Kent County Arts and Entertainment - May 2012

Kent County has been recognized by the Maryland State Arts Council as one of the significant arts communities in the state. With this in mind, we have designed the Arts & Entertainment site to provide you with information on what the county has to offer in relation to its arts, entertainment, and cultural heritage. Hopefully, this will help you plan a fun-filled stay, enabling you to take full advantage of places to go and people to see. For more information, call the Kent County Tourism Development Office at 410-778-0416 or email tourism@kentcounty.com.

For other events throughout the county, please click here.
Click here to add, modify or delete an event.

  • Garden Puppet Theatre Mini-Museum Exhibit
  • Tuesday, May 1   |  Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm, Sat-Sun: 10am-2pm
  • This event runs May 1-June 31
  • Location: Kent County Visitor Center, 122 N. Cross St. Chestertown
  • Contact: Patsy Hornaday
  • Phone: 410-778-5841
  • Email: tph203@verizon.net
  • URL:
  • Ongoing exhibit throughout the year. Promoting the arts of puppetry and gardening in Kent County, and the Martha Washington garden at the Visitor Center located in Chestertown, at Cross & Maple Streets.
  • Max's Mainstay All-Stars Reunion
  • Thursday, May 3   |  7:30pm
  • Location: The Mainstay, 5753 Main Street, Rock Hall, MD
  • Contact: The Mainstay
  • Phone: 410-639-9133
  • Email:
  • URL: www.mainstayrockhall.org
  • An All-Star evening of jazz standards as Max's Mainstay All-Stars reunite for an evening of spontaneous, highly improvisational jazz continuing the Café Mainstay series founded by the late Max Corzilius. Featuring Chuck Redd, vibes and drums; Robert Redd, piano; John Doughten, sax and clarinet; Steve Abshire guitar & Tom Anthony, bass; who will be joined by vocalist Sue Matthews and pianist Dick Durham. Call for reservations. Admission is $15.
  • Chestertown's 1st Fridays
  • Friday, May 4   |  5-8pm
  • Location: Downtown Chestertown
  • Contact:
  • Phone:
  • Email:
  • URL: www.kentcounty.com/artsentertainment
  • Meander the red-brick, tree-lined sidewalks of Historic Chestertown, while enjoying extended shop hours and arts and entertainment throughout Downtown. For a list of activities, please check this calendar for specific listings.
  • Zerbini Family Circus
  • Friday, May 4   |  5pm & 7pm
  • Location: Rock Hall Civic Center
  • Contact:
  • Phone: 410-639-7659
  • Email:
  • URL:
  • Sponsored by the Rock Hall Lions Club, the Zerbini Family Circus is a funfilled family event.
  • Featuring our new artist: Jim Rehak
  • Friday, May 4   |  Opening Reception; 5-8pm
  • Location: The Artists' Gallery at 239 High Street Chestertown
  • Contact: The Artists' Gallery
  • Phone: 410-778-2425
  • Email:
  • URL:
  • Jim is from Delaware. He paints realistic oil landscapes of his surroundings as well as being a court sketcher. He will be doing profile sketches of guests who wish them on opening night. His show will hang through June 30, 2012
  • Celebrate Chestertown!
  • Friday, May 4   |  5-8pm
  • Location: Artworks, 306 Park Row, Chestertown
  • Contact: Artworks
  • Phone: 410-778-6300
  • Email: artworkschestertown@verizon.net
  • URL: www.artworkschestertown.org
  • Returning to Artworks Gallery, this open show invites artists to share their representations of the vibrant, richly colored places, events and people that make Chestertown worth celebrating. Thru May 26, 2012
  • "Annual Juried Art Show" Art Show
  • Friday, May 4   |  5-8pm
  • This event runs May 4 to May 27
  • Location: Chestertown Arts League
  • Contact: Chestertown Arts League
  • Phone: 410-778-5789
  • Email: artsleague@verizon.net
  • URL: www.chestertownartsleague.org
  • The Annual Juried Art Show opens on First Friday, May 4 from 5 to 8 pm. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winners in multiple categories.
  • Gershwin on the Fly
  • Sunday, May 6   |  4-6pm
  • Location: The Mainstay, 5753 Main St., Rock Hall
  • Contact: Homeports, Ms. Karen Wright
  • Phone: 443-480-0940
  • Email: nfo@homeports.org
  • URL: www.homeports.org
  • Join local musicians Joe Holt on piano and Tom Anthony on bass for a celebration of a fabulous by-gone era in American music. This event supports the Scholarship Program of HomePorts, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help Kent County senior citizens live comfortably and independently in their own homes by providing practical and meaningful solutions for everyday needs. The cost of this gala event, which will feature a cocktail buffet, is $50 per person. Proceeds will give some of Kent County's most vulnerable senior citizens free access to the benefits of HomePorts.
  • Live Playwright's Society
  • Monday, May 7   |  7:30pm
  • Location: The Garfield Center For the Arts ar the Prince Theatre
  • Contact:
  • Phone: 410-810-2060
  • Email: boxoffice@garfieldcenter.org
  • URL: www.liveplaywrightssociety.org/
  • Join us on the first Monday of every month at the Garfield as we support our local play writers. All all welcome, whether you are a writer, reader, critic, or observer.
  • Ramblin' Jack Elliott
  • Thursday, May 10   |  7:30pm
  • Location: The Mainstay, 5753 Main Street, Rock Hall, MD
  • Contact: The Mainstay
  • Phone: 410-639-9133
  • Email:
  • URL: www.mainstayrockhall.org
  • Ramblin' Jack traveled with Woody Guthrie in the 50s, influenced Bob Dylan in the 60s, and has travelled ever since, singing American folk songs, cowboy songs, blues, and more. He's won Grammies for Best Traditional Folk and Best Traditional Blues. His National Medal of the Arts citation said, "In giving new life to our most valuable musical traditions, Ramblin' Jack has himself become an American treasure."
    Call for reservations. Admission is $20
  • Galena Dogwood Festival
  • Saturday, May 12   |  9am-5pm
  • Location: Galena
  • Contact: Don Othoson
  • Phone: 410-708-8314
  • Email: donaldo2@verizon.net
  • URL: www.galenamd.com/dogwoodfestival/index.html
  • The annual Galena Dogwood Festival is set for Saturday, May 12, 2012. Hours are 9am to 5pm. Parade at 10:00 A.M. The parade has many new attractions. There will be a Baby Contest, Crafts, Demonstrations, Exhibits and an Amusement Park. Family Oriented Magic, Mime, Story Telling, Song and Dance, Juggling and ‘Monkey Business’. Plenty of Eastern Shore Food. From the North County Branch of the Library storybook characters will jump out of books to walk in the parade. Uncle Pete’s “Got To Be Kidding” is back to rock the crowd at the library with music, song and dance.
  • Second Saturdays in Galena
  • Saturday, May 12   |  5-9pm
  • Location: North Main Street Business District in Galena
  • Contact: John Carroll
  • Phone: 410-708-0247
  • Email: john@villageagents.com
  • URL: srbcinc.org
  • Sponsored by The Sassafras River Business Council. Shops and Businesses in Galena will be open, offering refreshments and special promotions. Bring chairs and enjoy a live music performance next to Scoop de Ville Ice Cream Shop.
  • Véronneau: The Jazz Samba Project
  • Saturday, May 12   |  8pm
  • Location: The Mainstay, 5753 Main Street, Rock Hall, MD
  • Contact: The Mainstay
  • Phone: 410-639-9133
  • Email:
  • URL: www.mainstayrockhall.org
  • French Canadian vocalist Lynn Véronneau has a warm, compelling voice, love of powerful melodies, sophisticated phrasing and heartfelt focus on the story. Her quartet has a sparkling jazz-pop sound with elements of bossa nova, samba, swing and gypsy jazz. This is a pre-release celebration of their new samba and bossa nova recording 'The Jazz Samba Project'.
    Call for reservations. Admission is $15.
  • Spring Jazz Concert
  • Saturday, May 12   |  7-10:30pm
  • Location: The Garfield For The Arts At The Prince Theatre
  • Contact: Larry Wilson
  • Phone: 443-623-9523
  • Email: lrwillie52@live.com
  • URL:
  • Come and enjoy a night of jazz featuring "The Bratcher Project". Tickets on sale now $12.00 per person.
    Sponsors: Larry Wilson, in part with the Kent County Arts Council.
  • Band Concert by Eastern Shore Wind Ensemble
  • Sunday, May 20   |  4pm
  • Location: Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Cross & High Streets, Chestertown
  • Contact:
  • Phone: 410-778-2829 or 410-810-1
  • Email:
  • URL:
  • This free band concert's theme will be "Rhythms of Life." The ensemble is an all-ages community concert band under the direction of Dr. Keith Wharton. New members are always welcome, without audition or fee. Call for more information about joining.
  • Chestertown Tea Party Festival
  • Friday, May 25   |  10am–7pm
  • This event runs May 25–27, 2012
  • Location: Chestertown, Md.
  • Contact: Bill Arrowood
  • Phone:
  • Email: pr@chestertownteaparty.com
  • URL: www.chestertownteaparty.com
  • Once again the gem of the Eastern Shore opens its doors and welcomes celebrants to its annual Tea Party Festival. In an era that has seen so many radical tea party‚ political movements, the historic pageant in the tiny hamlet stands apart as a genuine slice of Americana, whose only aspiration is to remind its community of its storied past and celebrate being good neighbors.
    In response to British Parliament's closing of the port of Boston, the citizens of Chestertown, met in May of 1774 and set forth "Resolves" forbidding importing, selling, or consuming tea, according to local legend, residents then gathered at the town center, marched down High Street to the brigantine Geddes, and tossed her cargo of tea overboard. The Saturday reenactment of that patriotic act is the centerpiece of the celebration. Beginning in 1975 and continuing each Memorial Day Weekend since, the festival has blossomed from a small local event to a major regional draw.
    A parade down main street, a classic distance run for early risers, an amazingly creative raft race, live demonstrations of colonial life, a dramatic historic reenactment, over 100 vendors of colonial craftsmanship and local musicians and food galore are all among the reasons that crowds are regularly estimated between 7,000-10,000 people attending the three day event. Now in its 36th continuous year, recent new additions include, tours onboard the Schooner Sultana, regional wine tastings, tossing of local celebrity (Tories‚ into the river and historic colonial theater at the newly refurbished Prince Theatre. 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.
    All Festival events take place along the Chester River and in the historic district of 18th-century Chestertown, MD. There is no admission charge to the Festival.
  • Chester River Chorale Concert-"Independence Forever!"
  • Friday, May 25   |  8pm
  • Location: Garfield Center for the Arts at Prince Theatre
  • Contact: John Ames
  • Phone: 410-810-1438
  • Email:
  • URL: www.chesterriverchorale.org
  • The Chester River Chorale inaugurates the annual Chestertown Tea Party weekend with ìIndependence Forever!,î a concert celebrating the blessings of liberty in song. Accompanied by fife and drum, with special appearances by noted American patriot, Samuel Adams, and local song stylist, Karen Somerville, the 85-voice Chorale will perform music of our national heritage: patriotic classics, protest songs, political satire, and a memorial to those who have fallen in service to our country.
  • The Honey Dewdrops
  • Saturday, May 26   |  8pm
  • Location: The Mainstay, 5753 Main Street, Rock Hall, MD
  • Contact: The Mainstay
  • Phone: 410-639-9133
  • Email:
  • URL: www.mainstayrockhall.org
  • The Honey Dewdrops write and sing with the inspiration of folk and old country music ñ high lonesome duet harmonies and tight instrumentation - crafting new songs from the southern mountains that ring with originality. Their glorious pitch-perfect harmonies, rock-solid runs on guitar and mandolin, affable stage charisma and their devotion to their craft and to each other create an undeniable magic on stage.
    Call for reservations. Admission is $15.
  • Open Mic Night
  • Wednesday, May 30   |  7:30pm
  • Location: The Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre
  • Contact: Ford Schumann
  • Phone:
  • Email: ford01@aol.com
  • URL: www.garfieldcenter.org
  • Open Mic Night is priceless, so please join us. Contact Ford Schumann for more information or to reserve a spot.