Month: March 2026

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

Having noted that the State of Maryland has a number of significant events planned to celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary, I thought it would be fun to meet with town historian F. Scott Jay to chat about Severna Park’s past, present and future. Sunlight filtered through the window as Jay reflected that few obvious traces of Severna Park’s beginnings remain because landmarks that were once beacons of the 118-year-old town have been obscured or overtaken by successive waves of residential and commercial construction.

With easily recognizable “traces” of the town’s early history now largely invisible, I asked Jay what he thinks about the state of current day Severna Park.

“I’m normally an optimist,” he said. “But intense overdevelopment has destroyed so much of what was attractive about our area. Every postage stamp of land is being built on, and the community is becoming too much like Baltimore City. I actually believe the area is becoming less appealing. Yet, I know of two young families hoping to move out of an apartment and move here where they grew up but the cost of houses is too prohibitive.”

We were both aware that Severna Park was but one part of the larger community of “Boone” when formed in 1906. The rustic town endured until June 16, 1925 when its address officially became Severna Park.

“But Boone’s origins date to the 1600’s with a 26,000-acre land grant from King Charles I to George Calvert, 1st Lord Baltimore,” Jay said. “By the 1700’s, the Lords Baltimore had conveyed the acreage in the form of three grants. Norman’s Fancy, Randall’s Purchase and Hopkins’ Addition would form the nucleus of Boone.”

He added that the Randall’s Purchase parcel providing the core was sold in 1721 to John Earnshaw and shortly thereafter to John Worthington.

In 1725 the parcel was sold to Richard and Hester Linstid (Linstead) and called Randall’s Range.

“The couple had a notorious reputation and perished in 1750, leaving their 10-year-old son, John, and 13-year-old daughter Elizabeth destitute,” Jay said. “John served in bondage to a weaver until he was 21, but owned Randall’s Range and paid taxes on it from 1759 to 1771 and again in 1774. It was likely John who built the still existing Linstid/Linstead farmhouse in 1758.”

Joseph McCubbin purchased the land in 1774, transferring it to daughter Dorcas, and her husband, William Hammond, in 1806. They apparently acquired the adjoining grants and renamed the property Cedar Neck.

Linstid’s son, John Linstid, Jr. repurchased the 227-acre property in 1817. Two years later, Linstid Jr.’s son George inherited it. At George’s death, in 1856, the working farm was divided into three 91.5 acre lots for his three children, one of which went to Elizabeth Linstid Boone, wife of farm owner Thomas Boone. In 1852, the Boones opened the Boone School at the present site of Severna Park Elementary School. In 1853, as part of the Boone homestead, they built the lovely antebellum house seen below that today is part of the Severn School campus.

Necessities could be bought at Boones Store, built and operated by Tom Boone. The Boones also sold a strip of land to the Annapolis & Baltimore Short Line Railroad in 1896 and by 1906, Boone Station opened and the community’s name, Boone, became official. Commerce boomed with the building of stores like Grotsky’s and Boros. That same year Severn Realty Company purchased the former Boone family properties, subdivided them and sold them as vacation homes. Lawyer Oscar L. Hatton created the Severna Company to administer them and named the development Severna Park.

In 1925, the Post Office officially adopted the name Severna Park and the town of Boone faded into history.

It is an amazing coincidence that Scott Jay has lived in two historic Severna Park houses. The first – his boyhood home at the corner of Riggs Avenue and Evergreen Road opposite Severn School – was built by George Boone in 1856. Jay’s father purchased it in 1940 from Severna Park founder Oscar Hatton. (The lot still exists but, sadly, the charming home was torn down a few years ago and replaced by two new houses.)

The second historic Severna Park home Jay and wife Donna owned (from 1985 till 2001) and extensively renovated was the Linstead farmhouse. The house changed through the years under various owners including the Riggs brothers who purchased it in 1906. However, at the time the Jays bought it, it was in bad shape – particularly the floors which had to be completely replaced.

“When having guests for dinner while living there, we’d sit around the dining room table and imagine what sort of topics might have been discussed there more than 200 years ago,” Jay said. “The Revolutionary War was bound to have been a topic.”

“It was also fun to speculate what it would have been like to be a guest when Francis and Harry Riggs owned the Linstead property. The Riggs brothers were fraternal twins who were wealthy and politically influential Baltimore businessmen and loved to party. They entertained lavishly and Maryland governors, including Governor Albert Ritchie, were there often.”

“On a more serious note, what remains from the earliest days of the community are cemeteries including the African American graveyard at Carpenter’s Hill and the one behind Linstead house where Linstids are buried. It was sobering to realize some of them died in our bedroom.”

While 18th and 19th century traces are pretty much confined to what remains of Linstid and Boone properties, a few early 20th century buildings remain. In 1913, a new railroad which also housed the Post Office was built at Boone that was later renamed the Severna Park Railroad Station. The building still exists and is home to the Severna Park Model Railroad Club.

Celebrating its 96th anniversary this year, Goska’s Liquors was opened as a general store in the 1920’s by the Kleiss family and sold to brothers Walter and Alex Goska in 1930. The family business was taken over from their father Walter by brothers Kevin and Michael Sosnoski in 1995. Below is the business as it appeared in the 1930’s,

Built in the 1920’s opposite the Severna Park Train Station is one of Olde Severna Park’s newest businesses, The Sugar Shoppe owned and operated by Jamie Denton and business partner Eloise Patton.

The building was briefly a grocery store but was known, for more than a decade, as Doc Codd’s pharmacy. In 1944, following the death of Dr. Francis Codd, it became Cliff Dawson’s variety store featuring liquor sales, a soda fountain and a slot machine. In 1952, Dawson’s relocated and the building became home to the Antique Marketplace. In the spring of 2021, MaryAnn and Cam Neal took over the retail space and opened The Red Apron Shoppe.

Asked what he thinks about the future, Jay echoed the opinion of others that many of the houses being constructed are not well-built, are overcrowded and won’t necessarily attract future homebuyers. Severna Park’s business climate seems okay for the present but it’s very difficult to open a new business here so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Celebrate 250 years of American History in Maryland

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, SAIL250 Maryland and Airshow Baltimore will take place from June 24th thru 30th. The family-friendly weeklong event will welcome international tall ships, US Navy and Coast Guard vessels, the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, and other aviation performers for an air show over Baltimore Harbor. There is much more. To check out events happening in Baltimore, Annapolis and elsewhere, visit America’s 250th Celebration in Maryland Events | VisitMaryland.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 while reducing 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

Chatting with a friend who mentioned a great new museum he discovered while hiking the waterfront in Eastport, I was curious when he showed me a photo captured on his smartphone similar to the one below. The facade was a familiar one. One I’d seen in the past but with a difference. The iconic McNasby Oyster Co. sign on the building in the photo now bore the words “Home of the Annapolis Maritime Museum” and apparently had for a number of years. I vaguely recalled hearing that the business had closed for good and been sold but, an infrequent visitor to Eastport, I was unaware the building had become a museum. I decided to journey to Eastport and see for myself.

Learning that the Annapolis Maritime Museum Campus is located at 723 Second Street, I found it easily and nabbed a parking place in the same block. Approaching the museum from a slight distance, I was pleased by the building’s exterior with its maritime-themed artwork, boardwalks and piers.

Drawn by a handsome sign by the entrance, I stepped inside and walked to the counter where I was welcomed by Volunteer Educator Dianne Rosso.

Brimming with interesting information and helpful suggestions, Rosso pointed out that there was an interesting movie I could watch in a gallery behind her or I could explore the exhibit spaces first.

The first exhibit was surprising as it featured a weapon. During the Oyster Wars that followed the American Civil War in the 1860’s-1870’s, when Maryland and Virginia watermen fought over oyster bed areas of the Chesapeake Bay, the Maryland Oyster Police equipped their vessels with weapons including Civil War era cannons like the one seen here. The oysters were so prized they were considered “White Gold”.

Opposite the display, we found an exhibit featuring Oyster Harvesting Tools of the Trade along with models of boats adapted for oystering like skipjacks , skipjack pushboats, buyboats, sharpies or dredges.

Behind them, against the far wall was one of the most impressive exhibits. Beneath a case featuring an NOAA buoy for monitoring water in the Chesapeake Bay were two small wire oyster cages filled with shells representing the small number of oysters available for harvesting from that spot in 2010. In contrast, to the right of the display were wire cages of shells piled high atop one another along the wall representing the number of oysters harvested from the same spot in the 1870’s.

Groups like the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance, and the Oyster Recovery Partnership in coordination with the Severn River Association, the Magothy River Association and the Arundel Rivers Federation have led recovery efforts planting billions of spat on shell and building sanctuary reefs. The replanted oysters appear to be healthy and the population is now on the rise.

There were so many interesting exhibits we can’t mention them all but we particularly liked those dedicated to the workings of the McNasby Oyster Company.

Founded in 1886 by William McNasby Sr., the company began as a single storefront on Compromise Street in Eastport but grew until it became necessary to expand to the packing plant on 723 Second Street – the same building that is now home to the Annapolis Maritime Museum. By 1904, William Joseph, Sr. was joined in the business by William Joseph McNasby, Jr. and the company became very successful with growing demand for McNasby’s oysters across the continental U.S.

The packing plant operated for nearly a century. Below is an exhibit illustrating what shuckers’ stations were like. Once separated from the shells by hand with Shucker’s Knives, the oysters were placed in Shucker’s Buckets like those seen below filled with crushed ice, then passed on for packing and shipping.

When full, buckets of shucked oysters were rinsed, culled and graded and passed on to the packing room like the one pictured below and prepared for shipping or delivery. Note the Pearl Oyster labels on the pint and quart-sized cans. McNasby’s oysters were named after William Joseph McNasby, Jr.’s wife Pearl who was active in the business.

I also took advantage of the opportunity to visit the gallery where an exhibit called “Black Joy is an act of resistance” was presented along with a film called “Blacks On The Chesapeake” which featured and was narrated by the late Vincent O. Leggett, founder and president of the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation.

Both the film and the exhibit explored the rich history of life along the water’s edge and also delved into the beach resorts owned by the Carr family where African Americans, who were not allowed access to white-owned beaches could escape for a week or weekend of entertainment. The only beaches of their kind, they not only drew African Americans from across Maryland but also from other mid-Atlantic states. Carr’s Beach drew legendary black entertainers including Chuck Berry whose appearance drew an audience of 70,000 people.

There was also an interesting film from the Maritime Museum about the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Lastly, on the recommendation of Diane Rosso, we journeyed out onto the boardwalk and piers surrounding the museum which provided a view of the waters of Back Creek. We loved the panels of artwork along the rails depicting important moments in time that could have been seen from point of land on which the Annapolis Maritime Museum sits.

My favorites were the first panel featuring Native Americans in a dugout canoe watching Captain John Smith sail into Back Creek on his voyage of exploration in 1608 and the second and third panels seen below picturing the Providence settlement on the Severn River in 1672 and The Annapolis Tea Party in 1774.

The Annapolis Maritime Museum also maintains The Annapolis Maritime Park Campus at 7300 Edgewood Road and offers heritage cruises on its historic skipjack Wilma Lee. The museum offers many education programs for students and is the location for many popular events. To learn more about the museum and park, visit their excellent website The Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park | Annapolis, Maryland.

Eastport Oyster Boys 30th Anniversary Reunion Show at Maryland Hall this Sunday

Speaking of Eastport, we learned that the Eastport Oyster Boys 30th Anniversary “Shuck It Tour” is being held this Sunday, March 22 at Maryland Hall at 4 pm. The concert benefits the Annapolis Musicians Fund for Musicians. Tickets are available at marylandhall.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 while reducing 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

New to being an author and signing copies of her first book, “Reinvent Yourself After 50”, Melissa Wittke is thoroughly enjoying the experience.

Curious about the title of the book and the line beneath it which urges “Reinvent your Body, Mind, and Spirit And Become the Woman God Created You to Be”, I immediately asked Wittke what inspired her to write it.

“One of the key things I wanted to impart is that there is no expiration date on your purpose or your dreams though the world may tell you otherwise,” she said. “I wanted to make people approaching their 50’s or 60’s aware that what they are going through is not so much a midlife crisis as a midlife reawakening and can be a beautiful transition.”

Turning 61 this September, and having gone through that transition, Wittke feels she’s opened a new world of possibilities and opportunities for herself. She hopes sharing knowledge she’s gained through the book can guide other women through what, for many, is a challenging time.

“It’s information I wish I’d had,” she says. “There are negative stereotypes for people that reach a certain age that I don’t buy into. But there is a choice. Women, in particular, are very hard on themselves especially when it comes to their bodies. While raising the children and caring for their families, their bodies were last on their list. They were so busy taking care of everyone else that they put themselves last. Now, however, they’ll have time to improve their health, their bodies and their spirit and to reassess what they really want to do with their lives. I like to help them see that this can be a beautiful time for them.”

To that end, the author has partnered with Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi co-owner Billy Greer, to start the online platform, Younger Body and Mind – A healthy mind in a healthy body. As you can see from the photo below, the platform has an abundance of classes and instructional videos with exercises anyone can learn to do.

The exercises are primarily based on Tai Chi and Qigong, with and without weights. However, the website encourages all forms of exercise as does Whittke.

“I do some sort of workout every day. As a Type A personality with a lot going on, I need that balance. I’m a runner, I lift weights, I swim, I do Yoga, I do Kung Fu or Tai Chi. Whatever feels good,” she says.

For two decades, Wittke has been a familiar face in the Greater Severna Park area. A technology consultant who is a senior program manager for the University of Maryland Medical Center, she’s currently working on an AI system for the hospital system which she finds exciting. She also is involved with several companies she and her husband own. Physically active, she’s a runner who frequently uses one or more of the Anne Arundel County Trails. But she’s best known, perhaps, for her longtime association with Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi.

“I began there 14 years ago as a white sash student just like everyone else,” Wittke said. Seven years later, I earned my black sash.”

During those seven years and the years that followed, she assisted with or was involved as an instructor in numerous activities, programs and workshops. She’s seen below in 2024 with Kung Fu and Tai Chi participant Nikki Lee. The pair were assisting Jing Ying’s martial arts expert Billy Greer with the school’s Self-Defense Workshop for Women and Teens by demonstrating for workshop participants the series of escape techniques taught by Greer; then joining the participants in practicing them over and over.

Incidentally, Wittke will be helping with Jing Ying Institute’s upcoming Self-Defense Workshop for Women & Teen Girls that is being held this Sunday, March 15 from 2 till 4 pm. For information, see Self-Defense Workshop for Women & Teen Girls (Fundraiser) | Facebook.

In 2025, thirteen years after earning her black sash, Wittke was honored to be part of a Bai Shi ceremony where she was formally accepted as a 13th generation disciple of Chen style TaiJi under Shifu Billy Greer.

Melissa Wittke truly enjoys and intends to continue writing. In fact, she’s currently working on two follow-on books – “Reinvent Your Marriage” and “Reinvent Adult Parenting” based, to some extent, on her own experiences.

To obtain a copy of “Reinvent Yourself After 50”, visit Shop Now – Younger Body and Mind or search for it on Amazon.

AAUW hosted ERA NOW event at Market House in Annapolis

We received a tip and the wonderful photos seen below from AAUW/AA Co publicity chair Mary McGrath about an event the chapter co-hosted on March 4th.

The League of Women Voters and the Annapolis Association of University Women hosted a Support ERA NOW event at the Market House in downtown Annapolis on March 4th.

As a part of Women’s History Month, the Driving the Vote for Equality National Tour came to Annapolis in the form of a restored 1914 Saxon roadster called The Golden Flyer Two according to McGrath. It was the same type of car driven by ERA women on their ten-thousand-mile nationwide tour to gain support for the ERA. She added that it was fun seeing women wearing the sort of clothes worn by the suffragists.

After the Market House events, attendees gathered at Old Fox Books for a talk by author Jeryl Schriever who, with husband Alex Huppe, owns and restored the car.

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 while reducing 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

With below normal temperatures from December through February, a brutal snow and ice storm at the end of January, and a lack of community activities to be involved in or events to attend, winter has seemed to stretch on forever. There were two notable exceptions and both were cause for celebration in different ways.

The earliest and most important event for the well-being of Severna Park and surrounding communities was Good Neighbors Group’s 2026 S(o)uper Bowl Food Drive. Though still battling snow and ice from the storm on the ground and temperatures in the low teens, 71 neighborhoods and businesses rallied to support the drive that began on Thursday, February 5, and ended on Super Bowl Sunday, February 8.

“The food drive is always Thursday before Super Bowl until Super Bowl Sunday,” said Good Neighbors Group executive director Julie Shay. “It went pretty well. Most likely the grand total won’t be bigger than last year, but our S(o)uper Bowl Coordinator Kathie Hamlett will have the final numbers shortly.”

Shay and Hamlett bundled up and delivered boxes and bags full of pantry items to the Anne Arundel County Food Bank drop-off point, then sorted the items.

Also doing double duty at the Anne Arundel County Food Bank drop-off were Sammie Johns and her father J.C. Johns,

Soon completed, Hamlett’s final tally for the number of items collected was 18,179 items collected for 7 pantries and the AA County Food Bank – 179 items over last year’s total of 18,000 for 6 pantries.

In addition to the AA County Foodbank, this year’s pantries included those for SPAN, Inc. (Serving People Across Neighborhoods) as seen in the opening photo, the Asbury Community Assistance Network  (ACAN), Caring Cupboard, Rock & Steward Ministry in Glen Burnie, Open Hands of Maryland, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Pantry and Tides of Grace Crisis Center on the Eastern Shore.

Braving the cold to deliver a whole SUV full of food items they collected from their Manhattan Beach neighborhood to the SPAN, Inc. pantry were Ron Aten and Rob Schuyler.

Of course, the real work began immediately after the neighborhood captains made their deliveries with grateful volunteers for each pantry working to restock shelves that had a few empty spaces once the holiday season passed.

Designed to encourage neighbors to collect food and funds to maintain local food pantries, the S(o)uper Bowl Food Drives are a wonderful way to bring people together.

This year 71 neighborhoods and businesses participated in the drive with each selecting a “captain” responsible for collecting everyone’s contributions and storing them in one location – often the captain’s home or garage. Once collected, the captains and/or helpers must transport the donations to one of the designated charities depending on which one their neighborhood is assigned.

Neighborhoods compete with each other to see which can bring in the highest number of contributions and winners are announced and honored at a Wrap celebration. This year the celebration was held at Cafe Mezzanotte on February 18th. Winning the Most Improved Neighborhood title was Linstead (which almost tripled its contributions from last year with their best year yet). The Per House winner was Harlequin (with 11.77 items collected per house). The Winner By Volume was Winchester on the Severn (with a total of 1,652 items).

According to Shay, in view of the frigid weather the Good Neighbors Group expected they wouldn’t collect as much food as in previous years but found, instead, that they exceeded last year’s donation total. As always, they’re thankful to the neighbors who stepped up to make the drive a success. If interested in signing up for the 2027 S(o)UPER BOWL FOOD DRIVE, you can reach out by emailing: souperbowl@goodneighborsgroup.org.

As the month of February ended, a second event was held by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi which has been equally supportive of the community for over 25 years. The school has raised nearly $200,000 for community charities while working daily to raise the fitness, health and wellbeing of its students.

On February 17, the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Fire Horse began, and Jing Ying Institute celebrated it in style with more than two weeks of special activities.

Jing Ying’s Chinese Lunar New Year activities honored Year of the Fire Horse, highlighted achievements of students

Every year, one of the bright spots people look forward to in February is Jing Ying’s two-week celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year with a series of free classes, a “Cleaning Ceremony”, a tea tasting, and an Open House among other formal and informal activities.

Lunar New Year 2026 marked the start of a new zodiac cycle based on the Chinese lunar calendar and beginning the Year of the Fire Horse. (The Chinese zodiac follows a 12-year cycle, with each year represented by a different animal. In 2026, the cycle brings us to the Horse, the seventh animal in the zodiac order.)

The Lunar New Year Open House got underway on February 28th at 2:30 pm following a brief testing period for the school’s students earlier in the afternoon. A very important ceremony would be part of this year’s festivities, so many guests arrived early to find a seat.

Nevertheless, there was time to mingle. We had the pleasure of meeting friends Patti Shaffer, Fran Kushner and Nancy Zellmer who were already enjoying themselves.

Shaffer told us she’d first known Jing Ying owners Nancy and Billy Greer through Billy whom she’d met through a Tai Chi class. Kushner first met Greer when he taught a class at Pasadena Senior Center and she has been taking classes at Jing Ying Institute for 10 years now. Zelmer met Greer at Pasadena Senior Center too before beginning classes at the Institute. All three women said they like supporting the Greers because they do so much for the local community.

Formal and meaningful, the ceremony at the beginning of the Open House was conducted by Greer, Jing Ying Institute’s Shifu (martial arts master/ teacher/ father) and involved the awarding of Certificates and silk belt sashes denoting level of training or achievement to four students. The first, Everest Carmona, earned a certificate and a yellow silk sash replacing her beginner’s white sash. Alex Selley, who came next, was awarded a certificate and red sash, the second highest, and received congratulations from a line of Jing Ying’s most senior practitioners who possess black belts.

Then came the most important moments, the awarding of, not one, but two black sashes earned by long time Kung Fu and Tai Chi practitioners James Shey and Chris Selley.

Last to earn a certificate and achieve black sash status after many years of training was Chris Selley who is also the proud father of Alex Selley.

Following those presentations, Shey and Selley made speeches recounting their journeys to black belt status and thanking all those who supported them. Then they joined Greer and the line of black sash practitioners for an official photograph. We managed to catch up with both Shey and Selley to inquire what it was like making the long journey through the belt levels to become black sashes.

James Shay told us he began practicing Kung Fu and Tai Chi in 2008 but took a break in the very middle of his training.

“I was in the Navy and I left here in 2010. It took me six more years to cycle through the Navy and make my way back here to finish my journey. I’d really enjoyed the feeling of family here at Jing Ying so, when I came back, I rejoined.”

Chris Selley said he’d been a student at Jing Ying Institute since 2012, having taken up Tai Chi on the recommendation of an acupuncturist treating him for pain management following a back injury. He said working his way through the belt levels was a long journey for him.

“It took time, self-discipline and hard work though I was helped by the fact that my kids would come with me,” Selley said. “I worked on my diet, my strength, and my flexibility and mastered at lot of skills, movements and forms. But I still feel like a beginner in these arts.”

We also chatted briefly with Everest Carmona and her mother Melissa. We learned that Everest, who is homeschooled, joined Jing Ying Institute because they offered home school classes. She has definitely enjoyed them.

As can be seen from the photo below, the Lunar New Year celebration got seriously underway with a festive buffet that ran the length of the room.

At one of those tables, we found the Selley family celebrating with Chris and Alex. They were having a fine time.

We’d earlier spied an amazing cake we learned was baked by Nicole Selley in honor of her husband Chris and James Shey’s accomplishment. Each layer was iced in a color representing the sash/belt levels from white to black. Each layer was also different, ranging from vanilla and chocolate to fruit-filled, and each was absolutely delicious.

This Sunday, March 8th, in honor of The Year of the Fire Horse Jing Ying Institute has invited author Maria Allessandri from The Horse & People Project to give a presentation called Ask LikeYou Mean It – What Horses Teach Us About Communication. The free presentation will be held from 2 to 3 pm. For more information about the event, visit Chinese New Year.

Chesapeake Harmony Chorus Regional Send-Off Performance at Baldwin Hall

Chesapeake Harmony Chorus invites the public to join them for a free community performance as they prepare for their upcoming Regional Competition. The concert will be held on Wednesday, March 25th at 7 pm at Historic Baldwin Hall in Millersville. It’s a great chance for fans or newcomers to hear the chorus’ latest set and see what they’ve been working on behind the scenes. No tickets are required. Just show up and enjoy.

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 while reducing 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.