Moving to Eldersburg (Eburg) in the early 2000s, I have been around long enough to tell the tale of how the new and improved Eldersburg is almost (in a sense) a lie (not bad, but just not what we grew up to love) to those of us that grew up here. Going to elementary school for most of my generation we simply went to school by day and maybe went out to a restaurant or Walmart at night or during the weekend. But now Eburg has become luxurious!
During my years of elementary school I remember that the biggest amusement for us was going to Fun Quarters (an arcade). It was always packed with kids, a great place for parents to drop their kids off for a couple hours to enjoy a birthday party. When that closed, a lot of us were left questioning what fun activities we could spend our time doing.
The quest to find a source of entertainment then led us to our old and crumbling movie theater in our middle school years. Once the movie theater was permanently closed, the community of Eburg sort of came to the conclusion of having to travel a little outside of our boundaries for entertainment sources.
A good majority of us would travel to Westminster, MD, some Columbia, MD and others elsewhere. It just kinda became a mini road trip occasion for us all growing up if we wanted to go to an arcade (after Fun Quarters closed) or certain eating establishments that Eburg didn't contain (at the time).
Now as Eburg has been caught in the progressive state of the country we are seeing things we only used to dream about. Like a super Walmart, Chick Fil A, Starbucks, Petco, and so much more (some even yet to come).
These new forms of entertainment, shopping, and food, I would say, are keeping a lot of us from traveling too far. This means that we are supporting our local businesses more even if we do have a larger variety of options to choose from.
Did anyone realize that we currently have five grocery stores within a five mile radius of each other? That's just one of the luxuries that we (now) take for granted. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to have so many readily available resources to such a small area, but all of this growth isn't going to be completely beneficial to our small town.
I am actually proud (if I can say that about a town) of how much the community has accepted and has for years now incorporated the new businesses into their daily, weekly, and monthly lives. It definitely takes a lot to get used to change. The residents of Eldersburg, MD are certainly always ready to show how much they love where they live and they are starting to accept changes with more open hearts and minds.
No matter how much growth this small town encompasses, I hope that it always maintains its welcoming nature into its family atmosphere. That's just something that should never change.
