As one would expect since I’m a member of the Wicomico County Republican Club, I was at their Crab Feast yesterday. And also as one would expect since I do monoblogue, I took some pictures. First of all, it was pretty obvious for those driving along Schumaker Drive who was renting the pavilion.
The weather didn’t start out too well, when I arrived it was pouring down rain – this seems to be usual for an outdoor GOP event. But about an hour into the picnic the skies brightened and by the end it was a gorgeous sunny afternoon. The rain didn’t stop the crowd from showing up, that’s for sure.
And as always at these events, we had the silent auction tables going. I put in a couple bids for the guitar pictured at left. Otherwise, the timing of this was bad for me – I’m trying to make myself have LESS stuff to move not more!! The auction did reasonably well; I didn’t tally it up as they went but the club made several hundred dollars from it. I think the largest dollar item (a years’ membership at the midshore Y) went for $175.
After enough time had passed for most of the patrons to partake of some of Maryland’s finest homecaught fare, party chair Dr. John Bartkovich introduced many of the politicians in attendance. Now they each were supposed to take 30 seconds, I don’t think one of them actually took that little time. But it was over in about 20 minutes or so.
District 38B Delegate candidates Bonnie Luna and Michael James (pictured speaking above and below) were among those. In the above picture from left to right is incoming Central Committee member Dave Parker, District 38 State Senator J. Lowell Stoltzfus, District 37 State Senator Rich Colburn (in the pink shirt, obscured by Sen. Stoltzfus), James, House of Delegates District 38A Delegate Page Elmore, Dr. Bartkovich, Mary Beth Carozzo (representing Governor Ehrlich’s office), Wicomico County District 3 Councilwoman Gail Bartkovich (in the background), and Luna.
We also heard from the local Wicomico County hopefuls, including two of our highest priority ones (from left), James Gillespie (Clerk of the Courts) and Mike Lewis (Sheriff).
We didn’t hear from Ron Alessi, though, and I know he was present for at least some amount of time because he and I exchanged greetings. In fact, I really didn’t see too many of the unsuccessful candidates, either. But I did get to talk to most of the remaining ones, including introducing myself to District 5 hopeful Joe Holloway, who I hadn’t met previously. Soon I’ll be a resident of his district.
Among those making remarks that I didn’t photograph was Orphans Court Judge aspirant George Ossman, who had an interesting companion. He made a plug for one of his Democrat opponents, Melissa Pollitt Bright, who does deserve credit for being bipartisan and hanging out with the Republicans for an afternoon. (Who knows, maybe she’ll come over to the dark side after all is said and done like Hunter Nelms did.) The only problem I have with that theory is because the D’s hold the registration advantage, loyal D’s will vote for all three of theirs and we don’t need to add to one’s total. But vote as you wish, I’m just making an observation and we do appreciate Judge Pollitt Bright for supporting our club yesterday.
I have one other item that definitely deserves comment. I’m not a Maryland native so eating crab doesn’t come to me second nature, nor do I like seafood all that much anyhow. But I do know corn, and I really wish I’d been paying attention when they thanked some of the farms who supplied the corn and tomatoes (for the burgers that were also on the menu) because whoever brought the corn on the cob brought some seriously Grade A stuff like I haven’t had in many moons. THAT was awesome sweet corn, a little butter and pepper and man was that good. Seeing it in the “cooler” that was serving as a warmer make me think that all we needed was some good kielbasa, potatoes, and cabbage, and voila! hobo dinner. (That’s the Polish roots in me.)
Next week I’ll be at a similar event, the Stoltzfus “picnic” (can an indoor event be a picnic?) at the Civic Center. (We may as well use it for something, Lord knows we can’t get good concerts there!) Our honored guest that afternoon will be Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. I’ll have my camera along again although I won’t vouch for how well indoor pictures come out. It reminds me that tonight will be the return of my Election Calendar, so I’ll peruse the websites for nuggets and see whose mailing lists I need to get on to be notified of events upcoming on the lower Eastern Shore.
