BERLIN– The highly anticipated Berlin Peach Festival returns to town this Saturday.
The Calvin B. Taylor House Museum will host the 15th annual Berlin Peach Festival Saturday, Aug. 5, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The annual event highlights the importance of the peach to Berlin’s heritage and is expected to offer even more food and activities than usual.
“Because it’s the 15th annual we really worked to make it an event people will be excited to come back to,” said Melissa Reid, president of the museum.
The Peach Festival, a major fundraiser for the Taylor House Museum, will once again take place on the museum lawn Saturday. Peaches will be available for purchase while a variety of activities will highlight the fruit. The popular peach pie baking contest will return but new this year is a peach cupcake eating contest. Divisions for both children and adults will be offered.
There will be live entertainment from the Bilenki Duo while Chef Phil Cropper will provide a cooking demonstration.
Reid said the festival this year would be putting more of a focus on food. The Berlin Lions Club will return as a food vendor as will Baked, creator of Berlin’s peach dumpling. New this year will be Bobby Purnell, who is selling chicken to raise money to restore his family’s historic African American cemetery, as well as several vendors from the Berlin Farmers Market. Chesapeake Bay Farms will also be selling its popular peach ice cream.
Joyce White of the Hammond- Harwood House will be set up at this year’s festival collecting local recipes.
“She’s going around the state collecting recipes, any Maryland family recipes,” Reid said.
The effort is meant to mark the 60th anniversary of the publication of “Maryland’s Way, The Hammond-Harwood House Cook Book.” Reid said the museum was thrilled to have White in attendance—and serving as a pie baking contest judge—at this year’s Peach Festival.
“That is a partnership we’re really excited about,” Reid said, adding that she encouraged Berlin residents to bring their family recipes to White. “We’re helping to gather a different kind of local history.”
Festival organizers have expanded the offering of children’s games this year and will also have entertainment from magician Magic Jack. There will also be face painting and a variety of vendors, including the nonprofit Briddell Foundation, which will again be giving away books, and the Buckingham Elementary School PTA, which will be selling baked goods.
