The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md. is hosting its free, annual Community Day on Sunday, May 19, with all festivities taking place along CBMM’s Miles River waterfront. The event includes free admission for everyone, plus live music, regional foods and drinks, family activities, free boat rides, and more.
The day’s events kick off at 9:00 a.m.,when festival guests are invited to attend the Bay Hundred Covenant Churches’ tent service, and continue to 4:00 p.m.
The Covenant Church service includes leaders and congregations from area churches, with participants engaging in gospel singing and prayer. Covenant Churches works to unite the Town of St. Michaels and surrounding Bay Hundred community by connecting African-American and Anglo-American churches from throughout the area.
Community Day coincides with CBMM’s 13th Maritime Model Expo, with pond demonstrations, model races, special exhibits, family activities, and more. From 11:00 a.m. to noon, guests can watch radio-controlled model skipjack races along Fogg’s Cove, sponsored by CBMM’s Model Sailing Club.Afterwards, the club will invite guests to try their hand at sailing a radio-controlled model boat.
“This event also supports our sustainability efforts as CBMM’s first single-use plastic-free festival,” commented CBMM Volunteer & Education Programs Manager Allison Speight, who co-chairs CBMM’s Sustainability Committee with Director of Education Jill Ferris. “Beverages and food items will be served in paper, plant-based plastic or bamboo containers, all of which will be collected at the event and industrially composted. We also invite guests to join us in avoiding single-use plastic by bringing their own water bottles, or purchasing one in our Museum Store, to refill on campus.”
The sustainability theme will be carried out among several exhibitors, who will share ideas with guests on how to incorporate sustainability practices in your workplace or home.
Through a Bay Explorer Challenge activity, children can participate in a scavenger hunt to explore CBMM’s exhibitions and grounds. Children will also have the opportunity to build, paint, decorate, and then sail their own small model in a small pool. For $3.00, they can select and build a sailboat or rubber-band powerboat, assisted by a CBMM Model Guild member.
Festival-goers can climb to the top of the 1879 Hooper Strait Lighthouse, talk with shipwrights and apprentices engaged in wooden boatbuilding and restoration in the shipyard, and explore all of CBMM’s 12 exhibition buildings and historic structures, all situated in a park-like setting along the Miles River and the St. Michaels harbor. CBMM’s waterfront campus is within walking distance to the specialty shops, restaurants, inns, and bed and breakfasts in St. Michaels’ historic district.
Throughout the day, Community Day guests can take free scenic river cruises aboard a number of CBMM’s historic vessels, including the 1920 buyboat Winnie Estelle, or get out on the water rowing or sailing aboard one of CBMM’s small craft. All boat rides are offered free of charge for this event.
Festival-goers can also watch the restoration of the 1912 tug Delaware, now underway in the shipyard through 2020. Special exhibitions include On Land and On Sea: A Century of Women in the Rosenfeld Collection, which opens May 18; Beach Finds of the Chesapeake, which continues through June 29; and Deconstructing Decoys: The Culture of Collecting, which continues in CBMM’s Waterfowling building through Nov. 1.
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. CBMM offers free and reduced admission programs throughout the year as a Blue Star Museum and Museums for All participating museum. For more information, visit cbmm.org or call 410-745-2916.
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