As it has every July since the Ravens started coming to Westminster seven summers ago, Cal Bloom's barbershop is turning purple.
A banner reading "RAVENS" has been fastened over the front door, joining autographed pictures of Brian Billick, Jonathan Ogden and Larry Webster on the wall. Hats, footballs and player dolls adorn the shelves of the Main Street shop. And Bloom is saving a seat for Ravens President David Modell, who is bound to show up for a trim during the next few weeks.
Bloom and his fellow Main Street merchants have been breaking out the purple, black and gold to greet the 50,000 fans expected to descend on Westminster the next three weeks for the Ravens' summer camp, which opens today at McDaniel College.
A purple "Ravens Blvd" sign graces the front window of Sofia's, "Ravens Hot Dogs" with red (that is, purple) onions are being served up at Harry's Main Street Grille and flags flutter from city signposts to greet the team, whose stay in Westminster is estimated to generate $1 million for the local economy.
Eighty-six players, including a healthy Ray Lewis and a crop of young and hungry players, are slated to practice twice a day at the Westminster college until Aug. 19. They will be available to sign plenty of autographs, say team officials.
Joey Lapp, 14, interviewed last week as he was reading at the Westminster branch of the Carroll County Public Library, said his favorite Ravens player was "the Goose" -- or former defensive tackle Tony Siragusa, who retired last year. With Siragusa gone, Lapp said he hopes to catch a glimpse of Ray Lewis.
Twelve-year old Brandon Cook of Westminster says he will be at the camp as much as possible in search of Lewis' autograph. Cook says that a few years ago at training camp, he got one of Lewis' gloves.
While not watching football, he said he would be enjoying the Ravens "Fan Zone" on the McDaniel tennis courts, where about 500 kids a day are expected to kick field goals, navigate an obstacle course, throw passes and catch high-flying punts. "I like that," said Cook, who went to the "Fan Zone" last year. "It's fun."
For the players' scheduled arrival yesterday, the team was busy transporting 80 pieces of weightlifting equipment, 14,400 bottles of Gatorade, 1,500 cases of bottled water, as well as hundreds of rolls of medical tape and dozens of whirlpools and 6-foot-tall cooling fans.
They expect 10,000 fans to show up for an intrasquad scrimmage Friday at McDaniel's football stadium. The scrimmage will feature Ravens cheerleaders, bands and a question-and-answer session with coach Billick.
The team's contract with McDaniel College lasts through next summer, and school officials say they hope to keep the Ravens camp in Westminster as long as possible.
"We love the exposure," said McDaniel College spokeswoman Rita Beyer.
Ravens director of operations Bob Eller said the team has developed a good relationship with the college.
"Certainly the location is good for our team and our fans," he said.
Restaurants and hotels draw the most profit from Ravens camp, said Westminster planning director Thomas B. Beyard. He says fans often visit Main Street restaurants between the morning and afternoon practices, and in the evenings, players sometimes frequent Johanssons or Sofia's.
Westminster's relationship with summer football camp goes back decades. The Baltimore Colts trained there for years, and the players often were seen in the city. In his autobiographical Fatso, former Colts defensive lineman Art Donovan recalls feasting on 25 hot dogs with double chili sauce and onions from Harry's Main Street Grille when the team trained in the county seat in the late 1950s.
When the Ravens arrived in the summer of 1996, kids chased quarterback Vinny Testaverde's white Hummer around Westminster. The summer after the team's Super Bowl victory was especially exciting for Sofia's owner Sonny Fontone, who was visited by Billick and Siragusa. Siragusa's photograph hangs in the restaurant.
But some Main Street merchants said that last summer they didn't see as many players out on the town as they had in years past. Fontone wondered if the decline was because of an influx of new players who didn't know Westminster well. Dawn Steinberg, catering manager at Harry's, figured, "They couldn't go out at certain times, and they had to watch their diet."
Bloom, who has owned his Main Street barbershop for 18 years, said visits from Modell have been more reliable.
He said he usually gives Modell "just a regular short haircut." The small talk usually is about something other than football.
