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January 27, 2022

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

News News Homepage

Spy Check-in with Easton Mayor Robert Willey

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Easton Mayor Robert Willey speaks Tuesday morning with The Talbot Spy to discuss:

  • ARPA funding for new fire trucks, a firefighter training center, and broadband;
  • the efforts to retain and recruit officers for the Easton Police Department, including a cadet program;
  • ongoing infrastructure and paving projects;
  • continued rehabilitation of several houses on the Hill;
  • the upcoming Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast and 50th Waterfowl Festival;
  • and the town’s need for a human resources staffer.

This video is about 12 minutes long.

39 Local WAF Artists will be Featured in the 2021 Waterfowl Festival

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39 members of the Working Artist Forum will be exhibiting their work as part of the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Waterfowl Festival at the Easton Middle School, November 12-14, 2021. The Easton Middle School is a new location for the WAF, a local Easton organization of professional artists, and will provide a spacious free exhibition on one of the bus stops for the Festival.

Lori Yates is one of the 39 artists who will be featured in the WAF Waterfowl Festival Show. Her oil painting, “Day of Rest”, is one of the paintings that she will display,

The WAF artists who are participating are: Katie Cassidy, Carol Cowie, Pauline Cox, Fred Craig, Lee D’Zmura, Nancy Lee Davis, Mary Ford, Rhonda Ford, Kathy Ryan Gardiner, Jill Glassman, Shirley Hales, Patti Lucas Hopkins, Carla Huber, Betty Huang, Wendy Johnson, Jane Knighton, Kathy Kopec, Marianne Kost, Patricia Dale Lang, Judie Lizewski, Linda Luke, Mary Ellen Mabe, Carol McClees, Deborah McFarlin, Carol Lynn Meers, Diane DuBois Mullaly, Anne Reder, Kathy Rogers, Maggii Sarfaty, Stacey Sass, Scott Sullivan, Nancy R. Thomas, Georgette Towes, Stephen Walker, Barbara Harr Watson, Judith Weaver, Maureen Wheatley, Lori Yates, and Barbara Zuehllke.

For more information visit the Working Artists Forum website – https://workingartistsforum.com and the waterfowl Festival website – https://waterfowlfestival.org.

Waterfowl Grant Program Open for Applications

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Waterfowl Festival is excited to announce its fourth year of connecting financial resources with environmental needs across Delmarva through its “Community in Conservation” funding program. These grants, supported by proceeds from annual Waterfowl Festival weekend, offer non-profits and community entities the chance to receive monies for projects and initiatives at the intersection of conservation and community.

“Waterfowl Festival continues to be dedicated to supporting waterfowl habitat improvement by funding regional projects, large and small,” explains Margaret Enloe, Waterfowl Chesapeake Executive Director. “This annual grant program creates opportunities for supporting healthy populations of ducks, geese and swans and increasing people’s connection and understanding of their importance in the ecosystem. And we welcome applicants from all across the Chesapeake region.”

University of Delaware ecology students participate in a Waterfowl Hunter Education Course, a program funded by the Waterfowl Festival in 2019. Photo courtesy of the University of Delaware.

The Community in Conservation program is unique for its three-pronged approach that recognizes the importance and interconnected roles that science, education and restoration play in the effort to restore waterfowl populations and landscapes. Waterfowl Festival hopes that the broad emphasis on “community”, which draws on the long history of its annual event by the same name, will encourage organizations to think creatively about who they can serve and will help generate new ideas to bring people and regional conservation work, research and education together. In 2019, this program supported two initiatives: 1) Increasing winter food sources for diving ducks and 2) Building relationship between graduate students in environmental fields and hunters and landowners.

Interested organizations should submit a their Letter of Inquiry & Support online at https://waterfowlfestival.org/conservation/community-in-conservation by September 10, 2021. Requests must align with WC’s focus areas and make the connection between the project or initiative, the community of people engaged and waterfowl-related issues.

PROGRAM FOCUS AREAS

We will support:

  • Initiatives at the intersection of conservation and community – a broad new category meant to allow for new thinking, projects and applicants;
  • Education of current and future generations of enthusiasts, conservationists and educators;
  • Research and scientific work of graduate students, volunteer groups and non-profits that affect waterfowl populations; and,
  • Restoration & conservation projects to benefit waterfowl.

About us: Waterfowl Festival, Inc., is dedicated to the promotion and conservation of waterfowl and wildlife and their habitat within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Waterfowl Festival Unveils Featured Artwork, “Wind and Waves” by Artist Bart Walter

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“Wind and Waves” by Bart Walter

The Waterfowl Festival is proud to unveil the featured artwork for the 50th Anniversary Festival by Featured Artist, Bart Walter.

“Wind and Waves” is a bronze of two Canada geese taking flight while four Canvasback ducks look on. It features a unique, cross-section perspective that illustrates the movement of take-off and its resulting ripple effects from above and below the surface of the water. Canada geese and Canvasback ducks are two of the most beloved waterfowl species found in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

“Wind and Waves” as well as his selection as the 50th Anniversary Festival Featured Artist, represents a homecoming for sculptor Bart Walter, who began his career at the Waterfowl Festival as a wood carver at the young age of sixteen. His early work was inspired by the wildlife and landscapes of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and “Wind and Waves” is a welcome return to the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

“We could not have asked for a more beautiful and appropriate work to commemorate the 50th Waterfowl Festival,” said Kevin Greaney, Waterfowl Festival Board President. “Bart has been part of the Festival Family for many years and shares our belief that art inspires us to conserve the wildlife, habitat and heritage of the Eastern Shore. We hope ‘Wind and Waves’ finds a home in Easton as another important piece of public art, like its predecessor, Family Affair, that was created by Bart for the Festival’s 25th Anniversary in 1995.”

“Family Affair,” a bronze sculpture of a pair of geese and their hatchlings, resides at the front of the Waterfowl Building on South Harrison Street in Easton and is a beloved part of the historic downtown’s streetscape. Taking photos with “Family Affair” has become a rite of passage and part of visitors’ annual Waterfowl Festival traditions.

This is what Walter loves most about public art. “It’s the gift that keeps giving. It’s always out there and always speaking to the public, years and even decades later.”

After beginning his career as a wood carver, Walter transitioned to working in bronze in the late 1980s after his work caught the attention of famed primatologist, Jane Goodall, at a chance meeting at a lecture. She commissioned Walter to make two chimpanzee sculptures that now reside at the Jane Goodall Institute in Arlington, Va.

A trained biologist, Walter prefers to sketch and sculpt in the wild and gets as close to his subjects as possible. Walter has sketched and sculpted chimpanzees and elephants in Africa, polar bears in the Arctic, penguins in the Antarctic and wild mustangs on the plains of Wyoming.

Walter’s work can be found around the world in private and public collections including the Ugandan Wildlife Authority Headquarters in Kampala, the private collection of King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, the National Zoo in Washington, DC, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin and the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming.

“Wind and Waves” will be offered for sale exclusively at the 50th Waterfowl Festival in November. It will be available in limited editions in three sizes:

44” x 72” x 21”
16” x 26.5” x 8”
11” X 18” X 5.5”

For more information about “Wind and Waves” and to inquire about purchases and editions, please contact Kathy Dawkins, Waterfowl Festival Featured Artist Co-Chair, at dawkins.kk@gmail.com.

For more information about Bart Walter and his work visit https://waterfowlfestival.org/bartwalter

About the Waterfowl Festival

Waterfowl Festival Inc. is dedicated to wildlife conservation, the promotion of wildlife art, and the celebration of the life and culture of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The 50th Festival will be held November 12-14, 2021 in historic Easton, Md. VIP and corporate sponsorship packages are also available. For more information, to volunteer, or donate, visit www.waterfowlfestival.org or call 410-822-4567.

Waterfowl Festival Receives County Award for Community Impact

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Kevin Greaney, Waterfowl Festival Board President and Margaret Enloe, Waterfowl Chesapeake Executive Director.

On Friday morning, the Waterfowl Festival was a recipient of one of five Community Impact Awards presented during the 2021 Virtual Business Appreciation Summit, an event hosted by the Talbot County Office of Economic Development and Tourism that celebrated the strength and resiliency of area businesses.

“We are so pleased to have been recognized in this way, especially during our 50th Festival year,” says Kevin Greaney, Waterfowl Festival Board President. “Credit for the Festival’s continued success really comes from the incredible community we live in and everyone’s commitment to keeping us going!  It’s the support of hundreds of volunteers, vendors and artists, the commitments from our business and corporate sponsors, and the spirit of Talbot County that makes it all work!”

The Waterfowl Festival is valuable to the County in both an economic and a cultural sense. The “Economic Impact and Quality of Life Study of the Waterfowl Festival” released this past January illustrates that the shopping, lodging and dining during the weekend by Festival visitors results in a $2.6million economic impact for Talbot County. Almost $500,000 of that total impact comes from Waterfowl Festival itself, which focuses on spending operations dollars locally to create the annual event. All these figures are remarkable for a one-a-year, three-day festival of its size.

The study also highlights things that local residents and visitors value about the Waterfowl Festival.  Most residents recognize the crucial role the Festival plays in keeping traditions alive and believe it is “very important or essential” to showcasing local culture and heritage, uniting the community toward a common goal, and igniting a sense of community pride.  Visitors are incredibly dedicated guests who return year after year and who are avid promoters of all the Festival, Easton and the County have to offer.

Finally, while the Festival event may be what everyone knows, Waterfowl Chesapeake, Inc. and Waterfowl Festival, Inc., partner non-profit organizations, have invested nearly $4 million in habitat conservation, more than $1.2 million in education, and more than $26,000 in wildlife research initiatives over the past 50 years.

“It is an honor to be recognized by our County and business leaders in this way,” said Executive Director Margaret Enloe. “The arts and our region’s traditions are essential to our community’s health, appeal and our way of life and the Festival is certainly woven into our history. After fifty years, I think I can say we are here to stay.  After all, if we learned nothing else in the last year, we now know that it takes something the scale of a global pandemic to stop us from having a Waterfowl Festival.  We look forward to seeing everyone for our 50th in November!”

Waterfowl Festival Impact Study Shows Benefits of Annual Event, Community Support

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Margaret Enloe, executive director of Waterfowl Chesapeake, gave an overview of an impact study of the 2019 Waterfowl Festival to the Easton town council during its Monday night meeting.

Enloe said Waterfowl Chesapeake got a grant for infrastructure work leading up to the 50th Waterfowl Festival, which would have been held in 2020 and is now set for this fall.

“And we considered this study to be part of that infrastructure work leading up to our 50th event,” Enloe said. “Obviously, the 2020 festival was postponed. So here we are in the beginning of 2021, to talk about 2019 economic impact and cultural impact results.”

“And what’s really different about this impact report is that we’re looking at cultural feelings about our event as well,” she said. “We didn’t want to just present numbers, we wanted to know what our local residents and our visitors thought about us.

“We did this in preparation for our 50th festival,” Enloe said. “As I mentioned, we wanted to measure and analyze the full economic contribution that our organization as well as our visitors make to the community. And we wanted to understand the community’s feelings about us.

“So our total economic impact, the big number for 2019, was $2.6 million in impact that was generated from the 2019 Waterfowl Festival — that’s already been out there. I figured I might as well start with the big number, but let me explain a little bit about it.

“What’s very important to understand about this report, and actually any tourism reports that you get is the definition of a visitor,” she said. “There is a very specific definition. And it’s someone who has traveled 50 or more miles to come to an event, or who has stayed overnight.

“And in our case, we’re the primary reason they came that is the definition of a visitor. The reason this is important is we’re measuring new revenues to the county…, meaning someone that doesn’t live here, someone that’s come here and spent here.

“For us, attendees is how many people come. So we had just over 15,000 people in 2019 — 45% of those meet that visitor definition,” she said. “We had just over 8,200 people that came from within 50 miles of Easton to attend Waterfowl Festival.

“(F)estival initiated activities supported a total of 48 jobs full and part time in the county and $1.6 million in wages paid in the county. And you have to understand that those wages of course ripple out in terms of their economic impact as people buy groceries they go out themselves and spend on our businesses.”

Enloe said festival attendees spend much more on shopping than the typical visitor to Talbot County.

“They really, really shop. The average Talbot County visitors spent on retail last year was $50. Waterfall festival visitors spent more than two and a half times that when they arrive here,” she said. “Shopping is about 32% of their spending. Food and beverage is a fairly large portion of their spending as well. We are the entertainment I think in town. But if you look at restaurants and shopping, that’s more than half of visitor spending on those two categories.

“In terms of lodging, lodging is quote ‘only’ 20%. But the amount spent on lodging by visitors on waterfowl weekend represents more than half of the lodging spent in Easton for the entire month of November. So it’s very important to notice that this is sort of our year end culmination in terms of tourism.

“(V)isitors are split between day trippers and overnight guests. So remember that the definition of a visitor is if they travel more than 50 miles, or if they spend the night,” Enloe said. “So we have quite a few day trippers. We’re kind of around 40% stay one or even two nights, roughly 20% stay more than three nights, which we are really surprised to discover that. Party size is pretty close to three people.

“(O)ne of the things that I find really interesting, which is not a surprise, actually … is accommodations. Most are in a hotel or motel. We have a really high number. So we have pretty high spending on lodging in this county. And most of it, as you can see is in Easton — people do stay in the other towns in our county — but East0n is definitely the main place.

“So what do our attendees and residents think about the festival? This was really interesting to me. And I think this number, the net promoter score of 67 is to me one of the most important pieces of this pie,” she said. “If you have a net promoter score, it’s a measure of customer loyalty. It is the single most correlated satisfaction metric with profitability, but also with people returning.

“If you want to improve your event, you look at your net promoter score, and you watch and you see how it changes. So it’s an important measure to know who’s going to visit again, who’s likely going to promote your events, and a good net promoter score, a very good score, is 60. Without fail, we pretty much put the net promoter score out of the water.”

The scores included:

• Overnight guests, especially in Easton — 90

• Visitors whose primary reasons were to enjoy the cultural heritage of the Shore and because attending is a family tradition — 86

• First time visitors — 86

• Repeat visitors — 83

• Other visitors — 74

“And even our own Talbot County residents who have to put up with traffic issues and all sorts of other things for festival weekend, still give us an amazing net promoter score,” Enloe said. The score from locals was 62.

“I want to take a moment here to mention that if this is accurate, with one year of not having the festival and this incredible customer loyalty, I think we’re going to have to hold on to our seats for this November, which in my opinion, is exactly how a 50th anniversary celebration should be,” she said. “So I think we have a lot to look forward to this year.

“So 89% of attendees — so remember that’s everyone — were satisfied or extremely satisfied with the festival; 82% of residents believe that we’re very important … for celebrating and showcasing local culture; 75% of residents think the festival is very important or essential for providing recreational and educational opportunities; 83% of residents believe we are very important or essential for the local economy; (and) 81% believe we are important or essential for promoting local attractions and amenities.”

“I love the fact that 99% of the visitors plan to come back to our county again. Residents opinion 63% believe that we’re important for uniting the community towards a common goal,” Enloe said. “I love that, that was a surprise factor to me, I really was thrilled with that.

Residents also believe the festival is very important or essential to “igniting a sense of community price” (77%) and to providing opportunities for more engagement (71%).

“So wrapping up, we are a community nonprofit organization, we’re a valuable asset for county tourism and economic development. We are now in our fourth generation of guests,” Enloe said. “Please just pause for a minute and think about that. What other festival that’s community run and community supported in this country can claim that they’re on their 50th year?

“A lot of festivals have gone by the wayside,” she said. “We haven’t because our community supports us. We have 750 volunteers that come out, the countless in-kind businesses that come out, we believe we’re going to be a critical part of the recovery for 2021.”

The Waterfowl Festival will mark its 50th year during this year’s event, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 12, through Sunday, Nov. 14.

For more information about the festival, go to waterfowlfestival.org; for more information about Waterfowl Chesapeake, go to waterfowlchesapeake.org.

Sculptor, Bart Walter, Returns as Waterfowl Festival’s 50th Anniversary Featured Artist

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Bart Walter

The Waterfowl Festival is thrilled to welcome internationally renowned sculptor, Bart Walter of Westminster, Maryland, back to Easton as the Featured Artist for its 50th Anniversary this fall.

“We are proud to have Bart Walter join us for our 50th Anniversary,” said Kevin Greaney, Waterfowl Festival Board President. “Bart has been part of the Festival Family for many years and shares our belief that art plays an important role in conserving the landscapes, habitats and heritage of the Eastern Shore.”

Walter’s artistic career has deep roots in Easton and with the Waterfowl Festival. He grew up in Baltimore and spent weekends and summers on the Eastern Shore hiking, hunting, fishing and canoeing where he developed his love of the natural world.

Walter first exhibited at the Festival in 1974 at the age of sixteen as a wood carver and became a loyal exhibitor for many years.

“Bird carving was odd to my friends in Baltimore City,” said Walter. “The Waterfowl Festival opened my eyes to other people my age who had similar interests in art and nature. I fell in love with the Festival, and my fellow exhibitors and Festival volunteers became my extended family. I am honored to be part of this ‘homecoming,’ to celebrate this significant anniversary with such a wonderful community of artists and volunteers.”

After beginning his career as a wood carver, Walter transitioned to working in bronze in the late 1980s after his work caught the attention of famed primatologist, Jane Goodall, at a chance meeting at a lecture. She commissioned Walter to make two chimpanzee sculptures that now reside at the Jane Goodall Institute in Arlington, Va.

“Battle of Wills” by Bart Walter

A trained biologist, Walter prefers to sketch and sculpt in the wild and gets as close to his subjects as possible. Walter has sketched and sculpted chimpanzees and elephants in Africa, polar bears in the Arctic, penguins in the Antarctic and wild mustangs on the plains of Wyoming.

Walter’s work can be found around the world in private and public collections including the Ugandan Wildlife Authority Headquarters in Kampala, the private collection of King  Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, the National Zoo in Washington, DC, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin and the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming.

When asked about the pieces and exhibitions of which he is most proud, Walter shares projects with both professional and sentimental significance. The first is the recent installation of “Battle of Wills” a 15.5 foot bronze bucking bronco at the entrance of the Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming. The second is his 1996 solo exhibition at the Musee de Vernon in the village of Vernon, France located across the River Seine from Giverny, where Claude Monet lived and painted his famous waterlilies and other impressionistic masterpieces.

His sentimental choices are “Wild Imaginings,” a bronze sculpture of a full-size lion and boy, at his hometown public library in Westminster, Maryland and “Family Affair” the bronze sculpture of a pair of geese and their hatchlings that resides at the front of the Waterfowl Building on South Harrison Street in Easton where his artistic career began.

“Family Affair” by Bart Walter

“Family Affair” was created in honor of the Festival’s 25th Anniversary in 1995 and is a beloved part of the historic downtown’s streetscape. Taking photos with “Family Affair” has become a rite of passage and part of visitors’ annual Waterfowl Festival traditions.

This is what Walter loves most about public art. “It’s the gift that keeps giving. It’s always out there and always speaking to the public, years and even decades later.”

As the 50th Anniversary Featured Artist, Walter will create a sculpture exclusively for the 2021 Waterfowl Festival. The work will be unveiled this summer.

“Given Bart’s international acclaim and popularity, we are very grateful for his gift of time and incredible talent in support of our 50th year,” says Waterfowl Chesapeake Executive Director Margaret Enloe. “Our partnership has been years in the works. We offer this announcement with excitement and some hope for a fall Festival where everyone has renewed excitement for friendships, community and the beauty of our natural world”.

For more information about Bart Walter and his work, please visit www.bartwalter.com. For more information about the Festival’s Featured Artist program, please contact Waterfowl Festival offices at 410.822.4567 or marketing@waterfowlfestival.org.

About the Waterfowl Festival

Waterfowl Festival Inc. is dedicated to wildlife conservation, the promotion of wildlife art, and the celebration of the life and culture of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The 50th Festival will be held November 12-14, 2021 in historic Easton, Md. VIP and corporate sponsorship packages are also available. For more information, to volunteer, or donate, visit www.waterfowlfestival.org or call 410-822-4567.

WAF Artists are Added to the Waterfowl Festival Virtual Art Gallery

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Marianne Kost, “Escorting the Ladies”

The ongoing Waterfowl Festival Virtual Art Gallery now includes an additional twelve members of Working Artists Forum, an Easton based organization of professional artists. The following artists each have 2-5 original painting available threw this online gallery: Barbara Watson, Barbara Zuehike, Betty Huang, Carla Huber, Jane Knighton, Kathy Gardiner, Kathy Kopek, Maggii Sarfaty, Marianne Kost, Maureen Wheatley, Nancy Thomas and Pat Lang.

With excitement building for this coming Fall’s festival, the 50th Anniversary Waterfowl Festival is a celebration of Eastern Shore history, heritage, art and culture and will be held in Easton MD on November 12-14, 2021. The Virtual Art Gallery, which started in November of 2020, offers a safe year round opportunity for collector to purchase exclusive art from the Waterfowl Festival. Twenty-eight artists, including WAF members Mary Veiga and Sandy Alanko, were juried into last year’s festival and are now participating in the virtual gallery along with the new WAF artists. New paintings are continuously added from all 40 artists. In additions to these fantastic paintings, there are also carvings, sculpture, photography, and items from the Chesapeake Marketplace in this virtual venue.

More than 250 pieces of art are on sale in the online gallery at https://waterfowlfestival.org/virtual-art-gallery

Waterfowl Festival Creates New Virtual Art Gallery for 2020

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To connect fine art buyers to the artists they love, Waterfowl Festival has gone online for 2020, creating its first ever Waterfowl Festival Virtual Art Gallery. The web-based showcase launches November 1 and will bring the Festival “home” to art lovers, giving them the opportunity to explore and purchase exclusive carvings, sculpture, paintings and photography. While the new online gallery can’t replace the in-person thrill of the traditional Festival, it will support artists by encouraging interest in their work in their home studios and helps provide them with a much-needed way to continue to earn their living during this challenging year.

“Obviously we would prefer to be holding the Festival in person, “ said WF Board President Kevin Greaney. “However, these difficult times have offered us the time to create this new opportunity to use our website to support our artists while providing a small revenue stream for us. We want folks to be excited about what we are planning for 2021 and at the same time remember the impact that the lack of a Festival in 2020 is having on the local economy”.

Marsh by Mary Veiga

The Virtual Art Gallery will be online at www.WaterfowlFestival.org and will include artists who were juried into the 2020 show. Each artist is submitting 3-5 pieces that can only be found in the Gallery. Visitors can shop from the comfort of home and when they make a purchase, the artwork will be shipped directly to them from the artist themselves. Online sales will benefit both the artist and Waterfowl Festival’s mission and future. The Gallery will change often, as pieces are sold, so buyers should check in often! Pieces will be updated as sold and updated throughout the year as we get closer to the 50th Festival in 2021. Buyers will find works of art at all price points and can make online purchases through the Festival’s new secure, safe e-commerce system.

As of October 12, over 35 artists have signed up to participate in the Virtual Art Gallery, including: Photographers Heather Orkis, Cal Jackson and Tony Masso; Sculptors Ken Newman, Fred Boyer and Ronnie Wells; Carvers Al Jordan and Tom Horn; Painters Linda Besse, Keith Whitelock, Sara Linda Poly and Sandy Alanko to name a few. Painter Richard Clifton, who recently won the Federal Duck Stamp Contest for 2020-2021 will also be participating and offering up some of his colorful waterfowl paintings for sale.

Says Greaney, “By engaging our art buyers online and providing an exciting virtual experience for art collectors, we will keep the Festival moving forward toward a terrific 50th Festival next fall!”

Visit http://www.WaterfowlFestival.org/waterfowl-festival-announces-virtual-art-gallery for more information or email marketing@waterfowlfestival.org.