By Craig Horleman

Editor's note: The Dover Days Celebration Committee announced Friday that Saturday's festival has been canceled, due to an impending coastal storm.

It’s been three years in the making but the Dover Days Festival is finally back.

After two years off due to the pandemic, Dover Days returns Saturday — rain or shine — from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with everything that longtime Kent Countians love and remember about the event that celebrates the colonial heritage of the capital city.

“It’s a big deal for sure. It’s exciting to bring it back,” said Chris Cooper, president of the Dover Days Celebration Committee.

“I’m born and raised here in Dover. So I’ve been going to it every year since before I could walk probably. It’s been missed by many for sure.”

This will be the first year the event will be put on by the community-driven Dover Days Celebration Committee. After running it since 1995, Kent County Tourism decided in 2019 to step back from Dover Days and put it in the hands of a group of individuals with more of a stake in the direction of downtown Dover.

The new Dover Days committee consists of community leaders who want to preserve the tradition of the event, while also introducing festivalgoers to the many things to see and do year-round in downtown Dover. Proceeds from the Dover Days Festival will benefit downtown Dover projects.

“The board needs some passionate members who believe in Dover and the Dover Days tradition,” Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen said at the time of the announcement. “I know I certainly do and am excited to be a part of this.”

Unfortunately, the committee got off to a rocky start with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of Dover Days in 2020 and 2021. That left the group with three years to plan this year’s event.

“While we had the time to prepare, it was so uncertain that it really didn’t allow for a whole lot of extra time because you didn’t know what you were preparing for when you were preparing for it to be this year. We knew we were going to do it. We were excited. We kind of came to that realization — I guess back in December or January was when we really realized and kind of felt like we could just kind of do it,” Mr. Cooper said.

“This was the year that we’re going to get back to some sense of normalcy. So we got to work in January as a committee and here we are.”

In the past, the Dover Days Festival had grown to four days with activities from Thursday to Sunday. But this year, the committee decided to keep it to the one day.

“We have intentions of growing it back to all that it once was. But with us taking it over as a group for the first time, we didn’t want to try and bite off more than we could chew with trying to make it a four-day event as opposed to just doing the parade, doing the festival and doing it right. I think with all the uncertainty, if we did try it for four days, I’m afraid that we might not have done the festival justice,” Mr. Cooper said.

Speaking of the parade, it’s back in full force to kick off Dover Days at 9 a.m. It will feature the usual assortment of floats, bands, dignitaries and fun. It will also feature the return of “Mr. Dover Days” Dave Skocik as emcee.

“He’s been doing it for a million years. I don’t know what the city of Dover is going to do when Dave says I’m going to go on vacation and stop announcing stuff because he’s like the Bruce Buffer of Dover. He’s awesome,” Mr. Cooper said.

The parade will line up on Pennsylvania Avenue and Hazel Road and then turn south on State Street, turning left at Loockerman Street and head out to Federal Street where it will disperse. The vendors will start on the brick section of State Street going south.

The event itself will feature the traditional maypole at noon on The Green, car show, tethered hot air balloon and historical reenactors on Legislative Mall, moon bounce village, food and craft vendors and entertainers, such as the English Country Dancers.

The Dover Century Club, celebrating its 125th year of community service, continues its Dover Days tradition of inviting the public to its clubhouse to enjoy the delights of an old-fashioned Victorian Ice Cream Parlor from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The club will offer hand-dipped ice cream, bottled water, hot dogs and chips for sale at the clubhouse at 40 The Green in the heart of historic Old Dover. Visitors are also invited to tour the clubhouse, with its white-columned entrance and palladium window that was built in 1857 and purchased by the club in 1901.

In addition, an American flag afghan, crocheted by the club’s “Stitchers” group leader, Sherry Pelton, will be raffled off at 4 p.m. All proceeds benefit the club’s community improvement projects.

“When we looked at the festival, we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. We didn’t want to change the look of Dover Days. We didn’t want to create something new. Next year is going to be the 90th year of Dover Days and they’ve only missed it four times — twice for the COVID-19 pandemic and twice for World War II. So, this is something that’s been going on for a long time. And certainly things are going to get added in and deleted over the years but we always want to keep the look and feel of Dover Days going,” Mr. Cooper said.

To that end, the eight-member board of the Dover Days Celebration Committee hired April Morehouse of the event planning firm Plunderful Productions to help plan the festival.

“There’s probably 15 to 20 people involved in the organizational stuff and April is managing all of the vendor signups and the parade signups and she’s taking care of the permit applications and all that good stuff. So she’s doing a lot of the day to day, and then we’re doing a lot of the helping out,” Mr. Cooper said.

The Dover Days Festival started in 1933 when the Dover Garden Club hosted “A Day with the Storied Houses and Gardens of Old Dover” to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of Dover in 1683 by William Penn.

Since then, the festival grew under the guidance of the Friends of Old Dover to include carriages, parades, garden tours, crafts and games.

Mr. Cooper said it’s been a learning experience putting together one of the state’s largest free festivals.

“As I said, we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We want to make sure that we have as much fun stuff like the tethered hot air balloon and the moon bounce for the kids. But we also want to make sure that we have the historical stuff and that we truly celebrate the colonial history of the city of Dover, because that’s what Dover Days is all about,” he said.

“So we want to make sure that we keep that balance and we continue to work with Friends of Old Dover and Kent County Tourism and everybody else that’s been involved — all of our amazing sponsors — and make sure that we keep that tie to the history in the modern way and keep it solid.”

For more information and updated weather plans for Dover Days, visit here or see the official program at BaytoBayNews.com under Special Sections.

History, Heritage and Hops

History, Heritage and Hops, set to take place in downtown Dover right after Dover Days starting at 2 p.m., combines music, local craft beer, wine and spirits and local food trucks.

There will be 11 food vendors, including include two of Dover’s newest, Ater’s and Brain Freeze, and 11 beverage vendors, including Big Oyster Brewing, Crooked Hammock, Blue Earl, Fordham and Dominion, Feebs and Harvest Ridge Winery. They will also have a dunking booth and bounce house for the kids. In addition, Spark will be putting on structured kids’ activities throughout the event. The event is kid- and pet-friendly.

The free event is also rain or shine. Organizer Robb Carter said Thursday the only reason it would be canceled would be for dangerous weather conditions.

Entertainment this year is headlined by Tony Jackson, a rising star in the country music industry who has already received rave reviews from Rolling Stone magazine and has performed at The Grand Old Opry, among other venues. Leading up to the headliner will be The Mad Dabbers, a reggae-influenced band, and Fazes featuring Greg Williams who perform hits from Motown along with R&B.

They are expanding to three blocks and will have James Owens manning the DJ table when the bands are not playing.

There will also be specialized events for the little ones, provided by Kaizen Karate.

Destination Downtown Dover, which produces the event, will also raise funds for those affected by the recent downtown fire.

The festival goes until 9 p.m.

Krisko & The Broadcast

Recording artists Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast will perform Thursday at The Room at Cedar Grove in Lewes, a supper club that combines a wine dinner and a concert.

All proceeds from the event will benefit Paul Kares, a nonprofit that supports aspiring chefs and musicians.

“We are very excited to present Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast, partly because they bring something for nearly everyone — soul, blues and psychedelia,” said Paul Cullen, owner of The Room at Cedar Grove. He founded Paul Kares with friend Jim Rivette.

“Caitlin has a true rock star’s voice — it will knock you off your feet. The band has performed with Mavis Staples, Marcus King, Betty LaVette and St. Paul and the Broken Bones.”

The Asheville, North Carolina, band is on a tour that is taking them to Michigan, Washington, D.C., and now Lewes.

The event starts at 6:30 p.m., and tickets are $85. The fee includes the wine dinner but not gratuity. For tickets, visit here.

Since opening The Room at Cedar Grove, Mr. Cullen has hosted a variety of national and international acts, including The Levin Brothers and Jeffrey Gaines.

The former bass player for the rock band Bad Company is now a chef and sommelier with his own wine label, Uncorked and Unplugged. Mr. Cullen is also available for in-home dining events that include a private concert.

Now showing

New this weekend in theaters is Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”