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Neighborhood-Led Student Satellite Launches

/ Anna White
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, September 14, as seen on NASA’s livestream.


By Leticia Barr

It’s up! North Woodside’s own SilverSat CubeSat launched into space Sunday, September 14, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX rocket to begin its mission to tweet pictures to order from space.

Persistence paid off for SilverSat’s team of student engineers, who started out as a small group of local middle and high schoolers in 2017.

But the effort started three years earlier as a labor of love launched by North Woodside resident Dave Copeland, himself an aerospace engineer, along with his wife Cheryl Guerin Copeland, fellow North Woodside residents Leticia Barr and Jim Barr, and Woodside Forest neighbors Noelle Kurtin and Chris Rutledge. Their plan: Gather a group of middle and high school students to build and launch a miniature satellite known as a CubeSat.

It took a lot longer to pull off than they ever dreamed. “I thought it would launch by 2019,” Dave said. Their own children aged out of the project and graduated from high school, as have numerous students in the project. But others signed up to replace those who moved on, and successive teams plowed through the pandemic and other hardships to bring the project to reality.

The students packed the 10-cubic cm (about 4-cubic inch) satellite with a camera, radio transmitter and receiver, computer, solar panels, electronics, antenna, guidance systems, and other equipment needed for its mission to tweet from orbit.

Guided by Dave and a few other dedicated parents with the needed expertise, they tested and retested the satellite to make sure it worked and could withstand the rigors of space. They learned how to operate a radio transmitter, earned amateur radio licenses, and demonstrated their expertise to NASA’s strict standards.

North Woodside and Woodside Forest neighbors and founding Board members of SilverSat Leticia Barr, Jim Barr, Chris Rutledge, Cheryl Copeland, and Noelle Kurtin celebrate the launch at a home in Montgomery Hills. SilverSat President, Dave Copeland, attended the launch in Cape Canaveral.

“The goal of SilverSat has always been to provide area kids with an opportunity to learn something outside what they learn inside a classroom,” said Leticia, a former Montgomery County Public Schools teacher. Some of the students have chosen to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees and careers, and more than a few have come back to act as mentors to the team. Leticia’s daughter, Emily, was one of the founding participants. Now majoring in engineering as a senior at Harvey Mudd College in California, Emily watched the livestream of the launch from her dorm room and texted a photo of the rocket launch to the family group chat.

“The project was accepted into NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative in 2021,” said Dave.

Anyone can visit SilverSat’s websiteat Silversat.org/operations to request a photo. If it’s feasible, when the little satellite is orbiting over the right spot in the Northern Hemisphere, it can take a picture of that spot and then send it out over X (formerly Twitter) from its account @silversatorg for anyone to see.

SilverSat is on Bluesky bsky.app/profile/silversat.bsky.social, Facebook @SilverSat and Instagram @Silversat.

Support Lime & Cilantro in Time of Need

/ Anna White

GoFundMe link: https://gofund.me/f930be1b6

Lime & Cilantro has faced an unexpected and challenging situation that has deeply affected their business and the community they serve. Danny Chavez, the chef and owner, had a dream of creating a welcoming space where friends and family could enjoy great food. Unfortunately, they were forced to close their doors in October 2025 due to circumstances beyond their control. The sudden eviction left them with no time to gather their belongings, and the financial strain has been overwhelming.

Despite these hardships, they managed to reopen on November 18, but the road ahead remains difficult. The loss of income for Danny and his family, who are all employees, has been significant. The legal fees and lost inventory have drained their savings, and they are now working hard to rebuild. Your support can make a real difference in helping Lime & Cilantro get back on their feet.

Every visit to their restaurant and every contribution counts. Let’s come together to support this small business that has given so much to our community. Thank you for considering a donation to help them overcome this adversity.

– Excerpted from email circulating to local listservs

Lime & Cilantro to Reopen November 18

/ Anna White

Attention, neighbors! After nearly two months of closure, the popular and widely acclaimed Lime & Cilantro will reopen on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. It’s great to have such a gem of a restaurant in close walking distance from the neighborhood. Let’s show owner and executive chef Danny Chavez our support by giving the restaurant our business.

For more information, read Source of the Spring‘s article on the reopening.

Neighborhood Featured in Washington Post Article

/ Anna White

North Woodside and two of its residents, Geoff Gerhardt and Gus Bauman, were featured in a Washington Post article this week on the neighborhoods surrounding the busy Georgia Ave. corrider:

Montgomery Hills’ leafy neighborhoods contrast with busy Georgia Ave.
Where We Live | Five communities share the benefits and challenges of suburban life near an urban thoroughfare.
By Barbara Ruben, September 17, 2025

Access the article for a limited time here.

Upcoming Ban: Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers

/ Anna White

Sam Post performs his song about the upcoming county ban on gas-powered leaf blowers at the neighborhood porch open-mic concert on June 15, 2025.

Dear neighbors, here’s a reminder that Montgomery County’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers goes into effect July 1. These loud and inefficient machines release dangerous toxic and carcinogenic emissions. As a favor to your ears, your lungs, and especially your musician neighbors, please inform your landscapers about the ban, or hire landscapers who have transitioned to electric. Starting in July, new rebates for landscapers to go electric will be available. Be a good neighbor; respect the ban!
—Sam Post, The Beacon, Spring 2025

Sam subsequently debuted a song he composed about the upcoming gas-powered leaf blower ban at a recent neighborhood open-mic porch concert. It was an audience hit! For those who missed the event or who want to listen to song again, check out a video recording of it below, followed by full lyrics. Enjoy! (And respect the ban!)

For more information about the county’s gas-powered leaf blower ban, see www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DEP/property-care/leaf-blowers/

Gas-Powered Leaf Blower Ban Song
by Sam Post

Lyrics:

In case you don’t know about County Bill 18-22
I wrote this handy song in order to make sure that you do
Montgomery County followed DC and decided to ban
The sale and the use of gas-powered leaf blowers across this land
So now I’m asking you to get out there and help spread the word
‘Cause the number of leaf blowers in this neighborhood is absurd
They’re louder than an airplane
Which is why I started this campaign to complain
Before I go completely insane

Please respect the county’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers
To me this is religious stuff although I’m not a churchgoer
I know this might not be the thing that you lose sleep over
But every time I hear one I want to use a flamethrower

Leaf blowers are awful for your health and my sanity
So I speak for myself but also for all humanity
I am really trying not to use any profanity
But if you wrote music for your job you would understand me

Now I was hoping to explain this county law with this new beat
But right now there’s a leaf blower going right across the street
It’s making it really hard to concentrate; I’m trying to rhyme
I’ve got two kids over here; so I don’t really have much chance or opportunity 
So I’m hoping that this community will show unity against this leaf blower lunacy

I plead with you to  respect the county’s ban on leaf blowers
To me this is religious although I’m not a churchgoer
I know this might not be the thing that you lose sleep over
But every time I hear one I want to use a flamethrower

Leaf blowers are awful for your health and my sanity
So I speak for myself but also for all humanity
I am really trying not to use any profanity
But if you wrote music for your job you would understand me

Please mark your calendars
This ban starts July 1st
Please tell your landscaper
This law is on paper
This isn’t quackery so
If you want to be informative
Tell them use a battery-powered alternative

Our country may be turning into an autocracy
But luckily Montgomery county is still a democracy
So if you truly believe in progressive policy
Please help me out
Don’t hire a landscaper unless they plan to make switch
To electric battery power it works without a hitch
If you want to talk more later, I’ll be around the neighborhood
To make my pitch

How the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre Came to Be

/ Anna White

By Wendy and Lisa, daughters of Gus Bauman (North Woodside)

On Friday afternoon, August 24, 1984, when most Montgomery County officials were away on vacation, a contract developer quietly commenced demolition of the 1938 Art Deco Silver Theatre prior to a scheduled public hearing about designating it as an historic site.

The Silver Theatre in 1938, shortly after opening. Black people were not welcome for its first couple of decades. Source: M-NCPPC Historic Preservation
office file

Because the county executive, councilmembers, county attorney, and planning board chairman were all out of town, our dad—an involved civic leader and prominent land use attorney—received frantic phone calls from county planners about what was happening at the Silver Theatre building.

On the following Monday, the county permitting department, under pressure from Dad and others, issued a stop-work order before the exterior destruction had managed to reach the theater’s unique interior.

Then, on June 15, 1989, following appointment by the county council (and threatened veto by the county executive), Dad took the oath of office as full-time Chairman of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission/Montgomery County Planning Board. Under his leadership, following a decade of bitter struggles, including lawsuits, over what to do about the declining downtown Silver Spring, a new “Plan for the Revival of Downtown Silver Spring” was finally adopted by the county in April 1993. Among scores of action items, the plan recommended the shuttered, deteriorating Silver Theatre for historic designation and reuse as a performance venue. It was so designated the following February.

The new AFI Silver Theatre, with a nearly identical façade, welcomes everyone and features a great diversity of film festivals and screenings. Source: AFI Silver Theatre’s website

Now, as a major film buff, Dad was well aware that the American Film Institute had a very small theater inside the huge Kennedy Center. Perhaps, he thought, the AFI might wish to have a nearby Golden Age movie palace to showcase American and foreign films.

And so, in early 1993, he placed a phone call from M-NCPPC to AFI about his idea. When the citizens advisory committee on possible reuse of the Silver Theatre learned what the chairman—our dad—had done, they were furious with him; they had been pushing for a live-performance venue, not “another movie house.”

The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, the saved original theater and two additional screens, opened in April 2003.

For more information about current and upcoming films showing, see afisilver.afi.com.

Celebrate Black History Month by Learning More About Local Black History

/ Anna White
Former Lyttonsville/Linden resident and filmmaker Curtis Crutchfield introduces his 2024 documentary My Linden, My Lyttonsville: The Untold Story.

Celebrate Black History Month by learning more about local Black history!

Lyttonsville (aka Linden), a historically Black community established in 1853 by free laborer Samuel Lytton, is located just west of North Woodside. Train tracks run between the two communities, and the new Talbot Avenue Bridge connects them.

Now airing and streaming on public television is an hour-long documentary by former Lyttonsville/Linden resident Curtis Crutchfield about the history of the community he grew up in:

My Linden, My Lyttonsville: The Untold Story of Displacement
1960s era community renewal program displaced [one of] the oldest Black community in Montgomery County, MD. This documentary reveals the pain and pride of residents who were forced to leave their tight-knit neighborhood as the program swept across the nation and Black neighborhoods were deemed “problem areas.”

Watch now at www.pbs.org/show/my-linden-my-lyttonsville-the-untold-story-of-displacement/

The film features interviews with over two dozen current and former community residents and others, and draws parallels between the experience of living in Lyttonsville/Linden and in other small Black communities in Montgomery County, such as Scotland and Emory Grove.

Neighbors’ Upcoming Musical Performances

/ Anna White
Kassia Music

Kassia Music is a chamber group of strings, piano, and clarinet, including two composers, one of whom is pianist Sam Post. The group blends classical traditions with folk and rhythmic influences from around the world. kassiamusic.org or @KassiaMusic on Instagram and Facebook

Femme Brillante: rare chamber works by women

Saturday, February 15, 7:00 pm
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 6201 Dunrobbin Drive, Bethesda, MD
musicatredeemer.org

Sunday, February 16, 4:00 pm
Grace Episcopal Church, 1607 Grace Church Rd., Silver Spring, MD
www.kassiamusic.org/performances

The Vico Cycle

The Vico Cycle, featuring Josh HelfinSiegel on bass and guitar, blends rock, funk, blues, soul, and hip-hop into a lively fusion of raw sound. www.vicocycle.com or @TheVicoCycle on Instagram and Facebook

Saturday, February 8, and Saturday, April 26, between 7:00–10:00 pm
Tommy Joe’s, 7904 Norfolk Ave., Bethesda, MD
tommy-joes.com

Saturday, March 8, between 8:00–11:00 pm
Solace Outpost, 444 West Broad St., Falls Church, VA
solacebrewing.com

Jeff Weintraub

Jeff Weintraub, vocals and guitar, plays an eclectic mix of jazz, folk, blues, country, and bluegrass along with some of the best musicians in the DC area. www.weintraubmusic.com

Jeff will perform at The Urban Winery on Thursdays, January 16, February 20, and March 20, between 7:00–9:00 pm.

Do you perform in a musical group not listed here? Don’t be shy! We invite you to share information about your performances on the neighborhood listserv.