Open House Recap

That’s not the start of a joke – that actually happened this past Wednesday evening at our ribbon cutting ceremony and open house. The event was one for the record books. We had the opportunity to host more than 350 of our friends, clients and partners in our new home at 415 S. Central Ave. If you were able to join us, I hope you had a great time.

I was honored to tour Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake through our space. She commented that we were “so Baltimore.” We saw a building that was run down, dirty and made some feel that they were on the wrong side of town – and we made it beautiful. The Mayor also touted Groove’s vision and our commitment to Baltimore’s technology community.

I had the opportunity to unveil the next evolution of the agency. After many months – and some really hard work from our team, I am really proud of the branding, logo and website for Groove: Creating Marketing, Design & Development.

By dropping the word ‘Commerce,’ we are able to show a deeper breadth of service offerings, like inbound marketing, branding strategy, and digital media services.

During the ceremony, I looked out on a packed house and saw my vision, a decade in the making, become a reality. I know that I thanked a few people who made this vision a reality on stage but I am still filled with such gratitude. This team, plus many more, came together for a common good and they are worth mentioning again:

• The entire Groove team!
• Larry Silverstein and Jim O’hare, Union Box Company
• Mike Burton, Urban Design Group
• Todd Ghattas, hyperspace
• Jeff Schutte, Steelcase
• Stephanie Bradshaw, Stephanie Bradshaw Designs
• Kurt Zanelotti, Contract Carpet One
• Chris Marasco and Mary Ann Scully, Howard Bank
• George Santos and Luke Allen, my brokers
• Vince Madden, Madden Electric
• Kathleen Bands, My Cleaning Service
• Craig Weiman, our photographer
• Brett Bernard, 415 S. Central’s project manager
• Clarence Bull, master carpenter
• Tim Harless, Tim’s Welding
• Dan McAndrew, Anything Wood & Metal

I’d also like to acknowledge my business partner, Mack, and my life partner, Christina (a.k.a. my fiancé), for putting up with me for the last year.

Finally, I would like to thank all of our friends, clients and partners who took the time to share in this special moment with us. It certainly won’t be the last Groove party you attend…this team’s going places!

To see photos of the event, check out our album on Facebook.