On Sunday, May 21, free admission, boat rides, and fun for the whole family come to Community Day at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, with the day’s activities, performances, eats, and treats just announced.
This year’s event includes the opportunity to see the schooner Sultana dockside, along with numerous family activities and special exhibitions, including the recently opened Robert de Gast’s Chesapeake.
Festival highlights also include the opportunity to meet and take photos with Maryland Public Television’s Daniel Tiger. Joining in the spirit of community, MPT & Daniel Tiger are encouraging guests to bring unused arts & crafts supplies and non-perishable food items for donation to the St. Michael’s Community Center at the event.
Through the Talbot County Public Library’s Imagination Library, children can participate in a storybook walk around campus featuring the book Olly the Oyster Cleans the Bay, by Elaine Ann Allen. A children’s foot race will be hosted by Chesapeake Sports Alliance, with three-legged races, sack races, and tug-of-war competitions presented by the St. Michaels Community Center.
Around campus and in the boatyard, guests can watch a blacksmithing demo, help create a dugout log canoe, or learn about boatbuilding as CBMM’s Apprentice for a Day boatbuilding participants work on completing the draketail Pintail.
Radio-controlled model skipjack races take place from 11:00 a.m. to noon along CBMM’s docks and Fogg’s Cove, and at 1:00 p.m., festival goers can join as CBMM’s Rising Tide after-school boatbuilding participants launch the railbird skiff they’ve built over the school year.
The first 500 Community Day guests will receive a voucher for a free hot dog and chips, generously provided by the Easton Ruritan Club and St. Michaels Volunteer Fire Department. The St. Michaels Community Center is also providing free popcorn throughout the day.
Food available for purchase includes Old Bay bratwursts, clam strips, fried shrimp, hamburgers, hot dogs, corn dogs, and soft pretzels from the St. Michaels Volunteer Fire Department, along with fruit smoothies, hot dogs, chips, and an assortment of other drinks from the Easton Ruritan Club. CBMM will have a bar serving wine and beer.
Other treats include funnel cakes and deep-fried Oreos from Johnson Family Funnel Cakes, and soft-serve ice cream, sundaes, floats, Italian Ice, and lemonade from the Ice Cream Lady.
The Phillips Wharf Environmental Fishmobile will be on hand to help guests explore the Bay’s creatures, or you can tour an antique fire engine with the St. Michaels Volunteer Fire Department. Scavenger hunts with treasures awaiting are planned for children, along with balloon animals and an interactive Scales & Tales display from Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
This year, Community Day guests can enjoy a ride on the Miles River aboard one of CBMM’s floating fleet of historic boats, including Winnie Estelle, Dorothy Lee, Volunteer, Old Point, and CBMM’s Pot Pie Jackson skiff. A selection of CBMM’s small sailing craft and rowing vessels will also be available for festival-goers to take out on Fogg’s Cove. On-the-water activities are offered free for Community Day, with same-day sign ups, weather dependency, and limited boarding.
The day kicks off at 9:00 a.m. with a tent service with Bay Hundred Covenant Churches, followed by the festival grounds opening at 10:00 a.m. and continuing through 5:00 p.m.
From 10:00 – 1:30pm., Blind Wind takes the lower Steamboat deck stage, featuring fiddle tunes, bluegrass, country, classic rock, reggae, and more. From 1:30 to 5:00 pm. Skrybe takes the stage, bringing folk, rock, and country music to CBMM’s waterfront campus.
Event sponsors include CBMM’s Friends Board, Choptank Electric Cooperative, Curtis Stokes & Associates, Shore United Bank, Talbot County Free Library, and What’s Up? Magazine.
Community Day guests can also explore all of CBMM’s 12 exhibition buildings and historic structures, including a climb to the top of the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse for views of the Miles River and St. Michaels Harbor. CBMM’s waterfront campus is a short walk over Honeymoon Bridge to numerous specialty shops, restaurants, inns, bed and breakfasts, and other attractions in St. Michaels’ historic district.
Festival-goers are encouraged to bring cash for purchases inside the gate, with carry-on alcohol prohibited during this rain or shine event. For safety reasons, only service dogs are allowed on CBMM’s campus during festivals. Leashed dogs are permitted during regular operating hours.
Established in 1965, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is a world-class maritime museum dedicated to preserving and exploring the history, environment and people of the entire Chesapeake Bay, with the values of relevancy, authenticity, and stewardship guiding its mission. Serving more than 77,000 guests each year, CBMM’s campus includes a floating fleet of historic boats and 12 exhibition buildings and historic structures. For more information, visit cbmm.org
