Country Current
The Chestertown Tea Party Festival invites everyone to Join the Revolution this Memorial Day Weekend in celebrating the “Chester Town Resolves” and tossing British tea overboard.
The Party in Wilmer Park kicks off the festival on Friday, May 23, 5 PM to 9 PM. Enjoy live music with the Chesapeake Sons band, with a beer booth and a variety of food trucks.
Saturday’s festivities begin at 10 AM, with the popular Colonial Parade, complete with fife and drum groups and marching bands. Everyone is encouraged to wear colonial garb. The town will be filled with more than 75 artisan vendors, and plenty of local food options – from crab cakes to funnel cakes, oysters, shrimp, ribs, fresh strawberry shortcake and cold beer.
The Tea Party Reenactment begins at 2 pm at the Main Stage with the reading of the “Chester Town Resolves”
Prior to the Resolves, there is plenty to entertain throughout the town. Main Stage performances include the premier country-bluegrass ensemble US Navy Country Currents, the Garnet Elementary School Tiger Chorus , and Generations Banding 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 hosts three shows: a Sumner Hall multi-media production “Freedom For All?” describing the lives of Black Revolutionary War heroes, a portrayal of James Forten, Black Businessman and Abolitionist from Philadelphia, and the virtuoso musician Stephen Christoff.
For more about the 2025 Tea Party, go here.
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