Iron Bridge Wine Company Competes For $10,000 And Needs Your Vote

COLUMBIA, MD — Iron Bridge Wine Company is in the running for Howard Bank's "Keep It Local" small business contest. The Columbia restaurant is one of 15 businesses competing for $10,000.

Announcing its first ever "Keep It Local" contest, Howard Bank asked people to nominate their favorite local businesses in May for a contest to win $10,000. The 15 businesses that earned the most nominations according to the rules made it to the first round of online voting.

Nominees had to be in Howard Bank's branch footprint, which it defined as Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Cecil, Harford and Howard counties as well as Baltimore City.

Among the top 15 is Iron Bridge Wine Company in Columbia.

Vote here in the Howard Bank's Keep It Local contest.

"The Baltimore area has a particularly vibrant and diversified small business community and Howard Bank’s reason for being is to help those local businesses succeed," Mary Ann Scully, CEO of Howard Bank, said in a statement. "This contest is a great way to engage our neighbors in that mission as well as provides all of us in the community with a means to recognize all of the hardworking entrepreneurs and small business owners in the region."

Iron Bridge Wine Company owner Steve Wecker, who was recently named the 2019 Restaurateur of the Year by the Restaurant Association of Maryland — started the restaurant with his brother Rob in 2003, and since then the eatery off Route 108 has gained national recognition. In 2018, it made OpenTable's list of top 100 restaurants for wine lovers in America.

Here is how the business is described in the Howard Bank contest:

The Iron Bridge Wine Company has always believed in the words of our dad, Charlie Wecker, that "A Business should support the Community in which it works." For over 16 years we have given to hundreds of organizations and non-profits who are part of the community of Howard County. Through the use of “Creative Philanthropy” we have turned our Nationally recognized Restaurant into a source of funding for others. Whether it is donating food for events, Pouring wine for fundraisers, or offering dinners and prize packs for auctions at charity events, our work has earned us Philanthropist of the Year honors by The Community Foundation of Howard County.

The example of a giving life that was taught to us by our parents is the basis of who we are as individuals and as a business. We have never had the funds to write large checks personally, but by offering a “Dinner for Ten” as an example, to the Gilchrest Hospice Fundraiser that garnishes a $15,000 bid, we are able to support the community in a large way. In over 16 years of business, we have been able to generate over $800,000 in funds.

Though a partial list, we are happy to say that we have supported Gilchrest Hospice, The Claudia Mayer/Tina Brocollino Cancer Resource Center, Center Stage, Ellicott City Flood Relief, Columbia Festival of the Arts and Howard County Tourism in addition to hundreds of other organizations that are a vital part of making Howard County great.

The first round of voting in the "Keep It Local" contest runs until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 28.

Here are the nominees:

• ArtFarm Studios in Annapolis
• Caprichos Books in Bel Air
• Connie's Chicken & Waffles in Baltimore
• Domesticity in Baltimore
• Fadensonnen in Baltimore
• GoSeason in Baltimore
• Hair & Things in Rising Sun
• Intreegue Design in Elkridge
• Iron Bridge Wine Co. in Columbia
• Jolles Insurance in Ellicott City
• Mt. Royal Soap Co. in Baltimore
• Rise N' Grind in Rising Sun
• Shephard Design in Rising Sun
• Teal Antler Boutique in Elkton
• WATT Business Solutions of Baltimore

Five contestants with the most votes will move on to the second round of voting from July 8 to July 26. Then a winner will be announced Aug. 5.

Iron Bridge Wine Company is located at 10435 Clarksville Pike in Columbia.