Maplewood’s own world-class fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad will be the first Muslim woman to represent the United States at the Olympics while wearing a hijab, and Maplewood is sending her off in style.
Spurred on by a post by Kristin O’Connor Saslovsky, the Facebook group Swap SOMa Lounge organized the creation of a banner and lawn signs to wish Muhammad well.
The banner and signs were put together by a group of people including Tracey Woods, Jill Hammarberg, former Mayor Fred Profeta, the Maplewood Department of Recreation & Cultural Affairs, and Chris Dickson and the Dickson Group at Coldwell Banker.
The design for the Ibtihaj Muhammad lawn sign.
The banner went up across Maplewood Avenue in the heart of Maplewood Village on Monday, July 25, and will adorn Maplewoood Avenue through the first week of August. Then it will be moved to the Maplewood Community Pool for the duration of the Olympics, which run from August 5-21.
One hundred lawn signs have been produced and will be available for distribution as of August 1. Visit Swap SOMa Lounge and search “Ibtihaj” for more information on how to obtain a lawn sign.
Fencing events run from August 6-14. Muhammad will be competing on August 8 and 13. See the schedule here: https://www.rio2016.com/en/schedule-and-results
On April 6, Muhammad was celebrated and interviewed at the “capstone” event of the Maplewood Ideas Festival. The Township also declared April 6, 2016 as “Ibtihaj Muhammad Day.”
