Downtown Frederick wears the holidays like no other season. From decorated homes and businesses to shimmering white lights wrapped around trees and popular events like the Kris Kringle Procession, the season of cheer is all around. Look at some of the colorful ways the holidays are on display in the streets.

Some pampered cats might enjoy the luxury of living nine lives, but many others lead a hardscrabble life outdoors. They face injury, disease and predators. Sadly, they also suffer cruelty at the hands of humans. 

When the Community Foundation of Frederick County asks for nominations for its annual Wertheimer Fellow Awards, CEO Elizabeth Y. Day is always impressed by the outstanding submissions. “It makes you proud to be part of a community that places so much value and commitment on volunteer service.”

John Cetrone began playing ice hockey at 6 years old on a frozen pond near his Massachusetts home. Now 69, Cetrone is still playing. On Friday mornings he meets up with other 60-and-older players at Skate Frederick. The senior group, appropriately known as Frederick Friday Hockey, moves fast and hits the puck hard. Still.

You are likely to have never seen the tiny northern long-eared bats, given their size and reticent behavior. But they are here, flying all around us. More importantly, they play an important role in the ecosystem, feasting on flying pests.

The collections of Heritage Frederick are focused on items produced, used and owned by people from Frederick County. This watercolor painting reveals three great local stories in just one object.

Dee Dolan’s writing once centered on the weighty issues of the day as an editorial writer for The Frederick News-Post. Now, the conflicts she examines through her words are of a little boy, Boo, who “wanted to moo like his favorite animal, cow, could do,” and a tiny tot of a girl, Cinnamon Hinneman, who learns the hard way that a fancy dress and purse are not the best choices when exploring under rocks or splashing in mud puddles.

Robert Downing isn’t a name most people would know today. But back in the late 1800s, the actor was quite something, sort of a Brad Pitt of his time. “He was well-known and revered,” says Chris Haugh, historian and preservation manager for Mount Olivet Cemetery.

A century ago, the brand-new Memorial Hall in downtown Middletown, with its distinctive tan brick façade, hosted plays, concerts, movies, town meetings and a variety of community gatherings and organizations.

Later this month, thousands of people will flock toward East Patrick Street for The Great Frederick Fair. Many of them will pass by 17 hulking American sycamore trees, probably without noticing, as their minds are more likely focused on the food and fun ahead.

About five years ago, Tina Harper had an office job and felt her creativity slipping away. She also wanted a career that would give her more control over her schedule, maybe some flexibility if she had to attend her childrens’ activities during the day.

When Sarah Hurwitz Robey joined Colonial Jewelers full time nearly two decades ago, she became the fourth generation of her family in the business. “I always tell people the number one reason I think I want to be here is my parents never pushed me for it,” she says. “They never said, ‘Oh, Sarah is going to run the business.’ It was always just what I wanted to do even from when I was very, very little.”

Trails to walk on around the campus, shortened work weeks, company-paid hours for volunteer work in the community and reimbursement for driver’s education courses are just a few of the extra benefits offered by the 2023 Best Places to Work winners.

It’s a sweltering Wednesday evening deep in the middle of summer, a group of about 10 crowd around a microphone inside Union Mills Public House on East Patrick Street. Just outside the door, temperatures reach into the 90s as passersby create a background of late-day joggers and romantic strollers along Carroll Creek Park.

Before Prohibition, Frederick farmers provided about 20 percent of all the hops to Baltimore breweries. At the time, Cluster was a popular variety because it was cheap and fairly easy to grow. Many farmers got rid of their plants during Prohibition to make way for other crops.

When Annesa Cheek was scheduled to be interviewed for the position of president of Frederick Community College in February of 2022, she arrived a few days early. Cheek, then president of St. Cloud Technical and Community College in Minnesota, wanted to “get the vibe and energy of Frederick,” she recalls.

On the first and third Wednesdays of every month you will find Joe Keyes hosting an improv jazz jam session in the converted church building that serves as the Frederick Arts Council’s Art Center. Keyes is the leader and has between 15 to 20 musicians join him. They include members of his band The Late Bloomers and musicians he has worked with in the past, playing drums, bass, guitars, keyboards and horns.

Cristy Stup knows houses. To her, they all have a story, and she listens. “I have had a love of buildings my whole life,” she says. She and her husband, Erin Jenkins, were in the midst of building their own home when they were married in 1986. “We’ve done something to every house we ever lived in,” says Jenkins.

When people look at a shipping container, they usually just see a large metal box for hauling goods across an ocean or interstate highway. Mount Airy resident Brandon Jordan, however, sees a blank canvas and all sorts of possibilities to create unique spaces in his downtime.

Jail is certain to change the lives of those doing time, but for Lois Jarman, a college professor and former member of the Frederick County Board of Education, her incarceration following a traffic accident opened her eyes to the bleak outlook faced by fellow women inmates upon their release.