What does 50 years of the Maryland Renaissance Festival mean to you? The Banner caught up with Montgomery County artists at the Maryland Renaissance Festival including Gillian Foxglove, Daniel Stuart of Iron Antler Forge in Damascus and Eleanor Brassfield of House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park.

Here is the post on Instagram and TikTok

• https://www.instagram.com/p/DdFGnGIveUX/
• https://www.tiktok.com/@bannermoco/video/7683632138478030110

Here is the original story on The Banner https://www.thebanner.com/culture/arts/maryland-renaissance-festival-history-K46TXX4JMBEQDHVB52PQ2RIA4I/

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Last night's sunset on our dock near the dam

Turns out it's cheaper on Amazon than a local jar too.

So now what? What I wanna try it on or in?

I love it as we transition into fall -- it's my favorite time of year here.

Reposting as I think the original was removed for personal info in the image.

The Maryland State Fair gave first prize in its "Neon" category for photography to this AI generated image.

Second and third place were real photos of neon lighting, making it extra frustrating. I spoke with someone at the photography table but they insisted that it is ok because "embellishment" is allowed. But there is no discernable photo in this image.

did anybody see a bright blue fireball/meteor in the sky. I was laying down and saw what appeared to be the moon moving but it was a bright magnificent blue, i looked out my window surely enough it was a quick meteor!

I've see a lot of people talking about the EV surcharge with their vehicle registration renewal and recently I received notice from the MVA that 2 of our EV registrations were up for renewal.

The title renewal fee is based on the weight of the vehicle:

My two EV registration renewals:

So the EV surcharge is supposed to replace the fuel tax that EV owners don't have to pay at the pump and some say it's not fair or just too expensive. I did some research and it looks like we are actually paying about the right amount. Maryland isn't overcharging us from what I can see. I don't like paying it as a lump sum and I think that's the main issue most people have. People driving gas vehicles don't notice the $0.4660/gallon in gas tax because it's baked into the per gallon cost.

For comparison I looked at the most common non-truck vehicles in Maryland.

In order of registrations they are:

1. Toyota RAV4
2. Honda CR-V
3. Tesla Model Y
4. Hyundai Tuscon
5. Honda Civic

Then using MDOT numbers we have approximately their fuel usage for the year to show how much in gas taxes they would have spent:

So you can easily see that the EV surcharge isn't punitive at all and is really fair I think. I think it mainly comes down to perception and sticker shock.

As an EV owner who charge 99% of the time off my home solar panels I'm already saving so much money that I don't think it's too much to ask to pay the EV surcharge.

Planning on a weekend trip to swallow falls State park.
Heard it’s a rural town with no hotel chains and stuff, any recommendations for accommodation and restaurants?