Caroline County, Maryland is the place to be this holiday season! From Christmas parades and tree lightings to winter festivals and craft shows, there is something for everyone! Tourism Manager Tara Hill-Coursey recently appeared on WUSA9 to highlight the holiday happenings. Check out the segment below!
Enter the Holiday 2022 Capture Caroline Photo Contest
Do you have amazing photos of Caroline County? Enter them in the Caroline Office of Tourism’s Capture Caroline Photo Contest: Holiday Edition! From your favorite activities and cherished places to one-of-a-kind events, show us what makes Caroline County special to you during the holiday season! Participants are invited to enter up to five photos in the contest. The winning photographer will receive a $50 gift certificate to the Caroline County business of their choice, and the two runners up will receive a $25 gift certificate to their Caroline County business of choice.
How to Enter
Photos may be entered by posting them to the Caroline County, MD Facebook page with the hashtag #CaptureCaroline or by emailing them to info@visitcaroline.org. Entries are due by 12pm noon on December 14th, 2022.
All eligible entries will be posted in an album on the Caroline County, MD Facebook page on December 15th, 2022, where the public will be invited to vote on them by liking the photo of their choice during a two-week open voting session. The winner will announced on the Facebook page on January 1st, 2023.
When submitting an entry, please provide a title for the photo and share details such as the location, the date taken and/or event name. Please make sure that your submitted photo is high resolution, as contest winners will be asked to submit a high-resolution file. Photos with watermarks are not eligible. If the photograph includes a recognizable person, a model release must also be completed and submitted. Model releases can be downloaded here.
Note: By entering your photograph(s) in the Caroline County Capture Caroline Contest, you acknowledge and grant permission for it to be used by the Caroline Office of Tourism in a variety of promotional materials, including newsletters, advertisements, brochures, media kits, websites, social media sites and other print and digital communications.
The bare trunks of loblolly pines reach toward the sky at slightly tilting angles in Ghost Forest, Geoff Delanoy’s achingly beautiful show on view through Dec. 23 at Adkins Arboretum. In this elegant series of large black-and-white photographs, Delanoy explores an increasingly familiar sight—the “ghost forests” that are left as rising water causes tidal marshes to take over where trees once flourished. There will be a reception to meet the artist on Sat., Nov. 12 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Delanoy became interested in the vulnerability of coastal landscapes to climate change while working for more than a decade on a series of photographs called Fugitive Landscapes. Photographing the Northern California coast at Point Reyes National Seashore, he began over time to notice day-to-day changes in the landscape and tides. Curious, he started to research predictions about the impacts of climate change on the California coast, a project that soon led him to think about what might be happening closer to his home in Baltimore.
“I became aware of climate change in the Chesapeake Bay,” he explained, “and how ghost forests were a very visible manifestation of changes in the environment with sea level rise.”
Delanoy serves as a professor and the chair of the art department at Notre Dame of Maryland University. Since 2018, he has been photographing the coastal landscapes of Maryland and Delaware, with a particular focus on Dorchester County. Full of nuance and intricate textures, his images reveal the grace and individuality of trees struggling with sea level rise. In one photograph, a single tree, bare branched and bent by years of wind, leans out across a seemingly endless expanse of marsh. In another, a fallen trunk lies at the edge of the water where a low, still-forested island in the distance is hardly more than a dark stripe on the horizon.
For most of his projects, Delanoy has worked in black and white, but when he started his Ghost Forest series, he tried photographing in color, thinking that the realism of color would convey the threat of climate change more strongly. But he changed his mind.
“As I worked through these series, I found the cool earth tones of the landscape of the shore too peaceful and visually pleasing to convey the urgency of the climate crisis,” he said. “The images have a more immediate impact in monochrome.”
Perhaps the most arresting photograph in the show is a shot from 2019 in which puffy clouds are reflected in a flooded road leading through a marsh to a distant stand of trees. Seemingly playful and happy, the clouds are a direct contrast to the destructive threat silently posed by the calm, smooth water.
“The trees bear witness to the landscape and communicate on a visceral level,” Delanoy said. “Hopefully the photographs strike a balance between the inherent beauty found in nature but also motivate us to change course with the great losses that we face because of climate change.”
This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through Dec. 23 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410–634–2847, ext. 0 or info@adkinsarboretum.org for gallery hours.
Autumn has arrived in Caroline County! From pumpkin patches and orchards to hayrides and haunted happenings, here are a few ways to celebrate fall in Caroline County, MD! This list is updated regularly, so check back for more October fun! View our full online calendar here.
Fall Fest at JZ Farms
JZ Farms Fall Fest is a season-long celebration featuring more than 20 activities for children of all ages! Activities include a 10-acre corn maze, a kiddie maze, Farmersville, two jumping pillows, corn bins, farm animals, tire playground, a U-Pick pumpkin patch, paintball and more! The farm is located at 6526 Dion Road in Federalsburg, and they are open Thursdays through Sundays from 10am – 5pm through October 30th! JZFarms.com
Haunted Hayride at Bartenfelder Farms
Feeling brave? Head to Bartenfelder Farms, located at 4110 Payne Road in Preston for a spook-tacular Haunted Hayride on October 14th, 15th, 21st and 22nd! They also have food, a corn maze, and a bounce house open all day. The hayride is $8/person. Facebook.com/BartenfelderFarmsPreston
Apple Picking at Redemption Farms
Looking to pick your own apples? Redemption Farms, located at 26564 Hignutt Road in Denton, has a u-pick orchard and a farm market that is open Monday through Saturday from 10am-6pm! Facebook.com/redemptionfarmsmd
Cider Fest at Harvest Ridge Winery on October 15th
Harvest Ridge Winery invites you to Head to Rebel Seed Cider Fest, a fun-filled day featuring cider, food, music and games! Find out more here.
Federalsburg Heritage Day & Bicentennial Sneak Peak Party on October 15
Federalsburg is the place to be on October 15th! Celebrate the town at Heritage Day, a free, fun-filled day celebrating Federalsburg’s vibrant history! Stop by the museum to view the many displays and demonstrations on a wide variety of subjects such as broom making, spinning wheels, painting and competition chickens. Colonel Richardson HS graduate Mitch Northam will be showcasing his book, “High School Basketball on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: A Shore Hoops History.” For the automobile buff, there will be an outdoor display of antique vehicles to enjoy as well. There will be food and beverages available for purchase.
Later that day is the Federalsburg Bicentennial Speak Peek Party! The evening will include food, drinks, entertainment, and information about their upcoming Bicentennial Celebration schedule for 2023. Tickets can be purchased online at federalsburg200.simpletix.
Howl-o-Ween 5K on October 22nd
Come out to the Howl-O-Ween 5k Run/Walk to benefit the Caroline County Humane Society on October 22nd! The race starts at Martin Sutton Memorial Park, located on Rt. 480 (or West 6th Street) and Park Avenue in Ridgely, MD. This flat-loop course includes the town’s rail trail and scenic farmland. Registration is $25/participant until October 21st and $30 day of event for adults or $15/participant until October 21 and $20 day of event for racers ages 13 and under. All participants will receive a race t-shirt. Registration opens at 8am, and race begins at 9am. Find out more and register online at seashorestriders.com.
Beer Garden at Adkins Arboretum on October 22nd
Adkins Arboretum invites you to enjoy libations and live music by Dell Foxx Company at their inaugural Beer Garden on October 22nd! Since their first performance in 2014, local favorites Dell Foxx Company have developed a repertoire that ranges from Alabama Shakes to Grand Funk Railroad to Florence and the Machine. Groove to the band as you grab a hula hoop, play corn hole, or take a walk. Beer from Bull and Goat Brewery and Ten Eyck Brewing Company and food from Blue Monkey Street Tacos and So Coast Street Eats will be available for purchase. Find out more and get your tickets here.
Halloween Dodgeball Tournament on October 22nd
You won’t want to miss this spooktacular Halloween Dodgeball Tournament on Saturday, October 22nd at North Caroline High School at 3pm! This event will feature prizes, costumes, and fun for all! Co-ed divisions include Middle School, High School, and Open Division. $40 per team, with a three game guarantee. Find out more here.
Interpreting Nature, an exhibit of handmade prints by members of the Anne Arundel Community College Printmaking Club, highlights the broad variety of individual visions and styles of the group’s members and presents a wide range of printmaking techniques. Comprising etchings, lithographs, silkscreens and relief prints, the show is on view at the Adkins Arboretum Visitor’s Center through Oct. 29. Many of the artists will be present at a reception on Sat., Sept. 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. to talk about their ideas and techniques and to answer questions.
Founded in 2012 to foster collaboration and advanced learning, the AACC Printmaking Club includes faculty members and beginning to mid-career artists enrolled in the college’s art department programs. These include classes in intaglio, lithography, relief and silkscreen print techniques and the use of the department’s five presses and other printmaking equipment.
With an active membership of 25 artists, the club hosts visiting master printmakers and open houses in the printmaking studio for both the college and the community. It also holds annual member art shows that focus on developing professionalism in creating images, framing presentation and hanging and exhibiting prints. These shows have been held in AACC’s galleries and in venues on both the Eastern and Western shores.
Along with several other works, the show features a collaborative portfolio titled “Nature,” which had its beginnings in a field trip to Adkins Arboretum to provide members of the group with an opportunity to draw from nature.
Chris Mona, who serves as the club’s faculty advisor, noted, “We made this portfolio before COVID, and this is our first real public show, so we’re excited.”
The portfolio is composed of 15 original prints, created in each of the four techniques the college teaches, along with information about the artists and their work elegantly printed on a traditional letterpress and encased in a handsome custom-made box created in collaboration with Jill Cypher and Ray Nichols of Lead Graffiti in Newark, Del.
The portfolio includes one of Mona’s quirky lithographs, “Ma Rainey’s Lichens,” in which the celebrated blues singer’s eyes float in a field of frilly lichens, as well as Mary Bell Shock’s engaging intaglio of a hollow tree and Jake Muirhead’s intaglio, “Little Greenman,” with its strange face, straight out of folklore, staring hauntingly from deep in a bundle of spiky oak leaves.
Several more works, not in the portfolio, include Sandy Sapienza’s delicately nuanced eco print revealing every detail of the intricately patterned veins of a sprig of redbud leaves and Jenni Woolums’ silkscreen, “Hooper’s Eagles,” which captures the calm beauty of a stand of dying loblolly pines reflected in sky-blue water.
Perhaps the most unusual print in the show is “Smith Island #1,” with its dramatic sweep of shadowy black interlaced with a foamy white that suggests a breaking wave. It was created by Louise Wallendorf using a technique she calls “surf lithography.”
“Louise basically invented this,” said Mona, explaining how Wallendorf puts a lithography plate directly into the water. “Then the surf comes up and washes over the plate. She’s using the wave action, so the chemistry of the water creates the image.”
“I’m using bio-based chemistry,” Wallendorf said of the lithography emulsion that reacts to the water’s chemistry. “This particular plate was made over Columbus Day weekend after a Nor’easter full moon when Smith Island was flooded. Our Airbnb didn’t flood, but the water came close to the back door.”
This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through Oct. 29 at the Arboretum’s Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410–634–2847, ext. 0 or info@adkinsarboretum.org for gallery hours.
Considered by many a “problem play” for falling somewhere between comedy and tragedy, Measure for Measure is a tale of morals and humanity, justice and forgiveness—one that could happen in any place and at any time. It is a play deeply rooted in early 17th-century culture, but at the same time, it retains a powerful hold on the imaginations of modern readers. Join Shore Shakespeare for two performances of this most passionately discussed play Sept. 3 and 4 at Adkins Arboretum.
With the morals of the city of Vienna creeping lower by the year, the benevolent Duke Vincentio suddenly departs, leaving his self-righteous governor, Angelo, in charge. Suddenly, long-standing laws are strictly enforced and young Claudio finds himself sentenced to death for impregnating his fiancée. A plea for mercy from Claudio’s sister Isabella, a novitiate on the brink of taking her vows, may be his only hope.
Isabella’s words go unnoticed by the righteous Angelo, but her beauty does not. Torn between his attraction to Isabella and an unwavering loyalty to the letter of the law, Angelo agrees to pardon Claudio—but only if Isabella relinquishes her sacred chastity to him. Isabella faces an impossible choice: saving her honor or her brother’s life.
As it turns out, the Duke has not actually departed but is actually hovering about in disguise to monitor and manipulate the cascading complications that ensue when unforgiving justice is unleashed upon the bawdy, vice-ridden people of Vienna.
Though dark in subject matter, the play is rife with comic characters and outlandish scenarios, a dark comedy that borders on absurdity as each tries in their own way to navigate the space between civic justice and human mercy.
Performances are Sat., Sept. 3 and Sun., Sept. 4 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Arboretum Pavilion. Attendees should bring a blanket or chair and are welcome to bring a picnic. Admission is $15 for adults, $5 for children ages 3–18 and free for children ages 2 and under and can be purchased in advance at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847, ext. 0.
Founded in 2013, Shore Shakespeare Company is a pan-community theatre company dedicated to presenting the works of the classical theatre repertoire, with an emphasis on the works of William Shakespeare.
Prepare for fall in the garden! Adkins Arboretum, offering the Chesapeake gardener the best selection of landscape-ready native plants for more than two decades, announces its Fall Native Plant Sale. All proceeds benefit the Arboretum’s rich catalog of education programs that teach about the Delmarva’s native plants and their connection to a healthy Chesapeake Bay
To ensure the best-quality plants, sales will be conducted entirely online. Orders will be accepted Thurs., July 21 through Thurs., Aug. 11 at adkinsarboretum.org and will be fulfilled via timed, scheduled pickup Sept. 9–10 and Sept. 13–17. There will be no in-person shopping at the Arboretum.
Fall is the best season for planting, and the Arboretum offers the Chesapeake region’s largest selection of ornamental native trees, shrubs, perennials, ferns and grasses for the fall landscape. Many native plants produce seeds, flowers and fruit in fall that attract migratory birds and butterflies. Brilliant orange butterfly weed and stunning red cardinal flower attract pollinators to the garden, while native asters add subtle shades of purple and blue. Redbud and dogwood dot the early-spring landscape with color, and shrubs such as chokeberry and beautyberry provide critical habitat for wildlife.
As always, Arboretum members receive a generous discount on plants that varies according to membership level. To join, renew your membership or give an Arboretum membership as a gift, visit adkinsarboretum.org or contact Kellen McCluskey at kmccluskey@adkinsarboretum.org.For more information on plants, purchasing or pickup procedures, visit adkinsarboretum.org, send email to nativeplants@adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.
“En plein air,” a French term that means “in the open air,” refers to the practice of painting entire finished artworks out of doors. On Saturday, November 5th, Adkins Arboretum will host the inaugural Plein Air Adkins, a plein air paint-out, exhibit and sale, on the Arboretum grounds. The public is invited to explore the Arboretum forest, meadows and wetland and observe as artists paint their original works.
Artists will begin painting the Arboretum’s spectacular autumn landscape at 10 a.m. At 12:30 p.m., they will bring their completed works to the Visitor’s Center for exhibition and sale beginning at 1 p.m. The juror, Bernard J. Dellario, will award first, second and third places and two honorable mentions at 2 p.m. Dellario is a painter and instructor who exhibits widely across the Maryland Eastern Shore and Washington, D.C., regions.
Dellario studied art at the Art League School in Alexandria, Va., and has attended workshops with several nationally known artists. He has been a member of the Washington Society of Landscape Painters, one of the oldest active artist organizations in the Washington area, since 2003 and currently serves as president.
Fine Times will provide live music during the exhibit and sale, and Blue Monkey Tacos will be on site to sell food beginning at 11 a.m.
All works created during Plein Air Adkins will be for sale beginning at 1 p.m. The event is open to any artist who wishes to participate. Artists may register in advance or on the day of the event. The artist registration fee is $10. A registration form and event agenda are available at adkinsarboretum.org. Fee waivers are available upon request. Admission for observers is free for members and $5, which includes Arboretum admission, for non-members.
For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.
Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.
Adkins Arboretum, 12610 Eveland Road, Ridgely, MD 21620
410.634.2847 | adkinsarboretum.org | info@adkinsarboretum.org
The Fiber Arts Center of the Eastern Shore, located at 7 N. 4th Street in historic Denton, invites you to an exhibit featuring the work of Laura Waggner Boehl, on view now through September 3, 2022. Quilting is Laura’s passion and fabric her artistic medium. The quilts she makes are what is in her head or what suites her fancy at the time, and she is always open to inspiration and new techniques to express herself.
Laura became a quilter in 1984 when her passion was ignited by her mother-in-law, Marie Boehl. Shortly after starting her first quilt, Laura attended a lecture on quilting given by Pat Long Gardner, a Baltimore fiber artist and teacher of fiber art at Maryland Institute of Art. Pat also taught quilting classes in her home and Laura soon joined the other 20+ women who quilted with them. She has always considered these women her mentors and the group her quilting Master’s degree.
Partially due to her quilting group who all encouraged risk taking and forward thinking, Laura has always had a modern twist to her work. She especially enjoys piecing her backs which become a canvas for artistic exploration. She uses all the leftovers from the front, plus extras from her stash and pieces it all together in a random, artistic improv fashion.
The exhibit runs through September 3rd, 2022 in the FACES gallery, 7 N. 4th Street, Denton, Maryland. FACES is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 12-4pm. The exhibit is free of charge.
Join the Caroline County Humane Society and guest bartenders at the Market Street Pub on Wednesday, July 20, 2022 from 5-9 pm. Live music generously provided by Reagan Kent and The Glooms.
Reagan is a young talent from Caroline County. He loves to play everything from country to classic rock. Starting his professional career at age 13, he is now a seasoned pro at 16. He will be playing 5– p.m. The Glooms are a four-part teen band based in Ridgely, Maryland. Playing music from decades both before and after they were born, they are always sure to put their own dark folk spin on their songs. It’s always the season of the witch when The Glooms are around. They will be playing 7–9 p.m.
Guest bartenders include: Tracey Synder, Executive Director of the Caroline County Chamber of Commerce from 5-6 pm, Bonnie Johnson, Realtor for Long & Foster and Caroline County Humane Society Board President from 6-7 pm, Sue Simmons, Director of Caroline County Recreation & Parks from 7-8 pm, and Dennis Farina, Denton Lawyer from 8-9 pm. All tips for the bartenders will be donated to the Humane Society.
There will be a raffle for a Summerfield 44 in. x 24.5 in. Square Steel Propane Fire Pit with Wood-Look Tile Top (value $479) $2 for one ticket, $10 for six. Donate supplies and get a free raffle ticket: Kitten Milk Replacer (available at Petco), or go to Chewy.com for wish list under “give back.” There is also a link at carolinehumane.org under “Donate.”
No admission charge. Let’s pack the pub and have a great time for the animals!
© 2023 Caroline County Office of Tourism.
