Terrible news friends! We have just received a proclamation from the minister’s office that all festivities scheduled for the 2020 Chestertown HP Festival Weekend have been hereby canceled! It reads –

LET IT BE KNOWN
The Magical Weekend
known as the
CHESTERTOWN HP FEST
originally scheduled for the
1st weekend of
OCTOBER 2020
is hereby
canceled.

NO MAGIC
shall be permitted
ALL BROOMSTICKS
shall be locked away
Festivities are expected
to return in 2021.

Stay Safe & Stay Tuned

All wizards and wizarding friends are encouraged to subscribe to the Chestertown HP Festival mailing list to receive any notices as they become available. Fear not! The Chestertown HP Fest committee is determined to reconvene and bring the festival back in 2021!

Go to the official festival website, chestertownhpfest.org, and join our mailing list to be notified of updates.

The Chestertown HP Festival Weekend is organized by the Garfield Center for the Arts and community volunteers as a celebration of the spirit of Harry Potter and an opportunity to promote our local community and its arts. Warner Bros. Entertainment and JK Rowling are not associated with or responsible for the festival in any way.

Located in the historic district in Chestertown, The Garfield Center for the Arts (www.garfieldcenter.org) is a cultural organization whose mission is to invigorate the cultural life of our community by nurturing, celebrating and supporting arts and artists through performance and education.

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The board of Main Street Historic Chestertown has announced the cancellation of the nonprofit organization’s signature winter event, Dickens of a Christmas, for 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns.

The holiday event was scheduled to take place Dec. 4 and 5.

In an email to key volunteers, the nonprofit’s executive director, Kay MacIntosh, stated, “We do not see large gatherings in our future until some combination of a vaccine, testing, and reliable treatment options is widely available. … Main Street Chestertown will instead focus on brightening downtown for the winter season and supporting downtown shops and restaurants as they adjust to the new ways of doing business in this period of masks, sanitizing and social distancing. The Dickens planning committee will regroup for a best-ever event in 2021.”

Main Street Historic Chestertown is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to fostering an inviting, diverse and prosperous downtown commercial district.

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Maryland residents who are eligible to vote in the state’s June 2 Primary have until May 27 to pre-register for the vote-by-mail election. Residents can use Maryland’s Online Voter Registration System or submit a voter registration application to their local board of elections or the State Board of Elections.

Registration applications must be postmarked by the May 27 deadline in order to vote in the June 2 Primary election. Those using the Online Voter Registration System must submit their application by May 27 at 11:59 p.m.

Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, voting for the June 2 election will be conducted primarily by mail, with limited locations to submit completed ballots at designated drop-off locations or to vote in-person on election day.

“Registering to vote in advance of the election makes the voting process itself faster and safer,” said Maryland Administrator of Elections Linda Lamone. “Those who are registered early may submit their ballots by mail and avoid bringing their completed ballots to a designated ballot drop-off location or voting in-person on election day.”

Those who don’t have Internet access can call the State Board of Elections at 1-800-222-8683 on or before May 20 to request a registration application by mail. After May 20, residents without Internet access should contact their local election board for registration application pickup options.

Same-day registration will be available to eligible voters who choose to vote in-person on June 2; however, the State Board of Elections strongly encourages all voters to register by May 27 and cast their ballots by mail.

The novel coronavirus pandemic resulted in the date of the Primary being postponed from April 28. While mail-in ballots display the original Primary date of April 28, the ballots are in fact valid for the June 2 election. Voters should be aware these are official ballots that will record actual votes. They are not sample ballots.

Voting by mail is safe, secure and free. There is no postage required to submit a ballot. Voters simply need to fill out their ballot, sign the oath on the envelope and place it back in the mail.

The return ballot must be postmarked no later than June 2 but can be mailed at any time before election day. Voters should sign only the oath on the outside of the envelope but not the ballot itself.

Votes cast by mail remain anonymous. The same technology and equipment used for in-person voting is utilized to count mail-in ballots. The equipment is never connected to the Internet or any other database.

The Maryland State Board of Elections is committed to educating voters on the changes made to the election procedures due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. These changes have been made to ensure voters can exercise their fundamental right to vote while also safeguarding the public’s health during this pandemic.

For more information about this election, please visit www.elections.maryland.gov or contact the State Board at 1-800-222-8683.

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To respond to the ongoing and increasing need for food donations across Delmarva, the YMCA of the Chesapeake will host recurring food drives at its Easton and Salisbury locations. All donations will stay local and will be used to restock the shelves at area food pantries.

These recurring food drives follow successful drive-through food drives hosted during the week of April 27^th at nine of the YMCA of the Chesapeake’s locations on the Shore.

“Food insecurity is a serious concern as COVID-19 has put many in our community out of work,” said Derek White, Group Executive Director for the Easton and St. Michaels YMCAs. “We are so thankful for the generosity of our members and the greater community. Their support has saved our most vulnerable neighbors from making the tough choice between paying their bills and feeding their families.”

Food Drives will be held during the third week of each month, Monday – Friday, from 8:00am – 2:00pm at the Easton Family YMCA at Peachblossom and the Richard A. Henson Family YMCA in Salisbury. The first food drive will take place the week of May 18^th. More locations may be added based on community need and response.

“On the Shore, when you put out a call for help, people answer in a big way,” said Deanna Harrell, Group Executive Director for the Salisbury YMCA. “We will all get through this together by lifting each other up and lending a helping hand in whatever way we are able. We encourage our members and the community to give what they can, when they can, to be there for the most vulnerable members of our community during this challenging time.”

For more information, contact Deanna Harrell at dharrell@ymcachesapeake.org.

About the YMCA of the Chesapeake
The Y is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits and the largest Human Service organization on the Eastern Shore; strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Across the Shore, Ys engage 40,000 members and their families, regardless of age, income or background, to nurture the potential of children and teens, improve the Shore’s health and wellbeing, and provide opportunities to give back and support neighbors. The YMCA of the Chesapeake operates facilities in Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Talbot, Queen Anne’s and Wicomico Counties in Maryland and on Chincoteague Island in Virginia. Last year, the YMCA of the Chesapeake provided over $1,750,000 in assistance to over 16,000 community members, turning no one away due to inability to pay. Additionally, the Y spent $200,000 on outreach efforts and programming in the communities it serves.

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The League of Women Voters of Kent County has published a Voters’ Guide for the upcoming primary election on June 2. Printed copies of the Voters’ Guide will be available at Kent County supermarkets and other open retailers. The online Voters’ Guide is available at www.vote411.org.

Each candidate for office was given the opportunity to provide information about themselves and to respond to questions from the League. Candidate information and responses are presented unedited. Online, voters can enter their zip code and view all the races on their ballot; responses from two candidates can be viewed together allowing comparisons between candidates. Vote411.org also provides links to other important websites such as the Maryland State Board of Elections.

The Voters’ Guide is also available on the League of Women Voters of Kent County’s website at https://kent-lwvmaryland.nationbuilder.com/voters guide. The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization dedicated to promoting informed and active participation in government; it does not support or oppose any candidates or political parties.

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The Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture (MCAAHC) and the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) announce workshops and applications are available for grants through the African American Heritage Preservation Program (AAHPP) for FY21.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, grant workshops are being held as webinars for FY21. For information about the webinars as well as the program guidelines, go to https://mht.maryland.gov/grants_africanamerican.shtml

The goal of the AAHPP is to identify and preserve buildings, communities, and sites of historical and cultural importance to the African American experience in Maryland. This competitive program, offered once per year, is supported through an annual appropriation from the Maryland General Assembly, and is administered as a joint partnership of MCAAHC and MHT.

Grant awards range from a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $100,000. Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations and local jurisdictions. Business entities and individuals may also apply for program grants when seeking funds for a preservation or development project that serves a high public purpose.

Eligible projects include acquisition, construction, capital improvement, and certain predevelopment costs for African American heritage properties. In the eight years since its inception, the AAHPP has awarded 106 grants totaling $8 million in funding for projects statewide.

The AAHPP grant application can be accessed from MHT’s website at https://mht.maryland.gov/grants.shtml. Completed grant applications must be submitted online by July 1, 2020. For assistance with programming and project prioritization, contact Chanel Compton, MCAAHC Executive Director, at chanel.compton@maryland.gov or (410) 216-6190. For assistance with capital project and technical preservation issues, contact Charlotte Lake, Ph.D., MHT Capital Grant and Loan Program Administrator, at charlotte.lake@maryland.gov or (410) 697-9559.

The Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture is committed to discovering, documenting, preserving, collecting, and promoting Maryland’s African American heritage. The Commission also provides technical assistance to institutions and groups with similar objectives.  Through the accomplishment of this mission, the MCAAHC seeks to educate Maryland citizens and visitors about the significance and impact of the African American experience in Maryland.

The Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) is a state agency dedicated to preserving and interpreting the legacy of Maryland’s past. Through research, conservation and education, the Trust assists the people of Maryland in understanding their historical and cultural heritage. MHT is an agency of the Maryland Department of Planning and serves as Maryland’s State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

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