Chestertown Charm

by Mary McCarthy

I had a chance to visit Chestertown this week as part of the cool "Eat Drink Buy Art" passport program where I'm visiting nine towns around the Eastern Shore.

I love downtown Chestertown- the food at Feast of Reason, the shops like Twigs and Teacups, coffee at Play it Again Sam's, the cute kids' clothes at Pride & Joy, you name it. I even stopped by the Chestertown Natural Foods store to get some stuff for my vegan teen (egg substitute- I finally found it on the Eastern Shore!).

But you know what my favorite part was? Finding the Chestertown Old Book Company and chatting with Jerry. He is so amazingly knowledgeable about old and rare books and his shop is so cozy and cool. I am in love with books and now I am in love with his shop! Chestertown is so fortunate to be able to support not one, not two but THREE bookstores and I learned that:

THIS WEEKEND is the first ever Chestertown Book Festival!

The Chestertown Book Festival is the first and only book festival on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and is a celebration of the authors, books, and literary traditions of the Eastern Shore. The inaugural event will take place November 13-14, 2009 with author visits in shops, restaurants, and other gathering places throughout Chestertown. Click the above link for details.

Now if we could only get ONE book store in Centreville I'd be thrilled. And I'd run it too if I could pay the rent!

Anyway, I hope to see you guys in Chestertown this weekend for the book festival! What a cool annual tradition to start on the Shore!

More of Mary McCarthy's The Centrevillain blog.

Hi Mary, I had a couple stop

Submitted by Robin Johnson (not verified) on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 4:01pm.

Hi Mary,

I had a couple stop in the shop a couple weeks ago looking for a book store. They wanted to set up a display of the book they had written. I think I already told you this, but wanted to comment here too because obviously there is a market for a bookstore in Centreville!!! Stop by soon. Robin

Jumping into Social Media

by Cyndi Paxton Johnson

Every five to ten years the rules change - and we eventually change to accommodate them. Remember when we first discovered the internet? It started out as a way to chat with all kinds of people - and now it's THE primary mode of communication for most businesses. If you're in business - you need a website! It's also the FIRST source for information - about anything! (it's even faster to look up a word on dictionary.com than it is to dig out the actual dictionary!)

The last couple years have seen a HUGE influx into social networking - applications such as Digg, Facebook and Twitter. They also started out as a way to connect with friends (remember MySpace?) and are now being used by more and more businesses and non-profit groups!

It's all about connections.

On a purely personal level - social media helps me stay in touch with a wider range of friends, colleagues and community members. I've reconnected with childhood friends, old neighbors and fellow grad students through the wide net social media casts. I've also made new friends - many of whom I've never met in person - but we now share a relationship that includes mutual support and advice.

I primarily use Facebook and Twitter - and heartily recommend both! Many folks tell me they don't have time to add yet another item on their to-do list - but it doesn't have to take a lot of your time! (note - it can be addicting, especially at first. You have to be careful about the pure time-wasters [games, quizzes, etc], unless you have time to waste!)

Add new comment |

| Tags: At Your Service