What does Unity Square mean for the future of Salisbury?

SALISBURY, Md – The City of Salisbury held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday evening, celebrating the completion of Unity Square.

From the ground breaking ceremony to Friday, it had been just a few weeks shy of a year. The christening of the new park had many excited for the future of the city.

“We’ve always lacked that central spot. Often what we’ve had to do, the community at Salisbury, when big events happen, is right here at the corner of Division and Main Street and that intersection has to sort of be closed off,” said Mike Dunn, President of the Greater Salisbury Committee.

Dunn thinks that by fulfilling the community’s need for a central gathering space, Unity Square can be more than just a park, saying that it has the potential to be transformational for downtown Salisbury: “Downtown will look completely different. It will be a more complete downtown. People will be living here. [There will be] foot traffic.”

Dunn said that we’re already seeing the community take full advantage of the space since it became open to the public in April. “It’s already doing exactly what it was designed to do, which was to be a central meeting spot where the community could come and gather…you’ll see people just leaning against the concrete, reading books, literally reading books.”

Salisbury Mayor Randy Taylor understands that local business owners might have been frustrated with all the construction, but he expects that it will be well worth the wait: “Well, I think, first of all, not having any construction going on for the present time will help. But beyond that, I think it could become a very a backdrop again for for folks to come out, visit and then go shop, eat, drink coffee, buy ice cream.”

With even bigger plans on the horizon – like a new performing arts center – Mike Dunn recognizes that downtown might be a little chaotic in the next few years — but he’s convinced that on the other side of these projects, the entire community will benefit. “Change is difficult. I think everybody understands that. But at the end of the day, this is all positive developments for downtown Salisbury,” Dunn said.

Mayor Taylor said that the city has about 125 events per year that they can now layer in with Unity Square. While they’re not yet sure exactly what that looks like, they are thrilled to have the space available for use.