Thursday, November 15, 2018

Midnight Madness in St. Michaels, Saturday, December 1st


The 17th Annual Midnight Madness will be held on Saturday, December 1, 2018!

Great shops will be open 'til Midnight with refreshments and snacks, and special sales all day and night during Midnight Madness and enter a chance to win raffle prizes valued at over $15,000 with every purchase from participating sponsors.   Look for Midnight Madness sponsor posters at your favorite shop, restaurant or lodging location.
Each year, the town of St Michaels is transformed into a picture perfect holiday postcard, the shops, restaurants and B&B’s are decorated with stunning greenery, lights and festive cheer.  The holiday spirit is felt throughout town, which makes coming to St Michaels during the holiday season a special experience, year after year, and provides a wonderful backdrop to shop for the holidays.  
Midnight Madness is a reminder of how important the small-business sector is to our economy and why it’s so important to “Shop Local” all year round.   The movement to “Give Big and Shop Small”, especially during the holidays, is needed to help support the locally owned small businesses that create jobs, boost the economy and preserve our hometown businesses. 

Best of all, with every purchase you'll receive raffle tickets to WIN fabulous prizes! 
Last year lucky ticket holders won over $17,000 in gift baskets and special bonus prizes.

Drawings start at 11:30 p.m. and you must be present to win.   Drawing will be held in the heart of St. Michaels at The Galley restaurant located at 305 S. Talbot Street.

Thanks to the many participating Midnight Madness sponsors and donations from businesses, Midnight Madness would not happen without them! 

2018 Midnight Madness sponsors


Midnight Madness Ticket distribution for retailers and restaurants going on now!  Lodging tickets start Friday, November 30th and Saturday, December 1st
 Please be sure to shop, dine and stay at the following sponsors to receive your tickets.
Thank you sponsors!

Shopping & Museums
1 Oak
Antiques on Talbot

Eating & Drinking

Lodging

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Sip, slurp, and savor at October 27 OysterFest in St. Michaels


Get ready to sip, slurp, and savor at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s OysterFest, taking place on Saturday, Oct. 27, in St. Michaels, Md.

Special to this year’s festival will be the re-launch of the 1889 bugeye Edna E. Lockwood, whose nine-log hull has been restored by CBMM shipwrights and apprentices over the past two years. Edna Lockwood is the queen of CBMM’s floating fleet of historic boats and a National Historic Landmark. She will return to the Chesapeake Bay following a brief ceremony at 3pm, making her way back on the Miles River down CBMM’s marine railway.


 

CBMM’s OysterFest features oysters served a variety of ways, along with other local fare, craft beer, and spirits; live music on two stages, including a return performance by Swamp Donkey Newgrass; scenic river cruises aboard Winnie Estelle; an oyster stew competition; cooking presentations; Chesapeake Bay retriever and oystering demonstrations; children’s activities, and more.

Festival-goers can savor Chesapeake Bay wild and aquaculture oysters served steamed or raw, plus oyster fritters, crab cakes, fried shrimp, clam strips, pit beef, pit turkey, and pulled pork, among other offerings. Lyon Distilling Company will serve a specialty rum cocktail, with other drink options including oyster shooters and Chesapeake-style Bloody Marys, featuring George’s Bloody Mary mix. Sweets and treats include ice cream, funnel cakes, kettle , and more.


Local chefs will offer cooking demonstrations of signature oyster dishes throughout the day. Beginning at 11am, attendees can vote for their favorite oyster stew in a competition among local restaurants and chefs. Participation is limited to 500 people on a first-come, first-served basis, with a commemorative OysterFest mug and the tastings offered for $10.



This blind taste test awards bragging rights to the chef with the most votes, with the People’s Choice winner announced at the festival and later to the public. Last year’s People’s Choice award went to Sunflowers & Greens of Easton, Md., who will be returning for this year’s stew competition.




Family activities include Chesapeake-themed games, activities, and demonstrations; a scavenger hunt; face painting; and a chance to build a take-home model boat for $3. The Chesapeake Bay Retriever Relief and Rescue club will also present retriever demonstrations on CBMM’s Navy Point.
   


Guests will also be able to explore CBMM’s exhibitions, including Oystering on the Chesapeake and Waterman’s Wharf, where they can try tonging or nippering for oysters. A spirited oyster slurping contest has competitions taking place on the hour from 1–3pm.  
OysterFest sponsors include Patriot Cruises of St. Michaels, Md.; Choptank Electric Cooperative; Ewing, Dietz, Fountain & Kaludis; Hummingbird Inn of Easton; and the Maryland State Arts Council. 

OysterFest admission is $5 for CBMM adult members, or $18 for non-member adults; $15 for seniors and students with ID; and $6 for children ages 6 to 17. CBMM members at the Family & Friends level and above also receive the $5 discounted admission for two adult guests. Food, drinks, and boat rides are an additional cost, with carry-on alcohol prohibited. For safety reasons, non-service dogs need to be kept home during CBMM festivals, with leashed dogs permitted during regular operating hours.

Proceeds from the event support CBMM’s education, restoration, and exhibition programs, with advanced tickets and more information at cbmm.org/oysterfest.










Monday, July 23, 2018

Watch Elf Classic Yacht Race aboard Winnie Estelle

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md. is offering a special cruise aboard the 1920 buyboat Winnie Estelle to watch the 8th annual Elf Classic Yacht Race, taking place on the Miles River in St. Michaels, Md. on Saturday, September 29, 2018. The annual race is sponsored by the Classic Yacht Restoration Guild and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.




The Elf Classic Yacht Race spectator cruise will run from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. so that passengers can view the beginning of the race. Participation is limited, with advanced registration needed at bitly.com/watchelf.    

The September 29 race features a 19th century traditional yacht racing start, beginning with a captains meeting on land, followed by the boom of a cannon, signifying each captain’s mad dash to a tied-up dinghy, or tender. Next, the captains row out to their moored vessels and waiting crews, before tying up their tenders and raising anchor, with up to 30 yachts racing on the Miles River in a cloud of sail.


The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to preserving and exploring the history, environment, and culture of the entire Chesapeake Bay region, and making this resource available to all. Every aspect of fulfilling this mission is driven by CBMM’s values of relevancy, authenticity, and stewardship, along with a commitment to providing engaging guest experiences and transformative educational programming, all while serving as a vital community partner. For more information, visit cbmm.org or call 410-745-2916.

Friday, July 20, 2018

The Chesapeake Film Festival Announces Its 2018 Cinematic Line-up


Featuring a record 48 films from around the world, the 11th annual Chesapeake Film Festival promises an unprecedented celebration of films and filmmakers. Travel around our own Chesapeake Bay, through the gardens of Europe, the deltas of Africa, and the heart of American communities to witness the universal spirit of our planet.

October 11 – 14, 2018

Easton, St. Michaels and Cambridge, MD


Join thousands of film lovers on Maryland’s scenic Eastern Shore this October at the Chesapeake Film Festival (CFF), where great stories begin. Our historic Maryland venues include the Avalon Theatre and the Academy Art Museum in Easton; the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels; and the Cambridge Premier Cinemas and the Dorchester Center for the Arts in Cambridge.

From Thursday, October 11 through Sunday, October 14, audiences will delight in the magic of extraordinary films, meet the filmmakers, participate in lively discussions, and enjoy receptions and events created to enhance the Festival experience.

The CFF 2018 has something for everyone: A festive opening night about – and with – food; investigations into pressing social issues; virtual visits to amazing spaces; up-close and personal profiles of icons of cinema; creative short films and animations, and much more.


Opening Night Extravaganza


New Chefs on the Block, “a foodie sensation,” opens the Festival on Thursday, October 11.  Two chefs in Washington, DC struggle to open and maintain their first restaurants. Against all odds, one becomes Bon Appetit Magazine's Best New Restaurant in America. The other is forced to redefine success.  The film, directed by Dustin Harrison-Atlas, stars Aaron Silverman of Rose's Luxury and Frank Linn of Frankly...Pizza with cameos by legendary chefs and restaurateurs Danny Meyer (Shake Shack, Union Square Café), Mike Isabella (Bravo “Top Chef” Allstar), and Washington Post food writer Tim Carman.

To complement the cinematic portrait of chefs, the Chesapeake Film Festival will host an all-star reception with local gourmet chefs at the Academy Art Museum before the screening at the Avalon.  Businesses providing delectable hors d’oeuvres and desserts include Gourmet by the Bay, The Wylder Hotel, Stars Restaurant from the Inn at Perry Cabin, Limoncello Italian Restaurant and Wine Bar, The Bistro St. Michaels and Flying Fork Catering.


Fabulous Friday

Friday at the Avalon begins with an amazing clay-on-glass animation, The Elephant’s Song, directed by local artist Lynn Tomlinson.  From the animated short, the festival moves to a stunning feature-length documentary, Into the Okavango that tells the story of a NATGEO expedition to Botswana with a mission to help preserve the delta, all the animals and land surrounding it, and people who reside there.
  
The finale of the day, In the Executioner’s Shadow, casts a penetrating look at the consequences of the death penalty through three powerful stories, including the rare perspective of a former state executioner who comes within days of executing an innocent person. This powerful film will be screened again Saturday at the Cambridge Premier Cinema. The filmmakers and the subjects of the film will lead discussions after the screenings.


Making Waves at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

The Chesapeake Bay is the focus of a full day of environmental filmmaking curated by filmmaker Sandy Cannon-Brown on Saturday, October 13 at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM). The day concludes with the premiere of a new film by Tom Horton, Dave Harp and Cannon-Brown, An Island Out of Time, about Smith Island, MD.  The icing on the cake, figuratively and literally, is a reception with Maryland’s state dessert, the Smith Island multi-layer cake.

The environmental program also includes a double feature of films by Roger Sorkin and the American Resilience Project, including the East-Coast premiere of a new film about the transformation of America’s electric grid, Current Revolution. The other film, Tidewater, looks at the ravages of climate change, sea level rise and erosion on the military installations in the Tidewater area of Virginia.

The CBMM line-up also includes a sneak preview of a short film by Cannon-Brown, Edna E. Lockwood: Bottoms Up! about the three-year restoration of an 1889 nine-log bugeye in the museum’s shipyard.  Edna will officially relaunch two weeks after the Chesapeake Film Festival, during CBMM’s October 27 Oysterfest.


Saturday in Easton at the Avalon and Academy Art Museum…

The mix of stories at the Avalon Theatre and Academy Art Museum in Easton on Saturday, October 13, is sure to provide everyone with subjects of interest.


Features at the Avalon: Boko Haram: Journey from Evil, which goes beyond the headlines to profile the heroic efforts of everyday Nigerians to stand up against the terrorist group, which has killed, kidnapped and displaced millions of people. Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf is a gorgeous, meditative documentary that immerses viewers in the work of a revolutionary landscape designer. Moving Stories brings us six dancers from an acclaimed NY company who travel the world to work with youth who’ve experienced war, poverty, sexual exploitation, extreme prejudice and severe trauma as refugees. Cinephiles will appreciate Searching for Ingmar Bergman, an intimate profile of a director who is considered one of the most important filmmakers of all times.

  

At the Academy Art Museum:  Two programs of shorts bookend the documentary feature Saving Sea Turtles.  Narrated by renowned marine scientist Dr. Sylvia Earle, this enchanting - yet disturbing – documentary highlights the work that is being done to save a species from extinction. The exciting line-up of shorts includes Riverment by Shayla Racquel, a government employee by day and award-winning student filmmaker by night.  Her film is the story of a former civil rights activist who fears for the safety of her granddaughter who is following in her footsteps. In Othello San a young African-American actor is cast as the lead in Shakespeare’s Othello at a prestigious theater school in Japan.  His dreams of stardom are tempered by an intemperate instructor.


…and at the Dorchester Center for the Arts and Cambridge Premier Cinemas

The Chesapeake Film Festival is honored to add the Dorchester Center for the Arts as partner in the 2018 Festival.  The evening feature of Moving Stories provides a second venue for lovers of dance. The afternoon selections include a series of shorts and a gripping feature, The Sentence focusing on social justice.  Shorts include Othello San and Jabari Keatinga candid, first-person narrative that explores his personal reflections about life as an African-American in America today.


The intense documentary, In the Executioner’s Shadow, which screens Friday in Easton, comes to the Cambridge Premier Cinemas Saturday afternoon.  Lighter fare continues throughout the day with Up to Snuff, about American musician and composer W. G. Snuffy Walden. If you don’t the name, you know his music from such TV shows as The West Wing, The Wonder Years and Thirtysomething. A fascinating subject is featured with Poured in Pennsylvania about the redeveloped beer industry and its impact in Pennsylvania. And there’s Five Days in August which follows two teams competing in the world's largest and richest billfish tournament—The White Marlin Open in Ocean City. 


Sunday Specials

The Chesapeake Film Festival continues through Sunday in Easton and Cambridge. Highlights include I, Matter, produced by Festival board member Alexis Nichols and directed by its brave star, Llysa Rie who will share her story of living with AIDS on screen and on stage at the Academy Art Museum. 

 Beauty and brains are the subjects of two very different films at the Avalon. The afternoon begins with The Gardener, a walk through the gardens of Les Quatre Vents with influential gardener and horticulturalist Frank Cabot.  The closing night film tells a story that sounds like fiction, but isn’t. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is about the astounding, but little-known, talents of a Hollywood bombshell off-screen. Lamarr helped develop a secret radio system that would allow the Allies to torpedo Nazi U-Boats with deadly accuracy. The nephew of her partner in the invention, musician George Antheil, will share anecdotes with the audience after the film.  An awards ceremony and reception closes out the Festival.

This schedule is subject to change. For more information and tickets, visit chesapeakefilmfestival.com.
Contact: Nancy Tabor, Marketing Chair, Chesapeake Film Festival at 443-955-9144

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Foxy's Caribbean Nights Shows September 11 & 12th, 2018


Shows start at 3 or 6 PM on Sept. 11 or 12th, 2018

The fabulous Trinidelphia Caribbean Band leads off and closes each show.  Foxy will perform some of his classic music including his Jost Van Dyke song ("In the middle of the island") and stories that have regaled sailors at his bar and restaurant - Foxy's - at Great Harbour on the island of Jost Van Dyke in the BVI's for the past 50 years!  If you have not seen him perform - see:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRG0xoSJWtk

We are delighted that Foxy will be in St. Michaels, Maryland for these concerts and to help us raise funds for the restoration of Endeavor II (32 foot sailboat) built at Foxy's and the 3 sailing dinghies damaged by Hurricane Irma on Sept. 6, 2017.


Special Caribbean inspired food and drinks

Special Caribbean menu with food and drinks to make this a "Caribbean Night" to remember!  Foxy's Harbor Grille in St. Michaels knows how to do this!  (Food and drinks priced separately from the show tickets)  The drink menu will include Caribbean beers (Presidente - DR) and the rum based "Pain Killer" created on Jost Van Dyke and other rum drinks we have all enjoyed in the Caribbean.  The food will be on the "spicy side" for the most part including "Chicken Roti", pulled pork , coconut-curry mussels, West End shrimp salad and specials created by "Chef Bill".  The food and drinks are reasonably priced so you will have "plenty of jingle in your pockets" to help with your donation to the Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society to restore the sailboats used in their youth sailing programs.

Order tickets here

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

SUNDAY FUNDAY AT CBMM July 22, 2018

SUNDAY FUNDAY AT CBMM
Bring your friends to the  Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. this Sunday, July 22, 2018 for an afternoon of music, lawn games, and friendly competition. 
No registration is required, and admission is free.
Bring your friends to enjoy giant Jenga, cornhole, or KanJam; test your balance on the slackline; and maybe sign up your team of two to participate in a relay competition at this CBMM-style Sunday Funday. Sailing or rowing small craft will be available for rent.
This event will take place on CBMM’s Fogg’s Landing, with participants welcome to bring their favorite food, beverage, or game. Grills, coolers, and ice will be available for use. The relay competition will take place at 3pm, with a $5 entry fee for each team of two. The first-place team will receive a cash prize of 50 percent of the collected entry fees, with the other 50 percent going to support CBMM’s Annual Fund.

All the details =>> http://cbmm.org/news/cbmm-host-free-sunday-funday/

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Small craft, big fun at Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival XXXV October 6, 7




On Saturday, October 6, and Sunday, October 7, 2018, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum will host one of the nation’s largest gatherings of small boat enthusiasts and unique watercraft at Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival XXXV.

During the festival, CBMM guests can marvel at the craftsmanship and innovation used in traditional and contemporary small craft while enjoying the museum’s waterfront campus and indoor and outdoor exhibitions. Hundreds of amateur and professional boatbuilders and enthusiasts come from all over the region to display their one-of-a-kind kayaks, canoes, and other traditional small craft.
  
Sailing skiffs, rowing shells, kayaks, canoes, paddle boats, prams, and one-of-a-kind boats will be on display and in the water throughout this family-oriented event. Small craft owners hailing from all over the country will also be available to share their knowledge and boating experiences with guests. 

The festival was previously combined with CBMM’s Maritime Model Expo, which now takes place during CBMM’s free Community Day in May.

Scenic river cruises aboard the 1920 buyboat Winnie Estelle, live music, along with food and beverages will be available to round out the weekend festival. 

On Saturday, CBMM Shipyard staff and Chesapeake Wooden Boat Builders School instructors will be on hand to offer boatbuilding workshops and maritime demonstrations. Also beginning at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday will be a lively Miles River race of small craft, which can be viewed from CBMM’s waterfront and docks. Festival-goers can also vote for their favorite boat, with the People’s Choice award and others announced among participants on Saturday evening. 

On Sunday, festival-goers are invited to bring nautical items to swap or sell at a traditional swap meet before heading home.

For safety reasons, dogs are not permitted on museum grounds during CBMM festivals, with the exception of certified service dogs. Leashed dogs from boat and land are permitted on CBMM grounds on non-festival days.

The Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival is free for CBMM members and children 5 and under, otherwise admission is good for two consecutive days and is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $6 for children ages 6 to 17, with all museum exhibitions open throughout the event. Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 6, and 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 7. See photos at bit.ly/mascfphotos, and for more information, visitcbmm.org/mascf  or call 410-745-2916.


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PHOTOS:
See photos at bit.ly/mascfphotos, with more information atcbmm.org/mascf or by calling 410-745-2916.