By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(July 16, 2020) The Calvin B. Taylor House Museum on North Main Street in Berlin will hold a Peach Day on Saturday, Aug. 1, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. instead of the traditional festival because of coronavirus concerns.

Susan Taylor

Museum curator Susan Taylor said the 12th annual event will take place throughout downtown rather than on the museum lawn to encourage social distancing.

Local nonprofit vendors will be offering products on their properties.

“Stevenson Church will be selling their crabcakes on the church’s lawn,” Taylor said. Buckingham Presbyterian Church will be selling their pies that were normally on our lawn. They’ll be selling them at their church lawn. Baked Desserts is still going to have the peach dumplings that they had on our lawn, but it will be at their business downtown. So, the idea is to get people to filter through downtown instead of congregating in one place.”

Commerce Street will be closed off for the event to allow for more food vendors.

Island Creamery, On What Grounds?, Sisters, Uncle Jon’s, Beach Memories and Bruder Hill will be offering peach-flavored treats throughout the celebration.

“We are preparing a little map of businesses that are doing like special deals or that want to be involved,” Taylor said.

A scavenger hunt is also planned to have people spread out through town.

“Businesses around town will have peach-related questions in their shops, and people can start the scavenger hunt, bring back the completed questionnaire to the museum, and we’re going to have a drawing and pick a winner,” Taylor said.

No craft vendors will participate this year.

“There were just too many people on the lawn,” Taylor said. “It would draw too many crowds.”

Taylor said the modern-day peach festival that is now a popular event in Berlin was inspired by a one-day celebration of peaches in the early 20th Century.

The first “Great Peach Fest” took place in Berlin on July 31, 1913. J.G. Harrison & Sons hosted the event, according to a post on Calvin B. Taylor House Museum’s Facebook page.

The “Great Peach Fest” brought together 2,000 horticulturalists to inspect the orchards at Harrisons’ Nurseries and learn about the spraying method used to preserve the year’s peach crop.

Taylor said the museum members read 50 years’ worth of newspapers to research an exhibit and learned about the “Great Peach Fest.”

“The article mentioned they had like a big picnic in front of the Harrison House, which is in town here, the one where the nursery offices were. There were pictures of all the people on the yard, and it mentioned how much food they had,” Taylor said.

The peach festival is one of the biggest fundraisers for the museum and surrounding nonprofits.

“We want it to be a community event to help boost the economy of Berlin,” said Jan Quick, museum committee member.

During this year’s Peach Day, the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum will sell peaches on the lawn by the bag for $8 or half bushel for $70, homemade peach jam for $8 and museum totes filled with books about Berlin and Worcester County and jam for $30.

Pre-ordering will be available until July 28, with a $40 minimum.

Quick said the prices may be slightly higher than in the past, but customers should view their purchases as a donation to the museum.

Customers must pre-pay by credit card and pick-up on Aug. 1.

Masks are required when on the museum lawn to pick up peaches.

The George and Pat Bilenki Duo will perform on the lawn, providing background music for shoppers.

For more information, follow the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum and Town of Berlin pages on Facebook or call the museum at 410-641-1019.