Okto-Bear-Fest at IT'SUGAR at Rockville Town Square

It's officially Oktoberfest season, but this year it's also Okto-Bear-Fest at IT'SUGAR at 130-B Gibbs Street at Rockville Town Square. The candy shop is featuring bear and beer-themed sweet treats all month, inviting customers to "work on your bear belly."

Among the more imaginative offerings are amber and frost-colored gummy bears, simulating beer with a thick head of foam, and sold in beer mugs. Chocolate-covered Dingle Bearies feature gummy bears again, this time in a coating chocoholics will approve of. Even Duff Beer makes an appearance.

Has anyone ever been able to find an expiration date on a can of Duff Beer? I will buy some immediately the day I can, but I have a policy against consuming any perishable food or drink that doesn't have an expiration date.

West Elm opening October 3 at Pike & Rose (Photos)

West Elm, a modern furniture and home decor retailer, will open Thursday, October 3, 2019 at Pike & Rose at the corner of Grand Park Avenue and Rose Avenue. Here's an exclusive sneak peek inside their showroom.

Sunday Morning Bakehouse soft opening at Pike & Rose (Menu+Photos)

Sunday Morning Bakehouse, the long-awaited new bakery cafe at 11869 Grand Park Avenue at Pike & Rose, is holding soft-opening hours this week. This is not a full opening, as the hours are variable, and the menu is not the "official" menu but still pretty sizable.

Sunday Morning Bakehouse
soft opening menu

Check out the very stylish interior; this is a cafe that "looks like Pike & Rose." Comfortable furniture at the rear of the space invites you to meet up with friends over coffee and Elvis croissants. As much as visitors are going to seek out Sunday Morning Bakehouse based on its now-legendary farm market reputation, I think Pike & Rose residents are going to especially appreciate this new addition to the property.

Taylor Gourmet opening at Pike & Rose today at 11 AM

Taylor Gourmet returns to Montgomery County today. Their shuttered Pike & Rose location at 926 Rose Avenue will reopen this morning at 11:00 AM. The reincarnated hoagie chain says the first 25 people in the door will get a free T-shirt. Not bad!

Five Guys reopens at Rockville Town Square

The panic is over. Burgers and fries are once again being served at 130 Gibbs Street. Five Guys has reopened at Rockville Town Square. The food is just as you remember it, but the space has been renovated. Now we can get back to debating which premium burger is best, Five Guys, In-N-Out Burger, or Shake Shack?

Signs of Barnes & Noble arriving at Congressional Plaza, Modern Market closed

Tenants are coming and going at Congressional Plaza. Barnes & Noble has posted "Coming Soon" signage in front of its future space at the shopping center on Rockville Pike. The bookstore will open in 2020.

Meanwhile, Modern Market has closed at Congressional. It seems to have been a victim of Montgomery County's anti-business policies and moribund economy, as its Bethesda location also closed, and Modern Markets outside the County remain open.

Rockville's St. Raphael School named 2019 Blue Ribbon School; MCPS shut out

Montgomery County Public Schools were shut out again in the U.S. Department of Education's 2019 Blue Ribbon Schools list. Not a single MCPS school was named a Blue Ribbon School this year, and it's not the first time this decade this has happened. MCPS performance has steadily declined across the board since 2010. Its failure to close the achievement gap certainly did not help earn an award that partly considers schools' success in doing so among its criteria. Overall academic excellence is the other major consideration for recognition as a Blue Ribbon School.

The failure to show in this annual federal measure of academic excellence is just the latest embarrassment for MCPS. Surging drop-out rates, questions about student safety, failure to fully-vet staff, repeated sexual abuse scandals, a persistent achievement gap, poor test scores, and a chronic class attendance problem have already tarnished what was once considered the premiere school district in the Mid-Atlantic. MCPS has also begun to earn a national reputation as lightweight in academic rigor; a new, easy grading system has really taken the shine off top marks, and when students continued to fail final exams, MCPS simply got rid of the exams. Neither move will impress college admission officials as word spreads.

Unlike Montgomery County, public schools from Calvert, Howard, Prince George's and Worcester counties were recognized on this year's Blue Ribbon Schools list. Only one Montgomery County school made the list this year, and it was a Catholic school - St. Raphael School in Rockville. Students there celebrated with Chick-fil-A, according to the Catholic Standard. 

Montgomery County officials have continued to throw greater amounts of money at MCPS, with no positive result, clearly indicating that the problem is not funding alone. With Montgomery County floundering on every front from education and economic development to crime and traffic congestion, it's clear we need new leaders who actually know what they are doing, and will put the best interests of children ahead of their own political calculations. We must overcome a political cartel that suffers from a severe case of Lake Wobegon Syndrome, and accept that this County is in real trouble, folks.