Havre De Grace Harbors Renowned Regional Art Facility

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — Harmer's Town Art Center at 115 Market Street serves as an evolving regional art facility in historic downtown Havre de Grace. The HTAC, a nonprofit organization, is revitalizing a vacant commercial 34,000-square-foot building to offer studio spaces for artists and a makerspace to bolster creativity.

Allen Fair, president and founder, worked as a young boy at The Graw horse racetrack. He is the visionary philanthropist behind the Harmer's Town Art Center concept. He and local artist Ezra Berger together brainstormed the idea of Graw Alley, the interactive art park component of Harmer’s Town Art Center, which officially opened to the public in October 2023, almost a year to the day after a groundbreaking ceremony kicked off its construction.

The one-acre space - a private alley donated to Harmer’s Town Art Center, Inc. and named in recognition of the former horse racing track that operated in the city for more than 40 years until the early 1950s - was transformed from an alley into a park with landscaped pathways, artistic sculptures, outdoor seating and a series of vivid murals leading visitors on a tour through Havre de Grace history.

"We draw visitors from the city, county and state. Havre de Grace prices itself on being an art hub," Pam Spelker, founder and board member, told Patch.com "People appreciate our arts programming and special events like our art parties and music events."

In addition to the three dozen building-sized murals, Graw Alley is home to several public art sculptures, including the life-size sculpture of the racehorse "Havre de Grace," created by award-winning artist Aaron Paskins of Delaware. The statue is on display within a section of Graw Alley called "The Winner’s Circle," and is joined by several other life-sized racehorses that each have a connection to the city’s former racetrack. Graw Alley is open from dawn until dusk and can be reached from Market Street, Bourbon Street and Congress Avenue at the entrance to Hutchins Park.

Up next at the town center is to convert existing garages and a basement into incubator space to use as art studios, along with a lounge area for artists and visitors, classrooms and glass windows that will allow visitors to watch artists at work in the studio, organizers explained.

The planned makerspace will allow others to rent and use spaces for industrial arts such as woodworking, ceramics/kilns and other fabrication arts.

To learn more about HTAC, visit www.harmerstown.org.