Our News is Written in Stone™

Pie Eating Contest... Kathy Fisher, executive director of Furnace Town Living Heritage Museum in Snow Hill, received the Best New Heritage Initiative Award for developing Heritage Outreach Tours. These tours, which ran from June 27 to August 8, departed from the Roland E. Powell Convention Center in Ocean City at 10 a.m. brought visitors from Ocean City to tour Snow Hill and Furnace Town and then returned them to the ocean resort by 3 p.m. The bus ride to Snow Hill included a narrator (Bob Fisher) and a volunteer tour guide at Furnace Town. This pilot program was successful in its efforts to boost visitor attendance at Furnace Town and throughout many areas of Snow Hill. In the future, the tours could be expanded to pick up visitors at Assateague Island and Berlin and guide them through the towns and other attractions in the county.
Becky Payne, founder and organizer of the annual Blessing of the Combines in Snow Hill, received the Heritage Event Award for this event. The Blessing of the Combines takes place the first Saturday in August. The downtown commercial area is closed to traffic, allowing area farmers to roll their combines into town to receive the annual blessing before the harvest season. Festivities include a petting barn, hay rides, tractor pull and pie eating contests, music, food vendors, artists, bake sale, scales-n-tales and a display of antique farm equipment. The sight of these mammoth pieces of machinery on Green Street is a spectacle to behold and pays tribute to the area's agricultural economy.
Granville Trimper, owner of Trimper Rides in Ocean City, was honored with the Heritage Legacy Award for remaining steadfast in his dedication to protecting the historic amusement park. Trimper Rides has been a part of the rich heritage of Ocean City since it was founded by his grandfather, Daniel B. Trimper in 1902. The amusement park offers over 100 rides, games and amusements for young and old alike. Among the rides is a 1902 Herschel-Spellman antique carousel featuring hand-carved wooden animals of various shapes and sizes. Trimper Rides as been owned and operated solely by the Trimper- family, and as such is the oldest continuously owned amusement park in the United States.
We urge area residents and visitors to take advantage of opportunities to participate in the events and activities that have been recognized as Heritage Award Winners from 2007 and past years as well. For more information on previous winners, visit the LESHC at www.skipjack.net/le_shore/heritage.