20060301 Westminster, Estonia and the Singing Revolution

Winchester Report: Westminster and the Singing Revolution

Kevin Dayhoff March 1, 2006 11 AM

Current whispers that Westminster will soon declare its independence and form an independent city-state are not true, although it can be admitted that many of the signs are in place.

After all, at approximately 6 square miles in size, Westminster is larger than the Vatican City, which declared its independence on February 11th, 1929 and is .2 square miles large. Actually, McDaniel College is larger than the Vatican City. By the way, the next larger country, San Marino is 23.5 square miles large.

Perhaps the beginnings of this whisper campaign perhaps began in 2002, when Westminster did sign a Declaration of Understanding and a Declaration of Friendship with Paide, Estonia.

Although they are not “treaties” with a foreign nation, we have exchanged a trade delegation, and had several cultural, academic and diplomatic exchanges. Moreover, we have continued fermenting an artistic, cultural and singing revolution.

In the past, Westminster has had several informal sister city relationships with Westminster, England, and Westminster, Colorado.

Creating a relationship with Paide grew from a program called Partners for Peace, a military program that started in 1991 to help Estonia to become stable, train management and improve communication between civilians and military personnel.

The program, headed by the Army National Guard, developed into a partner-city program in 1993.

The first presentation of the idea of Westminster developing a sister city relationship came at a meeting of the Mayor and Common Council on November 27th, 2000. The presentation was given by Col. Grant Hayden of the Maryland Army National Guard and James D. Ball, Carroll Community College vice president of instruction and student development.

Westminster’s Director of Planning and Public Works, Tom Beyard, then a Master Sergeant with the Maryland National Guard, was in Estonia during the summer of 2000, as part of his guard duty.
Over the past decade, the program has moved from strictly military-to-military events to predominantly civilian-to-civilian exchanges. The current focus of the program includes education, health, government, economic development, culture and philanthropy.

The partner city program pairs similar Maryland and Estonian municipalities to engage in mutual programs and activities. The Westminster Paide program is the most active and successful to date.

The Guard’s partner city program now includes several Maryland municipalities, as well as 14 other states. In addition to Westminster and Paide, the other nine partner city communities include Annapolis and Tallinn, Salisbury and Tartu, Oakland and Valga, Frostburg and Viljandi, Cumberland and Tapa, Harve de Grace and Sillamae, Grantsville and Torva, McHenry and Otepaa and Ocean City and Parnu. La Plata and Jogeva are candidates for 2004. These municipalities are engaging in a variety of activities to further good relations.

Paide, Estonia and Westminster, MD have many things in common. Paide got its name from the limestone, used when the town was constructed. This is a similarity shared with Westminster, which also has ties to limestone with a limestone quarry located just outside the city.

Other similarities between the two municipalities include tree-lined streets and a prominent Lutheran church in the downtown area. Paide is a little older that Westminster, by about 450 years. It became a municipality on September 30th, 1265.

Paide’s population is approximately 10,000 compared to Westminster’s population of 17,000. We are both located in a piedmont area.
Additionally, many are not aware that there are over 1,000 Estonians living in Maryland.

In order to support the Westminster – Paide partnership program initiatives in Westminster, a fund was created at the Carroll Community Foundation in October 2002, in an effort for our program to be self-sufficient and not utilize taxpayer dollars for the efforts, making it truly a grass-roots, community initiative.

We have an active advisory committee of approximately 25 members who provide guidance to our work. Our local businesses are involved and engaged in this process and see the benefits of participation.

Our partner city relationship brings favorable attention to Westminster. The visit of international guests provides great opportunities to highlight and showcase our city.
Exchange opportunities including municipal and student exchanges offer the potential for meaningful learning and professional development for municipal officials and staff. Cultural exchanges offer Westminster performers venues in Estonia to sing and dance and the same for Estonian performers who come here.

As part of our efforts to have cultural exchanges, the Partnership has had several highly successful fund raising events, for example, the visit from the Estonian Television Girls Choir performance on Feb. 8, 2003 and the January 22, 2004 concert featuring an Estonian singing group, “Rondellus,” both at Winters Mill High School.

Other successful partnership for peace efforts have included a July 2003 Community Foundation workshop in Paide and coordinated performances by Audrey Cimino and Eric Byrd Trio in the Paide Shanty Festival and Haapsalu Sea Music Festival.

Another exciting success was the visit, from July 10th through the 21st, 2004, by "Voce Viaggio" (Italian for "Traveling Voices") to Estonia, Finland and Sweden.

Voce Viaggio is a traveling troupe of singers from the Carroll County Children’s Chorus, led by executive director Diane Jones. During their tour, the chorus sang American-themed songs at several venues. The songs gave European audiences a better feel for America, as many elements of American history were incorporated in the music, according to Director Jones.

Roughly one-third of the European trip was paid for through fund raising, with the children's parents are paying for the rest. Not only did the 24-member peace delegation from Westminster, and their support staff (read: parents) build relationships and spread goodwill, but the trip also helped the chorus members learn about three distinct cultures.

The children took educational tours while on the trip and had many opportunities to experience different aspects of the countries they visit.
Thanks to our history and tradition of private public partnerships, our Paide Sister City Partnership program is a great success and enables Westminster to give as much it receives.

Many more exciting cultural, educational, economic development and artistic exchanges are planned for the future.

I guess as long as we can continue to do our small part for world peace and prosperity, perhaps, we can postpone declaring our independence and forming our own city-state.

Although, I can only imagine independence would come easily and bloodlessly for Westminster if Tom Beyard, Lyndi McNulty, Lori Graham, Diane Jones, Audrey Cimino and I held hands in front of the Carroll County Office Building and started singing Kum Ba Ya or "All we are saying, is give peace a chance," by the Beatles.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr.org
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