This is the fourth year that the ECA will be conducting the Home & Garden Tour. Aside from being a fundraiser for worthy causes in Eastport, this has proven to be a fun event for both participants and committee organizers.
This year’s tour will have a new twist. More than 20 artists from the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association will attend to paint the scenes along the tour route en plein air, creating works in oil, watercolor, acrylic or pastel. At the end of the tour completed works will be available for purchase.
The "show and sale" will take place at the Tour Headquarters -- the renowned maritime business building, “222 Severn Avenue.” The property, listed on the National Historic Registry, is the former Trumpy Boatyard.
Tickets
Advance tickets for this exceptional “insider’s” opportunity are available for $20 at Ahh, Coffee!, Palate Pleasers and Eastport Deli (all in the Eastport Shopping Center), K & B True Value Hardware Store on 912 Forest Drive and Fawcett Boat Supplies at City Dock. Tickets are also available online with major credit cards by clicking on the button below.
Please note that no ticket will be mailed to you. We will have your name on the paid list at Tour Headquarters at 222 Severn Avenue.
Tickets will be available the day of the tour for $25 at Tour Headquarters. The tour will take place rain or shine.
The supporting merchants named above will display the Eastport Home & Garden Tour poster and have informative postcards available.
Posters and postcards are based on a watercolor by Rosemary Freitas Williams, an Eastport resident. This year’s poster features a window box of summer flowers beneath a window reflecting boat masts, the old covered shed (now Chart House) with the old Trumpy & Sons, Inc. sign softly echoed in the glass. The tour poster and more of her work may be seen at WatercolorsByRosemary.com.
Eastport resident Patsy Helmetag, who illustrated and co-wrote the children's book, Cecily Cicada in 2004, collaborated with Williams for each of the Home & Garden Tours. She created the graphic design for the tour’s program, posters, postcards and tickets.
In Plein Air
As an extra attraction, more than 20 artists from the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association will be outdoors painting the tour properties en Plein Air . Tour participants will be able to view many of the completed works which will also be available for purchase at Tour Headquarters beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Show Proceeds
The ECA sponsors this annual event to further its mission of safeguarding the residential and maritime quality of Eastport and engaging in activities that promote, improve and protect the civic interest and well being of the community. Proceeds from the tour benefit community charities and improvement projects.
The 2008 tour drew 450 people and raised more than $7,000 for Eastport charity projects, including funding 10 Eastport Elementary children to attend an enrichment camp, and contributed funding for the flower baskets on the Eastport bridge.
Volunteers
For more information or to learn how you can help out on Tour Day, contact Phyllis Emmett, 410-267-8218.