Pickering Creek celebrates fall on the Eastern Shore at this year’s Harvest Hoedown on Sunday October 9. Harvest Hoedown features music at three locations, unique craftspeople, nature walks, wildlife exhibits, boat rides on the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s Winnie Estelle and entertaining kids and adult activities as well as food prepared by the Easton Lions Club and new local food vendors. Activities and vendors will be found throughout Pickering Creek. Explore the property with hay wagon rides provided by Atlantic Tractor or take a stroll on the forest trail for a sampling of the Eastern Shore’s natural beauty from wetlands to 100 year-old trees, all highlighted in vibrant fall colors.
Harvest Hoedown 2016 will feature a chance to view the winning photos from the 2016 Audubon Photography Awards will be on view at the Center’s waterfront. Selected from more than 7,000 entries—submitted from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Canada—the winning photos were published in the May-June 2016 issue of Audubon magazine. Puppet shows, a family friendly Scavenger Hunt with prizes and storytellers will give families great entertainment and fun throughout the day. From deep in the vaults of Pickering Creek the Harvest Hoedown T-Shirt Art collection will be on display, featuring the great folk art that has graced the back of each Harvest Hoedown T-Shirt for the last sixteen years. These works will be on display at the Center’s Welcome Center. Scheduled events will include not only music on the main stage, but also brief nature talks by area naturalists including topics such as Bird Rescue, Poplar Island, Monarchs, Honey Bees and more.
This year features a number of great returning craftsmen including Matt Redman’s Chesapeake Soaps and Bee George Honey. Both Matt and George have great interactive displays and are mainstays of our local community. Craftspeople from across the peninsula including Everything that Glitters, Joan Devaney, Barren Creek Leather, Dottie’s Cross Stitching, and Bead a Liscious and more will have locally made quality items on sale that make great Christmas gifts and birthday presents while supporting our local economy. Outstanding Dreams Farm will have alpaca products and a couple Alpacas on hand to see close up too!
Harvest Hoedown features great music for all ages! The Harvest Hoedown main stage, framed by Pickering’s historic corncrib, will host toe tapping blues and bluegrass with four acts throughout the day. The kid’s stage is just down the lane right next to Pickering’s beautiful gardens, surrounded by a bevy of fun educational activities led by Audubon Naturalists and budding volunteer leaders. The musical artists featured frequently perform in their own right, but Pickering puts them all together for a wonderful fall day of music and fun.
The kid’s stage, sponsored by Shore United Bank, features Slim Harrison and the Sunnyland Band and Rock Candy Cloggers from Western Maryland returning for their seventeenth year. The best thing about the Sunnyland Band is that it is you! With over 40,000 members worldwide it may very well be the biggest band around.
The main stage, sponsored by Bartlett, Griffin and Vermilye, kicks off at 11:00 am Alan Girard and Meredith Lathbury. They are followed by Rick Forrest and Friends. Rick has opened concerts for blues greats John Hammond and Chris Smither at the renowned Rams Head On Stage; the listener can hear these legendary blues artists twist and turn throughout Forrest’s music. Playing next at Harvest Hoedown on the main stage are the Oil City Ramblers. The Ramblers are a loose knit group of musicians who play only a few gigs this year, and Hoedown is usually one of them. They never fail to impress with their fine bluegrass stylings.
Headlining the main stage is the New and Used Bluegrass band, based on the Eastern Shore with members from across the shore. New and Used Bluegrass features Alan Breeding on banjo, Jim Bieneman on bass fiddle and vocals, Toby Price on mandolin and vocals, Ed Finkner on guitar and vocals and Jon Simmons on fiddle, mandolin and vocals. New and Used Bluegrass performs various flavors of bluegrass music, ranging from the traditional – like the Stanley Brothers “How Mountain Girls Can Love” to “Eastbound and Down” from the Smokey and the Bandit movie, to “Caravan”, a Duke Ellington tune, as well as assorted banjo and fiddle tunes and songs. They are well known locally for their excellent bluegrass pickin’.
Harvest Hoedown is put on by a hard working committee of Debra Rich, Cemmy Peterson, Wayne Bell, Jo Storey, Kathy Pearson, Elizabeth Langston, Cheryl Tritt, Dirck Bartlett, Katherine Porter, Cathy Cooper, Colin Walsh, Bill Griffin and the Center staff. Harvest Hoedown is generously supported by the following sponsors: Out of the Fire, Bartlett Griffin and Vermilye, Shore United Bank, Chesapeake Audubon Society, Wye Gardens, LLC, Johnson Lumber Company, Tri-Gas & Oil, Colin Walsh & Carolyn Williams, Meintzer Petroleum, C. Albert Matthews, Inc, Town and Country Liquors, the Star Democrat, Atlantic Tractor, Kelly Distributing, Councell Farms, Hank Spies IV, and Pepsi Cola. Please contact the Center if you would like to be a sponsor.
Harvest Hoedown means fun for all ages! Music, hayrides, boat rides, local arts, and great family activities put smiles on every face. Mark your calendar, dig up your overalls, boots and hat and make your way out to Pickering Creek on October 9. We will be having fun from 11 am- 4 pm.
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