5th Annual Great Brookland Yard Sale

The fifth annual Great Brookland Yard Sale will take place on Saturday May 12th from 10:00 AM until 2:00PM. Over 50 households have signed up to have yard sales. For more information, visit the Brookland Civic Associations Website.  This years rain date is May 13th.
Thi annual event is always a great way to get out, meet neighbors and find some great deals and steals!  In past years participation has been mostly by Brookland  residents, but this years map shows a few houses in Michigan and North Michigan Park as well.  If you would like to participate in the GBYS, follow this link, and provide your name and address of your yard sale.  Also send  a list of specific items for sale, and photos to draw people to your sale. This will get you on the official Map and hopefully increase your foot traffic!

View Great Brookland Yard Sale 2012 in a larger map

CUA Fireworks Show This Friday

From CUA Campus Ministry "On behalf of the Office of Campus Ministry at The Catholic University of America, I would like to invite you for a firework show that is being held on our campus on Friday, April 27, 2012. This is the finale to our end of the year celebration that has been organized by our students at CUA. The firework show will begin at 9:45pm and can be viewed best from the west side of campus, nearest the Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception. This event has been coordinated with the Office of General Counsel, Department of Public Safety, Metropolitan Fire Department and Zambelli Firework Company. We hope that you will be able to join us in this celebration." This surely seems like a can't miss for tomorrow night, especially considering the the First Family of Fireworks are producing it! Hopefully those of us neighboring the CUA Campus will take full advantage of the event being in our own back yards! Hopefully some of you readers will take some great pictures to share with us here at the Blog as well!

This Weeks Riggs Rd and SD Ave Construction Update

And the band marches on...slowly!

Want to Get Away From It All...Try Being a Hermit in NE DC

  Architect Magazine has run an interesting piece on a hermitage (yes for hermits) to be built on the gorounds of Mount St. Sepulchre (aka the Franciscian Monestary in Brookland), designed by CUA's Architecture Students.  The full article can be found here.
"The process began in 2010. Fourteen students were charged with designing a 350-square-foot cabin to house not just monks, but anybody who wanted to withdraw from this world of perpetual connectedness. (Eventually, the Fransciscans want to build as many as four modern hermitages on their grounds to rent out, for one week at a time.) As a preliminary exercise, instructor Bill Jelen asked the students to turn off their various electronic implements for an hour and just sit by themselves. 'It’s amazing how many people couldn’t do that,' Jelen says."

It's seems like a very interesting idea, and one that many of us could potentially benifit from. Especially considering the hyperconnected, stress magnified, perpetual motion world we live in inside the beltway.  More information on the hermitage can be found below:
http://www.myfranciscan.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=158&Itemid=62
http://publicaffairs.cua.edu/releases/2012/franciscan-hermitage.cfm

Metro Station Weekend Closing

  If you plan on getting around the city this weekend, you could be in for a little hassle...especially if you are planning to use the Ft. Totten Station.  WMATA has announced system maintenance taking place from April 20th through April 22nd that will result in the closing of the Ft. Totten Metro Red line Station, as well as Takoma and Brookland stations.  Busses will be running between Rhode island and Silver Spring stations all weekend, but you should plan to ad at least 30-40 minutes to your normal travel times.  More information can be found here.  Good luck and safe travels.

DC Farmers Market Transformation To Union Market District

  Many residents of NE, especially Brookland, Ivy City, Michigan Park, NOMA and surrounding areas, are familiar with the DC Farmers Market located on 5th St NE aross from Gallaudet University. The location of a vibarant urban market place in the 1800's, gave way to the meat packing and produce district in the early-mid 1900's, and now on to an underutilized and often unknown area of the city. With the exception of a few hidden gems, like A. Litteri's italian market and the Weekend Flee Market, most of the area laid unknown to a majority of the city's everyday residents.  All of that will soon be changing however, with the market scheduled to re-open (unbeknownst to us) this coming June with an all new look and feel.
  This past October an electrical fire broke out at the market, devastating the structure and closing it indefinitely.  However,  from the ashes risese a bright new future.  The owners of the marlet have long had plans for redevelopment of the property, and it looks as though these plans are moving along quicker than anticipated.  The below video is from the Washington Post provides an overview of the redesign of the market, as well as a glimpse of things to come at the new Union Market!



Below is the advertising video provided by EDENS, who owns the market site, showcasing some of the market's history and their vision for the future.



  To celebrate the reopening of the market, EDENS is holding a "Sunday Supper" on Jun 3rd, to benifit the FoodCorps of DC.  While the ticket price is a little steep at $240 a pop, the quality of Chef talent is second to none!  One thing is for sure, and that is it will be nice to have a fresh food market and entertainment sight so close to our part of DC.

This Weeks Riggs Rd and SD Ave Construction Update