Photo by Sam Yu Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, center, greets Angela Spencer on Wednesday while touring The Great Frederick Fair. Among those with O’Malley is Delegate Sue Hecht, left foreground.

His message to local officials battling state budget cuts and lower-than-expected revenues: Hang on.

"The concerns all of us have are about the economy, and making sure we can protect as much as we can while weathering the storm," O'Malley said. "I think the mood is cautiously optimistic that things are starting to get a little bit better."

O'Malley convened a Cabinet meeting from the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center on Wednesday and honored Frederick as Maryland's capital for the day.

State Cabinet secretaries met with county leaders and residents, learning about local police, delivering meals to senior citizens and visiting busy intersections.

O'Malley visits towns and cities about once a month to declare them capital for a day.

"I've found it's a good way to keep all of us accountable and to keep us responsive, especially in difficult times," he said.

Mayor Jeff Holtzinger said the city was honored to host the state leaders.

"We are extremely proud of our city, county and we're very pleased that you, Lt. Gov. (Anthony) Brown and your Cabinet could spend the day with us, so we could discuss some of the issues that we'd like you to hear," Holtzinger said.

He emphasized the U.S. 15/Monocacy Boulevard interchange and expanding sewer service as top city priorities.

Frederick 's day was also Governor's Day at The Great Frederick Fair, so O'Malley began his visit by having lunch with the fair board.

His favorite fair food is fried chicken, which was the main course.

While at the fair, O'Malley said, he was most looking forward to meeting with dairy farmers who have been facing low prices.

"Every time you lose a farm, you don't get it back," O'Malley said. "There's a limited amount of land, and when that farm's gone, it's usually gone forever."

After meeting with farmers, O'Malley went to a ribbon cutting for the new Maryland School for the Deaf elementary school building. He then convened the Cabinet meeting.

There, the secretaries were joined by students from Lincoln Elementary, who invited O'Malley to the ribbon cutting for the new Frederick County Public Schools Earth Space and Science Lab.

City, county and state leaders spoke during the meeting.

It is easy to lose sight of what the state government actually does, O'Malley said. The secretaries were able on Wednesday to see projects and state dollars in action.

"So we try to highlight things when we do the Capital for a Day," he said, "were it not for our efforts as a people, as Marylanders, to make investments in school construction, or to make investments in wastewater upgrades or land preservation or public safety and health care."