By Greg Ellison

(Aug. 5, 2021) The Calvin B. Taylor House Museum is sponsoring Peach Day in Berlin from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, with the 13th annual event again spread throughout downtown to widen the scope of the seasonal festival.

Taylor House Museum President Melissa Reid said the focus would again shift beyond the historical site’s front lawn.

“We’re really excited that the Peach Festival will be more spread out through the town this year,” she said.

That expansion was an adaptation begun last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, and it proved effective to encourage social distancing last year.

“We heard a lot of good feedback from the shopkeepers,” she said.

During Peach Day this year, the museum will sell freshly harvested fruit on its lawn for $8 by the bag or $70 per half bushel. Also, homemade peach preserves will be available for $10 and for $30 visitors can purchase a Peach Festival gift tote bag that includes historical volumes about Berlin and Worcester County and preserves.

Reid said the peach harvest extravaganza is the museum’s signature event and principal annual fundraiser.

“We really are asking people to come out and buy some peaches from us,” she said.

Berlin merchants are also part of the event’s wider footprint.

“We did a scavenger hunt [in 2020] and we’ll be doing the same thing again this year,” she said. “We’re going to have a special table set up where you get a bag with a pencil and a list of questions.”

Also included will be a map of participating Main Street businesses or establishments in the vicinity

“There is a sign on the door or in their window that’s going to have peach-related trivia questions,” she said.

Completed peach answer lists should be returned to museum officials for a prize drawing for event-related memorabilia.

“We put all the completed ones in a big bowl,” she said.

In a return to prior form, a pie-baking contest is also slated for this year’s Peach Day.

“There was sort of a buzz going around about everybody doing baking during lockdown,” she said. “So, we have brought back our peach pie baking contest.”

Reid said the pie competition was scuttled last year but looks to bounce back this Saturday.

“We’re encouraging anyone that has been spending hours perfecting a peach pie to bake [one] and bring it to the museum between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.,” she said.

All entries must include an ingredient list, with perishable creams or custards not permitted per Worcester County Health Department regulations.

Reid said prizes will be awarded to the top three finishers, with first place garnering a dinner for two at the Dunes Manor Hotel in Ocean City.

For those who would prefer to purchase, rather than prepare fresh tastes, Baked Dessert Café proprietor Robin Tomaselli will be selling peach dumplings on Main Street.

“She’s known for the Berlin signature dessert, which is her Peach dumpling,” she said.

Reid said the Baked Dessert treat would be sold in front of Una Bella Salute’s new location at 6 S. Main Street.

Musical entertainment is on tap with a performance by Peach Festival veterans the George and Pat Bilenki Duo.

In addition to the scavenger hunt encouraging attendees to peruse Main Street businesses, the event also provides an occasion to purchase carryout food from nearby restaurants.

“Get a to-go sandwich, bring it back to the lawn and listen to the Bilenki’s play,” she said.

Peach-flavored frozen treats, or “plushies,” will also be available to purchase at the museum.

“We’re going to have slushies for sale this year,” she said.

Reid said the first floor of the Taylor House Museum would be open for the public to take a limited gander at history-laden displays.

“The downstairs will be open and we hope that people, come and visit,” she said.

Although the modern-era Berlin Peach Festival was launched in this century, the inspiration traces back to an earlier times.

Reid said the event came to life after museum curator Susan Taylor unearthed evidence of a comparable celebration from over a century ago.

“She came across a photograph that the Harrison Nurseries had a Peach Festival,” she said. “Harrison Nursery played a large part in the economy of Berlin from about the 1860s up to the 1940s.”

Taylor and a team of local history buffs delved deep into news from yesteryear to learn the inaugural “Great Peach Fest” was held in July 1913 and hosted by J.G. Harrison & Sons.

News reports estimated 2,000 horticulturalists attended the festival to grab an overview of the Harrisons’ orchards and latest crop-preservation methods.

“At one point, the Harrisons were the largest mail order orchard in the world,” she said.

Reid said the orchard operations were tied to numerous past infrastructure upgrades in Berlin.

“The railway coming through Berlin was important to that because it allowed them to ship,” she said. “An ice plant was built in Berlin to produce ice to pack the fruit to keep from spoiling.”

The commerce trade also saw a basket factory spring up in Berlin to provide packing needs.

“It’s interesting how one industry then had all these other industries that took off around it,” she said.

For more information, follow the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum and Town of Berlin pages on Facebook or call the museum at 410-641-1019.