Maryland Local Custom Tips by grandmaR Top 5 Page for this destination

Fireman's Carnivals, County Fairs & the State Fair

Each of our county volunteer fire departments has a fair once a year in the summer to raise funds for equipment and buildings that lasts a week and has rides and food.

Each county also has a fair. Ours includes 4-H competitions, a horse show, horse pulling, a parade, and of course rides and food. Our fair is the third week in September, Friday is the day all the school kids get off to go for free.

The 4-H horse show winners of the county fair then go to the following year State Fair which is held over Labor Day. The State Fair also has horse racing.

Maryland also has many other fairs. Our largest fair is the Oyster Festival which is the third weekend in October. Both the Oyster Festival and the County Fair are held at the Fairgrounds which are south of Leonardtown.

The Maryland calendar lists the events by the month. Some of them are:

Event Date Event Name
APRIL 8 St. Mary's College of Maryland World Carnival
APRIL 15 My Lady's Manor Steeplechase Races and Champagne Reception
APRIL 17-MAY 7 Volvo Ocean Race Chesapeake Bay Stopover
APRIL 22-23 Baltimore in the Civil War Weekend
APRIL 23 Cavalcade of Trolleys
APRIL 27-30 18th-Century Market Fair
APRIL 28-30 MD International Kite Festival
APRIL 28-30 Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition
APRIL 29 Nanticoke River Shad Festival

AUGUST 26 to OCTOBER 21-22 Maryland Renaissance Festival (weekends)
OCTOBER 5-9 United States Sailboat Show
OCTOBER 6-7 Blessing of the Fleet, 39th Annual
OCTOBER 7-8 Riverside Winefest at Sotterley
OCTOBER 7-8 Patuxent River Appreciation Days Festival
OCTOBER 7-8 Ocean City Fly In
OCTOBER 13-14 Official Maryland State Banjo, Fiddle and Mandolin Championship
OCTOBER 14 Patuxent Wildlife Festival
OCTOBER 14-15 Southern Maryland Farm Life Festival
OCTOBER 15 Swanfest
OCTOBER 19-21 The Russian Festival
OCTOBER 21-22 Olde Princess Anne Days & 1812 Heritage Festival
OCTOBER 21 Grand Militia Muster
OCTOBER 21 Tilghman Island Day Festival
OCTOBER 21-22 St. Mary's County Oyster Festival

Phone: 1-866-MDWelcome

Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham

It used to be that you could only get Key Lime pie in the Florida Keys. Now, it is ubiquitous. But St. Mary's County Stuffed Ham is still a strictly local food - unknown outside of southern Maryland.

Stuffed ham came about when some thrifty cook decided to stuff some greens in the cavity that was left when the ham bone was removed from a ham hock. The greens - usually kale - are chopped and mixed with spices, and then the stuffed ham is cooked. After it is cooked, when it is sliced, there is a center of greens in each slice.

Bob doesn't like ham much, and he doesn't like kale either. But I do. I only get stuffed home once a year at the Oyster Festival. I usually buy two sandwiches and eat one at the Festival and take the other one home for lunch. This year they also had stuffed ham soup. I bought some extra for out of town guests that were visiting so that they could taste it.

This is one recipe. There is another at the website below.

Southern Maryland Stuffed Ham

(Per 12 pounds)

* Fresh corned ham, boned
(If not boned, the ham will need to be slotted for stuffing)
* 3 lbs. kale
* 2 lbs. watercress (if not available, use kale)
* 4 to 5 lbs. cabbage, diced
* 2 tablespoons mustard seed
* 2 tablespoons red pepper
* Less than 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
* Less than 1 teaspoon salt
* Less than 1 teaspoon pepper
* Less than 1 tablespoon peppercorns
* 1 stalk celery, diced
* 1 tablespoon celery seed
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (optional)
* 1 tablespoon mustard (optional)
* 1 large onion, dices, or 4 bunches spring onions

Cook greens until cooked down. Add spices and thoroughly mix with greens. Stuff ham with greens; make additional slots in the ham for additional stuffing. Wrap and tie in cheesecloth. Cover ham with water. Boil for 20 minutes per pound. Let cool in water before removing.

Joanne Smith
Southern Maryland Council Telephone Pioneers Cookbook

Website: http://www.foodtv.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_18402,00.html

Maryland Lottery

There's very little gambling in Maryalnd - except for the lottery and the racetrack. But I'm not a gambler in any way shape or form, and I have not played the Maryland Lottery. I don't really know how it works

The Maryland Lottery site says:
Maryland Lottery tickets are bearer instruments. For your protection, sign the back of your ticket. Play slips are not valid receipts. The Maryland Lottery is not responsible for lost, stolen, altered, mutilated, or destroyed tickets. The purchaser of the ticket has sole responsibility for checking the accuracy of the data printed on tickets before leaving the retailer location. Corrections or cancellations must be made at the time of purchase. A further listing of the Maryland Lottery Rules and Regulations is contained in the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR), Title 14, Independent Agencies. The Maryland Lottery statute is contained in the Maryland State Government Article, Section 9-101-et seq. of the Annotated Code of Maryland.

Players must be 18 years of age or older to play or cash tickets. Tickets may not be sold to persons under 18 years of age.

LOTTO: Drawings every Wednesday and Saturday night.

PICK 3, PICK 4: Midday and Evening Drawings Monday through Sunday.

BONUS MATCH 5: Evening Drawings seven nights a week.

MEGA MILLIONS: Drawings every Tuesday and Friday nights.

SCRATCH-OFF GAMES: Play and win anytime of day every day! Many Lottery Retailers are open 24 hours.

Phone: (410) 230-8800

Website: http://www.mdlottery.com/

Flagpole Finial

When the United States flag is flown, there should be an eagle at the top of the flagpole. When the Maryland flag is flown, the top of the flagpole should be a cross bottony

Cross bottony (Her.), a cross having each arm terminating in three rounded lobes, forming a sort of trefoil. The Crossland arms are quarterly, argent (silver) and gules (red), and a cross bottony counterchanged. In flags the color silver is represented by white. The Crossland arms are the red and white quarters of the Maryland flag.

Article 60A, Chapter 862, Acts of 1945, Annotated Code of Maryland reads, "If any ornament is affixed to the top of a flagstaff carrying the Flag of Maryland, it shall be a gold cross bottony." The adjective is usually spelled either "botone" or "botony," but as the form in the law is "bottony," that spelling becomes correct and legal in Maryland.

Eat Hard Crabs

In order to experience Maryland Seafood, you have to have hard crabs. One of the crab houses in Mechanicsville has the directions on the place mat. You can read them for yourself.

Which Way is Up?

It's really easy to get the flag upside-down with the red and white section at the top. (But if you do, probably no one will notice.) If you don't have a flag with the flagpole side indicated it would also be easy to fly it backwards

Just as the American flag should be flown on a flagpole topped by an eagle, Maryland flags should be flown on a flagpole topped with a gold cross bottony. A cross bottony is the cross with the cloverleaf ends.

The flag is a combination of the family crest of George Calvert (the black and gold parts) and his mother's family (the Crosslands) crest. The flag was not made official until after the Civil War.

Raising Tobacco

Tobacco is a big cash crop in southern Maryland. In the spring, the plants are raised in seed beds. Then they are set out by people who ride on the back of a planter (which is a machine with seats down almost on the ground that is pulled by a team of horses or by a tractor) - they feed the plants into the machine which sticks them in the ground and squirts water and fertilizer into the ground with the seedling.

Then in the fall (right about the time school starts) the tobacco is harvested and strung on poles like bunches of bananas and then hung in a barn to cure. The barns are traditionally like this one. They are unpainted because paint would taint the tobacco taste, and they have vent boards along the sides that can be raised in good weather to help the tobacco cure.

In the winter when the tobacco is dried, it is stripped and bundled and then taken to the warehouse where the tobacco buyers come and bid on it.