Laurel History Boys reflect on milestone anniversaries for organization and Voices of Laurel Photo illustration by Richard Friend While it seems like only yesterday that we started, Voices of Laurel recently celebrated its five-year anniversary. More incredibly, The Laurel History Boys have now been an organization for more than a decade. Time really does fly when you’re having fun! These milestones had me thinking—reflecting on the stories we’ve covered and the things we’ve

I wonder if, 100 years from now, there will still be a City of Laurel and if the citizens will remember that, 100 years earlier, it was declared that June 5th is Laurel Elementary Day. Laurel Elementary held its centennial birthday on June 5, 2026, with an after-school celebration unlike anything we have put on before. The cafeteria staged the proclamation made by Mayor Keith Sydnor and Councilmembers James Kole and Adrian Simmons before current families and many guests who h

Photos courtesy of Laurel Historical Society On June 5, community members, students, alumni, and current and former teachers gathered at Laurel Elementary School (LES) to celebrate the school’s 100th anniversary. The celebration began with a short ceremony in the school cafeteria. Across from the stage was a mural of the original 1926 school building, a nod to the past and a reminder of the school’s century-long history! The ceremony began with a presentation of the colors by

Photo: City of Laurel OPINION Whether you like it or not, the AI revolution is here to stay. It has become nearly impossible to go a day online without artificial intelligence playing some role in our digital experiences, from Google’s AI Overview appearing at the top of search results to the content that fills our social media feeds. As AI continues to change how we consume, create, and interact with information, communities and organizations are steadily contending with bot

Site Will Host Significantly Scaled-Down Preakness in May Photo: Richard Friend Hold on to your fancy hats and mind your bets, horse racing fans, big changes are again expected to impact Laurel Park. Following the ups and downs of the fate of Laurel’s storied racetrack has become like a ride on a merry-go-round: up with the news of much needed renovations to both historic race tracks; down with the news of Laurel Park’s closing and demolition; up with the news of the 151st ru

The Laurel History Boys and Voices of Laurel team will be trackside at Laurel Park on Saturday, April 25 to host our second annual Day at the Races. This free event is open to everyone, and provides another opportunity for residents to see the historic venue and experience thoroughbred racing live and up close—while you still can. With Laurel Park’s future still not completely certain, one thing is sure—its days of being the active racetrack Laurel has known since 1911 will

Statistics Show Overall Decrease in Incidents Within City Photo illustration by Richard Friend One morning in May 2023, Naomi Beech (whose name has been changed to protect her privacy) walked out of her Historic District home in the City of Laurel planning to commute to work just as she had done every other weekday. Instead, she opened the driver’s side door of her Kia Seoul and was greeted with a vandalized interior and destroyed steering column. Neighborhood Ring camera foo

Photos: Angie Latham Kozlowski Ireatha Leona Woods, the owner of Leona’s Sewing Studio in Savage Mill, has been sewing nearly her entire life. She has also been drawn to learn about Africa for just as long. Her interest in Africa and African fabrics began when she was a preteen, thanks to her many visits to a bookmobile. She was also a budding seamstress in those years. She recalled that as a young girl, “I used to study Ethiopia a lot, and then the first person that I met to

Fred Frederick, who passed away in January, was a Laurel icon. Since he opened his Chrysler dealership in its present location on Route 1 in 1959, he was involved in more community efforts than probably anyone. When I interviewed him in his office in 2014, he had so many stories that my recorder’s batteries ran out. As I tried to politely leave and slowly backed out of his office, he was yelling, “Wait! One more! I have one more!” Here are some highlights from that interview.

Photo: JV / Unsplash A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. This is the Law of Scouting, and it has been unchanged since William D. Boyce brought scouting to America in 1910 from England, where it was founded in 1907 by Lord Baden-Powell. Laurel’s Troop 1250 has been around since 1963, when James Van Daniker was scoutmaster. If you want more scouting history, there is a merit badge for that.

Photos by Tom Burkhardt The Laurel High School Class of 1975 always knew how to have a good time, and on October 3 we proved that spirit was still alive when 73 LHS alumni and guests rocked at the Savage Fire Department to celebrate 50 years since graduation! Some classmates had come from as far away as Las Vegas, Alaska, and Scotland, while others were still relatively local; most of us needed no convincing at all to make the decision to attend such a milestone event. Class

Rosa Maher accepts the 2025 Voices of Laurel Laurel Light Award at the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department’s Annual Banquet on October 11. (From left to right): John Maher, Rosa Maher, Mike Sellner, and Chief Brian Cox. The staff of Voices of Laurel is pleased to announce Rosa Maher as the 2025 recipient of the Laurel Light Award. Rosa has served the Laurel community for over 50 years as an active member of the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department (LVFD) Auxiliary and is currently

Southern Management hosts a party for resident Tina Pressley, who has lived at Steward Manor Apartments since 1975. (Photo courtesy of Southern Management) My friend Paula Pressley—“Tina,” as many know her by—had a birthday on Christmas Day. I met her in 1978 when my family moved into her building at Steward Manor Apartments. The Pressleys—Tina, her daughter Audrey, and her identical twin sons Rodney and Ronald—had been living in their second floor unit for about three years

(Photo: City of Laurel) The “public hearing” component of council meetings is the most important, in my opinion, because it’s the opportunity for you to share your voice. But unless you’ve done it before, it can be a big question mark of how to actually accomplish it. There’s no need to be nervous, however. Here are tips I like to share with folks to help get them comfortable: The meeting cycle for the City Council typically follows the monthly pattern of (a) 1st Wednesday, a

Photo: Social.Cut / Unsplash You may remember that I stand outside Laurel Elementary and wave at passing cars in the morning. My primary job is a school librarian, but I wanted to write about my second job: UberEats. This is not an opinion piece on the food. I actually haven’t eaten from most of the places I have picked up from, but as an Uber driver I have had some interesting insights around Laurel eateries (a few honorable mentions outside Laurel), and I’d like to pass the

A statue of Billy Barton has graced Laurel Park since 1952, the first such statue at a Maryland race track. Photo: Jim Fleenor/Flickr...

Most Laurel residents associate the surname Donaldson with funerals, but a very different kind of gathering will soon occur at the...

Laurel Elementary School (its earlier building shown at left in the 1960s) has occupied the site at Montgomery Street between Fifth and...

Photos by Charles Sisler/Soft Reflections Vision Solutions The morning of May 10 started out as the perfect Spring day: sunshine, clear...

Over 200 people lined Talbott Avenue near the Laurel Branch Library in a local rally coordinated by LaurelResist (Photo: Diane...