Is there any event that can unite Democrats and Republicans, Great Danes and alpacas, and maybe even Churchill and Wootton students?
Each year, that’s what happens on Potomac Day.
Hundreds of local residents gathered Saturday morning for Potomac Day, which included a 5-kilometer fun run, parade, business fair, children’s festival and pet fair.
“It’s one big happy family,” said Noelle Hunsinger, an 8th-grader at Hoover Middle School, who watched her friends’ faces turn red on a ride at Potomac Village.
Linda Barlock, who is director of the Potomac Community Center, served as grand marshal for the ceremony, and Chrissellene Petropoulos kicked off the parade by singing the National Anthem. The Cabin John Volunteer Fire Department, Potomac Pizza, Boy Scouts from Troop 773, local public and private schools, about a dozen local and state politicians, and numerous other business and nonprofit groups decorated floats for the parade and set up booths at the fairs afterwards.
The annual celebration was organized by the Potomac Chamber of Commerce and held at Potomac Promenade near the intersection of River Road and Falls Road. The Potomac Chamber of Commerce has named Carla W. Satinsky as Citizen of the Year; Businessperson of the Year is Steve Krensky of Country Squire Cleaners, and Student of the Year Shaneke "Shani" Weerakoon of the Landon School. They will be honored at a Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner at Normandie Farm on Nov. 17.