THE FESTIVAL THAT ATE CHESTERTOWN

DESPERATE DINERS CONVERGE IN WILMER PARK  It’s been on the social radar for months, and finally on Sunday 4.27.08, Wilmer Park saw the first of what is likely to become an annual event, the Taste of Chestertown.

     
OUTSIDE THE TENT, SURVIVORS GATHER                   CHESTER VIEW FROM A TABLE AT THE TASTE

 A live band, silent auction items, food and beverage vendors, and probably more attendees than organizers anticipated were crammed into a wee tent. In fact some people went into the tent with the intention of walking around and getting some food, but so many people crammed themselves in that movement was impossible and few were able to escape and remain inside as I write this. In a nutshell, attendees were heavily white which lent a segegrated feel to the event, the top rate food was a bargain, and loads of money was raised for charity.

LAST SATURDAY’S MUTT STRUT

Entrants in the owner/dog look alike contest.

    

Spring in Chestertown

SIGNS OF SPRING Pickup drivers slow and cause you to miss every green light on 213 as they slow to look at females with bare shoulders and knees. The vanloads of teens of misfortune arrive to be pimped around town, forced to canvass door to door selling bogus magazine subscriptions. The dogwood blossoms have popped, the ducklings are peeping, allergy sufferers are suffering their allergies. Speaking of pollen, the leaf blowers have begun their assault on the senses. Launching pollen and topsoil into the air, their engines emit more petrol pollution particles into the air in a single hour than your car will in a year. They’re being banned in Europe, Australia, and many towns in the US, so it’s only a matter of time before Chestertown bans them….

VINTAGE BALL

News from Townball Headquarters
    

After the Washington College’s Townball Crier called a game on Sunday, the Historical Society of Talbot County’s Fair Plays accepted the challenge. The college’s Revolutionary Rabble were nervous–the Fair Plays have an impressive record against their opponents. More troubling were advance rumors indicating that in addition to having their own uniforms, webpage, and team photographer, the Fair Plays enjoy regular access to personal trainers, a masseur, an acupuncturist, and a team psychologist. As if that weren’t enough, they reportedly have annual spring training in Baja California, a Lear Jet to fly them to and from games, and a pipeline into the vast reservoir of Cuban baseball talent via illicit ties to the Castro regime.

The Rabble, however, have team spirit, aloha shirts, cheap neckties, school pride, and Brandon Righi, a notorious cheat. There’s another post on this topic (below). Click “more” for more.

VINTAGE BALL II

Fashionplate Brian rounds 3rd base.
  

Jasper “Patches” Colt, on injured reserve.   Field Marshal Harvey, directing the campaign.
  

Oh. My. God.

CHESTERTOWN’S DESPERATE DINERS Just when I thought the Village Bakery was perfectly perfect (I mentioned before that it sells donuts that “are delicate as cotton candy,” and “when you cut into their pie, angels fly out” according to a couple regulars I know), there’s a new patio AND new menu. And beer. And wine. And mimosas. The Bakery’s Powers that Be are debating whether to open for dinner, so stay tuned…

PUT YOUR WRITING CAP ON

These events are for writers and readers, and this calendar is a condensed, incomplete teaser lifted from the newsletter from the EWSA. If you want to read the whole thing, you gotta join: www.easternshorewriters.org. (It’s inexpensive & fabulous.)
Miles River Literary Open Mic Night – Tonight (Friday) at 7 p.m. at The Perk Coffeeshop, on Talbot St . , in St. Michaels. Award-winning poet Anne Colwell, of Milton , DE will be the featured poet, reading from her work. Sign-up for individual readings will be at 6:45 p.m. The open mic night is held monthly at The Perk in St. Michaels.
The Small Press Fair will be Saturday (April 19) at The Writer’s Center, 4508 Walsh St . , in Bethesda , MD , from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Writers can meet editors and publishers from literary journals and small presses. Sally Canzoneri will lead a writing and book-making program for children, from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., among other events during the Fair. Admission is free.
Baltimore’s City Lit Fest will be Saturday (April 19) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Central Library

SOLUTION TO 1/2 OF DEATH-TAXES OBLIGATION?

CHECK THIS OUT Eastern Shore writer Judy Reveal has some publishing news: Her brand new spankin’ mystery ebook, CHEATING DEATH, is available! Judy (as many of you may know) is a wearer of many hats: nonfiction writer, indexer, fictioneer, editor, and so on, as her list of credits illustrates. It’s great to see her have the hard-earned and well deserved pleasure of seeing her work made available to readers everywhere.

LINK SALAD

PAST FORWARD Sherrilynn Ifill (a lawyer, professor, and author) spent years researching a book about lynching in the US. Though the book’s case studies are from the Eastern Shore, she explains that lynching is a part of the nation’s past and not unique to this area.

CELL PHONE SERVICE My friends and I agree—one cell phone provider has great reception in parts of Chestertown where other (more expensive) providers have zero bars. So leave a comment if you know different, but the best service I know of is Tracfone.

LOOKING FOR SOME HOT STUFF Don’t know whether it is an anomaly or not, but I couldn’t find any cayenne pepper at Chestertown’s two big grocers and a few bargain stores. I am off to check Chestertown Natural Foods who probably have it & would order it if they don’t. A great resource for hard to find items.

GET OUT OF TOWN Spring is a gorgeous time for a drive, so why not visit the Harriet Tubman Museum in Dorchester County?

WOWEE ZOWEE! Talented photographer on the Shore alert! Hs work is so beautiful! And he captures scenes beyond the usual postcard, seen-it-a-million-times variety.

 

 

CHEAP EATS

SIGN OF THE TIMES Downtown Chestertown’s branch of the Centreville National Bank has a brand new and very prominent sign in its window encouraging passersby in need to apply for out a loan. CHESTERTOWN’S DESPERATE DINERS who are pulling at their pockets hit the New York Deli on High Street or Ellen’s Coffee Shop (next to the Barber & across WIN Store) for meals under $5. SEEN THIS YET? Very cool networking find for Eastern Shore residents who want to join forces and promote their whatevers: see this Squidoo Group (by moi) to join or to get inspired to start your own).