Contact MargaretArchive for the 'Businesses' Category
Crofton Village Green Alive with the Sound of Music…
July 16th, 2009 Categories: Businesses
We’ve discovered a new neighbor in the community, even though the new Crofton School of Music apparently has not found Focus on Crofton (or surely they would have contacted us weeks ago to help introduce them to the community).
As a musician myself (with a degree in Music Education and Piano), I am very excited to welcome the school’s owners, Crofton residents Keith and Leigh Ann Hinton and Virginia residents Matt and Dallis Byrne.
Their qualifications are impressive, and I can’t imagine anyone living nearby with school age children interested in music who wouldn’t be eager to meet them:
Keith is a senior chief musician and chief of concert productions with the U.S. Navy Band; - Leigh Ann is a Sergeant First Class and soprano soloist with the U.S. Army Concert Band;
- Matt is a Staff Sergeant and trumpeter with the U.S. Army Ceremonial Band; and
- Dallis is the choral director at a private school in Virginia.
There are 32 teachers affiliated with the school, and “quality musicians” defines them all. I’m betting there’s one who is just right for you and your children.
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Providing community and real estate information about the Greater Crofton Area is my way of attracting new D.C.-Baltimore area home buyers to our community while also keeping my neighbors informed and earning their real estate business. Please click on Margaret Woda, Crofton REALTOR or call/text me at 301–346–2923 for help with your next home sale or purchase in the Greater Crofton Area.
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Invitation from Crofton Fine Art & Framing
June 16th, 2009 Categories: Businesses
Eric Krimmel invites you to visit Crofton Fine Art & Framing for an “After Hours Mixer” tomorrow (June 17) from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. This free event is sponsored by the Greater Crofton Chamber of Commerce and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
It’s a great opportunity for you to meet several local business people who participate in the Chamber, including co-hosts Engler Information Technology and Marty Horner, Aflac. You can also get a sneak peek at the work of Rhona LK Schonwald prior to her reception on June 20.
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Golds Gym Donates Defibrillators to Schools
March 16th, 2009 Categories: Businesses
Gold’s Gym in Crofton is the latest local business I’ve discovered to reach out and do something entirely above and beyond the call of duty for people in our local community.
Thanks to Gold’s Gym, Meade Heights Elementary near Fort Meade, Nantucket Elementary in the Crofton/Gambrills area, and Seven Oaks Elementary in Odenton now have automated external defibrillators (AED). Since their partnership began with Anne Arundel County schools in 2007, Gold’s Gym has provided defibrillators to six other local schools, as well: Crofton Elementary, Crofton Woods Elementary, Crofton Meadows Elementary, and Crofton Middle, plus Four Seasons Elementary in Gambrills and Piney Orchard Elementary in Odenton.
According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, an AED is a portable automatic device used to restore normal heart rhythm to patients in cardiac arrest. It is applied outside the body, where it automatically analyzes the patient’s heart rhythm and advises the rescuer whether or not a shock is needed to restore a normal heart beat.
Cardiac arrest is a condition that can be fatal if not treated within a few minutes. For more information on when an AED is used, how it works, what it will accomplish, and the risks, visit the FDA website.
County high schools and middle schools have the devices, as required by state law, and the Baltimore Sun reported last month that all remaining schools are expected to have them by next fall.
Many thanks to Gold’s Gym in Crofton for caring about the students, staff and visitors to Crofton area schools. If I ever decide to exercise more, as I should, I promise to come check out your facilities! You’re the kind of local business I want to support!
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Suburban Federal Customers Concerned
January 31st, 2009 Categories: Businesses, News
Crofton area customers of Suburban Federal Savings Bank are bound to have questions. Who wouldn’t when the Feds take over your bank, as they did Suburban Federal earlier today. The bank is/was headquartered on Route 450 in Crofton.
Local newspapers had been mentioning the possibility all week, yet I’m sure customers were just as hopeful as bank officials that the matter would be resolved in time to avoid this situation.
So what’s next? Is your money safe? Can you make withdrawals? Should you wait ‘til the dust settles to make any deposits? To whom will you make loan payments? These are just some of the questions asked by folks who banked with Suburban Federal.
I don’t pretend to have any definitive answers, since I have no expertise in finance beyond real estate, but I can tell you the Baltimore Sun is reporting that “The FDIC arranged the sale of all of Suburban’s deposits and its seven branches to the Bank of Essex in Tappahannock, Va. That means Suburban’s business will go on as normal Saturday, though under a different name. The Virginia bank also bought most of Suburban’s assets at a discounted price and many of its loans, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.”
Baltimore Sun financial columnist Jay Hancock addressed Q&A for Suburban depositors, borrowers in his blog tonight, and I know he’s more knowledgeable about these matters than I am. For that reason, I encourage Suburban Federal customers to click through and read his post.
He made another post earlier tonight on this takeover, as well: RIP Suburban Federal Savings Bank
UPDATE 2/2/09: Suburban’s Transition into Federal Control Goes Smoothly (Baltimore Sun article)
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Top 5 Reasons I Love Crofton Fine Art & Framing
October 22nd, 2008 Categories: Businesses
Crofton Fine Art & Framing is located at 1334 Defense Highway in Gambrills, at the intersection of Routes 450 and 424. It’s a tiny little shop you could easily miss, if you weren’t looking for it.
“Looking for it” is something I find myself doing fairly often, however, and I highly recommend you do the same. You’ll be thanking me for introducing you!
They carry original fine art in stock as well as limited edition prints, posters, sculpture, ceramics, and even jewelry. But their custom framing is what usually motivates my visits there. It is done with an artist’s attention to detail and with conservation in mind. They also do restoration of photos, art and documents. But those are such understatements, because Crofton Fine Art & Framing doesn’t just “do” those things… their work is an art in itself. I should know – I’ve spent thousands of dollars there over the course of many years, and they’ve never disappointed me.
In fact, when my daughter went to Graduate School at the University of Texas about 10 years ago, we purchased some limited edition prints for her apartment, had some custom framing done, and they shipped everything directly to her. I didn’t have to do a thing except provide motherly input about her choices. The results were beyond all expectations, as usual, and all of the prints arrived quickly without any damage.
If I had to narrow down the long list of reasons why I love doing business with Crofton Fine Art & Framing, it would probably go something like this:
1. A talented and experienced staff who really knows what they’re doing and make it easy for me to make a decision based on my wants and needs (and budget).
2. Excellent inventory of fine art, including framed prints and photos – many of local interest and many of those by local artists such as Terri Fowler.
3. Huge selection of custom frames and mats – not to mention the free advice from their talented staff.
4. Convenience – But honestly, I would travel miles to have them do my framing.
5. Pricing is fair and reasonable, and they require only a deposit “up front” with the balance due upon completion and inspection of the finished product.
Don Burkes, one of their consultants and an artist himself, taught me a valuable lesson: choose matting for its relationship to whatever is being framed, NOT to match the decorating in a room where you expect to display it. Those pieces framed for my daughter ten years ago have looked fabulous every place she’s hung them. Meanwhile, other pieces framed to match their destination room, before we met Don, now sit in a closet.
Recently I walked into the store with a large print that had been discarded by its owner. The glass was broken and the frame was ornate gold – not at all appropriate for the casual room where I intended to use it. Don immediately recognized the piece and told me its history, pointing out details such as the fact that one of the people in the picture was the artists mother. Don was a wealth of other information about the artist and his work and, drum roll please… informed me it was probably worth about two thousand dollars. Now tell me, where else could I have gotten it framed AND learned all this!
May I suggest you visit Crofton Fine Art & Framing online, if you haven’t done so before, and stop into their shop to meet Don and the other talented folks on their staff. While you’re online at their website, sign up for their mailing list to receive notices of shows and special events. And be sure to tell them you learned about them from FocusOnCrofton.com.
PHOTOS: MWoda
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