The Downtown Association is a community-based organization created to serve the businesses, residents, and visitors to the downtown area of Ocean City, Maryland. The Association advocates and promotes programs that enhances and improves the quality of life for both citizens and vacationers.
The Downtown Improvement Association was formed 35 years ago by Al Berger and fellow Downtown business owners who were concerned about a variety of issues that included but were not limited to parking, street lighting, and landscaping--issues that remain important today. The first meeting was at the Dorchester Street firehouse. Some of those initial members and "founders" were people like Granville Trimper, Kate Bunting, Lee Graham and Bob Givarz. The name was changed about 15 years ago because many people thought it was a construction company. More importantly many of the issues that brought the group together were being achieved through dialogue with the City Council and it was felt that by dropping "improvement" from the name portrayed a more positive image for the downtown area and the association.
