Talk of the Town!

Anyway, thank you so very much. It is time for our talk of the town. We're happy to be in downtown Frederick this morning. Hi, guys. Good morning. Thanks for coming out. It's good to see you. We got space back here for all the folks who want to come and say hello. We're at an amphitheater, which is absolutely gorgeous, and a lot of people are choosing to sit rather than stand, and I 100% understand that. Now, Kara, I got a seat here because Kara's with the executive director of the Downtown Frederick Partnership, and we're so honored to be here today. Thanks for inviting us to your lovely town. Well, welcome to Downtown Frederick. We're so glad to have you. This is, I think, the third time in the last five years we've been up here, and it's for a reason, because I think there's so much to get into in this area, and we were talking earlier, a lot of people, you know, they'll do a drive-by in the interstate, but they won't take the time to get off, spend five minutes to get downtown, which is so cute. It is an amazing downtown. Beautiful historic architecture, walkable streets, more than 250 local businesses, retail restaurant, great things to shop for and to eat. It's a great town. Yeah, and the shops are there, the restaurants are there, the little cafes, the coffee shops, everything that gives you that small-town charm. How important is that to preserve that, to have that in this community? Absolutely critical. I mean, it's the heart of our community in so many ways. These businesses are invested in our community, they're a part of it, and they really, they give back. It's a critical part of our community. Yeah, and it's something that I think everybody that we talk to here says that they really appreciate about the area. Yeah, it's what makes it special. It really is, because you have that downtown, but then you also have a great business community. You expand out a little bit from that downtown area, and you're like any other small city. You have to keep things going, you have to keep those partnerships going, and you get to have a little fun along the way, too, right? We do, we do. We happen to be in the amphitheater right now, where we have a lot of fun all summer long, and actually all year around. And for us, with Downtown Product Partnership, we have a Live at 5, which is an outdoor happy hour, live music, local drinks, beer, wine, mocktails, cocktails, a lot of fun right here every Thursday till the end of September. I did notice, and we're gonna have a brewery on in a little bit, and I know just right across the creek here, there's a distillery, and I'm sensing a common theme here, that people up here like to have a good time. We do like to have a good time, but we also have mocktails as well, so we've got everything, we've got everybody covered. There you go, and you got live music on Thursdays, as long as it doesn't rain like last night, but that's all right. Let's not talk about that. This upcoming Thursday, you'll be good to go, right? Yes, I hope so. I'm looking forward to it. So what else would you say about, not just your work here, and obviously you're working closely with the community to make sure everybody has what they need to continue to thrive, but for folks who haven't been here before, what would you suggest? What should they expect? I would say make a day of it, plan to have some great food, enjoy all of our shops and dining. It's a beautiful community to really enjoy, especially on foot, so park your car, get out, walk around, and you really enjoy the town. Yeah, and it's nice, and there are parking garages that are right here too, so you can leave your car for the day and go enjoy. Yeah, absolutely. Which is great. Well, we're going to enjoy it today. You're going to learn a lot about Frederick. We've been here before, but we come back for a reason. We absolutely love it. It's super cute, as you can see from the drone shots too, just getting a little taste of what's going on in some of the downtown area, and it has such rich history as well, going back, I mean, literally centuries. There's not a lot of places you could say that, right? Yeah, there's not, and we've done a great job of preserving it, so that's a part of our work as a partnership and a really part of the value of our community. All right, so there you go. Now you know a little bit about what to expect. All you have to do is come up and say hi, and whether you do it today, we're here until 11, if you want to come say hi while we're here, or come up anytime. It's going to be a nice weekend, so come up and maybe make a day of it and enjoy it. Karen, thank you so much for joining us and for welcoming us, and if you'd like to learn more about downtown Frederick or any of the partnerships, you can find that information online. Thank you so much. Thank you. We love being here, and thank you guys for coming out today. This is great. What a fantastic start already. It's 11 minutes past 8 o'clock. Much more to come for Frederick. We'll send it back inside for now. Love it. Thank you, Steve.