ShoreRivers, Oyster Recovery Partnership, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have set an ambitious goal to plant 100 million juvenile oysters in Eastern Bay by the end of 2023. DNR has committed to fund the initial planting of 70 million oysters and ShoreRivers has raised the stakes—and the impact—by committing to plant an additional 30 million oysters. To learn more about Operation Build-a-Reef: Eastern Bay and donate to the effort, please visit shorerivers.org/ways-to-give.

The Mainstay, Rock Hall’s popular live music venue, kicked off its 25th Year Gala celebration with a ribbon cutting ceremony to christen their stunning new outdoor stage. More than 130 gala attendees, plus the board and staff, cheered as Mainstay Board President Dave Robinson cut the ribbon. Barbara Foster, Kent County Chamber of Commerce President, presented Robinson and Mainstay Executive Director Matt Mienick (right) with a special certificate commemorating The Mainstay’s 25th Anniversary.

The Cancer Program at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health has been granted a three-year reaccreditation by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) following a review of its programs, services and facilities. The program first earned CoC accreditation in 2015 and has maintained It continuously since.

The Kent County Board of Education has made funding for school safety strategies and staff training a budget priority. During the monthly Board of Education meeting held Monday, June 13, members unanimously approved a resolution to prioritize additional school safety strategies and training.

Kent Attainable Housing (KAH) is seeking a seasoned professional to lead our efforts to expand access to home ownership. Our next Executive Director (ED) will have an extraordinary opportunity for career growth as KAH scales our impact.

As the academic year was winding down, Rock Hall Elementary School was already ramping up its new role in the community. Rock Hall Elementary School has been designated a Community School under the Blueprint for Maryland's Future, a massive state education reform program. H.H. Garnet Elementary School in Chestertown also is a designated Community School. The goal of the Community School program is to use schools to help deliver additional resources to families and area residents. As part of this effort, Rock Hall Elementary School hosted a farmers market from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, June 10.

African American veterans will be honored at this year’s Legacy Day weekend, scheduled for August 19- 21 in Chestertown. Now in its 9th year of celebrating the history and culture of Kent County’s African American community, Legacy Day is produced by Sumner Hall with the Historical Society of Kent County.

A Town-Wide Family Theme Event That You Won’t Forget! The Rock Hall Pirates and Wenches Weekend is Celebrating 15 Years!! On the weekend of August 12-14th, 2022, landlubbers and buccaneers, young and old, will once again set sail to Rock Hall, MD for the town’s FIFTEENTH “Best of the Bay” award winning, Pirates and Wenches Weekend! Come by land or come by sea to the Town of Rock Hall on the Isle of Delmarva located on the Upper Chesapeake Bay for a town wide family event that you will never forget! This is a great opportunity to bring your boat, anchor out or raft up with your mates. There is plenty of anchorage, dockage and raft-up space available, as well as free parking for those arriving by land. Rock Hall is less than a tank of gas from Philadelphia, Baltimore, D.C and Northern Virginia.

ShoreRivers’ office at the Chestertown Marina Cerino Center is now a beautiful and purposeful demonstration of river-friendly plantings. If you look closely, you can see that the native shrubs and perennials—with their showy yellow, orange, and purple flowers—are removing pollution from stormwater before it flows to the Chester River. All of the gutter downspouts have been rerouted into a large pipe that runs under the deck and empties into a rock-lined retention basin in front of the building. There, water can slowly filter into the surrounding plantings, leaving the soil and nutrients in place.

Tabitha Timmons of Still Pond has been awarded the Roger D. Brown History Scholarship by the Historical Society of Kent County. The presentation was made at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Society on June 26 at historic Columbia Farm. Phyllis Brown, wife of the late Mr. Brown, made the presentation to a crowd of more than 70 gathered for the annual meeting.