Defying cultural, historical and cognitive boundaries, Havre de Grace will combine Mexican Independence Day, its three-day Decoy Festival and its celebration of “First Fridays” into a single stream of events this weekend, titled “Cinco Duck Mayo.”
First Friday and the Decoy Festival are expected to draw a combined 6,000 visitors to the town over the weekend, and marketing them together seemed like an opportunity to boost attendance for both, said Robert Buden, president of Havre de Grace Main Street Inc. The weekend will also include a Sunday reenactment of the 1813 attack on the town by British soldiers.
Though the events fall on Cinco de Mayo, the Mexican theme doesn?t run much deeper than the title of the event. One merchant?s booth will be selling rubber ducks wearing sombreros and serapes, Buden said, and while Cinco de Mayo has become an excuse for many to drink, there will be no town-sponsored alcohol served at the event.
“We had talked about having a beer garden … but we wanted to keep it family-oriented,” Buden said. “There will still be plenty of local pubs where you can wet your whistle, though.”
In the weeks before the event, the Havre de Grace Decoy museum encouraged area vendors to create window displays with duck or decoy themes, with results ranging from absurd to educational.
“I haven?t seen any sombreros there, either,” Buden said.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Havre de Grace Decoy Festival, which brings artists, hunters and collectors together with carvings that range from utilitarian hunting tools to intricate pieces of art, said decoy museum volunteer Warren Hiss.
The decoy festival will include displays at the local high school, carving competitions, hunting-dog exercises at the museum and a live demonstration of a “battery gun” ? a five- to 10-barreled boat-mounted gun that hunters would fire into masses of ducks, said museum Special Events Coordinator Margaret Jones.
Shops around the downtown intersection of St. John and North Washington streets will stay open late during Friday?s festival, which runs from 4 to 8 p.m. An outdoor market for local farmers and craftsmen will be set up along a section of Pennington Avenue.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
» First Friday/Cinco de Mayo festivities, 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. in downtown Havre de Grace
» Decoy Festival events, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sunday at Havre de Grace High School, Havre de Grace Middle School and the Decoy Museum
» Re-enactment of British and American forces at the invasion of Havre de Grace, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Sunday at the Lock House Museum. The “invasion” will occur at 12:30 p.m. each day.
msantoni@baltimoreexaminer
