Street paving approved

Paving and street repairs of South Center Street and Park Lane were approved unanimously during the August 6 Thurmont town meeting. Work will include milling, overlay and some leveling of portions of these streets.

Last fiscal year $90,000 was taken out of the Highway User Revenue Fund to allow the town to do some road repairs. Patching and paving work was done recently costing approximately $41,000. With the remainder of the funds, town staff elected to move on to the next priority project.

Three bids were received for this project. American Asphalt Paving Co., LLC bid $42,400; Tibbs Paving, Inc/ bid $43,189; and ECM Corp. bid $69,509. Town staff recommended the lowest bidder for the project after checking all references for this company, as they have not worked with them before. All references checked out, noting the company has done terrific work and were easy to work with.

Thurmont businesses learn about networking

Maryland Department of Commerce Secretary Kelly Shultz was a guest speaker at the August Thurmont Business Network Meeting. Secretary Shultz addressed the group about conducting business in Maryland, regulations, and other pertinent topics to running a business. The Secretary also provided the group with a few helpful business links for the Department of Commerce. The August meeting was held at the beautiful Ole Mink Farm Recreation Resort. The September 5th Thurmont Business Network meeting will be held at Catoctin Breeze Vineyard at 15010 Roddy Road at 8 a.m. For more information on Thurmont Business Network contact vgrinder@thurmontstaff.com

Another great year for Thurmont’s Summer Rec Program

The Town of Thurmont sponsored the second "A Day in the Park" program this summer and it proved to be another successful year. Last year, the program ran for two weeks and the registrations more than doubled the second week. In answer to this, the program ran for three weeks this year and accommodated approximately 40 children, with most children registering for all three weeks.

Program Director, Michele Maze and her assistant, Dick Lee, developed diverse programming that took advantage of willing partners like Catoctin Mountain Park, Cunningham Falls State Park and the Thurmont Regional Library.

Local artist Yemi led the children on a two-hour art extravaganza that mesmerized every child. Michael Hillman brought his horse, Wesley, and let children get up close and personal with the gentle giant, as did Katie Glass and her goats. Also participating that day was Dr. Keane of Catoctin Veterinary Clinic and Sharon Sutton who brought the crowd favorite…a hedgehog. The children got to experience a fitness day that included Nick Tester from Anytime Fitness, Gretchen Smith of WellFit, Jon Phebus of Yoga to You and an obstacle course. Barry Burch, from the Catoctin and Frederick Soil Conservation District, brought soil samples from all over the country on Environmental Day and Reuben Moss, VP and Curator of the H&F Trolley Association, discussed the history of train and trolley travel in Thurmont. Mayor Kinnaird shared his knowledge of the H&F Trolley as they walked the Trolley Trail and then met at Memorial Park for a presentation by Gary Spegal of the Thurmont American Legion Post #168.

Town staff and camp organizers hope for another successful camp next year.