(July 30, 2015) Although the event is just seven years old, the annual Berlin Peach Festival is steeped in tradition, as it celebrates one the first industries to put the town on the map.
The historical arm of the event largely centers on J.G. Harrison & Son Nursery, which dates back to the late 1800s.
“Harrison Nursery was one of the largest nurseries in the country,” said Susan Taylor, curator of the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum. “They developed many varieties of peaches and other fruits, and the festival was meant to celebrate that heritage.”
This year’s festival will be held on Saturday on the museum lawn at 208 North Main Street from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Admission is free, and off-site parking is available at Berlin Intermediate School, with shuttles to and from the festival.
The event will include displays, demonstrations and sales tables, as well as a number of food vendors specializing in peach dishes, including fresh peaches provided by several regional growers.
The vendor list includes Adcock Art Studio, Bogan Pottery, Bungalow Love (terrariums), Dasia Doodles (caricatures), debidean (jewelry), Laura Ellison (jewelry), Historic St. Martin’s Church (museum items), Little Miss Lovely Floral Design, Love Byrd Soaps, Patricia Rouch (American Girl Doll clothes), Angela Rocco (photography and jewelry), St. Martin’s Community Church, Seadrift Sculptures, and Dana Tull (creatively bent silverware and jewelry).  
Linda Davis’ baskets and quilted goods, Ocean Breeze Alpacas and Wes Townsend’s Back Street Apiary will provide demonstrations.
Food vendors will include the Arcadia Questers, Baked Dessert Café & Gallery, the Berlin Coffee House, the Berlin Lions and Lionesses, Buckingham Presbyterian Church, Chesapeake Bay Farms Creamery, Stevenson United Methodist Church and the Worcester County Developmental Center.
Additionally, the Harrison Family and Main Street Berlin will offer information booths.
Berlin Mayor Gee Williams, along with the 2014 Little Miss and Little Mister Berlin Peach, will open the festival.
Children’s activities will start at 11:30 a.m. with old-fashioned ice cream making. Face painting, photo cutouts and temporary peach tattoos will also be available.
Juggler by Cascading Carlos and Mickey Justice, with a children’s violin/fiddle ensemble, will provide live entertainment.
Other activities scheduled are a pie-baking contest, two pie-eating contests and a guess-the-amount container of peach pits.
Visitors may also buy raffle tickets from the Berlin Heritage Foundation for a basket filled with prizes worth more than $250, and the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum will be open for tours of the historic 1832 house, as well as of the upstairs exhibition “Images of the Past.”  
“It’s a great event for the town,” Taylor said. “It brings a lot of people into the museum and the whole town and it’s a wonderful afternoon full of family fun.”
The Berlin Heritage Foundation sponsors Peach Festival, with funding provided in part by the Worcester County Arts Council, Maryland State Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
A rain date is set for Sunday, Aug. 2.
For more information, contact Taylor at 410-641-1019, or email attaylorhousemuseum@verizon.net.