Olney Mill Community Association

Join your Olney Mill neighbors to celebrate our nation’s independence!  

This year’s fun includes the Olney Community Band, Waterslides, Magician, Moonbounce, the “Mighty Water Balloon Toss,” and lots of great food! The picnic will be held in the northeastern-most area of the Olney Family Park between the two main ponds.  Details and map are included in the July Mill Stream. Given the limited parking, residents are asked to walk if at all possible. The park can be reached via sidewalks from Mt. Olney Lane, Falling Green, the Willow Grove parking lot, and Roseneath. Treadway Rd will be blocked off to allow parking for the Olney Orchestra, handicapped residents, and delivery trucks.  

The picnic will begin at 12:00 noon. We will be serving hamburgers, hot dogs, side-dishes, and drinks. There will be plenty of food, so there is no need to stand in line at 12:00 noon. The ice cream vendor will arrive after 1:00. Please only take one item per person so there is enough for everyone. 

The Olney Orchestra will begin playing patriotic music at 12:30.   This year, our 2009 scholarship winner, Jeremy Milliner, will be playing some of his own selections after 2:00.   Be sure to be there for the presentation of his award and to hear him play. Due to rains this week, some of the grassy areas are expected to be soggy. Residents are advised to wear suitable footwear (boots, flip-flops, sandals). Be sure to apply plenty of sunscreen to your children before they come to the picnic!

We need volunteers to help with a number of the activities. Students can earn SSL hours for their efforts!   Please see Maryland Lehmann or Dennis Twombly to see what things you can do.

We’re looking forward to a great day. Hope to see you there!

The annual Olney Mill Easter Egg hunt will be held Monday, April 13 in the Family Park.  The fun starts at Noon, so be sure to come to the Park a few minutes early.  And Parents:  Have those cameras ready!

The Family Park is the one with the ponds and has its main entrance on Willow Grove Road. In the event of rain, check back at this website for cancellation or postponement news.

The annual Holiday Tree Lighting will be held Sunday, December 7. Gather with your neighbors at the newly renovated Mill House for songs, cocoa and Holiday Cheer!

Calling all Olney Mill ghosts, goblins, mummies, pirates and witches (any child in costume) to join in the Olney Mill Halloween Parade! Come march around with us and show everyone how scary Olney Mill kids can really be! We will meet at the Olney Mill Park on Charline Manor Road on Sunday, October 26th at 3 p.m. We will parade around the block and then play some games and eat some special ghostly treats. There will be prizes for the prettiest, scariest, and funniest costumes, compliments of Good Earth and Cold Stone Creamery!

Be sure to bring all of the ghouls, ghosts and goblins at your house. All ages welcome. We are looking for volunteers to help out with the event. Community service hours are available! For more information about the event or to volunteer, call the Hotline at (301) 231-3739. There is no rain date for this event.

The Olney Mill Picnic will be held at the Family Park again this year (the park with the ponds and baseball diamonds). Food, music, games, magic and the opportunity to get to know your neighbors! The Family Park entrance is on Willow Grove Road, and there is easy pedestrian access from Treadway, Mount Olney Lane, and Olney Mill road. Come join the fun from Noon to 3 pm. Residents are encouraged to walk to the park, since nearby parking is very limited (non-existent, actually). It’s an Olney Mill tradition and our Nation’s Birthday!

Urgent Notice for Olney Mill Residents: Sometime from April 28 to May 10, Montgomery County will be spraying insecticide to control gypsy moth caterpillars. The gypsy moth is the most serious pest of hardwood trees in Montgomery County and state wide. The caterpillars feed on the leaves, often causing defoliation that damages trees and sometimes causes trees to die. Only areas with high numbers of gypsy moths are being treated. The date of the application will depend on weather conditions. M-NCPPC plans to have staff in the Family Park to keep residents off the trails and out of the park during the spraying.

The insecticide B.t. will be applied by a helicopter flying approximately 50 feet above tree top level. Applications will begin at dawn and continue as long as weather conditions are favorable for spraying. Application to a specific area is usually completed in 15-30 minutes. The spray dries on leaves in approximately 30 minutes. The spray contains the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.). To be effective, B.t. must be eaten as the caterpillar feeds on leaves. There is no evidence that the use of B.t. poses any risk to humans, domestic animals, or the environment. A good source of information about the insecticide is available on the internet at http://ace.orst.edu/info/extoxnet.

Please avoid touching the wet leaves
Be aware of & avoid the helicopters

For more information about the Gypsy Moth Suppression Program, please see the website: Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, Gypsy Moth Suppression Program: Daytime phone (240) 777-7700; 24-hour hotline (240) 777-7788. E-mail: AskDEP@montgomerycountymd.gov

On Saturday, May 3, from 8:30 am until noon, OMCA and the Greater Olney Civic Association (GOCA) are sponsoring an Olney area litter clean-up as part of the extended Earth Day activities. Although OMCA and other homeowner associations and service organizations already host their own clean-up efforts, many of the main roads in the Olney area continue to have a great deal of trash and other debris. We invite all of you who care for the quality of our environment to dedicate a few hours to help cleaning up some of these worst areas. Student Service Learning (SSL) hours will be credited to students who participate. Some of the areas we are targeting are safe for younger family members. Others are along very busy highways such as Georgia (97), Olney-Laytonsville Road (108), Bowie Mill or Brookeville Road. We are particularly in need of dedicated adult volunteers who can work along these more dangerous sections of roads.

In order to coordinate this event, it is essential for volunteers to sign up in advance so that we can arrange for distribution of materials (bags, gloves) and assign specific areas to clean. Please email Dennis Twombly (Parks & Common Areas Liaison) to sign up, or call (301) 443-9334. In case of significant rain, we will re-schedule the event for the following day, Sunday, May 4. Any last-minute announcements will be posted on this OMCA web site.

If you cannot participate this time, but want to sign up for our general volunteer list, send your name and email address to Dennis. We will notify you of any upcoming OMCA cleanup activities or other projects.

OMCA, GOCA, and everyone in our community will be most grateful for your help!

Dennis Twombly (OMCA) & Bob Beard (GOCA)

This coming Saturday, April 5, the Olney Mill Community Association (OMCA) will be sponsoring its 5th OMCA Spring Clean-up. Bring your families and friends to join us for our annual celebration of Earth Day! Last year, nearly 70 volunteers collected litter, cans, bottles, and other items throughout our local parks and along roads and trails. Maryland National Capital Parks & Planning (M-NCPPC) will provide gloves and trash bags, and they will give Student Service Learning (SSL) hour credits for student volunteers. After the Clean-up, we invite everyone to join us at the Oakley Cabin on Brookeville Rd (100 yds east of Grayheaven) for a pizza lunch, compliments of OMCA.

We will meet at 8:30 am at three different staging areas: 1) the Olney Mill House on the corner of Olney Mill Rd and 108, 2) the Olney Family Park on Willow Grove, 3) The Olney Neighborhood Park on Charline Manor. We need 2-3 people helping at the Mill House location. The rest should go either to the Family Park or Charline Manor Park where much larger areas need to be covered.

Be sure to bring a rain coat if the weather looks at all threatening. You should also wear jeans and long-sleeved shirts to avoid scratches from branches. Wear waterproof boots even if it’s clear because many of the grassy areas may be swampy. We will be asking for a few adventurous individuals to collect trash from the stream-beds and ponds. If you are interested, dress accordingly and please let us know if you can do this when you arrive at the staging area.

Please pass the word to anyone you think might be able to participate, even if they are not Olney Mill residents. The more people who join us, the more we can accomplish! Please contact Dennis Twombly by phone (office, 301-443-9334; cell, 301-461-4357) or by email if you plan to attend so we can distribute the volunteers appropriately. Sunday is our official “rain date”. If it’s just drizzling lightly by 8:30 Saturday morning, we will go ahead that day as scheduled. Any last minute announcements or postponements will be posted to the web sited by 8:00 am on Saturday morning.

We hope you can join us for this worthwhile and enjoyable experience. Please write down the above contact numbers so you call us about any last-minute changes.

See you Saturday!

The Egg Roll will be held on Monday, March 24 at the Olney Family Park on Willow Grove at 12:00 – NOON! Remember to bring a basket for each child to collect the eggs. The egg roll, egg race and egg toss will take place immediately after the egg hunt on the basketball court. Everyone is welcome, and help from parents is greatly appreciated (and needed)! Call Ginger for more information and to volunteer – 301-570-0394 (before 10:00am) or 301-461-9588 (after 10:00am).

BAD WEATHER (?) – the weather report is calling for variable early morning rain/snow but clearing by noon. If the rain is light, the egg hunt will proceed on schedule. A downpour means we will have to cancel the event. There will be NO raindate – sorry! The decision to cancel will be made by 11:00am – check back here at the web site for last-minute announcements. No updates means we’ll see you at the park!

Hop on over to Olney Mill’s Easter Egg Hunt on Monday, March 24th at Noon at the Olney Family Park
(entrance on Willow Grove Road).
Check this website for information on re-scheduling if the weather turns bad on the 24th.