Labor Day is Almost Here!
- Megan Searing Young
- Aug 23, 2024
- 2 min read
We hope many of you will join us over Labor Day weekend at the Museum. We have a variety of fun events planned!
On Saturday, August 31, starting at 9 a.m., the Museum house will be the starting point for a Bricks and Blocks Walking Tour. This tour will highlight historic Greenbelt’s domestic architecture, the “brick and block” homes that make up the majority of the original planned community. The guide will show the walkers how to “read” the brick and block homes. The tour will feature spots of historic interest that have not been featured on previous walking tours. The Bricks and Blocks tour leaves from the Greenbelt Museum at 10-B Crescent Road and takes approximately two hours, including the Museum’s orientation film. Pre-registration is required via Eventbrite. Dress for walking outdoors. The tours will not be conducted in thunder/lightning storms or if the temperature is above 95 degrees.
On Sunday, September 1, join us for the Retro Town Fair (RTF)! This event is much like those the the earliest Greenbelters enjoyed starting in 1939. Ribbons will be awarded for the best entries in a number of categories including flowers, vegetables, baked goods, canned goods and needlework/sewing. Entries will be accepted from 10 to 11:30am and the winners displayed from 1 to 4pm. All items must be picked up between 4 and 5pm. Questions can be sent to education@greenbeltmuseum.org
Also on Sunday, the Museum house will open for short tours from1 to 5pm and Monday right after the parade from 12 noon to 2pm. The regular, longer format tours will not be offered, but visitors can take a peek to see how a typical Greenbelt family would have lived in the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Free!
See you at the fair!
Question on the Bricks and Blocks tour: do you get into why certain blocks/bricks show up more in particular sections of the neighborhood (like timing/material availability vs. design choice)? I’m a sucker for the “why this looks like this” part of local history. Total nerd aside: reading patterns in masonry hits the same part of my brain as messing with Caesarcipher—small shifts, big differences.
Love that you’re keeping the early-Greenbelt tradition alive with the fair—ribbons for flowers and canned goods feels wonderfully specific and human. If the weather cooperates, this is exactly the kind of weekend that makes a place feel like a real community, not just a bunch of houses near each other. I saw someone make a poster in a watercolor style using Imgg and it weirdly matches the whole retro vibe.
The Retro Town Fair entry categories are such a throwback—in the best way. I’m tempted to enter baked goods but I always overthink presentation and then chicken out at the last minute. Funny enough, I tried Stylelooklab before a community event recently just to see if a different haircut would make me feel more “put together,” so maybe I’ll actually commit this time.
Two hours including the orientation film is a nice length—long enough to feel like you learned something, not so long you’re wrecked after. I’m also weirdly into the idea of “reading” brick patterns; it’s like a little puzzle hiding in plain sight. Speaking of puzzles, I wasted an entire rainy weekend on Blockblast, so I’m trying to make my Labor Day plans more outdoorsy this year.
I’m glad you’re doing preregistration for the walking tour—nothing worse than showing up and realizing it’s capped. Also, the “spots not on previous tours” line totally got me; I’ve done a couple Greenbelt walks and there’s always one little detail that sticks with you. This is a weird comparison, but it’s like using Caesarcipher to figure out what you’re even looking at before you can really appreciate the pattern.