NEWS
Downtown Parking Update
A meeting was held in City Council Chambers on June 19 to update the public on the construction of the expanded water treatment plant. During drilling, they ran into some difficulty when they hit solid rock, which has put them behind schedule. They will work to make up this delay. Now that they have completed the drilling, they will be working for the next 4 to 6 weeks on excavating and underpinning the present building. When completed, the building will have three stories.
There was a discussion then regarding the possibility of using a shuttle to move people around Havre de Grace and from the Promenade to the center of town during tourist season. Apparently a shuttle was used some years ago but it ended for lack of business. The need for information on where people can dock boats was also voiced.
Brigitte Layton showed attendees a graphic of a sign that has been ordered to direct the public into the Main Street downtown area. Several of those signs will be placed in strategic places leading into town.
The next Parking Update meeting will be held at 3 pm on Thursday, July 17, in City Council Chambers.
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Havre de Grace Is Now an Arts & Entertainment District!
Havre de Grace Main Street, Inc., is pleased to announce the success of its application to the State of Maryland for Havre de Grace to be designated as an Arts & Entertainment District. The Arts & Entertainment program is administered by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development through the Maryland State Arts Council. Maryland is the first state in the country to designate Arts and Entertainment areas to use art and cultural resources to revitalize communities. An Arts & Entertainment District has been defined by Americans for the Arts as a well-recognized, labeled, mixed-use area of the city in which a high concentration of arts and cultural facilities serve as the anchor attraction. Our new district encompasses all of the downtown area of the city.
Havre de Grace Main Street will administer this program through its Arts & Entertainment Committee. Main Street has been active in the City since 2005 when it was accepted into the Main Street Program by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Main Street exists to promote and enhance the historic character and economic vitality of the downtown business district. In December 2007, the Main Street Board of Directors formed this fifth committee to seek the Arts & Entertainment designation because of the complementary goals of the program with the goals and mission of Havre de Grace Main Street.
Havre de Grace, already a popular destination for its small town waterfront atmosphere, has several art galleries, numerous specialty shops and antique stores, a thriving local artists community, a quality group of local eateries, annual arts festivals, and a diverse architectural heritage with historical significance. Main Street’s goals for the Arts & Entertainment District are to encourage arts development while maintaining that small town charm and build the city into a major cultural destination of the Upper Chesapeake region.
Arts & Entertainment Districts offer certain tax incentives to attract artists and arts and entertainment enterprises. More information about these benefits will be posted on this Web site in the near future.
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The Graw Days Festival, October 11, 2008
Havre de Grace Main Street announces a fun-filled, day-long Street Festival and glamorous Evening Gala to celebrate and commemorate a significant era in Havre de Grace history.
The Graw Days represent a colorful time in our City’s history beginning in 1912 with the construction of the Havre de Grace Racetrack, affectionately called “The Graw.” The Track was considered one of the best racing strips of the American turf and was the main training ground for owners who hoped to win the Kentucky Derby. It also made our City a popular stop-off for travelers and gamblers up and down the east coast.
Racing history was often made at The Graw. In 1920, Man O’War, the Horse of the Century, ran away with the Potomac Handicap and set a new track record for the mile-and-a-sixteenth. In 1923, Exterminator won the Philadelphia Handicap, setting an American record. Another notable race was in 1936, when the first Maryland race ever decided by a photo-finish camera was at The Graw. Other great wins were by War Admiral and Seabiscuit, the leading money-earning thoroughbred in 1937. And the famed Citation made history by losing his only race during his Triple Crown year on a muddy afternoon at The Graw. But on April 26, 1950, the last race was run at the Havre de Grace Track. The track, grandstand, and clubhouse still stand and are owned by the Maryland National Guard.
The timeframe of the Festival will be the Roaring Twenties, with period music and costumes, food, drink, historic displays, arts and crafts vendors along streets closed to traffic, and sidewalk sales. Daytime events will take place downtown from 10 am until 5 pm and will be family-friendly with games and contests for kids of all ages!
In the evening, adults will enjoy the elegant “Graw Gala,” a 1920’s themed dinner-dance. Details about its location will be announced later, but it’s not too soon to search through your attic for some treasured outfit someone used to wear!
There are exciting opportunities available for sponsors, with generous advertising and marketing, or gala tickets, in return. Companies or individuals may sponsor any of several special events or displays, food and beverages, the glamorous Graw Gala, or may sponsor at different levels.
We also are looking for crafters, artists, and vendors who are interested in displaying and/or selling their creations at the Graw Days Festival. Each vendor will have a 10 x 10 space for the cost of $35.00. Show hours are 10 am to 5 pm. This is an outdoor rain or shine event with streets closed to traffic and should be a great day full of fun and events for the entire family!
For more information, or for vendor or sponsor application forms, contact Havre de Grace Main Street, Inc., at 410-939-1811, or hdgmainstreet@verizon.net.
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Qualities of a Great Street
The Project for Public Spaces (www.pps.org) has identified ten qualities that contribute to the success of great streets:
1. Attractions and Destinations. Having something to do gives people a reason to come to a place—and to return again and again. When there is nothing to do, a space will remain empty, which can lead to other problems. In planning attractions and destinations, it is important to consider a wide range of activities for men and women; people of different ages; different times of day, week and year; and for people alone and in groups. Create an enticing path by linking together this variety of experiences.
2. Identity and Image. Whether a space has a good image and identity is key to its success. Creating a positive image requires keeping a place clean and well-maintained, as well as fostering a sense of identity. This identity can originate in showcasing local assets. Businesses, pedestrians, and drivers will then elevate their behavior to this vision and sense of place.
3. Active Edge Uses. Building bases should be human-scaled and allow for interaction between indoors and out. Preferably, there are active ground floor uses that create valuable experiences along a street for both pedestrians and motorists. For instance, a row of shops along a street is more interesting and generally safer to walk by than a blank wall or empty lot. Sidewalk activity also serves to slow vehicular traffic. At the very minimum, the edge connection should be visual, allowing passers-by to enjoy the activity and aesthetics of the indoor space. These edge uses should be active year-round and unite both sides of the street.
4. Amenities. Successful streets provide amenities to support a variety of activities. These include attractive waste receptacles to maintain cleanliness, street lighting to enhance safety, bicycle racks, and both private and public seating options—the importance of giving people the choice to sit where they want is generally underestimated. Cluster street amenities to support their use.
5. Management. An active entity that manages the space is central to a street’s success. This requires not only keeping the space clean and safe, but also managing tenants and programming the space to generate daily activity. Events can run the gamut from small street performances to sidewalk sales to cultural, civic or seasonal celebrations.
6. Seasonal Strategies. In places without a strong management presence or variety of activities, it is often difficult to attract people year-round. Utilize seasonal strategies, like holiday markets, parades and recreational activities to activate the street during all times of the year. If a street offers a unique and attractive experience, weather is often less of a factor than people initially assume.
7. Diverse User Groups. As mentioned previously, it is essential to provide activities for different groups. Mixing people of different race, gender, age, and income level ensures that no one group dominates the space and makes others feel unwelcome and out of place.
8. Traffic, Transit and the Pedestrian. A successful street is easy to get to and get through; it is visible both from a distance and up close. Accessible spaces have high parking turnover and, ideally, are convenient to public transit and support walking and biking. Access and linkages to surrounding destinations must be a part of the planning process. Automobile traffic cannot dominate the space and preclude the comfort of other modes. This is generally accomplished by slowing speeds and sharing street space with a range of transportation options.
9. Blending of Uses and Modes. Ground floor uses and retail activities should spill out into the sidewalks and streets to blur the distinction between public and private space. Shared street space also communicates that no one mode of transportation dominates.
10. Protects Neighborhoods. Great streets support the context around them. There should be clear transitions from commercial streets to nearby residential neighborhoods, communicating a change in surroundings with a concomitant change in street character.
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NATIONAL MAIN STREET NEWS
The
National Main Street Center of the National Trust for Historic Preservation has created a network of statewide, citywide, and countywide Main Street programs with more than 2,100 active Main Street programs nationally. The Center has led the preservation-based revitalization movement by serving as the nation's clearinghouse for information, technical assistance, research, and advocacy. You may access the Center’s Web site and monthly publication (Main Street News) by clicking the link above.