Crisfield Heritage Festival includes exhibits, demonstrations and award presentations

Posted 10/10/22

CRISFIELD — The Crisfield Heritage Foundation will hold its first annual Crisfield Heritage Festival 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15 at the J. Millard Tawes Museum and Somers Cove …

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Crisfield Heritage Festival includes exhibits, demonstrations and award presentations

Posted

CRISFIELD — The Crisfield Heritage Foundation will hold its first annual Crisfield Heritage Festival 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15 at the J. Millard Tawes Museum and Somers Cove Marina.

There will be demonstrations on how to make a crab pot and a net at the Waterman’s Pavilion with oyster shucking and crab picking taking place nearby. In the museum’s Chesapeake Room there will be cooking demonstrations including how to make a Smith Island cake.

Under the exhibition tent will be decoy carving, children’s activities and a farmer’s market. There will also be food vendors.

Throughout the day there will be local singers, groups and dance performances. Participating are Blue Crab Crossing, Jewelie Brumley Gaskins, Feet of Fire, Steve and Brooks Flaherty, the Shiloh Inspirational Choir and The Rileys.

During a short ceremony at 1:30 p.m. three special awards will be presented. This will take place as scheduled in the museum should the festival be rained out.

Legacy Award

The Legacy Award recognizes the families which over generations have furthered Crisfield’s character, culture, or economy over the course of its history. This year the Ward Brothers, Lemuel T. “Lem” Ward (1896-1984) and Steve W. Ward (1895-1976) will be posthumously recognized.

Their business L.T. Ward & Bro. Wildfowl Counterfeiters in Wood raised decoy carving from utilitarian to exquisite pieces of folk art, making decoys in the Crisfield style that allowed them “to ride the short choppy waves of Tangier Sound,” wrote nominator and worldclass award winning carver Rich Smoker, now chairman emeritus of the Ward Foundation.

“Both brothers contend they were just ‘Dumb old Country Boys,’” Mr. Smoker wrote. “They might have been, but are now known around the world for their work.

“Both have received Honorary Degrees from Salisbury University. They have had the largest Wildfowl Art Museum in the world named after them in the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art (it exists because of them),” credited with making 25,000 decoys that today command tens and even one hundred thousand dollars.

“Mention the Ward Brothers and heads turn to hear what is being said,” Mr. Smoker added.

Lem Ward in 1983 was named a National Endowment for the Arts, National Heritage Fellow — an award bestowed on Mr. Smoker in 2019. Despite the passage of time, however, Mr. Smoker wrote that the design and artistry of the Ward Brothers was not only superior for their time, but “frankly, they are still above most contemporary carvers.”

Heritage Organization Award

Janes Island State Park is the 2022 Heritage Organization Award winner, an honor that recognizes businesses or organizations for their significant and long-lasting contributions to the Crisfield community.

A public park since 1967 it is managed by the Maryland Park Service and Ranger Christina Carlson. Its historical resources date back more than 10,000 years to the last Ice Age. Besides stone tools and projectile points left behind by Native Americans the chimney stack is all that remains from a menhaden fish fertilizer factory that burned down in 1932.

In 1939 the Daugherty Creek Canal was dredged to provide watermen direct access to the Big Annemessex River. These represent some of the stories and local lore that park personnel share with visitors as it strives to be a clean, well-maintained recreational site.

The park covers 2,900 acres of salt marsh, beaches, wetlands, uplands scrub-shrub and forest habitat. It protects wildlife like the Diamondback Terrapin, Great Blue Heron, and rare and endangered species including the Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle, Glossy Ibis and American Oystercatcher.

Individual Award

The person receiving the Heritage Individual Award is Philip Goldsborough, “a once-in-a-generation resource” for local history and genealogy.

For more than 42 years Mr. Goldsborough has compiled a genealogy database of family trees and relationships that includes over 13,000 names. With his expertise in researching land grants he is linking genealogy to where families lived and is taking this back to incorporate Native American villages as well.

Along with that for over 30 years Mr. Goldsborough has been researching grave locations including those unmarked or where stones are buried below the surface, resetting those markers where possible.

Mr. Goldsborough is a past president of the Capt. John Smoot Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution whose members are those who trace their lineage to a soldier, sailor or patriot from the Revolutionary War.

He is the historian for the American Legion Post 16 and researched its 100 year history which was published in 2019. A member of the Crisfield Fire Department for nearly 50 years, he serves as its historian as well.

Other memberships include the Lower Delmarva Genealogical Society and Somerset County Historical Society, and he helped establish the Edward H. Nabb Research Center.

For the CHF, Mr. Goldsborough was a board member from 2006-14 and is a cultural ambassador for the Pocomoke Indian Nation, demonstrating the art of toolmaking.

The Heritage Individual Award recognizes an individual who continues or preserves a traditional craft or livelihood important to the Crisfield area, and nominator Jim Adkins noted that “Phil is a true Somerset County treasure.” “His broad spectrum of historical understanding makes him an unequaled resource for the history of our region.”

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