Laurel's Freedom Story Gets a New Chapter — Right on Main Street 🏛️

There's something quietly remarkable about the story Laurel is telling about itself right now. This week, the Laurel Historical Society debuts a new exhibit that goes well beyond fireworks and July 4th to ask a harder, richer question: whose freedom are we celebrating, and when? It's the kind of exhibit that could only exist in a city like this one — one whose history is complex enough to hold multiple truths at once.

Meanwhile, Main Street has a milestone: the 45th Annual Main Street Festival is officially on the calendar for May 2nd, and a Laurel school dealt with an unwelcome weekend surprise when a burst pipe flooded its classrooms. We've also got a community news story about affordable housing coming to the Laurel side of Howard County, and one of the best quirky-local stories you'll read all year — it turns out Laurel is quietly at the center of America's post-Olympics curling craze. There are 4 events happening this week and 5 more ahead. Here's what's in this week's edition:

The Laurel Historical Society's 2026 exhibit is now open, and its title alone is worth paying attention to. Beyond the 4th: Stories of Laurel's Freedom Celebrations — on display at 817 Main Street through December 20, 2026 — stretches the definition of "freedom celebration" well past the standard Fourth of July narrative. The exhibit explores how Laurel marked three major national milestones: the 1876 Centennial, the 1926 Sesquicentennial, and the 1976 Bicentennial. But then it goes further.

Alongside those national moments, the exhibit highlights Laurel's own Emancipation Proclamation Celebration, its Pride Celebration, and Hispanic Heritage Month festivities — events that reflect a broader, more contested, and more honest understanding of what freedom has meant to different communities living in this city across different eras. The implicit argument is a significant one: freedom is not a single story, and Laurel's history is rich enough to hold many at once.

For residents, this is the kind of local history that has direct relevance to who Laurel is becoming — a city that has grown more diverse and is actively grappling with how to tell its own story. The exhibit is free and open Friday through Sunday, 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM, making it genuinely accessible to anyone who wants to walk in off Main Street.

What we still don't know is what archival materials and community voices anchored the exhibit's development — particularly around the Emancipation Proclamation celebration, which is a less-documented piece of local history that deserves wider attention. If the Laurel Historical Society has a behind-the-scenes story to tell about how this exhibit came together, we'd love to hear it.

Mark your calendars: the 45th Annual Laurel Main Street Festival is officially set for Saturday, May 2nd, with a parade down Main Street beginning at 9:00 AM and the festival running from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Organized by the Laurel Board of Trade, this is one of the longest-running community events in the city — a full-day celebration that draws thousands of attendees each year with vendors, live music, a Kid's Zone, food, and the opportunity to walk the heart of Laurel's historic downtown.

The 45th edition is a milestone worth noting. For four and a half decades, this event has anchored the spring calendar for families across Laurel, Prince George's County, and Howard County. It's also a genuine economic driver for Main Street businesses, which see foot traffic on festival day that would otherwise take months to accumulate.

For anyone interested in participating — as a vendor, food vendor, parade entry, or volunteer — applications are open now at laurelboardoftrade.org. Laurel Board of Trade members receive a 25% discount on vendor spaces. That deadline is worth tracking sooner rather than later; popular festivals fill vendor slots fast.

The question Laurel residents should be asking: as this festival marks its 45th year, is the programming reflecting the full range of who Laurel is today — or is there an opportunity to make this milestone edition feel genuinely new?

Over the weekend, a burst pipe flooded classrooms at the Laurel campus of Monarch Global Academy, forcing the school to close to students and staff on Monday, March 9th. Anne Arundel County Public Schools announced the closure and indicated that a decision about reopening on Tuesday would be made Monday — meaning families had limited advance notice and an uncertain timeline. No other Monarch Global Academy campuses were affected.

For the families this directly touched, the disruption is real: parents scrambling for childcare on short notice, students losing a day of instruction, and staff unable to work. The larger question is one of building infrastructure. Burst pipes don't happen randomly — they're typically the result of aging plumbing, inadequate maintenance, or insufficient winterization, and they raise legitimate questions about what state the facility was in heading into the incident and how quickly repairs can be made.

What we still don't know is the full extent of the water damage, how long repairs are expected to take, whether instruction will be made up, and what the school's facility maintenance history looks like. If this is a one-time weather-related incident, that's one thing. If it points to a deeper maintenance issue at the building, that's something families and the school community deserve a straight answer on.

NPR's coverage of the post-Olympics curling boom in America featured a prominent Laurel institution: the Potomac Curling Club. Curling was the only sport to air every single day of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and according to USA Curling CEO Dean Gemmell, this year's viewership surge appears more significant than any previous Olympic cycle, with member clubs reporting between 300 and 600 people at learn-to-curl events and open houses. Several clubs have already welcomed over 100 new curlers into their beginner leagues.

Right here in Laurel, Stacy Bishop — the club's media director — flew her family to Italy just to watch the pros curl in person. She's been a member since the last time the Olympics sparked a surge, 16 years ago. The club is seeing that same momentum now, and nationally, the fastest-growing segment of new curlers is adults aged 21 to 40, who now make up 38% of USA Curling's membership.

For Laurel residents, this is a genuinely fun local angle on a national story — and a reminder that there's a world-class sport happening in our own backyard. If you've ever wondered what curling actually is, now is the best possible time to find out. Check out the Potomac Curling Club directly for upcoming learn-to-curl opportunities.

Howard County is moving forward with a plan to develop nearly 60 mixed-income homes in Laurel near the corner of Route 1 and Whiskey Bottom Road. The county will purchase a vacant business at that intersection and combine it with an antique store and former mobile home park it already owns nearby to create the new development. About 30% of the homes — roughly 18 units — will be priced around $300,000, well below the area's average home price of approximately $500,000. The project is designed to serve what County Executive Calvin Ball described as working families, older adults on fixed incomes, teachers, nurses, and first responders.

For residents on the Howard County side of Laurel, this development is directly relevant: 60 homes at this intersection will add density to an already active corridor, and the timeline, traffic impact, and school capacity implications are all legitimate questions. Ball has also proposed allowing the county to fund affordable housing projects using bonds — the same financing mechanism used for schools and roads — which would represent a meaningful shift in how the county prioritizes housing.

What we still don't know is a projected construction timeline, how the development will affect the Route 1/Whiskey Bottom Road intersection, and whether any community input process is planned before ground breaks.

The Laurel Historical Society's new exhibit goes beyond the Fourth of July to highlight the Emancipation Proclamation Celebration, Pride Celebration, and Hispanic Heritage Month as part of Laurel's freedom story. We want to know: is there a celebration, tradition, or community moment in Laurel's history that you think deserves more recognition — something that doesn't get told often enough?

Hit reply and tell us. We read every response, and the best ones may appear in next week's edition.

Our community photo spotlight continues! Each edition, we feature a photo from a Laurel resident that captures the beauty and spirit of our town.

TC caught the moon hanging low and luminous over Main Street — the kind of shot that makes you stop and look at a familiar place like you're seeing it for the first time. There's something about moonlight on Main Street that makes Laurel feel like it's been here forever and will be here long after all of us are gone.

📸 Congratulations, TC! Thank you for showing us your Laurel — and for reminding us that the best light sometimes comes after dark.

Want to be featured? Email your photos to [email protected] with the subject line "Show Us Your Laurel" and you might appear in an upcoming edition!

⭐ Women's History Month Celebration 📅 Saturday, March 14 · 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM 📍 Partnership Activity Center, 811 5th Street, Laurel, MD The city's official Women's History Month event — a fitting anchor for a week that begins with a museum exhibit about whose freedom gets celebrated and when. Come mark the month with intention.

⭐ Teen Trip: "The Wizard of Oz" @ Atholton High School 📅 Friday, March 13 · 6:00 PM · Departs from Robert J. DiPietro Community Center 📍 Robert J. DiPietro Community Center, 301 8th St, Laurel, MD 20707 A live theater outing organized specifically for teens — an easy, low-pressure way to introduce young people to the performing arts. Departs from the DiPietro Center; check the link for registration details.

⭐ Laurel Cats Annual Meeting 📅 Tuesday, March 10 · 7:00 PM 📍 Olive on Main, 504 Main St, Laurel, MD 20707 Tonight! The Laurel Cats — the community organization that manages feral and community cat populations in Laurel — holds its annual meeting at one of Main Street's best spots. If you care about animal welfare in this city, this is the room to be in.

Also this week:

Planning ahead? Here are 5 more events coming up through March 28th.

⭐ Mobile Prom Boutique 📅 Saturday, March 21 · 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM 📍 Laurel High School, 8000 Cherry Ln, Laurel, MD Free or low-cost prom attire for students who need it — right at Laurel High School. If you know a student who could use this resource, now is the time to share it. This is a community taking care of its own.

⭐ Eggstravaganza 📅 Saturday, March 28 · 12:00 PM 📍 Granville Gude Park, 8300 Mulberry Ave, Laurel, MD One of the most popular family events of the spring season, right at Laurel's best park. Mark it now — these fill up fast.

Other Notable Events:

Thanks for reading Edition #21 of the I❤️Laurel Newsletter.

This week's edition kept circling back to the same quiet theme: the stories we choose to tell about ourselves matter. The museum exhibit asks us to look at whose freedom we've been celebrating — and whose we haven't. The Main Street Festival entering its 45th year is an invitation to ask what a milestone edition could look like. And a flooded school reminds us that the physical infrastructure behind our community's daily life deserves the same attention as the stories we tell about it. Laurel is worth paying attention to — all of it.

Got an event, story tip, or business we should feature? Just hit reply — I read every response.

See you next week!

— Mike Mondy Founder, I❤️LAUREL

P.S. — Don't forget to move this email to your primary inbox so you never miss an edition! P.S.S. — Be sure to follow us on Instagram! @ilovelaurelmd 📱