Month: April 2021

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

“Saturday was awesome – the busiest day of my life,” said Theater in the Park founder and director Jennifer Lee Kraus. “We did fourteen shows in one day. We began with our Broadway Babies at 9 am and didn’t finish until 10 pm.”

The show, “Time Warp The Musical” was performed “live” for audiences under somewhat challenging circumstances. To follow COVID guidelines, the children needed to appear in groups of ten according to age. The audiences were kept small and were socially distanced.

“Seven groups performed twice each to stay within the guidelines for audience numbers. First to perform were our little 3 to 5-year-olds,” Kraus said. “Next were our 5 to 8-year-olds, followed by our 9’s and 10’s, and ending with kids eleven and up.”

Further complicating matters, the production was to have been performed on the stage of the Holy Grounds building but had to be relocated due to renovation work. The show was moved, instead, to the Severna Park Community Center’s Andy Borland Gymnasium.

Kraus and her team of directors and assistants spent the night before “Time Warp The Musical” in the gym installing three different backdrops and a huge Time Warp Machine. Fortunately, TITP had recently purchased a new sound system and twelve body mics so each performer could wear one to be heard across the wide expanse of the facility.

Costumes were imaginative, recreating retro looks from the 1950’s through succeeding decades of fashions courtesy of the Time Warp Machine. The music followed a similar pattern from 50’s era “Splish Splash” and “Rock Around The Clock” to Gloria Gaynor’s 70’s hit “I Will Survive”, 2000’s “Who Let The Dogs Out” and beyond.

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The Theater in the Park team’s efforts and those of the young performers were warmly rewarded. According to Kraus, audiences were delighted and their comments wonderful. Many parents mentioned how glad they were to finally see a live performance. Others said they’d so looked forward to the musical that it was a highlight of their family’s life.

Families also noted that they appreciated that TITP stayed open throughout the pandemic.

“To do that was financially rough,” said Kraus. “We had to reserve more space, hire more directors, and have fewer kids in each class but keeping our doors open was so worth it.”

The “Time Warp” performances capped a busy time for Theater in the Park. A week before, they’d staged one of their Pitch Perfect group choral performances which was moved from its scheduled location at Holy Grounds to the front steps of Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church. Thanks to TITP’s great sound system, the concert featuring music from the group Abba was a great success. For information on Theater In The Park musical workshops, visit Musical Theater Workshop for Kids – Home (theaterinthepark.net)

Children’s Art Show at Woods’ Fellowship Hall a visual delight

For most of Woods Child Development Center’s 65 year history, the annual children’s art show has been as much a social occasion as a viewing. But the show didn’t happen at all in 2020 thanks to COVID-19 related church closures. This year, the show is back and about to open – albeit in socially distanced fashion – according to director Jessica Kemper.

Kemper, along with several teachers and assistants, helped hang the show Tuesday for a Wednesday viewing from 6 to 7:30 pm. A sneak peek at the art revealed how amazing it is for children so young. Walking into Fellowship Hall, one’s eyes were immediately drawn to a whole bevy of “umbrella people” made by 2-year-olds . The children replaced the figures heads with photos taken by their teachers of their own faces.

The art was so colorful and pretty – especially the umbrella figures with likenesses of the two-year-olds.

Noting that the children who created all the art were so young, Kemper introduced teachers Amanda Siverling and Christine Westphal who were in the process of finishing panels showing their classes’ work.

“Our children use their imaginations so well,” Kemper said. “They’re making sculptures from tinfoil, creating acrylic art on panels, geometric designs, and colorful mosaics using many different techniques. I’m always surprised by what they can do.”

Among her favorites were the acrylic panels which she believed lovely enough to hang in her own home.

Kemper took a few minutes for a brief history of the child development center. She revealed that it was started in 1954 by two women from the community who wanted to offer a school opportunity for children from all walks of life, socio-economic backgrounds and races. It was very inexpensive for the times.

It began as a little church preschool a couple mornings a week but developed over the years. By 1984, they’d added a school day childcare program licensed by the Maryland Office of Childcare. Currently, the child development center has two programs – a preschool program which meets two or three days a week in the mornings and a full-day childcare program for two, three or five days which opens at 6:45 am and runs till 6 pm but has flexible hours. In a normal year, the center accommodates about 140 students though during the pandemic it has been limited to 72 students.

Kemper briefly touched on “art nights” which both staff and parents have missed.

“In past years, we’ve had the room laid out differently so people can congregate because it’s really been quite a social occasion for the parents and children. We’ve usually served strawberries and cookies and lemonade and juices and have also held a Spring Basket silent auction as a fundraiser for the center,” she said. “This year, we’re only doing the art part and the room is set up so families enter from one direction and file through and exit to the outside from the opposite direction.”

Crossing to another area of the art exhibit she’s fond of, Kemper pointed to a number of geometric designs and mosaics created by three-year-olds.

Lastly, the director pointed to a blue box decorated in clouds and explained that, throughout the year, the box had been various things.

“According to the story that’s attached, the beloved box was recycled many times. On its journey, it was a rocket ship, a cave, a tunnel, a volcano and a gas station pump,” she read. “At the end of its journey, the class turned it into a beautiful sky with their own rendition of painted clouds from the book, ‘It Looked Like Spilt Milk’. Each child’s cloud tells a different story and each child can tell what it means.”

For more information on Woods Child Development Center, visit Woods Child Development Center ~ Home (woodscdc.org) .

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

Workmen on scaffolding could be spotted throughout the past week on both sides of Historic Holy Grounds. A mix of tools, ladders, lumber and windowpanes could be seen.

Owned by Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church but managed by the Severna Park Community Center, the graceful building constructed in 1927 as St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church has aged gracefully but wear and tear was inevitable. Foremost among the architectural elements needing immediate care were the windows.

Woods congregation member Bob Royer, project manager for the window replacement, revealed how plans for the complex undertaking were conceived, evolved, and brought to fruition thanks, in part, to an anonymous donor.

“We’d begun making plans to redo the windows in 2019 as part of our church’s Renew Capital Campaign to upgrade our buildings in sustainalbe, energy efficient ways,” Royer said. “At Holy Grounds, the windows were somewhat in disrepair and had been patched several times. We’d decided we couldn’t let them deteriorate further and now was the time to replace them, when we were contacted by Severna Park Community Center Executive Director Sarah Elder with a possible donor for the project.”

The church members involved had done their homework and were just about started on the work when Elder put Royer in touch with a Severna Park resident who is a community center member.

He learned that the Holy Grounds building held a great deal of significance for the donor’s family. Her grandfather attended St. John the Evangelist Church back in the days when Severna Park was still known as the rural community of Boone, Maryland. She had fond memories of the building and wanted to do something to preserve it.

Royer discovered that she’s a great advocate for authenticity (her family having been involved the John W. Brown Liberty Ship Project). He then suggested she donate the window replacement as a visible example of the original builders’ standards of excellence and a fitting tribute to her family’s legacy. He outlined the project which would require quite an expenditure and she said she’d like to pay for it.

“It was such a generous gift which allows us to divert the money we’d have spent to making other much-needed repairs and upgrades,” Royer said.

Walking into the interior of the building with him, it was stunning to see the window frames on the far side of the building empty of windows and open to the great outdoors.

There were five windows on each side of the original church but one window on each side was eventually converted to a door – a modern glass door rimmed in black with push bars. The upper panels of legacy glass were still in place on each side (one appears on the right side of the photo above) but are being removed and replaced with new panes above a pair of newly designed doors with a Prairie Grid design that mimics the windows. The original front door to the vestibule has been replaced and the legacy arched windows on either side of it replaced. Fortunately, to preserve the history of the building, they will be reinstalled in the church’s Youth Room.

All six bathroom windows have been installed. The glass used there is similar to the “Minster” style hammer-tone glass of the large windows that you can see through from inside. However, the bathroom windows use a different form of the glass that cannot be seen through from either side.

Both indoors and outdoors one could see the ongoing work and observe the contrast between the old and new window materials.

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“We were very concerned about how to preserve the look of the original windows while using a different kind of energy preserving double-paned glass,” Royer said. “We tried to make the design as close to the original as possible so we made cardboard templates of every grid to send to the company to be reproduced identically. You’ll see that we were pretty successful.”

Replacing the windows went far beyond the Woods’ REHABers group’s skills even though some are quite competent woodworkers or electricians. So the church had to hire a company that specializes in such installations. Very few companies will even touch such difficult work but Royer was fortunately connected with Severna Park resident Kyle Watson of Lansing Building Products – a business that maintains its own crews of highly skilled installers through a partnership with Action Exteriors LLC in Riva.

Because multi-paned glass requires a tight seal and a flat surface, a film that creates the grid pattern had to be applied before installation could take place. Woods hired a second company called Advanced Window Technology to apply that film.

At the same time, Action Exteriors LLC took out the sashes – quite a job that saved the installers considerable time. The original 1927 sashes were counterbalanced with lead weights in the frames that had to be removed and the channels containing them filled. Royer had worried that the wood would be deteriorated. However, the frames were quite thick and so ingeniously built that they were in good shape.

Workers from both companies were “absolute jewels” – total professionals in handling the windows down to the smallest detail according to Royer.

He noted that further work is planned going into summer – some of which may be tackled by the Woods REHAB group and some of which will be handled by a company they’re hiring. The work will include upgrading the bathrooms and kitchen.

Elder, who viewed the ongoing work across the community center courtyard from the window behind her desk, also made frequent visits as the project unfolded.

“I visited yesterday and, walking around with Bob Royer, I marveled at how much prettier the new windows are. The work they’ve done to preserve the original look is incredible,” she said. “The space is now filled with light and the windows change colors according to the time of day. The jewel tones are particularly evident at sunset. Our wonderful anonymous donor has also been by and she is just thrilled.”

Elder had a marvelous surprise to share. At the completion of the renovation work, Holy Grounds will get a new name.

“Because the building was constructed as a church in 1927 when Severna Park was known as Boone and was located opposite Boone Railroad Station, we are renaming Holy Grounds “Boone Station Hall” as a nod to its history” she said. “It’s such a charming building that’s been used by the community for everything from weddings, concerts and theater performances to yoga classes, birthday parties, baby showers, reunions and memorial services.”

She added that she’s pleased that the Holy Grounds and Youth Center signs will be saved and used elsewhere at Woods Church.

Cool Congregations Sacred Grounds Award also won by Woods

Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church recently won a Cool Congregations Sacred Grounds Award from Maryland’s Presbyterian Mission Agency for its collaborative efforts to restore the four-acre habitat the church is built on. They were awarded $1,000.

Woods was recognized for its community based efforts to renew the natural ecosystem on church land. To date, the congregation has planted over 500 native plants and more than 200 native trees. In 2019, the church’s Renew Capital Campaign raised $2.2 million dollars for sustainability projects like energy efficient windows, HVAC and LED lighting.

Their Woods at Woods Reforestation Project, Caring for Creation Rain Garden at Holy Grounds, Conservation Landscape Project to restore an eroding bank by planting deep rooted native plants, and unique Parking Lot Native Plant Gardens involved church and community members of all ages and organizations like Unity Gardens, Bay-Wise and the Watershed Stewards.

To view two excellent videos detailing these efforts, visit Woods Memorial Stormwater Tour – YouTube or A Reforestation to Slow Stormwater Runoff – YouTube

JING YING INSTITUTE OF KUNG FU & TAI CHI HOSTS WORLD TAI CHI DAY SATURDAY

Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi, a long-time participant in this global event, will be celebrating World Tai Chi Day  on Saturday, April 24. The event will be held outside at Severna Park Community Center under the trees beside Holy Grounds Youth Center from 10 am to 11:30 pm. All ages and fitness levels are welcome. If it rains, the event will be held indoors at the Jing Ying Institute in Arnold.

According to Jing Ying owners Billy and Nancy Greer, there will be demonstrations of Tai Chi followed by free mini-workshops suitable for all levels of fitness. This year, people are asked to register for the event at: www.JingYing.org where there’s also information about a free introductory tai chi class at the Severna Park Community Center on April 28.

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

“Bites, brews and ballgames…” proclaims the marquis along the front of soon-to-open JB’s, Severna Park and that’s just what the new sports bar and grill is all about. Slated to happen before the end of May, the long-awaited debut of JB’s is being anticipated by locals with great excitement.

From the moment the 206 Restaurant Group took over ownership of the former Bill Bateman’s Bistro at the beginning of 2020, plans moved ahead for a complete renovation and transformation of the building which is located at 566 Ritchie Highway, Park Plaza. By mid-January of 2020, construction crews were already at work gutting the interior and reconstructing the exterior.

Greg Keating, managing partner of the 206 Restaurant Group which owns Oliver Brewing Company and four other restaurants including Park Tavern, said construction and renovation work was put on hold shortly after Governor Larry Hogan’s Stay at Home order of March 23rd.

“In addition to pausing the renovation of JB’s, we decided to close two of our Baltimore restaurants to concentrate on keeping Park Tavern, The Ale House Columbia, Donnelly’s Dockside and our brewing company operating,” Keating noted. We adapted as pandemic guidelines changed.”

Even so, plans and menus for JB’s continued to be worked on and refined.

“People have been curious to know why we decided to open JB’s directly across the Park Plaza parking lot from Park Tavern,” Keating said. “When you look at Park Tavern, however, you will see that the restaurants have entirely different concepts.”

He describes Park Tavern as a casual but sophisticated dining establishment suitable for a date night, business lunch or a Saturday or Sunday brunch. JB’s, on the other hand, is designed to be even more casual, lively and sports-oriented with 44 TV screens. (Park Tavern has just six screens.)

“JB’s also will be very child-friendly – a place you can bring your kids after soccer practice with the cleats still on,” observed Keating.

Artists’s drawings capture what the interior will look like.

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A well-designed entrance area will open onto a bar and a series of booths curving around the bar toward a bank of windows where there will be additional seating. There are also plans for an outdoor dining space.

Menus are being created to appeal to families as well – fun, simple, bar-driven foods like smash burgers, boneless wings, and regular or sweet potato fries. The bar will offer twenty draft beers but will not be as craft-oriented is Park Tavern is. Diners will find a combination of domestic beers like Bud Light or Coors mixed with a few craft beers from Oliver Brewing.

With construction and work back in full swing, the renovation project is entering its final phase. As can be seen from the photo above and the one immediately below, all of the exterior siding, signage and painting is complete.

The red, white and blue themed interior is still a work in progress though construction of the attractive bar has been completed. Elsewhere, there are still sawhorses and tools occupying part of the floor as the petitions for the booths are being built.

Keating reports that 206 Restaurant Group is already hiring for JB’s and has launched three social media sites for the restaurant including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @JB’s,SevernaPark. (The eatery has already gotten over 3,000 likes.)

“We’ve just reopened our Pratt Street Ale House in Baltimore, followed by the Five and Dime Ale House, also in Baltimore, and JB’s in turn,” said Keating. “We’re planning a couple of soft openings for friends and family in early May before our official opening day which hasn’t yet been chosen. We’ll also be having a grand opening at a later date.

Keep posted by visiting JB’s, Severna Park | Facebook.

Sun Trustdeconstructed – Popeye’s on the way

Right next to JB’s, at 566B Ritchie Higjway, the old Sun Trust Bank is being torn down to be replaced by a Popeye’s according to Greater Severna Park & Arnold Chamber CEO Liz League. (The Sun Trust banks merged with BB&T last year to become a single entity renamed Trust). The tear-down at the site is nearly complete so it appears that JB’s will have a new neighbor soon.

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Grand Marshall announced for Severna Park Independence Day Parade

The Greater Severna Park & Arnold Chamber of Commerce was pleased to announce on April 12 that Eddie Conway, owner of Garry’s Grill has been chosen as Grand Marshall for this year’s Independence Day Parade. A great supporter of the community who has donated both his time and raised funds for many local charities, Conway has also entered floats in the Severna Park Parade. He’s usually been seen at the forefront of the floats – a standout in his stars and stripes coat, tie and trousers. This year the parade will take place on July 5 (since July 4 falls on a Sunday). For times and details visit Greater Severna Park and Arnold Chamber of Commerce (gspacc.com).

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

Spring flowers are not the only thing popping as the weather warms. After a somewhat difficult year, the wedding business is beginning to bloom. Wedding dresses are being shopped for, venues and caterers booked, cake tastings arranged, and flowers selected as community residents rebound, recognizing that even amid the uncertainty of a pandemic, life goes on.

Mary’s Designer Bridal Boutique at 150 Jennifer Road has definitely seen business pick up now that the COVID vaccines are out according to stylist Nita Munevar.

“Weddings seem to be a little smaller than usual but are certainly larger than they were last year,” she said. “We are selling bridal gowns and dresses for the wedding party including dresses for the mother of the bride and mother of the groom.”

Mary’s Designer Bridal Boutique carries bridal gowns and related fashions and accessories from eight designers including Allure, Maggie Sottero, Sophia Tolli and others.

With some brides planning more intimate weddings, smaller venues like Historic Baldwin Hall in Millersville and Historic Holy Grounds in Severna Park are experiencing a revival of interest.

Classic Baldwin Hall, built as a church in 1861, has four weddings booked for April with good availability for late spring and summer. Several weddings that were postponed are rescheduled for fall according to building manager Annie Medford.

“Once a house of worship until replaced in 1896 by Baldwin Memorial United Methodist Church across the street, we currently function as a historic landmark and site rental,” Medford said. “Brides can choose to have their wedding ceremonies here as well as the reception but most prefer to have the ceremony at the church .

She said all COVID protocols are followed including a restriction to 50% of capacity for an indoor wedding and there’s ample space. However, many couples opt for outdoor marriage ceremonies and the spacious grounds of Baldwin Hall are an ideal setting.

The Severna Park landmark building known as Historic Holy Grounds, is owned by Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church and managed by the Severna Park Community Center. Constructed in 1926 as the home of St. John the Evangelist Church, its architecturally interesting interior is well suited to hosting wedding receptions. It even served as the site of a wedding show a few years ago with vendors and models wearing the latest bridal fashions.

Holy Grounds’ quaint exterior and spacious interior, with graceful windows and a railed balcony, can be beautifully decorated. There’s even a small kitchen. For an outdoor wedding, there’s an attractive portico and beautiful gardens.

According to SPCC’s marketing manager Amy Holbrook, there have already been small weddings and receptions taking place at Historic Holy Grounds with proper distancing and observation of COVID protocols.

“However, we’re having to take a break from booking events for a couple months for renovations including the replacement of Holy Grounds’ fragile original windows with new stained glass ones. After that, we have wedding receptions booked for July and August and beyond,” Holbrook said.

Wedding venues that can accommodate larger weddings/ receptions include Severna Park’s Chartwell Golf and Country Club which has a spacious ballroom.

“We’re having more weddings booked for 2022 than for 2021. But we’ve had some small weddings here for 40 guests or so that were held outside,” director of events Morgan Kilduff said. “For a larger number of guests, we’ll typically do the ceremony and cocktails outside, weather permitting, and the reception in the ballroom.

A popular waterfront destination for weddings is Kurtz’s Beach in Pasadena which, because of its size and extensive outdoor space, continued hosting weddings throughout the past year.

According to event director Ashley Mason, wedding bookings remained strong since Kurtz’s Beach has tremendous outdoor capacity and could easily shift things as COVID restrictions changed. For spring and summer, wedding bookings have picked up even more for both indoor and outdoor settings.

“We are well-booked through May and June and beyond,” Mason said.

Spring is always a busy time for caterers and, partly due to weddings, this spring is even busier said April Cunningham, owner and executive chef of Olde Severna Park-based April’s Table.

“We do have a few weddings booked for spring that are generally very intimate with 20 guests or less and a plan to sit outside under a tent to enjoy a multi-course plated meal,” Cunningham observed. “However, most of the weddings we had booked for this spring season opted to reschedule for fall, so our calendar is full September through November which we are thrilled about!”

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With regard to the fall weddings, she said most clients are still planning on a large headcount, anywhere up to 200 guests, with buffet style service.  April’s Table is equally comfortable serving small-scale plated dinners or large-scale buffet dinners.

A typical intimate wedding dinner might include passed Hors D’oeuvres like Watermelon Feta Cubes, Fresh Apricot Crostini and Gazpacho Soup Sips followed by a salad of Spring Field Greens. Main event entrees might include Maryland Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes, Eggplant Napoleon or Herb Rubbed Beef Tenderloin. And, of course, there’d be special desserts in addition to wedding cake.

A large wedding menu would include a grazing display board of Hors D’oeuvres like cured meats and artisan cheeses, a Hot Hors D’oeuvres station, a Slider station, and Pasta and Salad Stations to tickle wedding guests’ taste buds.

While caterers are busy, bakeries have revved up too. Kristin Witmer, head cake decorator for Kirsten’s Cakery in Olde Severna Park (who decorated the wedding cakes pictured here and above), said the bakery has been sending out wedding cake tasting kits for the past two months.

“We have quite a few custom wedding cakes scheduled for the spring and summer,” she said. Some orders are for bigger cakes and some for smaller cakes or cupcakes,” she said.

Michael Brown, owner of Cakes and Confections at 342 Ritchie Highway, an establishment also popular for breakfast and lunch quiches, salads and sandwiches, said he, too, has been sending out wedding cake tasting kits.

“We’re now having phone consultations and getting some orders. There’s a bit of a comeback and were seeing some of the earlier postponements due to COVID-19 reschedule their orders,” he added.

It’s not surprising, since Brown is noted for his decorative wedding cupcakes and his genius in arranging them, that many brides prefer to order those instead of a cake. They’ll often order extra sweets to go with them like mini-cheesecakes and tarts.

Newer Severna Park businesses like Tammi Molavi and Michelle Hickman’s j.lolly and Atalie Payne’s Atalie Day Photography are getting feelers too. Payne has a wedding photo shoot booked for August and further inquiries while a client has booked j.lolly to supply table settings for a large October wedding.

Well established photographer Laura Wegman of Laura’s Eyes Photography said, though she focuses more on corporate photography now, she has shot photos for four weddings, the largest of which had 50 guests. She has another smaller wedding coming up and an additional request.

“It’s nice to see wedding assignments and other photographic work making a comeback,” she said.

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

Today, Severna Park is in transition from suburban to urban. But, from its origin as a farm community named Boone, Maryland over a century ago until today, the six buildings that have housed Severna Park’s post offices have served a vital function, – connecting the community to the nation and other nations while connecting residents to each other.

A small core of family businesses supplied Boone’s families with food, household items, farm tools and fuel. But there was a serious need for mail service for communication with the outside world and for the goods and services it could provide.

Established in 1914, the fledgling Boone Post Office, quickly outgrew its original site in Grotsky’s General Store at 4 Riggs Avenue. In 1919, it moved into a newly constructed building it shared with the Boone Train Station. Two years later, when the town changed its name, the facility was renamed Severna Park Train Station. But the post office retained its original Boone name until 1925 when it became the Severna Park Post Office. It continued operating from the train station for two more decades.

After the discontinuation of train service in 1944, the mail service was run from Cliff Dawson’s Store in the old Codd Building on Riggs Avenue and later moved across B&A Boulevard to Dawson’s new store at the corner of McKinsey Road.

A need to expand further to serve the growing community prompted a move to the property at 513 Baltimore and Annapolis Boulevard in 1962 – the post office building familiar to generations of residents (seen in the opening photograph). The building housed 33 employees serving 35 neighborhoods with a combined population of 19,000 people.

Clerks manned five windows while a supervisor managed operations from a catwalk above. City and rural carriers worked in the back in plain sight of patrons

Theresa Marozza, who was a clerk there for four “happy but busy” decades, spoke with us about what it was like prior to her retirement in October of 2009.

Marozza was hired by the post office in March, 1968 as a clerk/carrier. To get the job, she had to be capable of lifting 70 pounds. Clerks were required to tote heavy mailbags, catalogs, phone books and license plates. She also had to apply for a federal driver’s license to operate mail trucks. Her $2.80 an hour salary was the most money she’d ever made.

Workdays were frenetic and the hours long. The entire staff shared a single postage meter and one adding machine. Undaunted, they sorted and canceled 15,000 envelopes and packages a day by hand on a machine that constantly ran out of ink.

“We’d hit the truck, sort all the mail and put it through the canceling machine. I’d head out front with the mail pouch at 12:10 pm to wait for a bus to pick it up. Then we’d sort the mail that came in,” Marozza said.

“We’d hit the boxes at 7 p.m., sort that, cancel it and have it ready for the truck at 7:30. Several of us would then dash home to make dinner for our husbands and children.”

Regardless, the mood was welcoming and pleasant. Employees had time to establish relationships with their customers.

Marozza remained upbeat as the post office evolved through the decades in response to automation, population growth and economics. She said the most significant change occurred when Severna Park’s first postmaster, Jerry Brockmeyer, who’d lived in the community all his life, retired in 1979. The atmosphere changed then, becoming less personal and more businesslike.

The introduction of electronic sorting machines was another difficult transition. Rather than being sorted on-site, mail was shipped to Baltimore leading to staff reductions. In 1993, the carriers – Marozza’s friends and neighbors from Severna Park – were transferred en masse to the Delivery Distribution Unit at Earleigh Heights.

Characteristically, Marozza adapted and found time to focus on her fellow clerks and customers. She loved working at the post office so much that she postponed her retirement and, afterward, remained friends with many former customers. She’s still active as a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church and continues to volunteer at the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore and Mary’s Center, a crisis pregnancy center in Glen Burnie.

Despite Severna Park’s dramatic expansion over the next 17 years, the branch at 513 Baltmore and Annapolis Boulevard continued to serve as an anchor for the community – a place where residents ran into each other on a regular basis. But a major change took place on February 14, 2011 when the post office moved from the location it had operated at for nearly 50 years to shared facilities at the aforementioned Delivery Distribution Unit building on Magothy Bridge Road.

Exact figures aren’t available, but according to the current Severna Park Post Office, the facility processes approximately a million pieces of mail for local households and businesses. The building sees heavy traffic daily as residents visit post office boxes, drop off packages, or apply for passports. Lines are sometimes long as there are not as many clerks working as in the past. Many residents feel the location lacks the community oriented personality its predecessor had.

Following the 2011 relocation, the former post office building in Olde Severna Park sat empty until taken over and transformed by brothers Peter and Ron Zarilli in 2013 and opened as Zarilli’s Steaks and Hoagies in December of 2015. They considered keeping the clerk’s enclosure but realized it would have split the dining room. They did retain a small portion of the sorting area in the back. All through demolition and reconstruction people would wander in with letters in hand thinking the building was still the post office Peter said.

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Unfortunately, the Zarilli’s faced stiff competition from similar local businesses at the time and were unable to attract a following large enough to survive.

In February of 2017, thanks to Severna Park native Charlie Priolla and one-time partner Arturo Ottaviano, the imaginatively named La Posta Pizzeria and Italian Kitchen was born ……..and a little bit of Severna Park’s postal history preserved. The partners put their “stamp” on La Posta with the installation of a specially built wood-fired oven that reaches 900 degrees.

These days Priola, longtime owner of Mangia Italian Grill & Sports Cafe on Main Street in Annapolis, and wife Susie are at the helm serving the wood-fired pizzas, pastas, and traditional Italian entrees they are known for. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, they added outdoor tables and a charming garden to the restaurant last summer which proved quite popular.

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According to Charlie, the staff still fields the occasional question about the restaurant’s history as the Severna Park Post Office. Most are delighted to see the building in use with its original theme carried forward.

Severn River Association reports Seine Net Fishing Bill HB 843 dead

The Severn River Association reports that Bill HB 843, which would have allowed commercial seine net fishing at Lake Ogleton, Whitehall and Meredith Creeks, died in the House of Delegates on March 19. The bill was defeated, in large measure, thanks to calls and emails to the Maryland House Environment and Transportation Committee which declined to move HB 843 out of committee, effectively killing the measure.