Wicomico Plans 150th Anniversary Celebration Events

SALISBURY – Wicomico County will ring in its 150th anniversary this year with celebration events throughout the summer months.

In an open work session of the Wicomico County Council this week, Steve Miller, director of the county’s Recreation, Parks and Tourism department, shared the county’s plans to host various celebration events to commemorate Wicomico’s 150th anniversary.

“I’m here to give you some highlights for what he have planned,” he said.

The events will be divided into two weekends, he said, and will consist of activities that involve the county’s towns and citizens.

The weekend of Aug. 18-20, Wicomico County will host celebration events at the Wicomico County Fair, including a free concert featuring country act Jimmy Charles on Aug. 18 and a Parade of Towns at 1:50 p.m. on Aug. 19.

“We’ve gone to all the towns and municipality meetings and we’ve invited them to participate and celebrate their own history,” he said.
“So we’ll have a parade through the county fair.”

Miller added that the county will also have a historic village display on the second day of the fair.

“That is the first major weekend that we have planned,” he said.

The second weekend of celebration, he said, will take place the weekend of Sept. 15-16.

“It’s in conjunction with a Third Friday at Downtown Salisbury,” Miller said.

During that time, the county will celebrate its anniversary by unveiling improvements at the Wicomico County Courthouse followed by historical guided tours. As part of the unveiling, Miller told the council that the Greater Salisbury Committee (GSC) will gift the county with lighting for the courthouse using proceeds from a 150 GSC Gala scheduled Sept. 16 at Salisbury University.

In addition, Miller said the county will also celebrate its milestone anniversary with two spinoff events.

The first will take place at the Delmarva Shorebirds Aug. 24, where they will offer $1.50 tickets for upper-level seating.

“That will be a neat opportunity for folks to come out,” he said.

The second event will be a facial hair contest that begins June 3 at the Downtown Salisbury Festival and ends Sep. 15 at Downtown Salisbury’s Third Friday celebration.

“When we went to all the different town meetings and municipality meetings one of the things folks consistently brought up was this concept … called Brothers of the Brush, a facial hair growing contest.”

Miller told the council that the Brothers of the Brush contest first began fifty years ago to celebrate the county’s centennial anniversary and placed men against each other to grow the longest beard in a specified time.

“What we would like to do is bring that back,” he said.

The contest will be divided into six categories including fastest growing beard and worst beard, he said, and will utilize the help of local barbers.

“I was hoping to get some elected officials involved with this,” he joked. “I was hoping for seven.”

Councilman Marc Kilmer asked Miller if the county was partnering with other towns to promote the 150th anniversary at local events.

Miller replied that they would consider working with towns to promote the anniversary.

“We would be willing to work with anybody to celebrate this event,” he said.

Miller said those looking for more information can visit www.wicomicocounty.org or call 410-548-4900.

“The idea is to engage people and have some fun and really bring awareness to the 150th,” he said.

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.