Berlin Peach Festival Saturday

BERLIN -- In order to take advantage of a more plentiful harvest time, the 4th Annual Berlin Peach Festival has been changed to Saturday, August 4, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., on the grounds of the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum. Admission is free. Rain date is Sunday, Aug. 5, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m..

The festival will be opened officially by Mayor Gee Williams with help from Little Miss and Little Mister Berlin Peach 2011. All afternoon, attendees will be able to stroll among the displays, demonstrations and sales tables.

Naturally, there will be loads of delicious Delmarva peaches for sale by local growers, including Bennett Orchards of Frankford, Del. and T. S. Smith of Bridgeville, Del., Garden of Eden from Salisbury and Jason Cole from Berlin.

Vendors include Designs by Di, Inness Studios, Longridge Gardens, Plumeria Jewelry Design, St. Martin’s Community House, and Whimsical (clay) Creations. Demonstrations include Linda Davis’ baskets and quilted goods, the Lilley Family’s Upper Room Studio, Bennett Scott’s decoys and Wes Townsend’s Back Street Apiary. Food vendors include the Arcadia Questers, Baked Dessert Café & Gallery, the Berlin Coffee House, the Berlin Lions and Lionesses, Buckingham Presbyterian Church, Chesapeake Creamery, Stevenson United Methodist Church and the Worcester County Developmental Center.

Information booths will be provided by the Coastal Stewards, Grow Berlin Green, Historic St. Martin’s Church Foundation, the Harrison Family, Main Street Berlin, Master Gardeners, Museums of Worcester County, The Charles Tindley Heritage Festival and much more.

Children’s activities begin at 11:30 as the kids “shake their booties” to make ice cream the old-fashioned way. Other activities for the kids include Custom Face Art by Tracy Adkins, juggling by Cascading Carlos (Mir), walnut shell boat races, an old-fashioned cake walk with cupcakes, temporary peach tattoos and pony rides by R & B Ranch. Entertainment will be provided by Joel Todd’s bagpipes, Frank Nanna’s fine fiddle, Marc Bergmueller’s homemade organ grinder and 3 Sheets, a trio that hails from the eastern shores of Maryland and Virginia, playing Celtic, nautical, traditional and contemporary music.

As in the past, there will be a pie-baking contest, three pie-eating contests and peach pit guessing contest with prizes for all the winners. In addition, attendees may purchase raffle tickets from the Berlin Heritage Foundation for a basket filled with a night’s lodging in a Lightkeeper Suite at the Lighthouse Club at Fager’s Island, dinner for two at the Dunes Manor, a $25 gift certificate for use at Main Street Berlin shops, and assorted other “peachy” goodies.

All afternoon, the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum will be open for tours of the historic 1832 house, as well as of the upstairs exhibition “Images of the Past.” In addition, the Museum will have a sales and membership information booth.