Good morning, Potomackers! | Why do Marylanders panic-buy milk and bread before every snowstorm? Because nothing says “I’m ready for two inches of snow” like French toast. | In today’s Potomac Loop, | 📌 Kema makes Top 100 Restaurants 📌 Potomac’s Library’s must-see exhibit 📌 Team members Renee & Alizon take the stage at Hunter’s | Let’s Loop. | 🗞️ THE LOCAL LOWDOWN | | | 🛝 Greenbriar playground is back. Montgomery Parks reopened the local playground 20 months after a $1M arson fire, restoring the slides, climbing features, and a multi-level fort for ages 5–12. Plan a visit | 🧠 Quincy Wilson, off the track. The Bullis Olympian talks about tuning out the online noise, keeping school first, and choosing to have with friends before graduating this fall. Read the profile [Washington Post] | 📸 Potomac Library’s photo exhibit is a must-see. It Happened Here: Remembering Three Lynchings runs through Feb. 13, tracing lynchings in Rockville & Poolesville and the community work around remembrance and reconciliation. See it before it closes | 🍣 Kema lands on Washingtonian’s 2026 Top 100. The Cabin John sushi spot gets love for spicy tuna crispy rice and an Old Bay roll topped with lump crab. Scan the full 100 [Washingtonian] | ☀️ MoCo Rec summer camps are open. Registration is live for arts, sports, STEAM, teen SSL, and therapeutic camps, and spots tend to go fast. Browse the Camp Guide and enroll | 🗳️ Poll workers needed for the primary. The County Board of Elections is recruiting, especially bilingual Spanish speakers and 16+ students who can earn SSL credits. Apply by Jan. 27 | 🎥 “Museum rizz” goes viral. National Gallery curator Alison Luchs deadpans Gen Z slang in an Instagram video about a 16th-century urn while teasing a $3,000 creator open call. Watch and share |
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| 🗓️ THE SOCIAL CALENDAR | | | 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 at the same time the next day - Thursday 1/22 🕯️ | 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 the 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. 🥾 | | Saturday - 1/24 | Free Women’s Wellness Workshop | 12:15pm–1:15pm @ Pvolve Potomac An hour of stress-taming tools and supportive conversation for busy women and moms, a midday reset that makes self-care feel practical, not performative. Email potomac@pvolvestudios.com to reserve a spot 🧘♀️ | Birdland Caravan: Mall Rally | 3–6pm @ Westfield Montgomery Mall Catch a mini Orioles festival with on-stage Q&As, kid games, and photo ops with Oriole Bird and Mr. Splash, plus a few familiar faces, before the team heads to Spring Training. No tickets required ⚾ | Sunday - 1/25 | Constellations Chamber Music Party | 1pm @ The Constellations Music Salon Bring your instrument for a no-judgment chamber music play-in, this month reading Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2 with fellow local amateurs and the Constellations crew. RSVP in link 🎻 | | |
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| | 🎷 LIVE & LOCAL-ISH MUSIC | | 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
| Saturday - 1/24 | Kennedy Center Family Theater | NSO: Music for Young Audiences - Musical Tails | 11am | TIX Rocklands Farm Winery | David Sparrow | 1-4pm Kennedy Center Family Theater | NSO: Music for Young Audiences - Musical Tails | 1:30pm | TIX Hank Dietle's Tavern | The Acoustic Guitar Project | 5-7:30pm Kennedy Center Millennium Stage | Unofficial Late Night | 6pm The Music Center at Strathmore | Prokofiev, Gershwin & Beach | 7:30pm | TIX Kennedy Center Concert Hall | NSO: Songs of Destiny & Fate | 8pm | TIX Hank Dietle's Tavern | Big Boy Little Band | 9pm-midnight
| Sunday - 1/25 | Kennedy Center Family Theater | NSO: Music for Young Audiences - Musical Tails | 1:30pm | TIX Hank Dietle's Tavern | Mary Ann Redmond Band | 2-4pm | TIX The Music Center at Strathmore | BSO: Brahms & Haydn with Heyward | 3pm | TIX The Irish Inn | Brooks Tegler & Friends | 4:30-7:30pm Kennedy Center Family Theater | NSO: Music for Young Audiences - Musical Tails | 5pm | TIX Hank Dietle's Tavern | King Teddy | 6-9pm
| *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 get out more” and then goes right back inside. | -Potomac Loop Team |
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