Edgewater Boat Fire, Arnold Co. Wins Key West Race, Meet the Calvert Bookmobile, Severn Center Breaks Ground, Outdoor Dining Ends

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This Lilly Racing boat was built according to a boatbuilder’s last wishes. Photo: Cole McGowan/P1 Offshore.

Leaders break ground on multi-generational community center in Severn

BY KATHY KNOTTS

EDGEWATER BOAT FIRE, EXPLOSION UNDER INVESTIGATION

BY MEG WALBURN VIVIANO

Afiery explosion destroyed a boat on a creek off the Rhode River Friday night, but the outcome could have been even worse.

The Woodland Beach Volunteer Fire Department says multiple 911 callers reported explosions and fire on a boat at a pier in Edgewater, on Cadle Creek in the Beverly Beach area. Neighbors feared the owner might be on board, since his golf cart was parked at the pier.

Woodland Beach VFD, Anne Arundel County Fire’s marine unit, and the Annapolis City Fire Department all responded, finding a 27-foot sailboat fully engulfed in flames, and drifting away from the pier. Thankfully it turned out the owner was not on board; he had been working on the boat earlier in the day, Woodland Beach VFD says.

The boat was in an area with several piers and boats in close proximity. Emergency responders were able to guide the boat, a 1965 Columbia 27 called Brady’s Lady, according to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, away from other boats in the cove. The fire was extinguished using both water and foam.

The boat was mostly underwater at the time of the investigation, the county fire department says. The cause is undetermined still under investigation.

BAY RACER WINS OFFSHORE WORLD CHAMPS IN PANDEMIC BOAT HE BUILT

BY DUFFY PERKINS

During hurricane season, it’s normal for a storm to brew in Florida, head up the Eastern seaboard, and hit the Chesapeake Bay. But just the reverse seems to have happened as Arnold’s Brit Lilly took his 29-foot Hurricane of Awesomeness down to Key West for the Race World Offshore World Championships earlier this month. Lilly dominated racing and ended up taking home the title of World Champion in the Stock V class.

This is not Lilly’s first world championship: he already has 10 under his belt. But this one is special, as it is very personal.

Lilly’s Hurricane is a single-engine Extreme Vee based on the hull design of boatbuilder Mark Spates, who passed away from cancer in 2019. In 2003, the first generation of the hull scored a perfect season and won the World Championship with Spates’ friend Steve Miklos at the helm.

“I knew Brit’s father,” Miklos says of racing great Art Lilly, who has more world championships than anyone. “I had raced rather unsuccessfully against him. So, when Mark asked me [before his death] to meet Art’s son and help out, I reluctantly agreed.”

After Spates’ passing, Miklos worked with the family to honor his wishes and get the boat designs and molds to Lilly. “I’m not a boatbuilder,” he says. “I would glue my hands together—and have. But Brit—coming out of that shop, he could easily be a top-five boatbuilder in no time. He does it right; doesn’t cut corners. There aren’t a lot of boatbuilders like that.”

Lilly’s original plan was to build pleasure boats from the designs; five-seaters with outboard engines perfect for poker runs and family Sundays. But when the pandemic hit, Lilly spent his time doing what he was made to do: perfecting race boats.

Starting in February of 2020, Lilly put in thousands of hours working on the boat at his family’s shop, Lilly Sport Boats in Arnold.

“We used some of my own bottom designs to incorporate better handling at top speeds,” says Lilly, who pushed Hurricane to 95 mph on the straightaways in Key West. “We also went a different route for the materials to make it stronger and lighter. The first generations were fiberglass, but these are all carbon, Kevlar, and epoxy.”

“Anybody in offshore powerboat racing knows Lilly Sport Boats,” says Jimmy Jernigan, president of the Chesapeake Bay Power Boat Association and a friend of Lilly. “And anybody can make a boat go fast, but Brit will make it go the fastest. It’s in his blood.”

The result is a world champion boat with a story. “I wasn’t really planning this,” Lilly says. “But Mark (Spates) wanted me to keep doing it and get these boats out there. The Extreme boat lives on, and so does he.”

Lilly, Kevin Smith, and Hurricane of Awesomeness will next be in Englewood, Fla., for the Offshore Powerboat Association’s World Championships. In 2022, look for Lilly racing again with Travis Pastrana in the 47-foot Miss Geico catamaran. A new community center is coming to northwestern Anne Arundel County. State and county leaders joined County Executive Steuart Pittman last week to break ground on the new Severn Center, an intergenerational facility to be built at 1160 Reece Road in Severn.

The $15.7 million facility, on land adjacent to Van Bokkelen Elementary School, will be the new home of a regional Boys & Girls Club, a senior activity center, gymnasium and a community space. Local organizers had been asking for a community center in the area for decades. Nearly 30 years ago, Glenda Gathers scratched out plans for the center. Known in the community as “Mrs. G”, Gathers was on hand at the community celebration to witness the progress. Organizers say the Severn Center should open in 2023.

An $800,000 grant was included in the capital budget by Governor Hogan through the state’s Department of Aging to specifically support the Senior Activity Center, and an additional $2 million grant was included by the Senate.

“To finally have every dollar allocated for construction of this new community center is fulfillment of a dream that residents had 30 years ago,” said County Executive Pittman when the grant was announced in April. “None of it would have been possible without the passion of residents and their strong delegation of elected representatives from District 32.”

“I am delighted to see that the entire State Senate supports the Severn Center … my colleagues understand how important this project is to our residents in the Severn community,” said Senator Pam Beidle, who represents the district.

To develop the approximately $15.5 million project, additional funding was found through the county’s Video Lottery Terminal Fund, revenue generated from Live! Casino, as recommended by the Local Development Council and the county’s Community Development Fund. The development also received a capital grant awarded through the state’s capital grant process last year.

“This building represents the commitment of our community stakeholders who have worked for years to bring quality programming for children, youth, and adults in Severn. It is great we can leverage local dollars with this State funding to make it happen,” said Delegate Mark Chang, who serves on the Local Development Council.

The Severn Intergenerational Center is one of Pittman’s key initiatives and is the result of partnerships with Severn area community stakeholders, Arundel Community Development Services (ACDS), the Department of Aging and Disabilities, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Annapolis & Anne Arundel County. ACDS is serving as the project developer.

Calvert Library Mobile Services staff Maya Huchla and Reiner Angala show the new bookmobile to a young customer. Photo: Molly Weeks Crumbley.

A Library on Wheels

BY MOLLY WEEKS CRUMBLEY

Alibrary on wheels isn’t new to Calvert County. In fact, the Calvert Library system was born as a bookmobile in 1959, and became a welcome sight to residents of the rural county, who didn’t have access to new books without the mobile library service.

A visitor of the original bookmobile, Pat Nutter, relates, “In those days we had black and white TV with about three channels, so when the bookmobile showed up that was an exciting day!”

For years, the library bookmobile made the rounds, stopping off throughout the county four days a week. Over time, Calvert County filled with roads and businesses and brick-and-mortar libraries. The bookmobiles went unused—until now.

A new 26-foot-long library on wheels, equipped with solar roof panels, wireless internet access, and shelves full of brand-new materials, was front and center at a ribbon cutting Nov. 9. Carrie Willson, executive director of Calvert Library, told the attendees, “It’s especially sweet to me to be bringing a bookmobile to Calvert Library.”

Willson’s first library job was in western Maryland’s Washington County, the site of the very first bookmobile in the United States in 1905. “We’re beyond thrilled to bring this bookmobile to the community. It can bring magical experiences to children and adults alike,” she said.

Though the library has maintained a small outreach department over the years, its scope was centered on bringing materials to licensed daycare providers and homebound individuals. Such services were needed in the county, but the librarians dreamed of more. They wanted to find a way to get materials and resources to community members who struggle with transportation to the four Calvert Library branches. Over time, the outreach department got a new name and a new mission. Rebranded Mobile Services, the department hired additional staff members, purchased new materials, and dreamed of bookmobiles. The funding was raised, and the day finally came to introduce the new member of the fleet.

Lisa Wieland, supervisor of Mobile Services, heads up a growing team of librarians dedicated to reaching people in all corners of Calvert County and says the bookmobile will be traveling a route that will include community centers, the county courthouse, special community events, and residential neighborhoods. “The greatest benefit of having a bookmobile in Calvert County is access. The library is all about giving access to people who don’t have it and we are going to bridge a lot of gaps with our library on wheels,” she said.

Delegate Rachel Jones, also a member of the library’s Board of Trustees, was on hand to help introduce the bookmobile. “I love to say I’m a product of the Calvert Library system. It’s really a hub of this community, not just for books but for opportunities to come together and have important discussions and to have access to resources.” After the speeches and ribbon cutting, everyone was invited on board to tour the bookmobile and even check out materials to take home.

Find the bookmobile: calvertlibrary.info/ about-us/locations/mobile-services.

Outdoor Dining Ends in Annapolis, Continues for Anne Arundel County

BY EMMETT GARTNER

As of Nov.1, the city’s Recovery Zones program that brought restaurant tables full of diners into Annapolis’s roadways and parking spaces are no more. The initiative ended after a 16-month run through the heart of the COVID-19

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pandemic. Also on Nov. 1, Anne Arundel County Council voted unanimously to extend its outdoor dining program through January 2023.

Mayor Gavin Buckley and the city council decided not to continue the program due to the city no longer being in a State of Emergency due to the pandemic, which had motivated the expansion of the outdoor dining program in the summer of 2020.

Buckley, however, was quick to recognize the public’s fondness for the program. “The momentum on this issue seems to be on the side of it continuing,” said Buckley. “The pandemic opened our eyes to the utility of it, but it turns out that lots of people think it is a cool thing to enjoy a meal out-of-doors.”

One of those proponents is Anthony Clarke, co-owner of the Irish restaurant Galway Bay on Maryland Ave. Although he understands the city’s decision to let the program expire, he certainly witnessed the benefits of expanded outdoor dining over the past year. “I commend the city council and the administration for how hard they worked and how quickly they were able to get the recovery plan into place,” Clarke said.

Even through the winter months, Clarke saw the public’s enjoyment of street dining rise as the outside temperatures dropped. “We’d have people out there wrapped up in blankets and enjoying the street and the view and the atmosphere. It worked fantastically,” Clarke said. “I think that if you happen to get one thing out of COVID that was positive, it was people going out to experience an interaction with the outside atmosphere of light and music, and the slow sunsets and people walking by them.”

Some Annapolis business owners, on the other hand, were looking forward to the program’s end. The sacrifice of parking spaces for outdoor dining tables did not provide equal benefits to all businesses on the same street.

“As much as we enjoy, just like anyone else, outdoor dining, the additional parking that we’re going to get from (the end of the Recovery Zones) will assist us and our business greatly,” said Michael Ernst, owner of Blue Crab Antiques, also on Maryland Ave.

Ernst’s customers are “happy that they have outdoor dining, but parking has always been an issue in downtown Annapolis. With the loss of parking spaces, (the difficulty) has increased.”

Clarke understands that these contradictions must be weighed. “I know parking has been a prime point for some residents and also some businesses, so I think the mayor and the council have expanded it for as long as they can. I don’t feel bad about it (outdoor dining) getting taken away now. I understand the predicament and how they balanced it,” Clarke added. “I think it’s fine.”

So holiday shopping is now a little easier in downtown Annapolis, thanks to parking spaces becoming available (and free at metered spaces, Thanksgiving till New Years) but for those who still want to dine alfresco, options are available throughout the county. p