Time to get out of the house this Saturday and meet your friends at the Deltaville Maritime Museum & Holly Point Nature Park as the last Maritime Park official event of the year takes center stage with lots of special gifts at the vendor tents and fun for the holidays.
You can bet we are going to finish up in style!
Join us Saturday, November 24 from 9am-2pm for the 13th Annual Holiday Gift Market.
Bypass the crowds at the malls and enjoy lots of great shopping and more! It all happens in the autumn setting of our waterfront and nature park.
Lots of food, gifts, exhibits and attractions.
A full slate of activities starts with Billz Bistro opening for a very special “Bistro Benedict Bloody Mary Brunch” at 8am, and the holiday gift-oriented market starting at 9am.
The Bistro turns over the hot dogs, hamburgers and BBQ to David’s Snak-Shak on the Waterfront as the “Bistro Bunchers” become the “Bistro Brunchers” and concentrate on turning out the ultimate holiday brunch from 8am-1pm for our fans. Marty will be offering all his popular SwineSkin flavors along with the new funnel cake.
The market will run until 2pm with all your favorite produce, local cheeses, honeys, breads, pastries, soaps, cookies, local meats, quilts, wooden bowls, leatherwork, jewelry, original artwork, Lions Club brooms, and antiques, all offered by local artisans.
All the vendors “under the canopies” will be bringing their best! Lots of hand-made items perfect for that special Christmas gift.
Make sure to bring the kids. Karen Minter and her intrepid volunteers will be set up in the Tea House area with games for kids of all ages and will have games or craft activities depending on the weather
The Nationally Historic Registered F.D.Crockett will be back at the dock. John England and his volunteers will be showing off not only the F.D.Crockett, but also their completed Hull 101, the museum’s first ever deadrise build.
At the new Boat Shop they also have the new “work in progress” Hull 102 which will be the prototype for a full-size deadrise scheduled to start sometime in 2019. Work is still needed to finish the new Boat Shop and Hull 102, donations needed and welcome.
Also in the Boat Shop, Director John England and his volunteers will share the space with well-known historical author, Larry Chowning, who will be offering and signing his books on the history of the Chesapeake Bay just in time for Christmas. Larry is “the” noted historian of the Chesapeake Bay and its working watermen and their vessels. He is the author of Bay histories “Chesapeake Bay Buyboats,” “Barcat Skipper,” and “Harvesting the Chesapeake,” among others. He has also written a wonderful area Civil War history, “Soldiers at the Doorstep” and several other definitive area histories.
The museum will open an hour early to let visitors check out the variety of new specialty items at the gift shop and give them a chance to view the new additions to our exhibits.
In the Pavilion for the “Bistro Brunch,” Deltaville’s own balladeer and guitarist David Moran will be playing his ever smooth classic collection of songs. As David says, “I am somewhere on the roads and rails, traveling from the Woody Guthrie 1930’s to the Jackson Browne 1970’s, with stops along the way to sing a few Hank Williams and Merle Haggard songs..”
The Rappahannock Railroaders will be running the Museums own “G” Gauge elevated model railway.
Captain Rob and the museum’s John Smith replica shallop, “Explorer,” will be in the water at the Pierwalk for the Gift Market.
At the Pierwalk there will also be creek cruises on the workboat “Only Son” on loan from the Farinholt Brothers of Chesapeake Boat Works, tours on the F.D. Crockett, the chance to try your hand at oyster tonging, and check out crab shedding tank and crabpots.
Don’t forget to bring your camera and take advantage of photo opportunities with the “Waterman’s Boots” that celebrate our “River Realm.” There is also the Museum’s “Love” sign built right in our own maintenece shop thanks to members donations and aid from the State’s “Love Works” program. It has been reported to be the largest in Virginia.
All the gardens and nature walks are manicured and open for a leisurely stroll or just bench warming. The fall colors are in. Grab a seat next to the new Turner fountain centered Pavilion courtyard, in the Gary Waterfront Pavilion, or on a bench in the Nature Trails. Watch the market unfold around you.
The museum will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 22, Thanksgiving Day as our volunteers and staff share Thanksgiving with family and friends.
