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It looks like this year’s Zombie Walk (site updated soon) will be held on Saturday, October 24 in Downtown Silver Spring. Those of you who participated in last year’s event know what a great time it was, and we hope this year will be even bigger. A rough count of 2008’s participants clocked in at nearly 200 undead from the estimates we got, and I know we can get enough people to fill the theater this year.

Speaking of which, stay tuned for a special announcement in the coming days about the entertainment we’re trying to line up. And I call dibs on my special zombie costume for this year.

In Other News…
Keep an eye out for some historical banners making their way to Silver Spring, sponsored by the Montgomery County Historical Society. They’ll highlight different themes, including agriculture, the Civil War, the Depression, and slavery and freedom in three different languages: Chinese, English and Spanish. And seeing the MoCo Society’s site and the wealth of information it has makes me think it’s a shame the Silver Spring Historical Society can’t get a decent site up.

“I want my Harris Teeter.” Not since Solome uttered the words “Bring me the head of John the Baptist” has a more important phrase been spoken. The Montgomery County Planning Board today postponed the hearing originally scheduled for this Thursday that was to address the very historic Falkland Chase Apartments and its arch nemesis: progress.

Now postponed until sometime in July, the hearing will help decide the fate of Falkland Chase, and whether or not developers would be allowed to (reportedly) take nine of its 22 acres to build more dense housing and a (gravely needed) Harris Teeter. I certainly wouldn’t advocate trashing the whole complex, but I think the CBD is where we need more dense development.

While there has been listserv traffic trying to get people to the meeting to protest the “destruction,” I plan on showing up with big Harris Teeter signs showing my support. There are certainly valid questions about traffic and infrastructure, but I think a solution can be found.

It’s the Central Business District, for crying out loud. And our two venerable grocery stores - Safeway and Giant - suck. So until then…

There’s been a lot of chatter recently (with some great comments at the Penguin, in particular) about the fate of the Perpetual Building at the corner of Georgia and Cameron. There’s a proposal on the table to tear it down and build a new structure with ground floor retail, offices, apartments, and a “pocket park.” (I expect someone, at some point, to ask the inevitable question: “Is that a park in your pocket?”)

While historical types want it to stay (It’s *50* years old! That’s historical!) because if its “significant architectural importance,” public opinion seems to sway heavily toward the “tear it down” contingent. I, personally, don’t find it all that attractive and couldn’t care less either way. If a structure can go up that would provide more resources to the community with something other than a “suburban Baby Boom modernism” feel, I say go for it.

But I think an even better idea would be to have a demolition party. The technology is available to implode the thing without harming the Metropoplitan Building next door, and who doesn’t enjoy watching shit blow up? Mind you, I don’t harbor any ill will toward the structure, but I’d be the first in line to buy front row tickets if they sold them.

I even set my alarm to watch Three Rivers Stadium go up in smoke. If this doesn’t get your heart pumping, I don’t know what would.

This site would not be half what it is today without the people that comment and contribute. This is a prime case in point, and a venture back to our eponymous roots.

The earlier post about the history of William Thayer (and that awesome Thayer’s Quest game) seemed to strike a chord with some people. Rhona, our newly-obsessed Thayer historian (and the bug has spread to our house, thanks to her), trekked through a brisk late-autumn day to find William Thayer’s tombstone at Rock Creek Cemetery. I am now determined to have a shin dig in honor of either his death or his birth. Either way, many thanks to Rhona for all her work.

We’ll have more posts to come about the Thayer family and its history, but for now, I leave you with an excerpt from a Washington Post article dated August 24, 1893:

The will of William M. Thayer, filed yesterday, bequeaths one third of all his real estate holdings to his wife, Julia Thayer, in lein of dower. The remaining real estate located in the District of Columbia is to be divided equally between Nathanial Thayer, Caroline Thayer Manning, and David Halcheson (? - bad print - unsure of last name). The remainder of the real estate, located in Montgomery County, is to be divided equally between the above-named heirs and Lucius W. Thayer and Mary Thayer Jones, the sixth apportioned to Nathaniel and Elenor Thayer to be held in trust for their children.

For the record, the middle name “Melanchthon” comes from the Lutheran theologan Philipp Melanchthon, a key leader of the Lutheran Reformation. I can almost imagine Philipp standing next to Martin Luther, nailing the note to the church door saying, “Hang on a minute.” But I guess it was in German, so it would really be “Ein minuten, bitte.” Or something like that.