By Elena Rowe//
The Downtown Frederick community is ready for some COVID restrictions to lift in the next few months, and events that tourists and residents know and love will be back.
“First Saturday”, a monthly event to support local businesses downtown with various events, is already back in full swing. When the pandemic first hit last year, the monthly event went virtual. On May 1, 2021, the event was in person featuring live musicians, chalk artists, and balloon artists.
The event will continue to grow as the summer progresses, Leann Crews, marketing and promotions manager for the Downtown Frederick Partnership said.
Alive @ Five, the weekly Thursday night concert series for people 21+ that takes place at the Carroll Creek Amphitheater, will return this summer. The event is the main fundraising initiative for the Partnership, allowing the organization to use the revenue from the event for their work throughout the year.
Crews said some changes brought by the pandemic might become permanent, including the expansion of outdoor dining and curbside pickup. The Partnership is conducting a streetscape study to consider what changes in sidewalks and streets should remain.
More travelers already seem to be headed back to Frederick, according to officials at the Visit Frederick Center. Traffic to the Visit Frederick website has increased 33% since last March.
Melissa Muntz, marketing and communications manager at Visit Frederick, said that during the pandemic her office focused on targeting local residents. Now the focus has shifted back to attracting visitors from out of the area.
The number of visitors will grow as more events are held, Muntz noted.
“Much of the traffic to our website is to our events calendar,” Muntz said. “These are the activities where people from out of town are interested in what is going on each weekend, and we are really excited to offer these events moving forward.”
She noted that many museums have started to reopen, including Rose Hill Manor, a museum that looks at the agricultural history and early life of Frederick County. A decision for large-scale events such as In the Streets and Catoctin Color Fest has not been determined yet, but Muntz believes people are ready for them.
Jake Wynn, director of interpretation at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and a 2015 Hood alum, is also eager to see a return to normalcy. He said the pandemic changed many aspects of the museum, and increased its presence on social media.
Wynn said the pandemic allowed the museum to focus on how it wants to achieve its mission, but sharply curtailed visitations.
In addition to the location in Frederick, the museum also operates The Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office in Washington, DC, and the Pry House Field Hospital and Museum in Keedysville. The Pry House Field Hospital, which closed in 2020, still has not reopened, but Wynn said visitors have started to return to the other properties.
Wynn said he expects new exhibits will be introduced this summer, as well as walking tours of Downtown Frederick.
Just recently the museum announced that visitors can sign up for guided tours.
“We have offered the guided tours to groups for a long time, but this is the first time that as a member of the general public, you can go on our website and sign up for a 60-minute tour of the museum,” Wynn said. “You are able to interact with the employees here and have an opportunity to learn in a new way.”
Digital programming, which emerged during the pandemic is expected to stay, Wynn said. People around the world have been tuning in to live streams and YouTube videos. Once in-person programs return, there will be a hybrid option. If people are able to come in person if they can, if not people can watch virtually if a member.
The Weinberg Center, long a staple in the Frederick arts scene, is set to open May 15 with a dance performance, giving a boost to the downtown, John Healey, the theater’s executive manager said.
“Without us being open, that’s a lot of foot traffic that has been diverted away from the Downtown area,” he said.
While closed, the Center was able to have virtual programming, as well as be used for film backdrops. During the 2020 holiday season, a dance company filmed The Nutcracker.The Center had also been used as jury duty sites, as the courthouse was closed, and just recently opened in April.
Looking forward, the Weinberg Center will be a little different. According to the website, ultraviolet lights and Hepa filters have been installed in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. Touchless paper and soap dispensers have been installed around the theater, and the theater will be cleaned after each performance.
In terms of seating, the building will be initially open at 50% capacity. To control social distancing, tickets for the events will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis in pods of two, three and four.
Patrons will be required to wear masks and the performances will only be an hour and a half or less with no intermission. After each performance and rehearsal, the theater will be thoroughly cleaned.
Another potential change for the Weinberg is reducing the number of printed PlayBill programs by using digital programs.
A mixture of national, international and local artists are invited to come to the Center year-round. People should expect the full schedule to be announced on the Weinberg website in July.
“I want the performances to offer diversity, as well as appeal to people in the Greater Frederick Community,” Healey said. “Most of our folks are coming from a 10-mile radius of the theater, but at the same time, I want to present opportunities to the community, so they don’t have to drive to Baltimore or D.C. to see some of these acts.”
Love the outdoor seating downtown but HATE that there is so little on street parking available for those of us who cannot walk long distances.