Carroll event aids victims of flooding

Vendors donate some proceeds to Ellicott City residents and businesses

Maureen Sweeney Smith, executive director of the Ellicott City Partnership, browsed the wares of more than 60 vendors Sunday at the Carroll County Agriculture Center.

“Fundraisers like this make us feel great,” she said.

The Holiday Market and Arts Festival fundraiser was one of the more than 600 events that have been held in the last four months to help Ellicott City flood victims.

“We’ve received tremendous support from Carroll County,” Sweeney Smith said. “It shows the region is supporting us.”

Each vendor donated an item to a gift basket that was raffled off Sunday, said Laura Hewitt, a consultant for the LuLaRoe clothing line. Proceeds from the raffle tickets and additional donations will be given to the Ellicott City Partnership to help people affected by the flood.

Hewitt helped organize the fundraiser.

“Each of the craft vendors and small-business owners will also donate what they can to the cause from their net sales,” she said. “When I got into selling clothes as a small-business owner with LuLaRoe, they encouraged us to pay it forward, bless lives, and to be giving. The flood had been on my mind, and I wanted to help. This seemed like the time to do it.”

The Ellicott City Partnership was formed July 30, the night of the flood.

“We knew it was bad, and we set up a website called HelpEllicottCity.com,” Sweeney Smith said. “When I woke up the next morning, we had raised $10,000. To date, we’ve raised $1.5 million. We want to help Main Street get back on its feet.”

The week after the flood, Sweeney Smith said, the organization gave out $100 gift cards to those in need. Then they formed a committee with Howard County called EC Strong to decide how people could apply for additional funds.

“We had to define the area we’re helping,” Sweeney Smith said. The funds go toward the historic district from the river to west end, she said.

Four weeks after the flood, the Ellicott City Partnership presented some residents and Main Street businesses with $500 grants, Sweeney Smith said. In a third round, the partnership gave out $1,500 grants to residents and $15,000 grants to property and business owners.

“Right now, our whole goal is to get cash registers ringing and people living downtown again,” Sweeney Smith said. “We want to get everyone back to their homes and livelihoods.”

On Small Business Saturday last month, Sweeney Smith said, “people did three times the business they usually do on their best day. The December 2 Midnight Madness event was just as crowded.”

She said the partnership was planning a “Shop Local, Shop Late” event Dec. 15. Businesses will be open until 9 p.m.

Sweeney Smith said Federal Emergency Management Agency officials told the partnership not to expect more than 20 to 25 percent of residents and businesses to return after the flood.

“Right now we have 70 to 80 percent that have returned,” Sweeney Smith said. “Some aren’t in the original buildings, but they’re there.

“As awful as the flood was, our Main Street is having a massive renaissance. Ellicott City is going to come back so much better.”

Ed Gunther of Sykesville grew up in Ellicott City. He owns Bay Bred, a Maryland-themed apparel company that participated in the fundraiser Sunday.

The flood was “definitely devastating,” Gunther said. “It’s scary to think that could happen in this day and age.”

Gunther said the fundraiser “gives someone a chance to pick out a Christmas gift while supporting a worthy cause.”

“When I got into selling clothes, [I was] encouraged ... to pay it forward, bless lives, and to be giving. The flood had been on my mind, and I wanted to help.” Laura Hewitt