When Waterfowl Festival was canceled, several non-profits in Easton decided to create CommUNITY Day: Easton Arts & Culture Celebration. This event will take place on November 14-15. Here is more about this effort and the future of Waterfowl Chesapeake.
EEDC: So, as the person who’s been leading the planning team for CommUNITY day, tell us how this came together?
Margaret Enloe (ME): Once we decide to postpone the Waterfowl Festival, which is such a community marker for the fall, we knew we wanted to see if we could do something that was a celebration for the people who live here. So, in June, I reached out to many non-profit friends, just in the downtown Easton area. And we all decided we wanted to have something happen. We agreed we wanted to support our own businesses, but we also wanted to bring vitality to Easton’s downtown businesses, meaning that it would bring people to town.
We also realized that whatever we came up with had to be flexible if the COVID numbers resurged. And what we landed on was this event that we now call commUNITY day, where all the non-profits have chosen to do activities concurrently, on the same day, for the benefit of our community.
EEDC: Is that unusual?
ME: That’s not always the case, as we’re all trying to reach our own audiences. We try to stay away from each other in terms of big fundraising events. Usually, we network so that we don’t interfere with each other. So, this is a pretty significant shift. And the way it’s working is that every organization is responsible for managing and running its activities and highlighting its own mission, but we’re doing the marketing together.
EEDC: How are you all dealing with the COVID restrictions?
ME: People want to get out, they want to do things, so for everyone’s safety, we’ve all agreed on the same COVID procedures, which are masks and staying six feet apart, of course. We’re also restricting the maximum size for a family to six people, which means if you have a family group of 10, you just have to break into two separate groups.
EEDC: Can you highlight some of the events?
ME: There’s a lot to do. Waterfowl Chesapeake is doing a drive-in lecture. The Academy Art Museum is doing a rock-seeking event, where you can walk around town with your family and find the hidden kindness rocks. BAAM (Building African American Minds) is showing a video production inspired by their acronym. Art for the Outdoors is what the Avalon is doing, and they have reached out to all the residents on Hanson street and gotten their permission to do an outdoor drive-through art gallery, and the residents are thrilled. So, that’s a moment of community and culture and art all coming together.
EEDC: What about other businesses in Easton, outside of non-profits?
ME: We’re doing some outreach to local businesses downtown, suggesting that perhaps they do box lunches or something where people can pick up and grab and go. The Easton Elks lodge is doing a modified social event where you can pick up lunch at the Lodge. The Talbot County Historical Society is going to do architectural tours of downtown Easton. What’s interesting is it’s still growing.
EEDC: What about outside of Easton?
ME: We did talk about expanding it to be a Talbot County event and decided that, although we had no objection to that, we just needed to start small. We’re still in a pandemic. Let’s not go crazy, we said, and bite off more than what we felt we could chew for this year.
EEDC: So, is the list of participating organizations complete?
ME: I don’t want any non-profits to feel like they were left out. People are still contacting us, so if you’re in Easton and want to participate, hop on the bandwagon. Shoot me an email. And if you’re in Talbot County and wish to participate, that’s great too. We just are trying to stay Easton focused for our first year.
EEDC: First year, huh? So, you see this continuing?
ME: I think it could. I think it would be great. CommUNITY day could repeat itself next year on a different day. Part of my hope is to have the non-profits come together to offer activities during the Waterfowl Festival weekend since it’s already a community celebration. The thought is, how can we support our local non-profit partners and engage more of the visitors that come to town with everything Talbot County has to offer?
We have wanted to do this for years, but it literally was a four or five-month undertaking, and we don’t generally have the time and commitment to do that. So what COVID did is give us time to put this together.
EEDC: Rain or shine?
ME: Rain or shine, pandemic or not. Short of a shutdown, we’ll be having all sorts of exciting and safe things to do.
EEDC: Where should people go for the latest list of events?
ME: Best place is either the website (https://discovereaston.com/communityday/) or on the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/EastonCommunityDay)
Also, keep in mind that most of the events are free, although some require preregistration. And most events are on Saturday, with some organizations doing things on Sunday.
EEDC: Anything else is Waterfowl Chesapeake working on?
ME: We just launched the virtual art gallery, (www.WaterfowlFestival.org). It was months and months in the making, and it’s going to be a new feature of the festival. So now art lovers from all over the world and from years past who don’t travel here anymore have a way to connect and buy art that they love from the artists that they love. And it’s exciting because the it’s a new way for us to connect to art buyers, with proceeds from every purchase going to support the Waterfowl Festival, and that will ensure our future.
EEDC: What about the Waterfowl Building itself. Anything happening there?
ME: I think people are aware that the windows are being restored. COVID slowed down our contractor because some of his staff contracted it. So, we are behind schedule, but excited to say that we believe the windows will be back in place before the end of the year, and I think the building’s going to look spectacular. We’ll be ready when people are ready to start using the building again as a rental space. Our mission is to help support community organizations by charging only a nominal rental fee. Of course, this year there there’s been very little use of the building in that way, although we do have some scout troops meeting there right now, and I’ve had a few other inquiries also.
EEDC: Of course, we have to ask about the Waterfowl Festival, which would have been celebrating the 50th anniversary, right?
ME: We’ve been excited about the 50th festival and what 2020 has allowed us to do is to take the time to create some new things we’ve always wanted to do that will be added to the festival in 2021. We are really excited about our featured artist, which we have not yet announced. The artist is a national or international figure, by the way.
EEDC: Can you give us a small hint on who it is.
ME: Sorry, that’s as close as I can tell you!
