Good morning, Potomackers! | What do you call someone who typically works every federal holiday?
Self-employed. | Thanks for your feedback on the best intro to the Loop - we’re sticking with this new format going forward! | In today’s Potomac Loop, | 📌 Hate graffiti at Whitman investigated
📌 MLK Day of Service & Volunteer Fair
📌 Del McCoury bluegrass at WolfTrap | Let’s Loop. | 🗞️ THE LOCAL LOWDOWN | | | 🍽️ Winter Restaurant Week starts today. Hundreds of DC, Maryland, and Virginia spots are offering 3-course fixed-price menus all week, with Duke’s Grocery & MoCo Founding Farmers as Potomac’s local participants. Dukes menu | Founding Farmers Menu | All participants | 🏃♂️ Bullis Track sets another national record. At last weekend’s VA Showcase competition, Bullis’s Mixed 4×400m relay team sliced another two seconds off last year’s time to set another national record. Read the story | 🛑 Hate graffiti at Whitman investigated. Police are investigating an anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian spray-painted message found on the side of the school Friday. Read the report [Bethesda Magazine] | 👶 Twins surprise delivery off I-270. County Fire & Rescue Services helped deliver one baby girl in a car off the Falls Road exit ramp Friday morning, and her twin followed 40 minutes later at Shady Grove Medical Center. Read the details [The MoCo Show] | 🎭 Play In A Day tickets are live. Six DC-area companies will write, rehearse, and perform brand-new 10-minute plays in 24 hours this Feb. 28 at Imagination Stage. Grab your seats | 🎟️ National Harbor pitches a Vegas-style mini-Sphere. Sphere Entertainment is exploring a 6,000 seat LED-wrapped entertainment dome for 2030, with a price tag near $1B and backed by $200M in incentives. See the renderings [The Washington Post] |
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| 🗓️ THE SOCIAL CALENDAR | | | Monday - 1/19 | MLK Day of Service & Volunteer Fair | 9:30am–12pm @ Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza
Turn MLK Day into a day with all-ages service projects and a volunteer fair that matches you with MoCo nonprofits for year-round impact. Register in link 🤝 | MLK Day Camp | 1–4pm @ My Gym Potomac
When school is off, My Gym turns into three hours of kid-catnip with games, crafts, gymnastics, and sports for ages 3 to 9. Book in link 🧸 | Mahjongg Open Play | 1:30–3:30pm @ Cogir of Potomac
Mahjongg mavens can claim a seat at Cogir’s open play for some friendly, low-pressure tile-slinging. 🀄 | School’s Out Hike | 2–3pm @ Seneca Creek State Park Boat Center
Let a volunteer ranger set the pace while you soak up fresh air and delightfully obscure wildlife trivia, with options from a short stroll to the full 3.7-mile lake loop. 🥾 | Tuesday - 1/20 | Family Early Bird Bingo | 6pm @ Quincy’s Potomac Bar & Grille
Beat bedtime and still feel like you went out by snagging dinner and letting the kids call numbers at Quincy’s early-bird family bingo. 🎱 | Wednesday - 1/21 | New Year Dinner and Learn | 6pm @ Attman’s Potomac Deli
Learn about Jewish end-of-life traditions and smart funeral planning over a complimentary dinner from Northern Virginia Jewish Funerals. Event also takes place same time next day - Thursday 2/22 🕯️ | Book Discussion: "The Searcher" by Tana French | 6:30–7:30pm @ Potomac Library
Talk small-town Irish secrets with fellow readers as you dissect Tana French’s The Searcher about a retired Chicago cop chasing a missing person in Ireland. Copies available at desk 📚 | Thursday - 1/22 | Navigating Senior Living Care | 1–2pm @ The Tower Building
Local senior-living navigator Lisa Friedman breaks down five expensive mistakes, including housing assumptions, insurance confusion, and medical-support mismatches to know before you sign anything. Register in link 🧭 | History Hour: Josiah Henson, The Man Vs. The Myth | 6–7pm @ Josiah Henson Museum and Park
Separate the real Rev. Josiah Henson from the Uncle Tom myth in a one-hour talk with museum educator Ginger Moodie-Woodward, with time to tour the museum. Tickets in link 🏛️ | Friday - 1/23 | Skate and Story Day | 11am–12pm @ Cabin John Ice Rink
Celebrate Skating Month with parent-and-tot ice time, then thaw out in the party room with a skating story and crafts for ages 2–5. ⛸️ | Frost Bite Hike | 2–3pm @ Seneca Creek State Park Office
Join the Frequent Hikers crew for a slow, winter-proof loop and learn how to ID trees by bark and seeds. 🥾 | |
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| 🎷 LIVE & LOCAL-ISH MUSIC | | Monday - 1/19 | Kennedy Center Millennium Stage | Kings of Harmony: A Modern Legacy of Brass and Praise | 6-9pm The Irish Inn | Irish Inn Mates | 7-10pm Hank Dietle’s Tavern | Wolf’s Blues Show & Sit-In Jam | 7-11pm
| Tuesday - 1/20 | Hank Dietle’s Tavern | Dan Hovey | 5:30-7pm The Barns at Wolf Trap | The Del McCoury Band | 8pm | TIX Hank Dietle’s Tavern | Bryant McGregory & The Bad Mofos | 8-10pm
| Wednesday - 1/21 | Hank Dietle’s Tavern | CGT Jazz Collective | 5:30-7pm The Irish Inn | Inn House Band | 6-9pm The Barns at Wolf Trap | The Del McCoury Band | 8pm | TIX Hank Dietle’s Tavern | MASC Winners Concert Night | 8-10pm
| Thursday - 1/22 | ⭐ The Grove Bar and Grill | Steve Bray | 6-8pm ⭐ Hunter’s Bar and Grill | Renee & Alizon | 7pm Windridge Vineyards | Greg Kneller | 5-8pm Kennedy Center Millennium Stage | Eli Lev | 6pm The Irish Inn | Jeff Herbert & Lindsay Austin | 6-9pm Kennedy Center Concert Hall | NSO: Songs of Destiny & Fate | 7pm | TIX The Mansion at Strathmore | Hermitage Piano Trio | 7:30pm | TIX Hank Dietle's Tavern | The Thrills | 8-11pm
| Friday - 1/23 | ⭐ Whelan’s | Jay Byrd | 7-10pm Windridge Vineyards | Matt Miller | 5-8pm Hank Dietle's Tavern | Beatles at Dietle's | 5:30-7:30pm Kennedy Center Millennium Stage | Ryan Hanseler | 6pm The Barns at Wolf Trap | Gaby Moreno | 8pm | TIX Kennedy Center Concert Hall | NSO: Songs of Destiny & Fate | 8pm | TIX Hank Dietle's Tavern | Soul Crackers | 9pm-midnight | TIX
| *Dates & times subject to change based on weather and/or venues making your life more difficult |
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| | | | | Thanks for reading! | Share the Loop with that neighbor who always says “we should grab dinner sometime” but never follows through. | -Potomac Loop Team |
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