Weekend Features Diverse Lineup Of Special Events

Rebecca Evans
Staff Writer

BERLIN – A number of special events, ranging from sand soccer and surfing to a garden party and street festival, are planned for this weekend.

Ocean City

This weekend, Ocean City will host two competitions on the beach: the OC Surf Fest and the Sand Duels Beach Soccer Challenge.

On the beach between 36th and 37th streets, the Ocean City Surf Club will be hosting the newly redesigned OC Surf Fest.

On Saturday, June 9, eight teams of five surfers will compete for trophies and bragging rights in the Anything Goes Team Challenge. The team competition changed this year to allow competitors to use any type of board, not just long boards, according to Ocean City Surf Club President Tommy Vach.

“This is going to be the biggest and best one yet,” Vach said.

On June 10, 15 professional surfers from across the country will compete in the Walk Da Plank Pro competition.

The winner will receive a prize of $5,000.

The kickoff for the OC Surf Fest will be held at Barn 34 on June 8. At the kickoff event, seven local surfers will be inducted into OC Legends.

During the Anything Goes Team Challenge, the Ocean City Surf Club will hold a Surfing to Integrity exhibition. Surfing to Integrity is the surf club’s afterschool program that teaches Stephen Decatur Middle School student life lessons and how to surf based on Shaun Tomson’s book “The Surfer’s Code.”

The funds collected from the competition will be used by the Ocean City Surf Club to provide scholarships and fund its educational programs.

The 24th Annual Sand Duels Soccer Challenge will be held on the beach between Wicomico and North Division streets. The competition will consist of co-ed, boys, girls, men and women’s teams in brackets ranging from 8-year-olds to adults in recreational and competitive brackets.

The U8-U13 brackets play June 9. The U14-Adult brackets play June 10. Each team is guaranteed three games.

Berlin

Berlin’s 2nd Friday Art Stroll returns June 8. Artists will be featured in stores and on the street along Main Street in downtown Berlin.

The Berlin Heritage Foundation will host the Afternoon on the Lawn at the Calvin B. Taylor House museum on Sunday, June 10 from 2-5 p.m. Tickets to the garden party cost $50. The price of admission covers food tastings and drinks. Funds collected will support the Berlin Heritage Foundation.

Later, at 6 p.m., The High and Wides, a self-described “hillbilly rock’n’roll” group from Chestertown, will perform at the Calvin B. Taylor House’s Concert on the Lawn.

Salisbury

This weekend, Salisbury will host its newly updated Downtown Salisbury Festival.

The Salisbury Festival began in 1983 but was canceled in 2015 after a few consecutive years of bad weather and turnout.

In 2017, the Salisbury Art and Entertainment District was enlisted to revamp the classic event.

“It’s definitely different,” Downtown Salisbury Festival organizer Jamie Heater.

As the director of the Salisbury Arts and Entertainment District, Heater has overseen the renewal of the Salisbury Festival. The biggest changes to the festival have been in the food and music, according to Heater.

“I think we’re definitely in the age of the food trucks now,” Heater said.

After an oversight that left the Salisbury Festival without funnel cake or fried oyster sandwiches the previous year, Heater made sure that this year’s attendees would be able to partake in festival classics.

“This year, you’ll be able to get funnel cake from multiple vendors,” Heater said, and oyster fritters courtesy of Blazen Grill.

Other festival food and drink will be provided by local food trucks like SoBo’s on the Road and Vittles Food Truck and a beer garden near the mainstage on East Market Street.

In the past, the festival has had a single night for music, but this year, performers will play the mainstage by on East Market street June 8-10.

“We’re doing a full band lineup on an awesome stage all three days,” Heater said.

The musical acts include the Funk and R&B inspired band Uprizing, the jazz fusion group The Larks and DJ sets by the Tops Cut Off DJ team.

Carnival rides and activities for kids will be running all three days. The carnival, sponsored by the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce, will be located on East Main street this year.

The rides will be smaller and geared more towards children, Heater said, but different from what festival attendees have seen in the past. Tickets for rides can be purchased all three days. An all-day ride wristband will be available only on June 10.

In addition to the carnival, children can play in the Beach Bounce bounce houses, visit the animals provided by the Look Pretty Play Dirty Petting Farm and participate in the Salisbury Fire Department activities.

Local vendors will be set up during the festival on June 9 and 10 and the festival will include a farmer’s market on Saturday, June 9.

The festival will start Friday, June 8 from 6-9 p.m., continue Saturday, June 9 from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sunday, June 10 from noon-5 p.m.