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The first workshop to determine the fate of New Market's "Antiques Capital of Maryland" sign facing Interstate 70 will take place in December.

Councilman David Price said he is working to gather several historic preservation groups, such as Main Street Maryland, the Maryland Historic Trust and the Frederick Tourism Council, to provide input into the process.

He said once he has a confirmation from all of these groups, he will set the date, which he expects to do by the end of the week.

The workshop will be open to the public, and he said it would be mainly "informational." Other workshops will follow at later, undetermined dates until a decision is reached.

Price said re-branding the town is important, as New Market has other attractions to offer tourists besides antiques, including historic buildings and specialty shops.

The New Market Town Council decided after nearly three hours of heated debate on Nov. 11 to gather more information before changing the wording of the sign.

The five council members voted unanimously to authorize Price to hold workshops on what a refurbished sign should say in hopes of reaching a compromise among all businesses and residents.

This first step to compromise was hard-won and only arose after one failed vote and outbursts from the floor that provoked Mayor Winslow Burhans III to threaten calling the Frederick County Sheriff's Office to help maintain order.

Price, who also owns 12 West Main, an art gallery on Main Street in New Market, asked the Town Council to consider changing the wording on the sign a month ago.

He said the sign should reflect that the town has fewer antique dealers than other shops, and that those other shop owners have grown tired of explaining to would-be shoppers why so many of the town's antique dealers are closed during the week.

Antique dealers in New Market have historically closed during the week because they are open on the weekends, when tourists typically come.

The sign was built by the Antique Dealers Association in 1974, at a cost of $1,400, said Bud Rossig, who owns an art gallery and framing shop. Ownership of the sign was turned over to the Town Council in 1986.

Antique dealers showed up en masse to voice opposition to removing "antiques capital" from the sign.

Jim Higgs, who has owned and operated Smith Tavern Antiques for more than 20 years, said changing the sign would be the final blow to the antique business in New Market.

In its heyday of the mid-1980s, the town had more than 40 antique dealers, but now there are eight.

"Your actions are likened to that of an undertaker wishing to drive a nail in the coffin of the antique business," Higgs said to Price. "I hope the other council members will not act as pall bearers."

Councilman Dennis Kimble, who does not support changing the sign because of its historic value, decried Higgs' comment as a personal attack on Price. Higgs retorted out of turn that Price was threatening his livelihood.

Burhans, banging his gavel, called for Higgs to be quiet or be removed by deputies. "You wouldn't act this way in Winchester Hall," Burhans said. "They wouldn't stand for it."

John Madden, a New Market resident, said while he supported a discussion on what to do with the sign, he felt Price's original motion was too vague. The motion called for permission to change the sign but did not state specifically what the change would be. "I'm never a big fan of giving any government a blank check," he said.

Richard Brady, an antique dealer in New Market who said he was open longer and for more hours during the week that anyone else in town, said the antiques business is in decline in New Market, and would not pick back up. He said he welcomed the new businesses, and that the sign needed to be updated to include other shops.

"The more action, the better, as far as I'm concerned," Brady said.

E-mail Christian Brown at chbrown@gazette.net.