People around the world are celebrating 2018 as Year of the Bird. This year marks the centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, one of the oldest wildlife protection laws in the United States. In honor of this milestone, Audubon, National Geographic, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, BirdLife International, and dozens of other partners around the world joined forces to celebrate 2018 as the Year of the Bird.
Pickering Creek Audubon Center will celebrate birds and fall on the Eastern Shore at this year’s Year of the Bird themed Harvest Hoedown on Sunday October 14. Harvest Hoedown features music at three locations, unique craftspeople, nature walks, wildlife exhibits, boat rides on the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s Winnie Estelle and entertaining kids and adult activities about birds as well as food prepared by the Easton Lions Club and new local food vendors. Activities and vendors will be found throughout the Center. Explore the property with wagon rides or take a stroll on the forest trail for a sampling of the Eastern Shore’s natural beauty from wetlands to 100 year-old trees, all highlighted in vibrant fall colors.
The New and Used Bluegrass Band headlines the Mainstage.
Harvest Hoedown 2018 will feature live music, puppet shows, a family friendly scavenger hunt with prizes and Year of the Bird themed fun throughout the day. Native plants will be available for guests who participate in activities about birds, plants and habitat. From deep in the vaults of Pickering Creek the Harvest Hoedown T-Shirt Art collection will be on display, featuring the great folk art that has graced the back of each Harvest Hoedown T-Shirt for the last twenty years. These works will be on display at the Center’s Welcome Center. Scheduled events will include not only music on the main stage, but also brief nature talks by area naturalists including topics pertinent to the Year of the Bird, the Chesapeake Bay and life on the Eastern Shore.
Harvest Hoedown features great music for all ages! The Harvest Hoedown main stage, framed by Pickering’s historic corncrib, will host toe tapping blues and bluegrass with four acts throughout the day. The kid’s stage is just down the lane right next to Pickering’s beautiful gardens, surrounded by a bevy of fun educational activities led by Audubon Naturalists and budding volunteer leaders. The musical artists featured frequently perform in their own right, but Pickering puts them all together for a wonderful fall day of music and fun.The kid’s stage features Slim Harrison and the Sunnyland Band from Western Maryland and returning for their seventeenth year. The best thing about the Sunnyland Band is that it is you! With over 40,000 members worldwide it may very well be the biggest band around. The main stage kicks off at 11:30 am with local favorites Fog after Midnight, followed by Baltimore musician Norm Hogeland. Playing next at Harvest Hoedown on the main stage are Slim Harrison and the Rock Candy Cloggers.
Headlining the main stage is the New and Used Bluegrass band, based on the Eastern Shore with members from across the shore. New and Used Bluegrass features Alan Breeding on banjo, Jim Bieneman on bass fiddle and vocals, Toby Price on mandolin and vocals, Ed Finkner on guitar and vocals and Jon Simmons on fiddle, mandolin and vocals. New and Used Bluegrass performs various flavors of bluegrass music, ranging from the traditional – like the Stanley Brothers “How Mountain Girls Can Love” to “Eastbound and Down” from the Smokey and the Bandit movie, to “Caravan”, a Duke Ellington tune, as well as assorted banjo and fiddle tunes and songs. They are well known locally for their excellent bluegrass pickin’.
Harvest Hoedown means fun for all ages! Music, hayrides, boat rides, local arts, and great family activities put smiles on every face. Mark your calendar, dig up your overalls, boots and hat and make your way out to Pickering Creek on October 14. We will be having fun from 11 am- 4 pm.
Click here to learn more about the Harvest Hoedown and see pictures from last years event!
