News Archives 2007 - June

20th Antique and Classic Boat Festival at CBMM, June 15-17

ST. MICHAELS, MD—The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is gearing up for the 20th annual Antique and Classic Boat Festival to be held on its campus at Navy Point from June 15-17. This event - the Mid-Atlantic's largest gathering of classic mahogany speedboats - will feature just under 100 beautifully restored Chris-Crafts, Hackers, Gar Woods, and other unique wooden power boats. Food, demonstrations, activities for children, Rolls Royce automobiles on display, and several boat-related artisans will also be featured throughout the weekend.

The festival will offer a wide variety of vessels, ranging from a turn-of-the-century gaff rigger to high-speed raceboats of the 1970s. New this year, will be a Saturday evening concert by popular reggae band Mama Jama, who are playing the first of the Museum's "Moonlight Mixer" concert series. Mama Jama will play under the Tolchester Beach Bandstand at CBMM, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Suggested donation for the concert is $5, and beer and other beverages will be available for purchase.

This annual event is held by the Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society (ACBS), which has 38 chapters in the United States and Canada with more than 5,000 members and nearly 25,000 antique and classic boats registered.

This festival is an ACBS-judged event, with an awards picnic taking place on Sunday, June 17. Having created specific classic boat judging standards for use in all their chapters, the Society hopes to motivate boat lovers to restore and maintain their vessels to a high level of quality and originality. Boats will be judged according to their workmanship, authenticity, and maintenance.

For those looking to get out on the water during the weekend, there will be opportunities aboard the skipjack H. M. Krentz with Captain Ed Farley and aboard CBMM's replica buyboat Mister Jim. There will be morning and afternoon cruises each day of the festival. Boat rides are an additional cost.

There will be model boat building activities for children throughout the festival, as well as a Tidewater Tales storytelling program on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
This weekend of festival entertainment will take place on Friday, June 15 from 11am-5pm; Saturday, June 16 from 9am-5pm; and Sunday, June 17 from 9am-2pm. The Saturday night Mama Jama concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

Food available for sale will be from the St. Michaels Volunteer Fire Department, as well as bit beef, beer and other beverages, and ice cream from the Scottish Highland Creamery.

Sponsors for the event include Tommy Bahama Rum, Corazon Tequila, Hagerty Classic Boat Insurance, David Wheeler Volvo of Easton and James-Craft Marine Services, Inc.

The cost of Antique & Classic Boat Festival tickets, which includes admission to the entire Maritime Museum, is $13 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $5 for individuals ages 6-17. Children 5 and under and Museum members are admitted free. Food is available at an additional cost. For more information or to register, visit the ACBS Chesapeake Bay Chapter's website at www.chesapeakebayacbs.net.

"Marshes" Photography Exhibit to Open at CBMM

ST. MICHAELS, MD—It has taken renowned photographer William Burt 30 years of prowling marshes and stalking birds to capture his striking and serene images of wetlands and birds. It will only take visitors a drive to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum to enjoy the products of Burt's labor. On June 29, the Museum will open an exhibition of 40 photographs by Burt entitled, "Marshes: The Disappearing Edens."

Burt's photographs and stories can be seen in Smithsonian, Audubon, National Wildlife and other magazines. His photographs have been exhibited in museums across the United States and Canada. The "Marshes" exhibit comes to CBMM from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and after its 6-month stay in St. Michaels, the show will travel to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Texas.

Burt has mucked through marshes all over North America, with images in the exhibit including vistas, textures, and inhabitants from the Chesapeake Bay, Maine, Connecticut, Everglades National Park in Florida, and Saskatchewan, Canada, to name a few. He is drawn to marshes for their mystery, for their numerous and rare birds, and for their beauty.

"No place has the wildness any more, of the neglected marsh," says Burt. "I've been dipping into marshes for some 30 years, leafing through, watching, and waiting, scanning always for that rectangle worth hauling the camera in for so I can try to snatch some of that beauty, frame up a slice of it, take it home and keep it."

The "Marshes" exhibition will be on display in galleries in two of the Museum's buildings, connecting the Bay History and Waterfowling Buildings. The exhibition has been made possible in part through grants from the Town Creek Foundation and Verizon Maryland, who are also supporting special programming.

Summer and fall at CBMM will include a number of special programs related to "Marshes," including an artist talk and book signing by Burt and collaborative programs with Adkins Arboretum, Environmental Concern, and the University of Maryland's Horn Point Laboratory. Programs related to the exhibit will include lectures, book signings, tours, day trips, kayak tours, as well as storytelling and activities for children.

CBMM Curator of Exhibitions Lindsley Rice feels the exhibit has a broad appeal to residents and visitors to Maryland's Eastern Shore and the Chesapeake.

"These photographs are extraordinary," says Rice. "They bring us up close to rare and beautiful birds and plants of the marshes, as well as capturing the feel of being surrounded by marsh-both earthy and ethereal, with its gorgeous greens and golds. But more fundamentally, Burt's photographs capture in sharp detail an exquisite beauty that anyone can appreciate."

"Marshes: The Disappearing Edens" will be on display at the Museum from June 29 through December 16, 2007. For more information and a schedule of programs related to the exhibition, please visit www.cbmm.org or call 410-745-2916.

June 30 is Big Band Night at CBMM

ST. MICHAELS, MD—Get out your picnic baskets, lawn chairs, and blankets for an evening of music under the stars! The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum will host its Big Band Night on Saturday, June 30 from 7:00 - 10:00 p.m. with The Rhythm Doctors.

The idea for the Rhythm Doctors began in 1942, with a group of chemists and engineers from the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware, who discovered that they shared a common interest in performing swing music. The name came from the fact that most of The Rhythm Doctors' original members had earned Ph.D.'s. Today's band is part of this 65-year tradition of spreading big band music throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

A 17-piece big band, The Rhythm Doctors' smooth and powerful sound comes from four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones, a rhythm section, and vocalists. The band is known for their Glenn Miller and Count Basie repertoire as well as one-of-a-kind swinging arrangements that are custom-written by director/arranger Warren Keyser.

This concert will be performed live from the Museum's Tolchester Beach Bandstand, rain or shine. Admission for Big Band Night is $10 ($5 for Museum members), and children under 12 are free. Picnic dinners, beer and other beverages, and ice cream will be available for purchase at the event.

The St. Michaels fireworks are scheduled to be launched at dark that evening, and the Museum's Navy Point location is a great land venue from which visitors can enjoy the fireworks.

CBMM's Big Band Night is made possible in part through the support of Choptank Electric Cooperative. For more information about the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum's live summer performances, please contact the Museum at 410-745-2916 or visit the CBMM website at www.cbmm.org.

July 7 is Pirate Day at CBMM's Saturdays for Kids!

ST. MICHAELS, MD—Saturday, July 7 is pirate day for kids at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum! As part of the twice-a-month, Saturdays for Kids family program, children can hear a story about life on a pirate ship at 10:30 a.m., then at 11:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m., or 3:00 p.m., they can hunt for treasure and practice the sailor's art of scrimshaw.

The Saturdays for Kids program invites children and their families to visit the Museum on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month for storytelling, special tours, and hands-on art activities designed just for them. On July 7, children will learn that pirates were more than treasure maps and eye patches. They will explore the differences between the image and reality about pirates in the Chesapeake Bay.

Each 1st and 3rd Saturday, at 10:30 young CBMM visitors (targeted for ages 3 to 7 years old) can enjoy Tidewater Tales by listening to an exciting story about the Chesapeake region in one of the Museum's exhibitions. Boys and girls will learn about Bay animals, local legends, history, and more. Drawing, exploration of objects, and other activities will be part of these programs. Tidewater Tales is free with admission.

In addition, children can participate in an art making or hands-on activity inspired by one of CBMM's exhibitions. During special guided tours exploring the Museum's collections, participants will learn about the different ways that the Chesapeake Bay has shaped the lives of local people. At 11:30, 1:00, or 3:00 children (ages 6 to 12) can drop by to take part in a unique hands-on experience. The program materials fee is $3 per child.

For more information about Saturdays for Kids or other children of family activities at the Museum, visit their website at www.cbmm.org, or call 410-745-2916.

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