📚 Cold Spring Elementary ranks #10 statewide out of 1,373 schools in U.S. News’ 2026 Best Elementary Schools in Maryland, based on testing, graduation, and high school preparedness. Wayside, Bells Mill, and Potomac Elementary all made Top 25. See the full rankings

🥪 Free lunch alert: During the federal shutdown, Moby Dick House of Kabob is giving federal employees a free sandwich every weekday from 11am–2pm at Potomac and area locations. Watch the COO’s message

🍺 BabyCat Brewery’s Bethesda Taproom on Rugby Ave opens today, the Grand Opening Halloween Bash party is this Friday with costumes and specials. See the first week schedule

🎢 Last call for Six Flags America: Our closest theme park has its final weekend before closing for good. Take one last coaster ride and bring the kids for Boo Fest

Dinner & Learn: Jewish Funeral Planning | Weds-Thurs @ Attman’s Potomac Deli
Hosted by Northern Virginia Jewish Funerals, this Dinner & Learn demystifies Jewish funeral traditions, choices, and costs so families leave informed, relieved, not sold to. Free dinner on either Wednesday or Thursday at 6pm 🍽️

McCrillis Gardens Fall Tour | 1–2:30pm @ McCrillis Gardens
Brookside’s Karl Quimby leads a brisk wander through this hidden woodland, spotlighting fall-blooming camellias and champion trees for a connoisseur’s look at McCrillis’ jewel-box textures. Register in link + also on Saturday @ 10:30am 🍁

Planning for Senior Life: Montgomery & DC Chapter Meeting | 2:30–4:30pm @ Cogir of Potomac
Network with vetted senior-services professionals as the Montgomery & DC chapter tackles aging challenges and planning ahead. Guests are welcome, register in link 🤝

Denice Frohman: Esto No Tiene Nombre | 12:30pm @ Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center
Slam champion Denice Frohman performs a one-woman show in English with some Spanish, uplifting oral histories of Latina lesbian elders and exploring identity, community, and change. Tickets in link 🎤

Amanda Leland: Sea Change | 7–8pm @ Wonderland Books
Environmental Defense Fund’s Amanda Leland unpacks Sea Change, a hopeful, plain-spoken look at unlikely alliances that rescued fisheries, in conversation with a local chef. 🌊

Compagnie Hervé Koubi: Sol Invictus | 8pm @ Music Center at Strathmore
French-Algerian choreographer Hervé Koubi’s electrifying troupe vaults through capoeira, urban, and contemporary forms in Sol Invictus, a luminous meditation on lineage, solidarity, and love’s gravity-defying resilience. Tickets in link 🌞

Halloween Costume Contest & Social | 12:30–2pm @ Nancy H. Dacek North Potomac Community Recreation Center
Take the spotlight in a playful costume showdown with prizes, photo ops, and cackles, as North Potomac contenders vie for 2025 bragging rights. Ages 55+ register in link 🎭

Fall Harvest Festival | 5–8pm @ Scotland Neighborhood Recreation Center
Family-night Fall Harvest with games, candy, and treats, plus a costume contest, music, arts and crafts, and giveaways for neighbors of all ages. Free + costumes encouraged 🎃

6th Fear Presents: The Haunted Trail | 7–9:30pm @ 14901 Damson Terrace
North Potomac’s beloved DIY haunt returns with a ten-minute maze of eerie effects and jump scares built by neighborhood families for fun and good causes. Free, ages 5+, bring non-perishable food donations 👻

Halloween Costume Party | 9pm–1am @ Quincy's Potomac
Quincy's hosts a late-night Halloween blowout with DJ Sonic Marvel packing the dance floor and a Best Costume Prize up for grabs 🎃

Old Line Market | Sat-Sun @ Aix la Chapelle Farm
A chic vintage, garden, and artisan fair across historic barns, with 60+ vendors, lush flowers, food trucks, wine, and craft beer in bucolic Poolesville. Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 10am-4pm 🪴

Family Nature Hikes | 10–11am @ Locust Grove Nature Center
Join a Master Naturalist for an easy woods stroll spotting wildlife and blooms as autumn settles in, perfect for families and kids. Register in link 🥾

Art in Nature: Poe-tree Tea Time with Grandmother Sycamore | 3:30–4:30pm @ Locust Grove Nature Center
Sip your own tea by the campfire while a naturalist leads poetry under the beloved sycamore, a cozy hour of nature-inspired verse for adults. Register in link + bring your favorite tea ☕

Yoga with Archana | 3–4pm @ Potomac Library
Find your Sunday reset with instructor Archana Gupta’s gentle, breath-led yoga tailored to all bodies and abilities for balance, calm, and confidence. Bring a mat and water 🧘‍♀️

^{*Dates & times subject to change based on weather and/or venues making your life more difficult}

Share the Loop with that neighbor who decorates for Halloween like it’s a competitive sport

-Potomac Loop Team