Mobile Planters Designed To Enhance Outdoor Dining in Chestertown

Grant and volunteers enabled Main Street Chestertown to construct and fill the oversized planters in time for first al fresco dining in the street.

Chestertown, MD – Large mobile planters designed to enhance outdoor dining in downtown Chestertown are ready to roll, thanks to funds from the Fessler Foundation and Chestertown’s Arts and Entertainment District, donated labor and expertise from Taylor Loughry Construction, and planting by Main Street Chestertown volunteers. Eight four-foot long planters and four two-foot square planters were completed and filled in time to help frame the first “Chestertown al Fresco” dining experience, hosted Saturday June 13, 2020 in the 200 block of High Street by The Kitchen at the Imperial.

Main Street Chestertown volunteers led by Design Committee Chair Ellen Hurst came up with the concept and design of the planters as a way to help downtown food establishments attractively and safely meet the requirements for safe-distancing during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. When not in use for outdoor dining or other small events, the planters will be dispersed throughout the Historic District’s commercial blocks to add greenery and color to the streetscape.

The cost of construction materials was covered by a grant to Main Street from the Robert L. Fessler and Patricia J. Fessler Foundation. The late Patricia Fessler was a nutritionist who worked as a professional food manager for the DuPont Company and the DuPont Hotel in Wilmington. Her husband, Robert, also was a DuPont executive. The couple retired to Chestertown in 1990 and were early residents of Heron Point. The grant from their Foundation was made to offer Covid-19 support to small businesses in the food service/restaurant industry.

Justin Taylor and Bobby Loughry of Taylor Loughry Construction generously donated design advice and their professional crew to assemble the planters. Donations to Chestertown’s Arts and Entertainment District covered much of the cost of the plantings.

“We were looking for a way to honor the Fesslers’ legacy in a way that would help downtown food businesses in the short term and also be useful year-round for streetscape beautification and events,” says Hurst. “We appreciate all the volunteers who came together so quickly to get the planters ready in time for the first al fresco evening of dining.”

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~ Main Street Historic Chestertown
Contributed Photos