Former Mayor Ron Young celebrated at launch party for proposed statue
A who's who of Frederick politics attended the launch party on Thursday for a proposed statue of former Mayor Ron Young at The Delaplaine Arts Center.
Young's mayoral tenure stretched from 1974 to 1990. He also represented Maryland's 3rd District — made up mostly of the city of Frederick — in the Maryland state Senate from 2011 to 2023.
Attendees at the celebration included current Mayor Michael O'Connor, County Executive Jessica Fitzwater, City Council members, County Council members, state lawmakers and former elected officials.
Young was credited by those in attendance for helping to create Carroll Creek Linear Park, establish The Delaplaine Arts Center and the Weinberg Center for the Arts, and more.
'Everything that this city is today, everything that we experience ... you can trace a line back to work that was either started or initiated or carried out or continued during time that Ron Young has been in public service in the city of Frederick, and certainly this creek is the goose that lays the golden egg,' O'Connor said in a speech at the launch party, referencing Carroll Creek.
A group proposing the 7-foot bronze statue plans to have it erected at the Carroll Creek Linear Park amphitheater on top of a 1.5-foot pedestal, and sought donations and support Thursday for funding the project. There is a web site about the project.
Ron Young Statue at Carroll Creek
Image courtesy of Committee for the Ron Young Sculptural Tribute
The project is being funded entirely through private donations and sponsors like the Delaplaine Foundation, the Ausherman Family Foundation, and others, according to Jan Gardner, a former Frederick County executive.
Gardner is a member of the 13-member Committee for the Ron Young Sculptural Tribute, the group behind the proposal.
Funds beyond what are required to build the statue will be put toward a maintenance fund, said its sculptor, Antonio Tobias 'Toby' Mendez, known for his work on statues of sports legends, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and many other people.
The plan is for the statue to be unveiled in October 2026, 50 years after a historic 1976 flood that devastated the downtown area, Gardner said.
The flood presented the need for a flood mitigation project. Young helped spearhead an effort to mitigate the flood risk of the creek while also turning it into an economic boon.
The city of Frederick must agree to allow the statue to be placed in the park. The statue is proposed to be donated to the city, meaning the city would take over its maintenance.
The proposal has been approved by the city's Historic Preservation Commission, the Public Art Commission and the Parks and Recreation Commission. All it lacks is approval by the City Council.
Council Members Kelly Russell and Derek Shackelford attended the launch party.
'Since Ron has always been a champion for public art, it seems fitting to honor his vision for vibrant public spaces with a sculpture by Frederick County native and nationally recognized artist Toby Mendez,' Russell wrote in a message to The Frederick News-Post on Friday.
Council Members Ben MacShane and Donna Kuzemchak previously expressed support for the idea of a statue, though Kuzemchak raised concerns about the location of the statue.
'I do, however, have an issue with putting any type of sculpture in the amphitheater,' she said in a May 15 City Council Housing, Health and Education Committee meeting. 'I think that it is an inappropriate place for a sculpture.'
She said the statue may block people's view of the stage at the amphitheater.
Mendez said during the meeting that the statue's proposed location was picked to not block anyone's view.
'I sat in each of those seats, like the worst seats that you could think of ... and he is not in your view of the stage,' Mendez said in the May 15 meeting.
Kuzemchak said she could 'certainly' support the statue being on the creek somewhere, however.
City Council President Katie Nash said during the May 15 meeting that she would try to schedule a vote for the agreement for the statue for a public hearing June 5.
Young said he was appreciative and humbled to have a statue built of him.
'The only sad part is that there are very few people alive that were with me at the beginning,' Young said in an interview on Friday.
Young, 84, was elected when he was 33, and took office when he was 34.
Mendez unveiled a miniature of the proposed statue during the launch party, and posed with Young for pictures.
Marlene Young, president of the Delaplaine Foundation, said that though she is not related to Ron Young, she always gives him a fist bump or high five and says 'forever young.'
This is especially significant, she said, because Ron Young continues to participate in the community since he retired from the state Senate.
'So I can tell you firsthand, he is living up to the mantra 'forever young,'' Marlene Young said.
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