CHESTERTOWN — Washington College will break ground on its innovation plant on Saturday morning, May 16, and the community is invited.
The property at 800 High St. formerly was the Dixon Valve & Coupling Co. headquarters and manufacturing plant. Before that it was a Vita Foods pickle processing facility.
Those who attend Saturday’s event will be the first to get an inside look at this future community kitchen, entrepreneurship center and makerspace “designed to bring campus and community together to address civic challenges and build innovative solutions,” according to a Washington College news release.
A gathering scheduled for 10:30 a.m. will welcome guests, with the groundbreaking to follow at 11 a.m.
Registration is requested. See https://advancement.washcoll.edu/register/?id=16fdbba2-6ae7-4ac2-9c51-c0bcf9c4dbb3.
The public celebration, themed “We Built This Place,” will honor a century of making, mentorship and leadership on site, while launching a new era of 21st-century collaboration.
The day is designed as a festive community celebration where the public is encouraged to play an active role in the building’s transformation.
Attendees can “Make Their Mark” by participating in an interior mural activity or take group photos with the ceremonial groundbreaking shovel.
Well-known area musicians Karen Somerville, Marlon Saunders, Fredy Granillo, Vaughn Bratcher and Generations Band Together will perform.
Speakers from local businesses, elected offices, Washington College and the state will share their vision for the site, and special tributes will be paid to the former leaders and workers of Vita Foods and Dixon Valve who built the foundation of 800 High St.
Lunch and appetizers from local food entrepreneurs will be provided and tours will be available of the Mobile Innovation Lab, a construction classroom developed in partnership with Chesapeake College.
For those attending other local festivities, complimentary transportation will be provided to and from the WellFest at Wilmer Park also happening on Saturday.
Washington College’s vision for the innovation plant is for the facility to serve the entire Upper Eastern Shore by providing workforce development, entrepreneurship and civic leadership opportunities for both youth and adults.
The former 16,000-square-foot warehouse will serve as a space where students and the public can develop new ideas and launch small businesses.
“Through a commercial kitchen, entrepreneurship center, makerspace and outdoor garden, the Innovation Plant will catalyze educational and economic opportunity, empowering the region through access to tools, technology, expertise and shared spaces,” a news release states.
Designs for the plant are by Becker Morgan Group and were done in consultation with KRM Development and Neighborhood Design Center.
This is the culmination of three years of stakeholder engagement, including a project-based course that involved more than 800 community members in identifying how this property could best address local needs.
While much of the old Dixon Valve property was demolished, the remaining warehouse has been in use for the past few years, serving various civic engagement and makerspace needs for Washington College.
The “Labor of Love” mural that currently dons the exterior walls was created with the help of 40-plus paid local high school interns, while more than 100 additional K-12 students and young adults have engaged in mural painting on the interior of the building.
Additional collaboration around the site has continued with ShoreRivers assisting local students to plant native trees, and Kent Attainable Housing using the site to stage modular housing before assembly in nearby neighborhoods.
The Local Management Board, Kent County High School, Uptown Community Advisory Council, Innovation Plant Strategic Advisory Board and Maryland Department of Service and Civic Innovation have used the site to take tours, assess community needs, engage in design charettes and host workshops.
Washington College students and faculty have contributed to the building in many ways, whether through archival research for the Chesapeake Heartland Project, oral history interviews, stakeholder engagement, public art, exhibit curation, mentorship opportunities, food security outreach, entrepreneurship competitions and curricular fellowships.
The community-driven transformation is supported by a wide array of partners, including the Philip E. & Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the Maryland Department of Commerce, the Kent County Local Management Board, TEDCO, Dixon Valve & Coupling Co. and KRM Development, alongside private donors.
More information about the facility and its future programming is available at https://www.washcoll.edu/engagement/innovation-plant/index.php.
