A Guest Blog Post by our Board Chairman, Julie Martorana

This year Brunswick Main Street celebrates its 15^th anniversary.  15 years and going strong! So what will the next 15 years look like?

As an organization, Brunswick Main Street faces the same challenges our city faces: embracing our past and looking forward to our future. The past provides us with knowledge from lessons learned and a solid foundation.  However, we must be willing to change.  None of us can afford to remain stagnant.  The best way to honor our past is to continue to envision our future, just as our founding members did when they began.

This past year Brunswick Main Street has been doing just that.  We are looking for ways to build on our strong organizational foundation while recognizing the changes occurring around us.  A sign of a strong, healthy organization is continually asking, “How can we improve”?  And that sentiment, I am happy to report, is alive and well at Brunswick Main Street.

Our newly developed Strategic Plan charts an ambitious course for the organization into 2025.  Through 2020, we will be concentrating on expanding our foundation by working to increase the capacity of the organization through the following efforts:

• Developing a comprehensive fundraising plan to ensure we have the resources to carry out our plans
• Expanding our volunteer base, again giving us the necessary diversity of resources
• Recruitment and development of our Board of Directors to ensure we have a sustainable organizational structure for the future
• Updating and documenting internal processes to support our growth and expansion
• Increasing our grant-seeking efforts to support our proposed programs and internal development

My intent here to show what Brunswick Main Street will be doing to build our organization. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the plans for our future.  We have many goals in each of our committees which include the Design committee, the Promotions committee and the Economic Restructuring committee. For more information about these committees and their plans please check out our our pages HERE.

In the next 15 years Brunswick Main Street has created a vision for our downtown that includes:

1. Attracting new and vibrant businesses to our downtown corridor and strengthening our support systems for the exisiting businesses within our Main Street district.

2. Making our downtown an attractive city center that is clean, green and safe.

3. Promoting all of the wonderful outdoor recreation opportunities right outside of our downtown. Everyone should experience the beauty of the C&O Canal in Brunswick!

I hope that this look into the future of Brunswick Main Street generates hope and excitement for what is to come.  At Brunswick Main Street we are motivated by the vision for our future and what we can do for Brunswick’s downtown district.  If you feel this same hope and excitement I urge you to join us.  It will take all of us, involved and engaged, to create the vibrant city center that will make us all proud of the town we love so dearly.

The Brunswick Main Street Community Legacy Grant was created to financially assist commercial property owners in the Brunswick Main Street district who wish to improve the interior or exterior of their space. To find out more about it, click here! In 2018, Brunswick Main Street chose four awardees for this grant: Cannon’s Events LLC, The Own It Company, Beans and the Belfry, and Brunswick’s up-and-coming Community Art Center located on 14 East A Street. Let’s take a look into the renovations that have been made possible thanks to the Community Legacy Grant! 

The Own It Company 

Located right across the street from Brunswick’s Square Corner Park is The Own It Company. As a community-centered organization, The Own It Company focuses on providing a collaborative office space to promote creativity. As recipients of the Community Legacy Grant, The Own It Company was able to update their electrical wiring throughout their building and install adequate electrical outlets on several of their work stations. As an older, more historic building, The Own It Company understands that it is just as important to keep the inside of their building operating efficiently as it is to preserve the historic factors of their building.

Cannon’s Events LLC

A bit further down West Potomac Streets sits Smoketown Brewing Station, a popular brewery for residents and a returning hot spot for tourists. With the money received from the grant, business owner Dave Blackmon was able to invest in his new business, Cannon’s Events, by renovating the rear exterior of the building. The exterior improvements include new windows and a set of double doors leading to a freshly set patio perfect for hosting events. Additional renovations that were made possible as a result of this grant include the installation of commercial fans, LED lighting, and glass interior walls.

The Community Arts Center

            Another recipient of the Community Legacy Grant is The Community Arts Center located on 14 East A Street. This historic building previously known as the “Beth Israel” Synagogue building is in the process of being renovated. This process was made a little easier for owner Matt Marcello after being announced a recipient of the grant. The money provided by the grant was used to place a new roof on the building. Marcello was thrilled to cross this task off of his to-do list and looks forward to creating a community art center people can visit and admire the work of their peers.

Beans in the Belfry

            The final recipient of the Community Legacy Grant is Brunswick’s favorite cafe: Beans in the Belfry. Beans in the Belfry is in the process of putting their renovation plans into action as they get ready to introduce a new fence and bike rack on the side of their building. They feel these renovations will be a major improvement in the city scape of downtown Brunswick. The bike rack will be perfect for customers and tourists coming from one of the many surrounding trails.

            Brunswick Main Street is proud to extend a helping hand to the businesses that continue to contribute so much to the town of Brunswick! Together we encourage not only business owners but community members to support these businesses and help show others why we love Brunswick!

To maintain and preserve the historic downtown of Brunswick Main Street, the town works closely with the Community Foundation of Frederick County, especially our Organization Committee. With the help of this committee, applications for various grants are reviewed and dispersed according to where they feel the grant will best be put into motion.

Recently, our very own Brunswick Main Street has been awarded the Linda Moran and Don Doughty Fund! Both Don and Linda have created this fund to share their appreciation of music and gardening. The couple feel that both music and gardening can bring a calming and restorative balance not only to individuals, but to communities. Wanting to share their passion for the arts and give back to various communities within the county, Don and Linda have worked together to set up the Don Doughty and Linda Moran fund to increase gardening opportunities and brighten up public green spaces.

Brunswick is especially excited to be recipients of this environmentally focused grant. We are particularly excited for our volunteers to tackle revitalizing the Pocket Park, our community park located across from Beans in the Belfry. Volunteers are eager to glove up and get down to business as they set out to purchase new plants, create new pathways in the park, tend to the flower beds, trim back some of the overgrown trees, and much more! The park includes a sign made out of bricks from the old high school – what a great way to recycle!

Brunswick Main Street would like to say a huge thank you to Karin Birch -our longtime volunteer for the park-  for all of her hard work to keep downtown Brunswick a beautiful, welcoming and historic main street!

Join us at the next Small City Saturday on April 13th as we launch this exciting project – stay tuned for updates!

Click through these images below for our BEFORE shots!

You can find old historic photos of Brunswick, Maryland in the windows of many of the shops and businesses in the Brunswick Main Street district! Brunswick Main Street, in partnership with the Brunswick History Commission and the Brunswick Heritage Museum, have identified some of the former uses of many of the buildings downtown. This project intends to help the Brunswick community better understand the boundaries of the Main Street district, learn about Brunswick’s amazing history and see its transformation, and to imagine some ways to utilize the spaces in the future! The Design Committee Chair, Dr. Wayne Allgaier, has served as the Project Manager of the Storefront Window Project. Make sure you try and see them all!

You can find old historic photos of Brunswick, Maryland in the windows of many of the shops and businesses in the Brunswick Main Street district! Brunswick Main Street, in partnership with the Brunswick History Commission and the Brunswick Heritage Museum, have identified some of the former uses of many of the buildings downtown. This project intends to help the Brunswick community better understand the boundaries of the Main Street district, learn about Brunswick’s amazing history and see its transformation, and to imagine some ways to utilize the spaces in the future! The Design Committee Chair, Dr. Wayne Allgaier, has served as the Project Manager of the Storefront Window Project. Make sure you try and see them all!