Maryland Secretary of Commerce Kelly M. Schulz recently announced Easton as one of two new Arts and Entertainment Districts in Maryland. Easton will join 26 existing Districts in the state in offering marketing and tax-related incentives to help current and prospective artists, arts organizations, and other creative enterprises, incentives that are aimed at developing and promoting community involvement, tourism, and revitalization. 

“Maryland’s Arts and Entertainment Districts serve an important role in revitalizing communities across the state,” Secretary Schultz said. “This designation helps attract artists and creative businesses and gives counties and municipalities the ability to develop unique arts experiences that engage residents and attract visitors.”

Easton, Maryland, one of the State’s preeminent arts destinations, has long been known for its vibrant mix of fine art galleries, performance venues, museums and artists’ studios, as well as a burgeoning artisan scene. Now, the town hopes to build upon its already longstanding history with more opportunities for artists and arts organizations within the town’s borders. 

“I think the destination of Easton as an Arts and Entertainment District further adds to our reputation as a center for a variety of art projects,” Easton Mayor Robert Willey said. “I would hope that people will take advantage of the opportunities that the designation provides and help to build on an already familiar label.”

The Easton Arts District will encompass over 110 acres including Easton’s Historic District, East End Neighborhood, and outlying residential and commercial neighborhoods. Within this district, developers and arts organizations will benefit from a property tax abatement for artistic-related improvements to their structures, and qualified residing artists will receive an income tax subtraction from the State of Maryland for all art created and sold within an Arts and Entertainment District. 

In addition to the tax incentives, the newly-designated district will feature existing and new arts-related events, from the world-class Waterfowl Festival and Plein Air Easton, to the new Easton Arts District Culture Crossing, a monthly artisans market along the Easton Rails-to-Trails beginning July 13. 

Spearheaded by Discover Easton, the Easton Arts District has been discussed over the years as an integral part of growing the arts economy in and around downtown Easton.

“The Easton arts community is one of the most robust in Maryland, and becoming a designated Arts and Entertainment District will allow us to continue to promote growth in one of the most successful industries in Talbot County,” Discover Easton Executive Director Ross Benincasa said. “This collaborative effort among our office, the Town of Easton, Talbot County and the Talbot County Arts Council will ensure that the arts do not stagnate in Easton, but instead continue to flourish and expand with new offerings and events.”

To learn more about the Easton Arts District and arts-related events in Easton, head to www.artsineaston.com.

About Discover Easton: Discover Easton is a marketing, promotion and events 501(c)(3) non-profit organization operating as a member of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation.  The mission of Discover Easton is to enhance, promote and preserve the vitality of Easton’s business owners, residents and visitors; and to bring awareness to the Town’s historical roots and lifestyles.

For more information regarding Discover Easton and its events, please visit www.discovereaston.com or email [email protected].

As a result of feedback from Spy readers over the last few months, we began a series of interviews over the next year with Talbot County and town council presidents. By providing a platform to highlight particular issues and opportunities through these conversations, it is hoped this new format will encourage more civic engagement.

We continue our new series with a discussion with Ron Engle, a member of the Easton Town Council for Ward 3. In our conversation, Ron talks about recruitment for both police officers and volunteer firefighters for the Town of Easton. He also talks about the town’s infrastructure needs, including sidewalks on Route 50, and the importance of Smoke and Fire detectors for residents.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length. For more information on the Easton Town Council please go here

While the Eastern Shore is well known as a maritime mecca of sorts, led by the venerable Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, a not particularly well-kept secret is that the region’s love for cars is almost equal in size to those that love their boats.

On virtually any back road on any given weekend, one can easily spot vintage and performance cars with one very happy driver in command. And in many cases, those happy drivers have quite a number of those remarkable machines.

One cultural institution has recently established itself to celebrates those kinds of cars. In the last few years, the Classic Motor Museum in St. Michaels has opened their barn door (literally) to car and truck collectors generously willing to loan the museum some of their most priceless autos for exhibition.

The Spy down with Anita Hulo Schneider, the new executive director of the Classic Motor Museum to get a better sense of the museum’s mission.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about the Classic Motor Museum, please go here

In our ongoing interviews with Talbot County leaders at the county and local municipality level, we continue with a catch-up session for William (Bill) Boos who will be serving as the president of the Town of St. Michaels Commission unto 2020.

In this check-in session, the Spy gets an update on the town’s plans for street improvements, a new town commissioner, the status of the St. Michaels new town hall plans, and finally a discussion of transparency with Town of St. Michaels government and elected officials.

This video is approximately six minutes in length.

The Baltimore Sun reports this morning that one of the Eastern Shore’s most powerful advocates has passed away at his home in Kennedyville, Maryland.

Read the full story here

In the wake of the tragic events on Thursday June 6 at the Easton Family YMCA, our leadership team has elected to remain closed through the weekend as members of our staff, volunteers and community continue to grieve the loss of one of our beloved Y members Mr. John Cassidy. The Easton Family YMCA will open with regular hours on Monday June 10th at 4:45am. YMCA members are encouraged to utilize the Y @ Washington in Easton (8:00am – 6:00pm Saturday and Sunday) or the new Perkins Family YMCA in St. Michael’s (7:00am – 6:00pm Saturday, 11:00am – 6:00pm Sunday). The George Murphy Pool and Bay Hundred Community Pool will be open to Y members free of charge this weekend.

The YMCA will host a community candlelight vigil in honor of John Cassidy and the Cassidy family on the front steps of the Easton Family YMCA on Sunday, June 9th at 7:30 pm. The vigil will be held in the gymnasium in the event of inclement weather. Presiding over the vigil will be Rabbi Peter Hyman from Temple B’nai Israel, Rev. William T. Wallace from Union United Methodist Church and Father James Nash from Saints Peter and Paul Parish. All community members are invited to attend.

On the evening of May 29th, Pam Kuster had just come home from a Special Olympics meeting with her son Scott. Her husband Eric was home already, and as they began sorting the mail a thunderstorm rolled in.

For Pam, Eric and Scott, home is a special place—they share their property with the 44 horses of Worthmore Equestrian Center, a riding, boarding, and therapy center they started in 2003.

Worthmore and its facilities have withstood two hurricanes, constant high winds, and countless sudden thunderstorms. So when Wednesday’s storm hit, Pam wasn’t too concerned. In fact, the horses were all spending the night outside in the paddocks and pastures, as is normal in good weather.

And then a tree came down over her porch.

“I turned around and looked out the back door… and I’m watching our big honey locust… Just so you have perspective, we have been here through two hurricanes. We were here for Isabel. We were here for Sandy. And I’ve never seen that tree move like that.

“The bushes… I’m surprised they actually stood back up because they were laying on the ground. And the rain came horizontal.

“And I saw sheet metal fly.”

Watching stunned from her kitchen window, Pam immediately assumed the roof was coming off the old barn, which has stood on the property for 80 years.

But when she opened the door to get a clearer picture, she received a total shock.

Their indoor arena was totally gone.

“Eric yelled, ‘Don’t even think about going out there,’” Pam recalls. Of course, he knew she was thinking about the horses in the 10 paddocks downwind from the indoor, completely out of sight.

“It was awful…knowing that the horses were out there in this mess.”

Genna Kuster, Pam’s daughter who works and teaches at Worthmore, remembers getting a call.

“Mom called me and she said, ‘Genna, the indoor has gone down and I can’t see the horses over the wreckage.’ And I pictured…” Genna gestures down an imaginary hill. “…dead horses. I thought that BP, Fancy, Musette, Byz… were gone.”

When the winds eased after 5 agonizing minutes, Pam and Eric rushed out into the rain.

“We have to go to the side paddocks, because we have horses out. And to come through that barn and to see that first paddock, and all the metal in that first paddock… and there was no horse in the paddock.

“There was so much metal, it was like, ‘Okay, he’s got to be dead under the metal.’ Where else are you going to go?”

The horse they were looking for was Trojan Fan, a 12 year old gelding owned by a family in Tennessee.

Miraculously, Trojan had managed to escape the paddock and was several yards away, standing near the other horses.

He hadn’t escaped without injuries, though.

Pam immediately called her vet, who made it to Worthmore in 5 minutes and spent three straight hours giving Trojan hundreds of stitches.

“He was incredible. He just stood. You know, after 2 hours of suturing to then say he started to get a little dicy? That’s an amazing animal.

“The first day we really weren’t sure if he was going to make it. [But] I’m feeling really positive. He’s going to come through.”

——

Worthmore isn’t just home to Pam, Eric, Scott, and the horses. It’s a second home for many others on the Eastern Shore as well.

Dozens of special-needs children from six local schools come to the barn weekly through the Kent Association of Riding Therapy (KART) program. Dozens more, both with and without disabilities, take private lessons as well. Disabled adults spend time with horses each summer through KART’s Easterseals Camp Fairlee. Bridges at Worthmore serves veterans and their families, at-risk youth, and children of incarcerated families. KART and Bridges also work in partnership to run programs for the Kent Center and local veterans. Kent County Parks and Recreation runs programs at Worthmore for kids that have never been around a horse. And for adults who haven’t been around horses, Worthmore serves as an Equine Discovery Center, which provides guided and supervised horse experiences.

And amidst all of these programs, countless people seek out Worthmore’s horses to ground themselves in the midst of a busy, sterile, technology-filled world.

All of those people and programs relied on the indoor arena.

The indoor arena is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. It allows programs to run rain or shine. It contained lighting, fans, a video security system, a ramp and lift to allow wheelchair-bound people to ride, and large mirrors on the walls to let riders evaluate their posture. Private horse owners and students of Worthmore alike used the arena constantly.

And while insurance will cover the replacement of the building, they won’t cover many of those lost assets, nor the lost revenue from programs that won’t be able to run while construction is underway.

“Normally we do all of our sessions in the indoor,” Pam said. That means that with the indoor down, there’s no conceivable way they can run Camp Fairlee. As for their other summer camps and their regular lessons, they’re hoping to find a way to continue them.

But they will have to reimagine what that will look like without the indoor arena.

“That building has changed more lives than I can even tell you,” Pam says.

She doesn’t have to tell you—it’s easy to see. On Friday, people brought donuts, coffee, muffins, soup, and homemade lasagna all in the space of an hour. The wall outside the office is stacked with water bottles and iced tea. On Saturday, only two days after the news got out, people are chopping up felled trees, taking over horse chores, sharing the story on social media, and pooling their talents and connections for future plans. Volunteers are clearing debris with whatever they have, whether it’s their hands, their trucks, or a backhoe.

Avery, a Worthmore riding student who’s on the spectrum, called Pam in hysterics, saying “We have to rebuild. This has to happen. Nobody understands.” She offered Pam her life savings—$500 in a lock box—to help rebuild the arena.

“I am honestly so thankful for the people I’m surrounded by,” Pam said with quiet honesty. “Because it really was like a death, where you’re kind of wandering. You can’t really think about what you need.”

By Saturday afternoon, people had donated over $5000 through Worthmore’s GoFundMe campaign. Worthmore is hoping to eventually raise up to $200,000, not only for the rebuilding costs that insurance won’t cover, but also to keep the horses fed and cared until they can get their programs running again.

And, of course, to help pay for Trojan’s ongoing medical costs.

On Saturday, Trojan was bright-eyed and moving around his stall, looking to visitors for scratches and munching from a huge pile of hay. He seems to enjoy being the center of attention now that he lives in the stall closest to the office.

The worry at this point is that the numerous drugs in his system will ruin his appetite and his health will start to deteriorate.

“In retrospect, one injury out of 44 animals… it’s a godsend. I chalk it up to God. I really honestly do. All I have to say is, ‘Well, I’m not exactly sure why. It’s not important that I know why. But he’s got something else going on.’ But seriously… I always look at it for a higher reason. There has to be something. Why else are we here?”

But that higher reason won’t happen without continuing support.

“We appreciate anything—anything—anybody can do. Whether it’s five dollars, whether it’s a donation of a mounting block, whether it’s a donation for a lesson for somebody, or a therapy session for somebody. Hands on deck are going to be really important over the coming weeks.”

Worthmore will be posting updates and instructions on their Facebook page and website (www.worthmoreequestrian.com) for those looking to volunteer.

As for Scott, who has autism, it took him a while before he was able to process the big change.

“Indoor arena X X,” he told his mom on Friday morning.

To Scott, X X means “destroyed.”

“Yes. Indoor arena X X,” Pam replied. “But we’re going to build a new one. We’re going to fix it.”

“Indoor arena X X… fix it,” he repeated.

And with the help of the community, they will.

For those looking to donate, please visit www.gofundme.com and search for “Worthmore Equestrian Center,” or make a check payable to Worthmore Equestrian Center and mail it to 11570 Still Pond Rd, Worton, MD 21678.

Links to their GoFundMe page and their Venmo can also be found on their Facebook page. 2Follow their progress on Facebook or at www.worthmoreequestrian.com.