Good News for Old Town Frederick

The Frederick Gazette reports:

Frederick is one of 10 semifinalists in the Great American Main Street Awards contest. The winner will be announced at the National Main Streets Conference in Baltimore on May 9.

The awards recognize exceptional accomplishments in revitalization of America’s historic and older commercial districts …

Selected from a pool of 31 applicants, Frederick is the only Maryland city to make the short list …

For more about the program check out the National Trust’s site.

Another Gazette article by Kevin Smith reports on the state of retail on North Market:

The signs are there in downtown Frederick. Windows of long-empty stores — and those recently vacated — along North Market Street’s commercial corridor north of Third Street are beginning to fill with signs reading “Opening soon” or “Coming soon.”

South of Third Street, the commercial occupancy rate is roughly 90 percent. But north of Third, the occupancy rate is about half that.

The new enterprises, several of which will be minority-owned and cater to black customers, could inject life into the commercially moribund stretch.

Other, less “niche-oriented” enterprises are poised to open, according to storefront signs. An office supply store is slated to occupy the former Frederick Trading Post location at 406 N. Market St. and a computer training center will likely open in a former thrift store.

Anchoring the north end of the commercial district, at the corner of North Market and Seventh, will be the Tropical Supermarket.

The brainchild of an Urbana couple, Fatime Traore and Sekou Yoda, the market will specialize in foods from the Caribbean, South America and the owners’ native Africa.

I am happy to see Old Town continue its revitalization. It is a great place to spend your hard earned cash on food, drink, and shopping. Viva la Old Town!