Outdoor Appeal
At another venue in Maryland’s scenic outdoors, attendees will probably walk that extra mile. A former summer camp on a 115-acre farm, Mountainside Challenge and Retreat Center takes supporting the environment seriously. Ten minutes from Frederick, this multifaceted facility is team-building nirvana, with a 50-foot climbing tower, dual 700-foot zip lines, high and low ropes challenge courses, a 3-D Spider’s Web, Incomplete Bridge, a swimming pool, well-groomed fields and a wooded amphitheater. In addition, participants can get harnessed to a partner to be pulled back to a height of 25 feet on the Giant Swing or take the Leap of Faith from a pamper pole to catch a trapeze bar 30 feet up.
Groups that want only to chill can come for a day of relaxation and enjoy hiking on nature trails, playing sports and lunching poolside.
Overlooking the swimming pool, the greenhouse and gorgeous mountains, Mountainside’s sustainable main building, which is all about renewable energy and reducing the carbon footprint, has an auditorium that seats 250 to 300 people or 150 at tables. A smaller meeting room with lots of windows holds up to 18.
“Our mission is to get people back outside, to reconnect with nature and disconnect from phones and the internet,” said Joe Richardson, owner. “Our facility is not a hotel. I’ve got to have windows. I’ve got to be able to see outside.”
Also 10 minutes from town, the Claggett Center is a retreat and conference facility on 268 acres with a working farm and stunning views of Sugarloaf Mountain, the Monocacy River Valley and daily sunrises. Meeting spaces include nearly 3,000 square feet in Monocacy Hall for groups of 15 to 200. The building’s conference room has seven conversation areas and two rooms with private balconies and mountain views, plus a fireplace and a wraparound porch with comfy rockers.
Five separate cottages with individual meeting rooms and a 60-room inn offer overnight accommodations. Guests eat all meals in a dining hall with customized group menus.
Amenities include hiking trails, a seasonal outdoor pool, basketball courts, a ball field, and a pavilion and barn with tables, 200 chairs and a stage for skits. Team building takes place at nearby Upward Enterprises on a 25-acre challenge ropes course.
Groups that would rather watch than participate can take in a baseball game in town of the Frederick Keys, a minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.
Team-Building Opportunities
For indoor team building in Frederick, the Kitchen Cooking School offers a Mystery Basket exercise for 10 to 18 participants that’s pure fun. Team members work without a recipe to prepare a meal using specific, fast-cooking ingredients. Each member participates, and the staff drops lots of hints along the way.
“True colors really shine,” said Christine Van Bloem, the school’s enthusiastic owner. “Everybody has different skill levels in the kitchen that have nothing to do with company hierarchy. I love to see how leaders emerge and how the food turns out. At the end, we make sure everyone has an overwhelming feeling of success.”
For another option, the school partners with the Flying Dogs Brewery, the state’s largest craft brewery — with 20 beers on tap — where groups can tour and taste. In this class, participants cook with beer, taste that beer and sip beer paired with the meal they’ve prepared.
Attendees can learn more about this history-rich region on a Taste Frederick Food Tour, a winning combo of food tasting from local restaurants and specialty food shops, and downtown Frederick’s history that’s sure to include how loyalist Dame Barbara Fritchie booed the Johnny Rebs as they marched through her town. More information about the area’s history can be found on a Civil War tour of surrounding battlefields; a ghost tour of historic Mount Olivet Cemetery, where Francis Scott Key, who penned the national anthem, is buried; and at the National Shrine of Elizabeth Ann Seton, a beautiful basilica dedicated to the first American-born saint.
Because of its plethora of churches, Frederick is known for its “clustered spires” skyline. With a 50-block historic district, its downtown is alive with specialty shops, art galleries, theaters and restaurants, among them Volt, Celebrity Chef Bryan Voltaggio’s award-winning flagship eatery housed in a 19th-century Victorian mansion with private dining for 12 in its oval-shaped Conservatory.
The city adds a fascinating dimension to its downtown with murals in various sizes painted by trompe l’oeil artist William Cochran. His most extensive “canvas” is the Community Bridge, with fool-the-eye images that give the new structure the appearance of an old, ivy-covered one.
“Frederick is truly the perfect destination for a meeting,” Bickerton said. “We have great places to meet and plenty to do for attendees, their spouses and their kids.”
Frederick, Maryland
Location: North-central Maryland, 45 minutes from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore
Access: Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, Washington Dulles International and Ronald Reagan Washington National airports; Interstates 70 and 270
Major Meeting Spaces: Clarion Inn Event Center, Hampton Inn Frederick
Hotel Rooms: 2,000-plus in Frederick County
Offsite Venues: Springfield Manor Winery and Distillery, Claggett Center, National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Mountainside Challenge Retreat Center, Inn at Stone Mountain Country Club
Contact Info:
Visit Frederick
800-999-3613
www.visitfrederick.org
