Lifestyle

BERLIN — While the past weekend’s Dew Tour in Ocean City allowed residents to watch their favorite world-class athletes compete in person, it also gave those same athletes an opportunity to meld with the local life. On Saturday, Matt Dove, a local retired professional skateboarder and artist, held an art show and reception at his newly relocated gallery, Punk Rock Fish Studio in Berlin that brought visits from many of the athletes who competed in the Dew Tour. Among those who stopped in to visit, eat and drink with residents were skateboarders Steve Caballero and Christian Hosoi. “There’s a lot of people from out of town that have never eaten a blue crab and we just wanted to embrace the Eastern Shore lifestyle,” Dove said of the decision to stock his reception with local fare. “I have known a lot of these athletes for 20 years,” he said. “It’s awesome because they are people I never thought I would meet when I was young.”...

BERLIN — Local artists will be scattered this weekend throughout downtown Berlin, where they’ll capture historic old-town sights on their easels for Paint Berlin, a celebration of local painters. The public is welcome to observe these artists perform their work on any of the event’s days, Aug. 10-12. Painters may choose any scene on which to base their work, as long as it is within the town limits, according to Anna Mullis, executive director of the Worcester County Arts Council, organizer of the third annual event. “It’s an experience for our artists to network and for people to come out on the streets,” she said. “It is our mission to promote the local arts around Worcester County and we’re really proud of our artists.” About 20 artists participate yearly and spread out in town to paint on Friday and Saturday, the first two days of Paint Berlin. The final day, Sunday, is a gathering in front of the Atlantic Hotel, where the ...

BERLIN — Local businesses are encouraged to reserve a spot on Berlinopoly, a custom Berlin-themed Monopoly board to be sold in town this winter, before all sponsorship opportunities are claimed. Although the Berlin Chamber of Commerce is behind the board’s creation, its final design is dependent on the community. Nearly all parts of the game are available for sponsorship by a business, save for the die and player pieces. Other aspects, such as the individual properties, hotels, game cards and play money, can be sponsored to prominently display a business’ name. “We want to make it a collector’s item,” said Aaren Collins, executive director of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce, who came up with the idea to organize this community effort after remembering a similar Ocean City project done many years ago. Spaces on the board and other items cost between $50 and $700 to sponsor, with the more desirable areas of the game being the most expensive. Some ar...

BERLIN — Thee Berlin businesses are banding together this month to promote the benefits of buying goods locally. The owners and operators of The Good Farm, Burley Oak Brewing Company and Baked Dessert Café created this Buy Local Challenge to encourage consumers to avoid traditional grocery stores and retailers in August and instead purchase goods from local businesses. “Localized community production satisfying localized community demand is what it’s all about,” said Ric Gresia, who operates The Good Farm on Route 611 with owner Christie McDowell. Its purpose is not only to support local business financially, but also to make the public more aware of the advantages buying locally offers consumers and businesses. “You see who is making your food and you know them,” McDowell said. McDowell and Gresia came up with the idea last year while building business relationships throughout town. When they began talking to Bryan Brushmiller, owner o...

BERLIN — In 1996, while working at the Middleton Tavern in Annapolis, Greg David decided he wanted to make a distinctive Bloody Mary and began developing a formula that would set his apart. Although it was almost an immediate success, the concoction David was serving was only very good. He wanted it to be excellent. By the time he’d satisfied his goal of a singular Bloody Mary, five years had gone by and people began suggesting he bottle it. Unfortunately, making the drinks was one thing, digging in his heels and doing the grunt work involved in design, trademarking and developing a business plan was a little daunting. Bottling his recipe was one of the last things he was interested in. Instead he was content to get annual recognition for his efforts in various Bloody Mary contests. Within a month of the Globe’s opening, David had won the Best Spicy Bloody Mary award at Seacrets’ annual Bloody Mary event and the Globe was on the map as among the best places to...

WEST OCEAN CITY —  Tom Cavanagh and his band threw in the occasional Johnny Cash song as part of their own original shows for years and their renditions were popular with the crowds because they were spot-on. Eventually they began to discuss doing a tribute show and tour. For his part, Cavanagh already had more than a little experience touring both with original acts as well as having participated in tribute shows. While he endorsed the notion, he let it be known how important it was that the show not be farcical or slap-dash. The group resolved to take the time and make the effort not only to get make sure they were authentic, but also to ensure that the show was worth people’s time. “It’s a Broadway-level show,” Cavanagh said. “The stage is always changing.” The first order of business, then, was to go and get some Carters. The group already had one woman singer and recruited two more to round out the team. The rest of the band, which...

BERLIN — Over the next two months Berlin will begin its transformation into the unofficial wine capitol of the Eastern Shore. It is fitting then that on the occasion of the 2nd Friday Art Stroll, the first of several shops offering upscale wines will have its major coming out party. Robin Tomaselli and her sister Shelly Eppard who own the Baked Dessert Cafe and Gallery on Bay Street had always planned to sell wine and craft beer from their shop. Their original place on North Main Street was too small to accommodate the project, but once they moved to the larger place the shop now occupies, they began planning to do so. The bakery has been developing a clientele interested in purchases beyond desserts. Over the last year-or-so they’ve created a niche selling artisan bread and local cheeses. Regular customers stop in for these items as part of a nice dinner. The centerpiece of a nice dinner is a good bottle of wine, so the transition made complete sense. “This just l...

BERLIN — Although this year marks the 5th time the Chamber of Commerce and WESM 91.3 FM will sponsor the Berlin Jazz and Blues Bash this will be the second year the Town has truly embraced the spirit of the festival. Until last year, the festival was more geared to early afternoon attendees, often ending just after lunch. Last year, the Chamber tried something different, booking the event well into the late afternoon and turning the Jazz and Blues Bash into an event people could plan their day around or elect to just participate partially. As it turned out. a significant number of people used the event as an excuse to plan an entire day in Berlin, coming for lunch, spending the afternoon in the sun listening to act after act, and staying on afterwards for dinner, drinks or just to hang around. The festival is set in such a way that attendees can catch every act from a distance by taking their place at one of the picnic tables set along Main Street between the two stages or mov...

BERLIN — Last week members of the Berlin Lions Club spent the afternoon as they do with some regularity — giving free eye exams to young children. The exams are not the type typically associated with a rip to the optometrist. In fact, they aren’t in any way meant to replace a regular doctor’s office visit.  What they are though is part of the Lions Club’s mission to help people prevent or overcome eye maladies. The are also part of the frank admission that sometimes kids don’t make it to the eye doctor as often as they should. This is why the tests that they give to every county child under the age of 6 that they can reach is aimed not at checking for vision inadequacies but in trying to detect Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye. “When Amblyopia is detected in children under six, 95 percent of the time they can have their vision saved or restored,” said Donna Burke, the Berlin resident who administers the program for all the Lions C...

BERLIN — Bill and Ginger Taylor have inarguably the shortest commute to the Berlin Farmers Market, where they set up their seafood stand each Wednesday and Friday.  The Berlin couple live blocks away from the market and got into the seafood retail business as part of preparing for Bill’s imminent retirement. Bill, who has spent the last 60 years “foolin’ with seafood” said that when they began looking for an opportunity coming to the Berlin Farmers Market seemed to make the most sense. As retailers, they don’t have to go to the boat to get their fresh seafood, it comes to them fresh before each of their market days. They sell from the Salisbury Farmers Market Saturdays but never miss their Wednesday and Friday gigs at Berlin. Although the market remains open into the late afternoon, so successful do the vendors tend to be that there wasn’t much left after 1 p.m. one recent Friday, which vendors said it’s peculiar for this time of y...