CHESTERTOWN — The Chestertown Tea Party Festival, which celebrates the “Chester Town Resolves” and tossing British tea overboard, is upon us.
The Party in Wilmer Park kicks off the long-weekend festival tonight [Friday, May 23] from 5 to 9 p.m. There will be live music with Chesapeake Sons, a beer booth and food trucks.
Saturday’s festivities begin at 10 a.m with the Colonial-themed parade down High Street featuring fife and drum groups, floats and marching bands. Charlie Joiner is this year’s parade grand marshal.
More than 75 artisan vendors will line the downtown streets.
Plus, there will be local nonprofits selling all sorts of food — from crab cakes to funnel cakes, from oysters and ribs to fresh strawberry shortcake — and cold beverages.
The Tea Party reenactment begins at 2 p.m. at the main stage with the reading of the “Chester Town Resolves”
Prior to the Resolves, there will be plenty to entertain visitors.
Performers on the main stage will include the Navy’s premier country-bluegrass ensemble Country Current, the Garnet Elementary School Tiger Chorus and Generations Band Together.
Rousing sea shanties with the Jolly Tars and Spiced Punch’s Colonial and bawdy saloon music are scheduled at the waterfront stage at the foot of High Street.
The Garfield Center for the Arts will host three shows: a Sumner Hall multi-media production titled “Freedom For All?” describing the lives of Black Revolutionary War heroes; a portrayal of James Forten, a Black businessman and abolitionist from Philadelphia; and singer-songwriter Stephen Christoff, who plays the slide resonator guitar, the acoustic guitar, the musical saw and the jaw harp.
Free children’s activities, located at the Heritage Village on the courthouse lawn, will include puppet shows, craft activities, a participatory jug band and face painting.
The Heritage Village also will feature a variety of artisans and crafters, including Colonial rope making, basket weaving, ice cream making, grocers, sutlery, woodworking and wallpaper bandboxes.
Algonkian living historian Drew Shuptar-Rayvis, a citizen and cultural ambassador of the Pocomoke Indian Nation, will talk about the contributions, struggles and sacrifices made by Algonkian peoples during the War of American Independence. There will be two shows at the Heritage Village, 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
You won’t want to miss the military encampment set up along the shore of the Chester River, filled with tents and reenactors. Periodically, a brigade or battalion will march up from the water to the courthouse and perform maneuvers prior to the reenactment at 2 p.m.
There will be two free walking tour options: a one-hour tour showcasing African American history offered by Chesapeake Heartland at 11 a.m. and a Colonial history tour at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. Tours begin at the information booth on the corner of Cross and High streets.
The festival will reopen at noon on Sunday, May 25 in Wilmer Park with the Tea Party Beer Fest featuring the Dan Haas Band, craft vendors, an Aesop’s Fables puppet show and a children’s participatory jug band.
The very popular Raft Race begins at 2:30 p.m. It’s best to get there much earlier to secure a good viewing spot.
For more information and a full schedule of events and times, visit https://www.chestertownteaparty.org/.
This year’s sponsors include Watershed Alley, Hogans Agency, Duke Law LLC, Leaf Filter, Cross Street Realtors, Gillespie & Son Inc., Holman Building, Rosin Creek Collaborative, The Peoples Bank, T.R. and Lizzy Lazo, Campbell & Furneisen Law Firm, David A. Bramble Inc., Lindsay and Phil, Kent School, Phillips & Donovan Architects LLC, and Wendy Sand Eckel and Bob Roth.