It was particularly interesting to note the other day some of the big events happening this month in Chestertown. In June, the town will host the charmingly non-traditonal National Music Festival, have a celebration for James Joyce, and will end with a community recital of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
Needless to say, this is not your typical fun-loving summer event calendar for small rural towns in America, but it is a great reminder of how much Chestertown loves, well, quirkiness.
As Merriam-Webster defines it, quirkiness is to be “strikingly unconventional.” Not so much an interest in the bizarre, but a very high comfort level with idiosyncrasy in general. Sudden turns or twists in programs and events that would throw other towns off their cultural rails are taken in stride here in 21620.
The June lineup is the best evidence of this.
It starts with the National Music Festival. To the countless gratitude of greater Chestertown, for five years now the NMF has provided the community with two weeks filled with the “striking unconventional” in both classical and contemporary music. From original compositions that include the use of a farm tractor to performing in the woods of Adkins Arboretum, the Festival’s two hundred young musicians offer some of most challenging work found anywhere in the country.
In the middle of the month there will be a full day devoted to James Joyce’s novel Ulysses with Chestertown Bloomsday on June 16. From breakfast to dusk, town residents and guests will be spending the day getting into the head of Leopold Bloom, the novel’s protagonist, with readings and lectures throughout downtown.
And finally, on June 26, there will be a celebration of the 100th year of the publication of T.S. Eliot’s epic “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” at the Garfield Center* with distinguished members of the community reciting parts of the fifteen minute poem with ample amounts of Crow Farm wine in hand.
Our love of quirkiness can be found in smaller ways as well. The downtown shoe store that really only sold newspapers or the gas station better known for produce than car repair. The list goes on.
When one looks for the roots of the Chestertown fondness for the quirky, Washington College is a good place to start. After literally hundreds of years of eccentric professors and off-beat students walking the streets, it’s quite likely the our enjoyment of the different simply rubbed off on the town itself. And, in due course, that encouraged those who also take pleasure in the quirky to move to the area.
Chestertown is not the only place where quirkiness thrives. In the case of Austin, Texas, another college town which has enjoyed this same dynamic, they have chosen the word “weird” to define this kind of culture. To be clear, the word “weird” in this case is just Texas-speak for quirkiness, just a little more direct for Longhorn sensibilities.
In fact, Austin have been very smart in promoting their love of the weird with their “Keep Austin Weird” campaign, sponsored by that city’s independent business association, the equivalent of our Downtown Chestertown Association. The results after almost ten years indicate a remarkable success story.
And not only was this a commercial success. The campaign was taken so seriously that at least one major work of academic scholarship has been done on the subject with the publication of “Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas” by University of Texas Press.
There have been quite a few cities who quickly started their own campaigns as well. Following Austin’s footsteps, other “hip” towns like Portland, Madison, Santa Cruz and Asheville started their own campaigns using the same exact phrase, which frankly surprised us a bit given they seen themselves as creative communities. Nonetheless, it seems they have too have enjoyed the benefits of broadcasting their interest in the weird to the weird.
Perhaps its time for the world to know of Chestertown’s own love of the quirky.
* a benefit event to support the Chestertown Spy
Marty Stetson says
Interesting observation. I like quirky much better than weird. It is comparable to being eccentric to being crazy, I for one would rather people think of me as eccentric rather than crazy. My guess is there are people who think of me as one or the other or both. I would rather people think of Chestertown as being quirky rather than weird, I have never been to Austin so I will not pass judgment if it is weird or not.
Bob Foss says
As owners of a quirky, eclectic gallery, Pam and I couldn’t agree more. It’s one of those things that makes Chestertown a special place.
Erin Heckles says
Let me know when sticker or magnets are ready, we’ll sell them at Twigs.
Joe Diamond says
Quirky can be a good thing!
It can explain much and allow continued association with the site and source of the quirks. Quirky is the explanation for the eccentric, crazy, weird, stupid, smart, brilliant, good and bad that can be observed in quirky land………….or here in Quirkytown, MD. So in Quirkytown you can: …” host the charmingly non-traditonal National Music Festival, have a celebration for James Joyce, and will end with a community recital of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” ‘” The population has come to expect such events.
I would add a comparison of recent national government actions to the principles of Catch-22……but that might be just crazy.
Unlike other adjectives, quirky both allows the strange event or action and explains it even if no explanation seems obvious. So in Quirkytown you can have two parades on the same weekend; one to commemorate an event that probably did not occur……like the Chestertown Tea Party. Then two days later you can have a Memorial Day parade to commemorate a real event…….but put fire trucks and ponies in the parade. That is quirky!
You can have an empty downtown business district but operate parking meters……………pretty quirky.
You can have a Christmas parade……….but allow the cops to throw a Frosty the Snowman character on the ground and arrest him in front of children for disrespecting a police dog…..Quirky explains it.
In a business mix where gas stations and convenience stores dominate the mix….a gas station that does well selling produce fits…in a quirky setting.
You could examine other business sites in Chestertown and discover how many of them were gas stations at one time or another to see how quirky things around here are.
Likewise, crazy people might postpone repairing a bridge………..because they need it every day until it falls in the river. After all they are just crazy. Quirky folks have no problem with this.
What might be next in Quirkytown? How about a Cool Hand Luke Day where a parking meter is cut off and thrown into the river. Bike and Exercise Machine Forgiveness Day, where all that dusty and unused stuff is brought to the town park to be given to those who will use it? Pretty quirky, I say!
How about allowing restaurants to use sidewalks as dining areas where patrons can sip a little vino with their poached fish while handing out citations for open containers up the street to non restaurant patrons? Happens in quirky places
Finally, quirky has a potential for change. Just as quickly as the strange, crazy or unexpected event happens it can go away only to be replaced by something even more impossible…….Mardi Gras in a WASP town?……….. maybe too quirky for elsewhere but expect one next year right here where quirky lives.
Joe
carol cameron says
Joe, concur with every single example you gave. However, you left out one.
To further define the nature of Chestertown : When BB&T bank is robbed on a bright, crisp winter day, by a robber who has disguised his face not only with a ski cap pulled down to cover half his face, but also a blue surgical mask to cover the entire lower half, thereby leaving only the glint of his eyes visible, and when this person paces back and forth in front of the bank for a good 10 to 15 minutes, in front of the many passerby entering and exiting the deli, liquor store, florist, barber/beauty shop, and, then, after the daring deed has been committed –
What do the many witnesses to this crime say to the police when the investigators are interviewing them? To gather evidence? So this brazen criminal might be apprehended, brought to justice?
The question they are all asked is the same, and the response given by every single one is also the same –
“Weren’t you suspicious when you saw someone with their face entirely covered pacing back and forth outside a Bank?”
“Well, no, Officer, not really. After all, this is Chestertown, lots of quirky people on the streets here”
joe diamond says
carol,
What do you expect, robbers lining up for picture sessions with customers before the bank robberies? I bet, in their heart of hearts, they were chanting, “right on…right on!”…………….”charge my ass for a few ATMs on the other side of NJ & I hope you be taken down !” ….Cops too!
But this is not true quirkiness………pretty sure, according to me.
In a quirky town the cops would not be called……….. everybody would talk about the robber, his family, friends & previous generations who lived in the same zip code. The mutt would turn himself in………to avoid the noise!
Joe
Annaleise Girone says
“Following Austin’s footsteps, other “hip” towns like Portland, Madison, Santa Cruz and Asheville started their own campaigns using the same exact phrase, which frankly surprised us a bit given they seen themselves as creative communities.”
These cities are hugely well-known cultural hubs for ‘weird’/’quirky’/INNOVATIVE ideas that expand the realms of social equality (class/race/gender), many different genres of music, media of art, and ways of connecting people. As someone who has spent extensive time living in chestertown and Portland (& spent some time in other cities as well), I have a hard time accepting the comparison between Ctown and these forward thinking cities. This quote is hilarious to me, not only does this entire article presumptuously insinuate that Chestertown is somehow comparable to these cultural hubs, but this quote not so subtly suggests that Chestertown, by flipping to ‘weird’ in a Thesaurus & choosing the first synonym available, is somehow more legitimate in their creativity. Nice try, Ctown. Let’s have this conversation when racial segregation is no longer a thing or maybe when people are celebrated (not simply accepted) for their differences in beliefs, looks, styles, tastes etc. – isn’t that what being ‘weird’ (oh sorry, ‘quirky’) is all about in this context?
joe diamond says
Annaleise,
Ya kinda got ’em there. You missed the equality of prejudgment that can be found in the region. Chicken-neckers are instructed to shut up & sit down for several generations before they are admitted to the local community. You can understand why racial minorities would would rush to join the herd. IF everyone just closes their eyes real tight most confusion will go away.
The Lord looked down and said He would spare the city if there was at least one good taco stand……..boom, boom…out went the lights!
joe