72 Laurel Workers Are About to Lose Their Jobs — and the Plant That Employs Them Has Been Here for Decades 🥛

Some weeks tell a story about a city in motion — businesses closing, new ones arriving, people showing up in the streets to say something matters to them. This is one of those weeks. A plant on Leishear Road that processes milk is shutting down by the end of the year, leaving 72 workers without jobs. A few miles away, more than 700 Laurel residents lined Route 198 last Saturday as part of a national rally. And the Strongest Town contest — a bracket competition we asked you to vote in back in March — has a result worth closing out.

There's also genuinely good news in the community news section: a legendary piece of American recording history is moving its manufacturing operations to Laurel, and a familiar face has taken the host chair on a Laurel TV show that happens to have featured a filmmaker we've written about before. Here's what's in this week's edition:

The Maola Local Dairies ingredients plant at 8321 Leishear Road in Laurel is closing. According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filing with the Maryland Department of Labor, the facility will begin curtailing operations on June 1, 2026, with full closure planned by December 31, 2026. Seventy-two employees will be impacted.

In a statement to WMAR, Maola spokesperson Amanda Culp framed the decision as a business realignment: the closure reflects how the cooperative's processing network and milk supply needs have evolved, and is meant to focus resources where they best support long-term goals and the company's farmer-owners and customers. Maola described its commitment to providing a reliable home for member milk through the transition.

For the 72 workers at Leishear Road, the framing matters less than the timeline. A June 1 start to curtailment and a December 31 full closure gives employees roughly six to nine months of runway — but the WARN Act filing, while legally required, doesn't guarantee severance, job placement support, or transition assistance beyond the notification itself. Whether Maola is offering more than the legal minimum to affected employees is not addressed in the company's public statement.

For Laurel residents more broadly, this is the kind of economic story that tends to get less attention than business openings but carries just as much weight. An industrial employer with 72 jobs represents real household income, real health insurance, real stability for families in this city. The question Laurel residents should be asking is: what support is being offered to these workers, and is anyone in city or county government actively engaged on their behalf?

Reported first by The Laurel Independent.

More than 700 people gathered in Laurel on Saturday, March 28th, for the local installment of the national "No Kings" movement — one of more than 3,000 protests that took place across the country that day. The Laurel rally was organized by Laurel Resist, a local progressive movement that formed during President Trump's first term in 2017, and was led by its president, Amy Knox. The event began at Emancipation Park near the Laurel Branch Library before participants moved to line Route 198 at the intersection of Seventh Street, holding signs and wearing costumes — from purple hippos to "Night King" ensembles — in what organizers described as an intentionally joyful, nonviolent demonstration.

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Representative Glenn Ivey (D-District 4) both addressed the crowd. Laurel City Council member James Kole (Ward 1) was also present, encouraging residents to stay involved in democracy and to vote. Knox opened the event by speaking directly to what she sees in her neighborhood: the line at the St. Philip's food pantry, she said, gets longer every month. Organizers were explicit that the rally was meant to be inclusive across age, race, and ability — and that its aim was to send a message to elected representatives that residents are watching.

The size of the turnout — 700-plus in a city of Laurel's scale — is not nothing. Whatever a reader's political views, a crowd that large showing up on a Saturday morning represents a real cross-section of engaged community members who felt strongly enough to come out. The question that goes beyond the politics: what happens next, locally, for the people in that crowd who are worried about the economy, about federal workers losing jobs, or about the food pantry line getting longer?

Reported first by The Laurel Independent.

Laurel's run in the Strong Towns "Strongest Town" competition has ended. The city — one of 16 finalists selected from a global field that included Chicago, Madison, Wisconsin, and Whitby, Ontario — was eliminated after the first round of public voting, which closed March 13th. It was the only municipality in Maryland and the Washington region to make the bracket.

Calvin Burns, the 26-year-old Laurel resident who spearheaded the application, was candid about what happened: the contest is driven entirely by public voting, and Laurel simply isn't as well-known as many of the cities it was competing against. Mayor Keith Sydnor had called the nomination a reflection of community pride and civic commitment. The Strong Towns chief of staff, Carlee Alm-LaBar, offered a note worth keeping: she said communities that don't advance often still benefit from participating, and that Laurel being in the top 16 at all speaks to something going right here.

Burns said he remains proud and plans to apply again next year — this time with more preparation and broader support. For residents who voted and rallied around the effort: the loss stings a little, but the organizing muscle built around this campaign is real. A city that can mobilize around a national bracket competition on short notice can mobilize around a lot of things.

The honest unanswered question is whether the city's relative obscurity — which hurt it in a popularity contest — is something residents, businesses, and city leadership are actively working to change. The Preakness is coming. The film studio is coming. The "Saddle Up, Laurel!" campaign is underway. This may not be the last time Laurel competes for national attention.

Jason Plotkin, CEO and Managing Attorney of the Pinder Plotkin Legal Team and a director with the Laurel Board of Trade, has been named host of Around Town with the Laurel Board of Trade on Laurel TV. The show spotlights Laurel's local business community and is available on Comcast channels 996 HD and 71 SD, Verizon channel 12, and on the Laurel TV YouTube channel at laureltv.org.

The debut episode under Plotkin's hosting has a connection regular readers of this newsletter will recognize: it features Dion Johnson, founder of JayMedia Group — the Laurel-based filmmaker whose documentary Forever Free and the Illiteracy Playbook won Best in Fest at the DC Independent Film Festival this past February, a story we covered in Edition #20. The episode explores how community storytelling and business growth intersect through Johnson's work.

For Laurel residents, this is a show worth bookmarking. Around Town is exactly the kind of platform that gives local business owners visibility they might not get elsewhere — and with Plotkin bringing both legal context and Board of Trade connections to the host chair, it has the potential to be a genuinely useful window into the city's economic life.

A piece of American recording history is coming to Laurel. Automated Processes Inc. — better known in the audio world as API Audio — is relocating from Jessup to a 24,245-square-foot industrial building at 9550 Lynn Buff Court in Laurel, with the move expected in late summer 2026. JADAKA Holdings LLC acquired the building for $4.5 million to facilitate the relocation, brokered by Columbia-based Lee & Associates.

Founded in 1969 and owned since 1999 by Larry Droppa, API Audio manufactures and distributes analog recording equipment — microphone preamps, equalizers, and compressors that have been used in professional studios for more than five decades. Their gear is the kind that shows up in Grammy-winning recording sessions and broadcast facilities worldwide. Droppa cited rapid growth and cramped production conditions in Jessup — some equipment runs over 14 feet long — as driving factors. The new Laurel facility, situated on a nearly two-acre parcel with 14-to-16-foot ceilings and two loading doors, gives API the room it needs.

For Laurel, this is a meaningful win: a company with a genuine international reputation in a creative industry is choosing to put down roots here, and that's the kind of business that can anchor a neighborhood and attract talent. What we'd still like to know is how many jobs the Laurel facility will support and whether any local hiring is planned as part of the expansion.

Seventy-two workers are losing their jobs when the Maola plant on Leishear Road closes by the end of the year. We want to bring this story closer to home: do you know anyone who works at that plant? And more broadly — when a major employer closes in Laurel, what do you think the city's responsibility is to the workers who are left behind?

Hit reply and tell us. We read every response, and the best ones may appear in next week's edition.

Our community photo spotlight continues! Each edition, we feature a photo from a Laurel resident that captures the beauty and spirit of our town.

Laurel resident Gretchen Stelger captured this beautiful sunset view of Montpelier Mansion, a true historic treasure and one of the gems of our community.

Want to be featured? Email your photos to [email protected] with the subject line "Show Us Your Laurel" and you might appear in an upcoming edition!

⭐ Assassins — Opening Night @ Laurel Mill Playhouse 📅 Friday, April 3 · 8:00 PM 📍 Laurel Mill Playhouse, 508 Main St, Laurel, MD | Stephen Sondheim's Assassins is one of the most provocative musicals ever written — dark, funny, and deeply American. Opening night at the Mill Playhouse is always an event, and this one is worth showing up for. Book your tickets in advance.

⭐ Patuxent River Clean Up 📅 Saturday, April 4 · 10:00 AM 📍 Riverfront Park, Laurel, MD | Hands-on stewardship of the river that runs through the heart of this city. If you've ever stood at Riverfront Park and thought I should do something about this — here's your Saturday.

⭐ Easter Egg Hunt and Breakfast 📅 Sunday, April 5 · 9:15 AM 📍 Laurel Presbyterian Church, 7610 Sandy Spring Rd, Laurel, MD | A community Easter morning for families — breakfast and an egg hunt before the holiday gets underway. A warm, low-key way to celebrate with neighbors.

Planning ahead? Here are 7 more events coming up through April 25th.

⭐ Poem Unveiling! 📅 Saturday, April 18 · Riverfront Park, Laurel, MD | A public poem unveiling at Riverfront Park — on the same day as the Earth Day Clean Up and Preakness Preview Day, making April 18th one of the busiest Saturdays of the spring. Worth marking early.

⭐ Lakefest 📅 Saturday, April 25 · Granville Gude Park, 14600 Laurel Pl, Laurel, MD | One of Laurel's signature spring outdoor events, right at Granville Gude Park. Put it on the calendar now.

Other events:

Thanks for reading today’s edition of the I❤️LAUREL Newsletter.

This week held a lot — job losses, a packed roadside protest, a competition that didn't go our way, and two businesses choosing Laurel as the place they want to be. That range is what this city actually looks like right now: real economic pressure sitting alongside real momentum, real frustration alongside real civic energy. None of it cancels the other out. It's all Laurel, and it all deserves to be told.

Got an event, story tip, or business we should feature? Just hit reply — I read every response.

See you next week!

— Mike Mondy Founder, I❤️LAUREL

P.S. — Don't forget to move this email to your primary inbox so you never miss an edition! P.S.S. — Be sure to follow us on Instagram! @ilovelaurelmd 📱