The following short reflections address the wide diversity of activities, programs and celebrations that took place during 2021 throughout the city. They speak of community, tolerance and generosity. Thanks to the original contributors whose stories provided material for this selection: Matthew Arbach, Deanna Dawson, Amy Hansen, Lois Rosado, Brittany N. Gaddy, Jon Gardner, Kyla Hanington, Diane Oberg, Melissa Sites, René Sewell-Raysor and Melinda Thompson. And thanks to the many Greenbelters who made life better in a difficult year by providing food for both body and soul.
Shaymar Higgs, Greenbelt’s 2021 Outstanding Citizen
At the 2021 Labor Day Festival, Shaymar Higgs was awarded the distinction of Outstanding Citizen. Younger than most of those who receive this award, Higgs burst onto the Greenbelt arts scene a few years ago by opening a revolutionary art center within Beltway Plaza called THE SPACE. Higgs, who has exhibited his own art at the New Deal Café and the Whitman Walker Clinic in downtown D.C., created THE SPACE to provide opportunities for local people to participate in art endeavors for free. THE SPACE also now partners with the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System to provide books and other resources for young bilingual readers, as well as graphic novels and other books for teenagers. THE SPACE is funded by private donations although the facility is provided free by Beltway Plaza. Mall management at Beltway Plaza also made an area next to THE SPACE for meditation and to allow people to become “more authentic versions of themselves.”
Higgs also became the art coordinator for the New Deal Café during 2021.
Black History Month
February saw a number of celebrations and educational programs for Black History Month. The city-sponsored events included an account by the Greenbelt Museum telling of the first Black residents moving into the Greenbelt Homes, Inc. housing cooperative. In addition, there were performances by the Belly Dancers of Color Collective and the Eleanor Roosevelt High School Gospel Choir. Additional articles ran to celebrate the month, including reports on a performance by the Female RE-Enactors of Distinction (FREED). This program told the stories of historical women, acted in costume by the group, which spotlighted the contributions of Black women to American society. Another facet of the celebration was the South African play Solomon and Marion, performed by Greenbelt Arts Center. It portrayed the unlikely friendship between Marion Banning, a recently widowed South African white woman, and a young Black man, 19-year-old Solomon Xaba from rural Xhosa.
Greenbelt West Kids Enjoy Fun Activities in Summer
Being a firefighter involves a whole lot of running, campers at Springhill Lake Recreation Center’s Summer Fun program learned on July 28. Greenbelt firefighters and police came to camp with demonstrations and challenges. With the firefighters, campers tried running with the hoses and putting out a demonstration fire – very exciting. With the police they tried exercises, sat in the front seat of a squad car and tried on the heavy equipment.
This was the first year for the free camp, co-sponsored by Greenbelt Recreation and Boys and Girls Club of America. The 40 slots filled up quickly. The campers, ages 6 to 12, attended half-days for eight weeks, starting on June 28. Lunch was provided by Prince George’s County Public Schools.
A primary effort in the city was food assistance, especially in areas hard hit by pandemic unemployment. Springhill Lake Elementary was the main Greenbelt site for such distributions as part of the camp’s coordinated efforts.
Three Sisters Garden Thrives On Poetry in the Pandemic
The Three Sisters Demonstration Gardens are located in separate parts of Greenbelt. The Center Garden is located behind the Community Center, the West Garden is located behind the Springhill Lake Recreation Center and the East Garden is in Schrom Hills Park. All three were conceived, developed and implemented by the Chesapeake Education, Arts and Research Society (CHEARS), a Greenbelt-based nonprofit organization committed to learning about the environment and sustainable landscape practices and in promoting ecological stewardship in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
The East Garden coordinator is Effie Levner, who worked on making the garden architecturally more interesting by creating entrances into the garden using vines shaped as archways. The garden is filled with small surprises: wicker planters with flowers, hand-painted birdhouses and birds, handmade twig wreaths, a small wicker rocking chair and child-sized tools.
During the pandemic, Levner and others led monthly poetry readings in the gardens. Levner conceived of the event saying, “Nature and beauty come together with poetry.” The garden was in full bloom at the time of the readings, with bunches of grapes dangling from grapevines draped over the arched entryways.
Juneteenth Offers Rededication, Explanation and Contemplation
Juneteenth celebrations got off to a great start in Greenbelt West with the rededication of the Three Sister’s West Garden behind the Springhill Lake Recreation Center in Franklin Park. Carolyn Lambright Davis runs the Earth Squad for the garden, which involves young gardeners from the community. Lois Rosado, chair of the city’s Black History Committee, rededicated the garden by pouring a few drops of water onto the grass. She prayed that, “In the future, all people of the United States can celebrate freedom, as we do today, Juneteenth.”
Numerous additional Juneteenth programs were sponsored by the city, including a heritage walk at Greenbelt Lake, Regina’s Black Artifacts Pop-up Museum inside the Springhill Lake Recreation Center and a food demonstration: How Much Sugar Do You Consume Daily run by Shaymar Higgs of THE SPACE and sponsored by Beltway Plaza.
The newspaper issue of May 25 contains several articles on Juneteenth, including an explanation of the celebration’s origins and a reminiscent walk through the historic Turner Cemetery on Greenbelt’s Ivy Lane, whose gravesites include the remains of those who died in slavery before the city began.
Evictions Due to Pandemic, Related Loss of Employment
Through the year, many individuals, especially those in service industries, lost their jobs due to Covid-19 closings. Rental communities, in particular, were faced with many families who could not afford their rent. Eviction moratoriums prevented the expulsion of those in this situation and as time went on, assistance programs came online to help. The Franklin Park community was significantly impacted and there was concern that when the moratorium was lifted, many people would summarily be on the street.
Franklin Park management reached out to their community to assist them in getting rental assistance. There were some evictions once the moratorium was lifted (particularly for reasons other than rent default) but Franklin Park remained faithful to those willing to work with them to obtain assistance – going door to door to reach those in need and providing bilingual support for filling in applications.
Assistance to renters and homeowners also came via county and city offices, with Greenbelt CARES actively reaching out to renters and condo owners and assisting with applications. Support to those affected in the Greenbelt Homes, Inc. housing cooperative came from donations from members that helped with monthly fees. In-kind support was also offered to those in need by the St. Hugh’s Pantry – including numerous Co-op Supermarket gift cards purchased by residents and by donations for the face masks made available via the Farmers Market by the Greenbelt Mask Makers and others.
Fireflies Sparkle in Summer Evenings in New Sanctuary
May of 2021 saw the opening of the Firefly Sanctuary – a stretch of the Stream Park that runs between Hillside and Crescent Roads behind Northway, where it is dark enough for fireflies to live happily and avoid the siren song of street lights. The Sanctuary became a favorite summer evening stroll for families with kids who, as through time immemorial, raced around to try to catch the magical little sparks of light in their hands. With instructions going out to city staff to avoid mowing the area, and no insecticides or herbicides, the fireflies are promised a protected environment into the future.
Mary Ann Canter led the group that proposed the firefly sanctuary to Greenbelt as a way to make saving the fireflies a permanent endeavor. She said that the main cause of the dwindling number was habitat loss, and the sanctuary has been created to provide a suitably protected space.
Brood X Cicadas Emerge
A welcome diversion from concerns about Covid-19 and threats to American democracy was the mass emergence in mid-May of Brood X periodical cicadas, last seen here in numbers in 2004. A bonanza for hungry birds and other critters, the cicadas were a delight to kids and adults who’d not experienced this natural phenomenon before, as well as to many who had. Their abundance inspired a few Greenbelters to try eating them and many residents to photograph them. The cicadas were mostly gone by late June, leaving behind their carcasses and exoskeletons plus patches of brown leaves in the tree canopy, caused by female cicadas slitting the twigs to deposit their eggs. The next mass emergence of these periodical cicadas should occur in 2038.
