$100 for the 1st Place Winner!

(MILFORD, DE) – APRIL 10, 2017 – Downtown Milford, Inc. and the City of Milford Parks and Recreation Department are pleased to announce that the Pizza Eating Contest sponsored by La Ortolana Pizza Restaurant will be held at the 14th Annual Bug & Bud Festival on Saturday, April 29, 2017 in downtown Milford. The Pizza Eating Contest will take place at 1:30 pm on the grassy area along the Riverwalk between the Milford Library Amphitheatre and Walnut Street. Only a maximum of ten contestants will be selected. The top three contestants will win gift certificates for free pizza and a large bottle of soda courtesy of La Ortolana Pizza Restaurant and the first place winner will also receive $100! If you are 18 years or older and think you’ve got what it takes to eat a large cheese pizza quicker than anyone else, make sure to complete an entry form on location by 12:30 pm and arrive at the event booth by 1:00 pm. RAIN or SHINE, the Pizza Eating Contest sponsored by La Ortolana Restaurant is one of many great activities to take place at the 14th Annual Bug and Bud Festival on Saturday, April 29, 2017 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm in downtown Milford’s historic commercial district. For more information about the Pizza Eating Contest sponsored by La Ortolana Pizza Restaurant, contact Bug & Bud Festival planning committee member Don Abrutyn at 302-744-8069. Downtown Milford Inc. is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization continually promoting quality civic, commercial, and cultural development of the historic central business district, which is the heart of community life in Milford, Delaware.

Cat & Mouse Press and Browseabout Books are teaming up for a “Can’t Wait for Summer” beach party April 29, 11 a.m. -2 p.m, at Browseabout Books, 133 Rehoboth Avenue, Rehoboth Beach, DE. The event will include beach music, hot dogs, wine, prizes, and a celebration and signing party for Beach Nights, the 2016 Rehoboth Beach Reads book that won four Delaware Press Association awards. Authors Lynnette Adair and Rich Barnett will also be on hand to sign their award-winning books. During the event, all Cat & Mouse Press books will be discounted 20 percent.

Author Lynnette Adair is adding to the fun at the Can’t Wait for Summer Party by offering a special treat for purchasers of The Sea Sprite Inn, her novel about a Rehoboth Beach innkeeper that is getting rave reviews. She has prepared grab bags that each contain a mystery gift. The grab bags are free with the purchase of her book and contain prizes of varying value. One lucky recipient will grab a $50 gift certificate for Browseabout Books.

A number of the authors from Beach Nights, the anthology of winning stories from the popular Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story Contest, will be available to sign their stories from 1-2 p.m. during the event. The book recently won first place awards from Delaware Press Association for short story collection (multiple authors) and book editing, and two authors in the book placed in the category of single short story: Kathleen Martens, who received a first-place award for her story “Flight of the Songbird,” and Rich Barnett, who received second-place for “Cooking Lard and Candle Wax.”

Rich Barnett, author of Fun with Dick and James, a raucous romp set in Rehoboth, will be available to sign his book, which received a first-place award in the category of short story collection by a single author. The stories feature Dick Hunter, a Delaware blue blood who would be perfectly happy to spend his days writing obscure historical biographies, taking naps, and lying on the beach who seems to find himself in one jam after another. Fortunately, his young boyfriend, James Flores, is a natural problem-solver, even though his methods aren’t always by the book.

Weather permitting, the Can’t Wait for Summer Party will take place in the outdoor space near the entrance to Browseabout. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the event will be held in the store’s party room at the rear of the store. For more information, go to the Cat & Mouse Press website: www.catandmousepress.com.

https://coastaldelaware.com/2017/04/11/950/

The 2017 Delmarva Birding Weekend invites hundreds of nature enthusiasts to the shore to explore the bays and ocean by boat for seals, waterfowl and shorebirds April 27-30. Registration for the popular event is now open at www.delmarvabirding.com. While the 4-day event offers lots of great hiking trips, boats remain an easy and relaxing way to see wildlife. For non-paddlers, the Weekend offers a seal- and gannet-laden trip that leaves from Fisherman’s Wharf in Lewes on Friday, April 28 at 2 p.m. There is also a chance to see whales on this trip. 

On Saturday, April 29, the Assateague (Shorebird) Explorer departs at 2 p.m. from Ocean City to explore the coastal bays behind Assateague. Eagles, loons and sometimes seals and piping plovers can be seen on this trip. Popular pontoon rides are also offered on the eagle-rich lower Pocomoke River and at Trap Pond where an owl prowl takes place Saturday at 6 p.m. For the adventurous lot, the Birding Weekend offer a full day trip on Saturday to the world-famous Smith Island replete with homemade Smith Island cake and fresh caught crab cakes. The trip to the isolated village sneaks rare glimpses at the secluded Martin National Wildlife Refuge as the boat slinks by. 

Paddling enthusiasts can choose from eight offerings including a soothing sojourn from the James Farm along Indian River Bay Thursday morning to both evening and morning paddles on Ayres and Trappe creeks on Fridayand Sunday. A Trails to Rails trip slips along the saltmarsh trails in Rehoboth Bay on Friday morning and the warbler-filled Pocomoke and Nassawango kayak trips through expansive bald cypress swamp are again offered Saturday and Sunday mornings.       

Walkers and hikers can get an early start to the weekend with shorebirds along the Delaware Bayshore at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge and the Mispillion Harbor or stroll along a private farm near Assateague. On Friday, you can start your morning at Redden State Forest and follow it up with a shorebird spectacle at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in the afternoon.

 On Saturday, folks can traverse the beautiful wilderness at the landings of Maryland’s Chincoteague Bay and slip into the marsh for the Night Birds trip surrounding 11,000 acres of protected land. On Sunday morning nature lovers who prefer walking can choose the Warblermania trip nestled in the depths of the Pocomoke cypress swamp or hike through fields, ponds, forest and saltmarsh on the celebrated Newport Farms Diversity Walk. 

Several field trips regularly sell out, so interested birders are encouraged to register soon.

Guided by local birders with decades-long experience on the peninsula, the walking tours, boat trips, and canoe and kayak paddles will accommodate visitors from the curious nature lover to fowl fanatics. Every year, birdwatchers from surrounding states flock to the event. 

“This is one of our biggest nature-oriented weekends,” said Lisa Challenger, Tourism Director for Worcester County, Maryland. “People go crazy over the number of eagles and herons, but they will see a lot more than that birding with our guides around Assateague Island and our cypress swamps near Snow Hill.”

Boasting patient and fun-loving guides, new trips will feature jaunts around Laurel, Delaware, normally inaccessible private lands, and Maryland’s Chincoteague Bay through some of the most pristine habitats on the East Coast.

“The April weekend is spectacular,” said Southern Delaware Tourism Director Scott Thomas. “Imagine hiking a trail at Trap Pond to be met with one of the most beautiful yellows you’ve ever seen… in the form of a prothonotary warbler. Or spend a Friday afternoon at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge or boating around Lewes and the Delaware Bay, followed by happy hour in Rehoboth. That’s what the weekend is all about.”

Social events for new and experienced birders are scheduled throughout the weekend. These “Tally Rallies” are held at local breweries, bars, and restaurants, and allow participants to add to the species checklist and swap birding stories with new friends. Indeed participants recount the event in terms of experiences rather than simply observing birds – a majestic Bald Eagle soaring over the marsh, a loon in breeding plumage catching fish, or the eerie hoot and shadow of a barred owl at dusk. An outdoor experience is the true draw.

The Delmarva Peninsula is one of the country’s premier birding areas, thanks to an extensive variety of habitat protected by our coastal parks, refuges and wildlife management areas. More than 400 bird species have been recorded in the region and previous Weekend tallies have topped 200 species. If boasting that many species isn’t enough, participants should feel even better knowing that they’ve helped Delmarva’s birds by promoting birding and habitat conservation. Birders, both novice and experienced, make an important statement about the economic value of birds and their habitats through the money they spend in local hotels, restaurants, and shops. Participants are encouraged to remind local businesses that they are here to enjoy Delmarva’s natural areas and the birds that inhabit them. This is important now more than ever. 

“It’s our vast shallow bays and large tracts of protected marshes and bald cypress forests that make the Delmarva Peninsula one of the finest birding regions in the nation,” said guide and organizer Jim Rapp.  “During the Weekend, our guests will hike on private farmland and woodland that are normally off-limits to birders, and our waterborne trips go where the birds are.”

Co-organizer Dave Wilson added that few of our trips were physically taxing and that the event provides a rare opportunity to tally 100 species in a day in places that are normally inaccessible to the public.

Sponsors for the events include Worcester County Tourism, Southern Delaware Tourism, the Boardwalk Hotel Group, the Howard Johnson’s Oceanfront Plaza Hotel, Days Inn Ocean City, Jolly Roger Amusement Parks, the Delmarva Almanac, the Town of Snow Hill, the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, Somerset County (MD) Tourism, Coupons.com, Delmarva Board Sport Adventures, and Renewable Energy Corporation. Additional sponsor and registration information, field trip descriptions and other resources for Delmarva Birding are available at www.delmarvabirding.com. To become a sponsor or for additional information, contact Jim Rapp (443-614-0261) or Dave Wilson (443-523-2201) at Conservation Community Consulting at conservationcc@gmail.com.

Downtown Milford, Inc. is pleased to announce that it will be holding a new Easter Flower Sale this year on the grounds of the beautiful Causey Mansion, 2 Causey Avenue, in downtown Milford. This inaugural event will be held starting on Good Friday, April 14 th from 10 am to 4 pm and Saturday, April 15 th from 10 am to 4 pm.

Bring your family to the Mansion to stroll and shop for your Easter flowers. The following types of flowers will be available: azaleas, tulips, daffodils, muscari, haycinth, hydrangea and lillies. Plants can also be pre-ordered by visiting the DMI office or visiting the DMI website and completing a pre-order form.

This fundraiser will support the work the Design Committee of DMI, particularly in support of the annual Milford in Bloom, the committee effort that is responsible for planting the gorgeous flowers throughout the downtown area each May.

According to committee chair Milly Pederson, “Our plant sale is a wonderful opportunity for the community to support our ongoing Milford in Bloom projects, as well as buying quality plants for your home and garden.”

To volunteer for a variety of activities or for more information on any upcoming events, contact DMI at 302-839-1180 or visit the event on DMI’s Facebook page.DMI is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization continually promoting quality civic, commercial, and cultural development of the historic central business district, which is the heart of community life in Milford, Delaware.  Funds raised from DMI events throughout the year, support its mission of promoting economic development in Downtown Milford.