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Those who came together to create the first Waterfowl Festival in 1971 were lovers of everything the Eastern Shore had, and still has, to offer. They saw a heritage to celebrate and preserve; natural resources, waterfowl and wildlife worth conserving (before conservation was even a thing to do); and a community that cared enough to do something about it. Our name, “Waterfowl Festival,” is our history; a history of care and appreciation for our migratory ducks, geese and swans and our natural world; a history of dedication by the
people who live here.
With the hospitality that can only rise when given from the heart, every year our volunteers, partners and supporters create
our showcase. It is, and always has been, the best of the Shore and beyond — world-class art featuring wildlife and Chesapeake Bay culture, classic sporting heritage, unique historic collections of waterfowl decoys and artifacts, conservation activities and regional cuisine. All for the benefit of waterfowl-related conservation. We are so pleased you have joined us to celebrate our 50-year journey!
Join us to kick off our 50th Festival in style! You’ll be the first to view this year’s Federal Duck Stamp and meet the winning artist, while also helping us celebrate some of those who have made us who we are—our long time volunteers and 2020 and 2021 Hall of Fame inductees. Dress to impress!
ART BUYERS’ PREVIEW
5 p.m.
All Galleries Open
WILLIAM A. PERRY COCKTAIL DECOY AUCTION 7:30 p.m.
The Tidewater Inn
Win a piece of art or a miniature carving masterpiece.
Cocktail Attire—Dress to Impress
EXCLUSIVE VIP BENEFITS
Learn more about our 2021 Art Buyers Golden “ticket” and VIP art discount and access to the VIP HOSPITALITY SUITE AT THE BULLITT HOUSE. Relax between exhibits and enjoy refreshments at this historic
Easton landmark.
During Premiere Night, we will be encouraging our guests wear masks in our galleries — except of course when enjoying drinks and our delicious hors d’ouvres! To learn more about our safety precuations, click below.
Receive 8 VIP badges plus an exclusive Golden Ticket and a 10% discount on all Festival logo-wear and fine art purchases, access to the VIP Hospitality Suite and to all daytime ticketed Festival venues and events.
Receive (2) $100 Golden Ticket per badge-holder for use in art purchases on Premiere Night.
Receive 6 VIP badges plus an exclusive Golden Ticket and a 10% discount on all Festival logo-wear and fine art purchases, access to the VIP Hospitality Suite and to all daytime ticketed Festival venues and events.
Receive a $100 Golden Ticket for use in art purchases on Premiere Night.
Receive 4 VIP badges and a 10% discount on all Festival logo-wear and fine art purchases, access to the VIP Hospitality Suite and to all daytime ticketed Festival venues and events.
Receive 2 VIP badges and a 10% discount on all Festival logo-wear and fine art purchases, access to the VIP Hospitality Suite and to all daytime ticketed Festival venues and events.
Receive 1 VIP badge and a 10% discount on all Festival logo-wear and fine art purchases, access to the VIP Hospitality Suite and to all daytime ticketed Festival venues and events.
“Quick Art” pieces will be part of the fun this year! So take home a piece of art, miniature decoy or another treasure — donated by Festival artists! Purchases of miniature decoys and small artists’ works benefit our youth volunteers through the William A. Perry Scholarship Fund. Quick art pieces benefit conservation efforts. Either way, the ducklings of the future say thank you!
LaMay did a painting for the official Waterfowl Poster from 1987 until 2010 (see them all here). Once a Featured Artist was selected each year (sometimes not a painter) the Festival decided that the poster would feature that artist each year. We are indebted to him for his many years of support of the Festival!
Posters of his piece “Looking Back” for 2021 will be a signed and numbered limited edition! Only 300 will be sold and each one will be will signed and numbered.
Unframed posters will be $35 and a limited number of framed posters will be available for $135.
Waterfowl Festival is excited to announce its fourth year of connecting financial resources with environmental needs across Delmarva through its “Community in Conservation” funding program. These grants, supported by proceeds from annual Waterfowl Festival weekend, offer non-profits and community entities the chance to receive monies for projects and initiatives at the intersection of conservation and community.
“Waterfowl Festival continues to be dedicated to supporting waterfowl habitat improvement by funding regional projects, large and small,” explains Margaret Enloe, Waterfowl Chesapeake Executive Director. “This annual grant program creates opportunities for supporting healthy populations of ducks, geese and swans and increasing people’s connection and understanding of their importance in the ecosystem. And we welcome applicants from all across the Chesapeake region.”
The Community in Conservation program is unique for its three-pronged approach that recognizes the importance and interconnected roles that science, education and restoration play in the effort to restore waterfowl populations and landscapes. Waterfowl Festival hopes that the broad emphasis on “community”, which draws on the long history of its annual event by the same name, will encourage organizations to think creatively about who they can serve and will help generate new ideas to bring people and regional conservation work, research and education together. In 2019, this program supported two initiatives: 1) Increasing winter food sources for diving ducks and 2) Building relationship between graduate students in environmental fields and hunters and landowners.
Requests must align with WC’s focus areas and make the connection between the project or initiative, the community of people engaged and waterfowl-related issues.
With this focus on connecting our financial resources to local environmental needs we now support projects in these four WC priority areas:
A new tournament supporting the conservation efforts of the Waterfowl Festival, this fishing tournament is designed to raise awareness for the Festival while celebrating another part of the Eastern shore heritage. Please come help us support the Festival and its impact on the Eastern Shore way of life.
Tournament Schedule: Lines in the water at 5:30 a.m. on Friday 8/20 and lines out of the water by 3 p.m. Sunday 8/22/21
Tournament Contact: Teddy Hoover, Will White
Registration Fee: $50 per angler plus $10 per calcutta
Awards : Doc’s Sunset Grill, Oxford, MD – 4 p.m. on 8/22
Payment: Via PayPal through the app. $50 per angler. $10 per calcutta must be paid for on this site – not on the app!
Scoring Guidelines:
Prizes:
Calcutta categories:
Schedule:
Sponsored by:
$50 Registration Includes:
T-shirt
If you would like to participate in calcuttas, please pay for them on this site.
“Wind and Waves” is a bronze of two Canada geese taking flight while three Canvasback ducks look on. It features a unique, cross-section perspective that illustrates the movement of take-off and its resulting ripple effects from above and below the surface of the water. Canada geese and Canvasback ducks are two of the most beloved waterfowl species found in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
“Wind and Waves” as well as his selection as the 50th Anniversary Festival Featured Artist, represents a homecoming for sculptor Bart Walter, who began his career at the Waterfowl Festival as a wood carver at the young age of sixteen. His early work was inspired by the wildlife and landscapes of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and “Wind and Waves” is a welcome return to the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
“We could not have asked for a more beautiful and appropriate work to commemorate the 50th Waterfowl Festival,” said Kevin Greaney, Waterfowl Festival Board President. “Bart has been part of the Festival Family for many years and shares our belief that art inspires us to conserve the wildlife, habitat and heritage of the Eastern Shore. We hope that wherever ‘Wind and Waves’ finds its home, it can be enjoyed by many and be a silent ambassador for Chesapeake waterfowl, like its predecessor, Family Affair, that was created by Bart for the Festival’s 25th Anniversary in 1995.” 
“Family Affair,” a bronze sculpture of a pair of geese and their hatchlings, resides at the front of the Waterfowl Building on South Harrison Street in Easton and is a beloved part of the historic downtown’s streetscape. Taking photos with “Family Affair” has become a rite of passage and part of visitors’ annual Waterfowl Festival traditions.
“It’s the gift that keeps giving,” said Walter. “It’s always out there and always speaking to the public, years and even decades later.”
After beginning his career as a wood carver, Walter transitioned to working in bronze in the late 1980s after his work caught the attention of famed primatologist, Jane Goodall, at a chance meeting at a lecture. She commissioned Walter to make two chimpanzee sculptures that now reside at the Jane Goodall Institute in Arlington, Va.
A trained biologist, Walter prefers to sketch and sculpt in the wild and gets as close to his subjects as possible. Walter has sketched and sculpted chimpanzees and elephants in Africa, polar bears in the Arctic, penguins in the Antarctic and wild mustangs on the plains of Wyoming.
Walter’s work can be found around the world in private and public collections including the Ugandan Wildlife Authority Headquarters in Kampala, the private collection of King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, the National Zoo in Washington, DC, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin and the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming.
“Wind and Waves” will be offered for sale exclusively at the 50th Waterfowl Festival in November. It will be available in limited editions in three sizes:
44” x 72” x 21”
16” x 26.5” x 8”
11” X 18” X 5.5”
For more information about “Wind and Waves” and to inquire about purchases and editions, please contact Kathy Dawkins, Waterfowl Festival Featured Artist Co-Chair, at .
For more information about Bart Walter and his work visit here.
On Saturday, May 15, a variety of Easton-based organizations are teaming up for a spring version of Easton Community Day – An Arts & Culture Celebration. This event is a day for local residents to be together without gathering, support local businesses and enjoy some of the many things Talbot County has to offer.
The inaugural CommUNITY Day last November was so well received that there was energy for a repeat event. “All our organizations, some who participated in the fall and many that have joined us for spring, wanted collaborate again,” explains planning team lead Margaret Enloe, Executive Director of Waterfowl Chesapeake. “We all wanted come together to celebrate spring and support our community as it is today – rich in diversity, art, nature and culture.”
People can expect family and kids’ art activities (on-site and as ‘grab ‘n go’ kits), guided historic tours, educational lectures and displays, live music, free carriage rides and much more. Most activities will be outside in three Easton locations, the YMCA, the Talbot County Free Library and the Waterfowl Building/Academy Art Museum. Every organization will follow COVID-related safety protocols outlined by the State of Maryland at the time of the event.
CommUNITY Day is a collaboration across seventeen different organizations that provide a wide variety of services for our community: Avalon Foundation, Academy Art Museum, Building African American Minds, Critchlow Adkins Children’s Centers, Easton Arts District, Easton Economic Development
Today, the Talbot County Office of Economic Development and Tourism announced its annual Community Impact Awards for 2021. The Waterfowl Festival was a recipient of one of six awards presented during their annual Business Appreciation Summit, a virtual event that celebrates the strength and resiliency of area businesses.
“We are so pleased to have been recognized in this way, especially during our 50th Festival year,” says Kevin Greaney, Waterfowl Festival Board President. “Credit for the Festival’s continued success really comes from the incredible community we live in and everyone’s commitment to keeping us going. It’s the support of hundreds of volunteers, vendors and artists, the commitments from our business and corporate sponsors, and the spirit of Talbot County that makes it all work!”
The Waterfowl Festival is valuable to the County in both an economic and a cultural sense. The “Economic Impact and Quality of Life Study of the Waterfowl Festival” released this past January illustrates that the shopping, lodging and dining during the weekend by Festival visitors results in a $2.6 million economic impact for Talbot County. Almost $500,000 of that total impact comes from Waterfowl Festival itself, which focuses on spending operations dollars locally to create the annual event. All these figures are remarkable for a one-a-year, three-day festival of its size.
The study also highlights things that local residents and visitors value about the Waterfowl Festival. Most residents recognize the crucial role the Festival plays in keeping traditions alive and believe it is “very important or essential” to showcasing local culture and heritage, uniting the community toward a common goal, and igniting a sense of community pride. Visitors are incredibly dedicated guests who return year after year and who are avid promoters of all the Festival, Easton and the County have to offer.
Finally, while the Festival event may be what everyone knows, Waterfowl Chesapeake, Inc. and Waterfowl Festival, Inc., partner non-profit organizations, have invested nearly $4 million in habitat conservation, more than $1.2 million in education, and more than $26,000 in wildlife research initiatives over the past 50 years.
“It is an honor to be recognized by our County and business leaders in this way. The arts and our region’s traditions are essential to our community’s health, appeal and our way of life and the Festival is certainly woven into our history. After fifty years, I think I can say we are here to stay. Afterall, if we learned nothing else in the last year, we now know that it takes something the scale of a global pandemic to stop us from having a Waterfowl Festival. We look forward to seeing everyone for our 50th in November!”
Waterfowl Festival Board President Kevin Greaney and Executive Director Margaret Enloe in front of Bart Walters’ iconic sculpture “Family Affair”