Highlights from Luria Park Day

Raymondale annually sponsors a booth at Luria Park Day, which is sponsored by neighboring Holmes Run Acres in the park shared by both neighborhoods. Lots of folks stopped by our booth to study the photos of local birds taken by intrepid birders Dan & Beth Fedorko, or to choose a book donated by Raymondale's Little Free Library on St. James Place. Kids made haunted trees from paper bags, and fairy wings decorated with leaves and flower petals. Ginger the dog drew lots of adoring fans when she gamely loped around wearing a pair of her own fairy wings. Many thanks to the Wroblewski and Molinaro teens for donating community service hours to staff the booth!

Here are photos from this fun day!...

 

Raymondale 2015 Block Party

About 70 people attended the neighborhood block party on Ellis Court on Saturday night, a great turnout -- especially considering it had to be postponed twice. There were many new faces in the crowd mixing it up with longtime residents, and everyone shared great eats and chatted up a storm. There were a lot of kids of all ages this year, turning the Court into a lively playground with lots of impromptu games and glow-in-the-dark crafts. And beautiful weather for a picnic! A nice way to wind down the summer. Thanks to all who brought food and hung out to help set up and/or clean up afterward. Thanks, too, to Ellis Court residents for loaning their front yards :)

Highlights from National Night Out 2015

On Tuesday, August 4th, neighbors from Raymondale and Broyhill Park gathered at Woodly Pool to celebrate National Night Out. Local members of the police, sheriff, and fire and rescue departments mingled with residents giving good advice on protecting home and property as well as bringing fun goodies for the kids! We are all partners in keeping our respective neighborhoods friendly and crime-free. Residents of Raymondale and Broyhill park enjoyed the calm between summer storms for this great event. In addition to catching up, neighbors met police, fire and sheriff personnel, swam, ate hot dogs, toured a police car, fire engine and ambulance and kids made glow-in-the-dark crafts

The children and adults  loved touring the fire truck.

Local law enforcement enjoyed chatting with neighbors.

Many of the officers have been covering our area for years and have been to our event before and are very knowledgeable about our part of the county. Fire and Rescue is located off of Graham Road, Jefferson Station number 18.

Longtime residents enjoyed catching up.

Hot dogs and other good eats were enjoyed by everyone!

Thanks to everyone who came out for National Night Out especially our law enforcement and fire/rescue folks who we treasure as a very important part of our community!

Storm Drain Labeling in Raymondale

All 40 storm drains in Raymondale are now labeled with special stickers reminding residents that it's our collective responsibility to protect our watershed from pollutants. That's because even if you live on a property that does NOT have a stream, ALL runoff from your property will funnel into the street drains, which then lead directly (!) into Raymondale's stream, and then on to bigger and bigger waterways -- including the Potomac River-- on its way to the Chesapeake Bay. 

So next time you fertilize your lawn, make sure to do it well before the next rainstorm, or else the rain will carry the fertilizer into the storm drains. When you wash your car, do it on grass (which acts as a filter) or at a car wash, to prevent soap and oily grime from going into the streams. These and other strategies are included in a brochure that has been delivered to your home within the past week.

Raymondale Civic Association wishes to thank neighborhood teens Mira and Tate Wroblewski and Grace and Martha Molinaro for completing this important community service project!

Invasive Plant Pull, May 9-10

On May 9-10, Raymondale neighbors and over two dozen school students met at the park entrance at Dye and Brad Streets for an invasive plant pull.

A chart was provided to let everyone know which plants needed to go. These non-native plants chocke out the more beneficial native plants and our trees. 

Over 25 contractor-sized trash bags worth of invasives were filled!

"Doughnuts" or rings around the bases of trees were made by the volunteers pulling out invasives and sparing the trees from having these plants, like English ivy, from growing up the tree.

Refreshments were provided to the volunteers whose ages ranged from elementary school age to octegenarians. A HUGE round of thanks to everyone who turned out!