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Frederick Arts Council energizes annual festival,
local economy

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“We’re able to strengthen the festival’s resources,” he says, and “we plan to be better stewards of the event.”

Butcher expects attendance at the festival to rebound from last year’s turnout. Bad weather had a significant effect, he says. Attendance dropped to 4,000. In recent years, the festival drew an average of 8,000 to 10,000 visitors, he adds.

This year, 115 artists from 20 states will show their work at the festival. “One out of every three artists who submitted samples were juried in, he says. He also mentions that during the festival’s history, artists from 49 of the 50 states have participated. (Hawaii is the one state that hasn’t had representation.)

Transition year
Looking to future festivals, Butcher says “We’re thinking how to make it more comprehensive with more locations and more artists. This is a transition year.”

It was only three years ago – June 2006 – that Carroll Creek Park opened. The concept of a park had come about nearly 30 years earlier. In 1976, a flood ravaged the historic downtown area, which was already experiencing economic difficulties – businesses had been leaving the downtown area to move to a new suburban mall.

Frederick’s mayor at the time, Ron Young, initiated a long-term effort to revive the struggling city. First, a $60 million flood-control project eventually re-directed the flow of the creek into underground conduits. Only some of the water remained visible at ground level – constituting a 1.3-mile channel that now runs between pedestrian pathways.


The former mayor, according to the Frederick News Post, said at the time of the park’s opening: "I wanted to strengthen the core of downtown for the next 100 years. The way to do that was to create jobs, commercial activity, tourism."

To that end, the Tourism Council of Frederick County was created in 1976. And, during that same year, the Frederick County Arts Council was established.

During the 30-year period that followed the 1976 flood, nearly all of Frederick’s 2,500 historic properties have undergone renovation. The National Trust for Historic Preservation saluted the city’s efforts by naming Frederick one of its “Dozen Distinctive Destinations” in 2002 and a “Great American Main Street” in 2005.

Three-year tenure
Butcher has held his position with the Arts Council for nearly three years. The West Virginia native was working with United Way in Hagerstown prior to his move to Frederick

The Arts Council leadership role offered Butcher an opportunity to adapt his skills in capacity building, he says, to boost “a struggling cultural-arts center” and turn it into a viable operation.

He has continued to forge partnerships with area organizations that allow the arts council to “use art as a catalyst and a vehicle” to educate, enhance quality of life and generate economic impact.

The arts council partners with the tourism council, for instance, to celebrate significant historical milestones, he says. For the 150-year anniversary of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, the arts council is coordinating two weekends of theatrical performances, lectures and concerts that tie in to John Brown.

The arts council director also mentions the debut of a Frederick Arts Hall of Fame in October, which would include people from Frederick who have made significant contributions to the arts as professionals. Claire McCardell, a prominent women’s fashion designer from the 1930s through the 1950s is a good candidate, he says.

“We have a significant creative class here,” Butcher says. Frederick’s population includes a large number of high-tech people who work along the I-270 corridor, the personnel at Fort Detrick and “lots of graphic designers,” he says. “They have all come to expect and like arts and cultural activities.”

 

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