parade of parents pushing baby carriages with one or more young children in tow attempting to stop at each and every table. Quite a range of businesses was represented – some familiar but others that we wouldn’t have expected to find at a homeschool event.

A natural starting point for us, was to visit the business with the longest and deepest experience with the homeschooling community – Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi owner Nancy Greer was constantly busy fielding questions.

“Our homeschool Kung Fu program has been going on at Jing Ying Institute from the time we opened 25 years ago,” Greer said. “In fact, we homeschooled our own children who are now successful adults.”

“Back in the 1980s’, my husband Billy and I started a homeschool group. We also had an educational supply company for the homeschool community. It was so unique at the time that Billy appeared on several nationally known television shows to talk about it. He was even quoted about the business in an article in the New York Times. Boy, did we get a lot of calls from that.”

Greer says there are several reasons parents decide to school their kids at home. Some want to provide them a more traditional education and the ability to think for themselves. Others choose homeschooling because their careers are travel dependent. There are also families whose children have an auto immune disease and they can’t be accommodated by the public or private school systems. Occasionally, families chose the homeschool route because their kids were bullied or, on rare occasions, they have a child who was expelled.

Jing Ying Institute’s homeschool Kung Fu classes work well with daytime schedules and are enjoyed by the students. In addition to providing a healthy form of exercise, they are very social and kids easily make friends.

From their own past experience, the Greers realize that homeschool families are often living on one income, so they keep costs reasonable. Since Jing Ying Institute is celebrating its 25th Anniversary, they are presently giving a $25 discount for each child enrolling in a homeschool Kung Fu class.

As we expected, there were a number of familiar vendors, particularly those involved with exercise. One that we’d never heard of, however, was Crossing Currents Aquatics which hosts the Homeschool Hurricanes Intramural Team with 8-week sessions at the Arundel Olympic Swim Center. They also have Swim Squad Intramural Teams at North Arundel Aquatic Center and the Severna Park Racquetball Club and Open Water Swimming in the South River.

Nor had we heard of Skate Zone, a fun activity for homeschoolers with locations in Crofton and Odenton where McKenzie wore skates and Guy operated a prize wheel. Neighboring vendor, Team Randori Martial Arts where owner Al Hogan’s Annapolis-based school teaches Brazilian Jujitsu, was hard to miss thanks to the inflated jujitsu practitioner.

“Homeschool families gravitate to us because our program gives kids physical activity and builds the discipline, self-esteem, and confidence they might otherwise get from a school athletic team,” Hogan said.

With more varied activities in mind, we were pleased to find the Baltimore Area Council for Scouting America table manned by District Executive MacKenzie Cook; Katie Carico, Scoutmaster for Troop 192; and Joe Chope, Cubmaster for Pack 550. All three leaders said their scouting organizations have had homeschool children within their ranks for years because scouting provides the perfect opportunity to learn new skills while being with other kids.

We saw several groups of little girls lead their parents to the Annapolis Dance Academy table so they could get a better look at the photographs they displayed. The school offers ballet and tap classes for children and ballroom classes for teens.

Little boys preferred seeing the live python and other critters at the Eco Adventures table, however, and made a beeline for it.

There was a line of vendors hoping to attract homeschoolers stretched along the back wall of the gym that included Gym Guyz, Wild Hearts Academy and Mathnasium.

For some vendors, it was all about offering useful services. Madeline, from University of Maryland Urgent Care, hoped to acquaint families with the organization’s nearby locations in Pasadena and Glen Burnie. Mindy, from PDS Dentistry for Children in Gambrills said she was surprised to see some of their patients at the homeschool fair. Nicole, from Navy Federal Credit Union, was especially interesting to homeschool parents with middle school and high school aged kids. She was highlighting the Free Financial Workshops being offered for students in that age group that are available at all their branches. She noted that the workshops give students the basics about how to manage their money, explain the difference between a debit and a credit and even teaches them how to write a check.

There were two STEM education vendors – Saphire Rise, Inc. of Gambrills and iCode Severna Park at Benfield Village Shopping Center.

There was so much more to see that we couldn’t take it all in. On our way out, we stopped at the table of Lee Priddy from Priddy Music Academy which offers classes that would be a good fit for homeschoolers.

We couldn’t possibly leave without seeing Jason Kimmell and Amy Schropp from The Children’s Theatre of Annapolis. The theatre has many classes, workshops and camps scheduled at times that would work well for homeschool kids. Lots of good productions with which they might become involved as well.

The Macaroni KID Homeschool Fair seemed to be quite a success and, since the homeschooling movement is growing larger every day, we look forward to a return engagement same time next year.

ShoptoberFest scheduled for October 11 at Park Plaza

The Greater Severna Park & Arnold Chamber of Commerce has announced that this year’s ShoptoberFest with a TRICK OR TREAT TWIST is scheduled for October 11th from 11 am till 3 pm at Park Plaza. The free event will feature music, shopping, food, trick or treating and a costume contest.

The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility whilereducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!

and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high quality consistent care.

And Midas of Annapolis and Pasadena, A family- owned business with four locations (Annapolis, Pasadena, Laurel and Wheaton). With 40 years’ experience and the backing of a national brand, they are committed to earning customers’ trust by offering the expertise, value and responsiveness drivers expect – “every time they visit us.”

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

May 29th was a banner day for entrepreneur Rose Walker’s Bohemian Black fashion boutique as it opened for business at 1915 Annapolis Towne Centre Blvd, suite 915 having relocated from its original Severna Park address.

Opening day represented the fourth of five major transitions for the fashion and lifestyle brand. Bohemian Black was created by Walker in November of 2021 as an outgrowth of her company Walking Roses which did personal styling, helping individuals select the right apparel for their body types. The company was originally known as the House of Design in conjunction with Walker’s mother – a talented seamstress who created stylish apparel but sadly passed away. Daughter Rose managed to revamp the concept of the business while keeping her mother’s legacy alive.

Bohemian Black first came to the attention of local residents at the Greater Severna Park & Arnold Chamber’s SHOPTOBERFEST 2022 at Park Plaza when Walker set up an exotic tent to market fall fashions with a BoHo Chic vibe. Shoppers were drawn to the display like bees to honey.

For a year or two, Walker displayed similar creativity while marketing her clothing, jewelry and home products at various events in Severna Park, Arnold and neighboring communities, and through Bohemian Black Festivals and fashion shows she held in collaboration with other vendors at Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company. She was determined to establish Bohemian Black as a well-recognized brand in the fashion/lifestyle retail market.

She’d been looking for a space to open a bricks and mortar storefront boutique two years ago when introduced to the Listman property being redeveloped at the corner of Earleigh Heights Road and the Baltimore Annapolis Trail opposite the Ranger Station. She accepted an offer for a space there.

Unfortunately, the Listman property’s owners were tied up carrying out the extensive renovations required but Walker badly needed space to accommodate her growing inventory of clothing. She couldn’t afford to wait, so the owners agreed to remodel and restore a former garage attached to the store’s first floor for her.

On September 22, 2024, the innovative stylist finally opened the brick-and-mortar version of her fashion boutique Bohemian Black by Walking Roses at 45 W. Earleigh Heights Road.

Just past the Severna Park Taphouse, opposite The Yoga Barn, and parallel to the B&A Trail, it was easy to spot and seemed a promising location.

With two floors, the interior of the building provided sufficient room to show off various collections of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and accessories, jewelry and products for the home. There was a problem, however.

“Even though the shop was located just off the B&A Trail, the area wasn’t conducive to retail traffic. People just didn’t come to busy Earleigh Heights Road to shop,” Rose Walker said.

After less than a year of operation, she made a difficult but imaginative decision. She relocated the Bohemian Black boutique to a space at Annapolis Town Center but transformed the original Severna Park location into the Bohemian Black Studio. A July 9th posting on the company’s Instagram page proclaimed, “A New Chapter for Our Severna Park Location”, and introduced Bohemian Black Studio — a flexible, inspiring space where creatives, entrepreneurs, and dreamers can gather to style, shoot, teach, host, and create.

Though closed when we drove by on the last day of August, we learned from Walker that a transformation was taking place inside to ready the Bohemian Black Studio for this Sunday’s September Market at The Station from 9 am till 2 pm. Roughly two dozen vendors will be on hand for the market with a diverse range of products.

Walker said she is already accepting bookings for Bohemian Black Studio spaces into October. She notes that the facility can be adapted for use as a co-working space, a place for client meetings, a place for non-profits to host workshops or events, a space for content meetings or photo shoots or even as a convenient location for a book club.

As mentioned at the opening of the column, the opening of the Bohemian Black boutique at Annapolis Town Center on May 29th was another monumental step forward for the brand. Rose Walker said she loves being located along Annapolis Towne Center Boulevard with other retailers, nearby restaurants, a coffee shop and lots of foot traffic from the condominium residents and people who come there specifically to shop.

Walker also is pleased to have more floor space to carry handmade items from over 15 women-owned businesses that make and market their own merchandise. She’s excited about the latest chapter for her business and hopes that those who became familiar with Bohemian Black in Severna Park will visit the new store in Annapolis or avail themselves of the versatile space that is Bohemian Black Studio.

Broadway Songfest & Silent Auction to benefit SPAN, Inc. on September 20

A Broadway Songfest benefitting SPAN, Inc. created and performed by vocalist and actress Laurette Hankins-O’Connell with pianist/singer Anita O’Connor will be held September 20th at the St. Martin’s in-the-Field Episcopal Church Parish Hall along with a Silent Auction on September 20th at 5 pm.

This is the fifth year Hankins-O’Connell has done a benefit concert for SPAN. (Last year’s concert raised $9,000 for the organization.) Her repertoire of Broadway songs combined with lively banter and amusing anecdotes and occasional duets with Anita O’Connor delight audiences. Tickets are $25 and 100% of the proceeds go to SPAN. They must be purchased in advance. To do so, visit Broadway Songfest and Online Auction – SPAN, Inc (spanhelps.org)

The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility whilereducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!

and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high quality consistent care.

And Midas of Annapolis and Pasadena, A family- owned business with four locations (Annapolis, Pasadena, Laurel and Wheaton). With 40 years’ experience and the backing of a national brand, they are committed to earning customers’ trust by offering the expertise, value and responsiveness drivers expect – “every time they visit us.”

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

The weather for the waning days of August and Labor Day weekend couldn’t have been more beautiful with sunny days and just a hint of autumn in the air. With less than three weeks until the official beginning of autumn on September 22, some of us would like to hang on to summer just a little bit longer.

Walking northward through Severna Park on the Baltimore Annapolis Trail is always fun but, with a blue sky overhead and the sun on your back, it’s easy to fall into a lazy saunter with stops along the way to take in the sights. Pausing at Caraker Plaza (named for the late Thomas Caraker, III), with a coffee from The Big Bean, we watched a procession of walkers, runners and cyclists of all ages pass by us.

Viewing flowerbeds maintained by volunteers along the way is always a pleasure. The beautiful bed with the birdhouse seen in the opening photograph has been lovingly tended by the Snader family for many years. Butterflies fluttered in a bed next to it drawn to the deep purple blooms of a butterfly bush.

About-to-bloom Autumn Joy Sedum shared space in another plot with sturdy Black-Eyed Susans that were holding their own. But other plots were nearly finished for the season.

Back down the trail to the Riggs Avenue crossing, we turned right and headed for Diehl’s Produce at the corner of B & A Boulevard and McKinsey Road where we noticed a portion of the parking lot had been fenced off to one side of the tent. According to the stand’s general manager Jennifer Diehl, by the following day, the entire area would be filled with chrysanthemums with pumpkins to follow. In accordance with Diehl family tradition, the produce stand will remain open until Halloween with another week of Adams County, Pennsylvania peaches followed by six varieties of Adams County apples, plenty of Eastern Shore sweet corn into October, and other late season vegetables.

Jen’s sister Abby’s Diehl’s Produce of Annapolis will also remain open until Halloween. Late breaking news indicates that Chase’s Produce off Route #424 will close this Sunday, September 7th. Nearby Marco Ridge Farm farmstand will also close September 7th but will offer vegetables on the farm wagon on a serve-yourself, pay-as-you-go basis for a few weeks thereafter. Pumphrey’s Farm produce stand in Millersville will stay open until Thanksgiving with autumnal flowers and pumpkins, apples and late season vegetables.

With time to burn, we headed for the car with another stop to make. A fan of watercolor artwork, we’d heard there was an exhibit of paintings by Terri Allen-Jackson we’d like to check out in the art gallery at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church. Sure enough, prominently displayed along the gallery walls were paintings from Allen-Jackson’s “My Mosaic Journey” collection of watercolor paintings along with mosaic artworks.

The watercolors were quite vivid and featured subjects ranging from vegetables to plants and flowers while the mosaic pieces were intricate designs incorporating similar subjects.

We imagined the artist’s mosaic works like the one seen on the left took a great deal of time to assemble.

There were obviously hundreds of colorful tiles laid end-to-end to create images of plants. It was interesting to note that Allen-Jackson couldn’t have picked better subject matter for her work as the Woods Garden Group is acclaimed for creating the church’s innovative “Parking Lot Gardens”. We walked outside to see them.

Like a number of gardens we observed on the B&A Trail, the flowers in various beds were faded leaving behind seed heads the Woods Gardeners insist on keeping intact for the birds, chipmunks, squirrels and other wildlife that feed on them throughout the winter.

Lazy or not, time was ticking away and there was one last stop we wanted to make. We dropped by the Severna Park Community Center to visit with Executive Director Sarah Elder and Marketing Director Amy Holbrook.

We’d learned that SPCC is partnering with Macaroni Kid Pasadena’s Laura McElwain Colquhoun to host the Anne Arundel County & Bowie Homeschool Fair in the center’s gymnasium on Friday, September 12 from 10 am to 12:30 pm.  (For full details visit Anne Arundel County Homeschool Fair Hosted by Macaroni KID & Severna Park Community Center | Facebook.

“We think the homeschool fair is a wonderful idea,” Elder said. “Laura has organized the event to include eighteen vendors that offer services to homeschool families. Since we already offer swimming classes for homeschoolers here in our pool, we’re happy to host the homeschool fair.”

She added the community center hopes to add a physical education homeschool program to the schedule. It’s just in the planning stages but won’t be ready until the first of the year.

Holbrook was excited because SPCC is coming into its busiest time of the year. In fact, she’d just printed out a list of upcoming events.

This Saturday (September 6), the community center is hosting a Second Time Around The Park Yard Sale to which the public is invited to bring their own items to sell.

Next on the schedule is the community center’s highly popular Halloween Spooktacular on Friday, October 24th. On Friday, December 12th the equally popular Cookies & Cocoa With Santa will take place. And, on Friday, December 14th they’ll host their second annual Holiday Pop-Up Shop.

The excitement will continue into the new year with a Health & Wellness Expo in January followed by events associated with the center’s 30th Anniversary celebration and its Gin and Jazz Gala. You can keep up with SPCC programs and activities by visiting Home – Severna Park Community Center (spcommunitycenter.org)

AAUW Used Book Collections this Saturday, September 6th

News from Alice Harrison that the American Assoc. of University Women – Anne Arundel County will collect used books in good condition in Severna Park, Arnold and Annapolis on Saturday, Sept. 6 from 9:00 a.m. to Noon. 

In Severna Park, they’ll be at St. Martin-in-the-Field Church at 375 Benfield Road,  in Arnold at the Anne Arundel Community College parking lot at West Campus Drive off Ritchie Highway, and in Annapolis at St. Phillip’s Church on Bestgate Road.  Volunteers will accept your used books in good condition. 

The books collected will be offered for sale in a large Book Sale to be held in November.  All net proceeds will go for scholarships for women.  For more information, contact Alice Harrison, awharrison@yahoo.com or at 410-353-1867.

Park Hardware/Zeskind’s 100th Anniversary Celebration September 20th

From 7 am to 7 pm on Saturday, September 20th, the Park Hardware’s parking lot, store and Zeskind’s Showroom will come alive with a celebration marking 100 years in the hardware business. Napoleon Grills and Milwaukee Tools will be on-site starting at 11:30am on September 20 for the Anniversary event! Attendees will see live demonstrations and have the chance to win prizes from these great partners. To see more, visit Facebook.

Trinity Bible Church’s 3rd Annual Fall Festival September 27th

Trinity Bible Church, at 99 Truckhouse Road, invites local residents to join them for a free, community event on September 27th. Enjoy lunch with a burger or hotdog. drink and chips and an assortment of fun activities including a moonbounce, photo booth, games and crafts, snow cones, bingo, and more. To see more, click TBC 3rd Annual Fall Festival | Facebook .

The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility whilereducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!

and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high quality consistent care.

And Midas of Annapolis and Pasadena, A family- owned business with four locations (Annapolis, Pasadena, Laurel and Wheaton). With 40 years’ experience and the backing of a national brand, they are committed to earning customers’ trust by offering the expertise, value and responsiveness drivers expect – “every time they visit us.”