It may be cold mid-winter now, but the Chestertown Tea Party Committee is already in full swing in preparation for this year’s Memorial Day event. Now in its 36th continuous year, the festival is shaking off some of the old garb and trying some new ideas.
As the addition of the wine tasting event on Sunday last year was a great success, the committee is inviting the vineyards in on Saturday and creating a Vineyards Village to augment the already popular food and beverage stands. Moreover, festival goers will find new seating available in Fountain Park as the Park Row vendors will be moving to the far side of the street to part of the town’s signature park to dining.
The volunteer operated festival is also seeking, for the first time in many years, corporate and private sponsors. Businesses are being solicited to offer financial support for this year’s event and given the chance to be recognized as a the presenting sponsor of key aspects of the festival such as the Raft Race, the Classic Distance Run, Colonial Theatre at the Prince and others.
Moreover, the festival is also looking for individual sponsors who wish to contribute either financially or as volunteers leading up to and on the day of the event.
Many locals that attend may not realize that the all the food vending is mandated to be run by non-profit organizations in the county, and many of these groups gain the lion-share of their annual fundraising from the weekend festivities. The committee is currently in search of new non-profit organizations to partner with to provide additional services and food stands.
In an era that has seen so many radical Tea Party political movements, the historic pageant in our tiny hamlet stands apart as a genuine slice of America, whose only aspiration is to remind its community of its storied past and celebrate being good neighbors.
With each year, the festival has grown in popularity as a destination for Eastern Shore natives as well as history and Americana enthusiasts from the entire Eastern Seaboard. As always there is no admission charge to the Festival.
Those interested in becoming sponsors or getting involved as volunteers are urged to call Bill Arrowood, VP of Public Relations at 215-431-6671 or via email at [email protected].
Liza Brocker says
Just to clarify…the Chestertown Distance Classic is put on by Radcliffe Creek School. This includes gathering sponsorship for the race.While the race is clearly a huge part of the Tea Party, and the school works closely with the Tea Party committee, the organization of the event is primarily coordinated by the school as a fundraiser for scholarship funding for the students of RCS. Thanks!
billa says
again, to reiterate what Liza says above, the Radcliffe Creek School does an amazing job operating the annual Tea Party Classic Distance Run, and we were not insinuating that we were looking to impose on that relationship, but merely that we are looking for additional partners for general presenting sponsorship opportunities and partners for additional activities, any one with questions about donations or how the whole operation runs is encouraged to contact the Tea Party Committee at the email and phone above or schedule a time for us to meet with you.