SMHS is excited to announce two upcoming events for the spring of 2011:

Saturday, March 26, 7:00 pm
Musical Showcase sponsored by the Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise

Come join us for a fun evening of local music at the Old German Reformed Church (3 Main Street, Burkittsville) hosted by Rick Hill and featuring The Polka Dots, Charlie Cottingham, and Tomy Wright.  There is a suggested donation of $5, but any donations are welcome. For more information, call Catherine Cox at 301-834-6892 or Rick Hill at 301-898-7044.

About the Bands
(from the press release by Rick Hill)

The Polka Dots are an eclectic collection of musicians from the Frederick, Washington County area who have performed before church, civic and neighborhood groups over the past three years.  Featuring a strong brass section, they have played for church services as well as  local Oktoberfests .  The musicians range in age from the teens to Baby Boomers, and their musical experience is as diverse.   The selections they will play bear witness to the history of The Old German Reformed Church and include both hymns and secular tunes sung and danced to by many.  Saturday’s musicians will be: Ed Goley, Trumpet; Scott Pearce, Trumpet; Fred Schumacher, Baritone horn; Nick Zilienski, Tuba; Becky Bostian, Tuba.

Charlie Cottingham plays guitar, mandolin, and ukulele in an eclectic folky/country/traditional style. His usual venues are around campfires in the New River Gorge and on beaches on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon after being on the river as a river guide.  He flatpicks fiddle tunes, sings some of the old classic favorites like “Nobody Knows you When You’re Down & Out” and  “Friend of the Devil” and does his own take on more contemporary folk like “Wagon Wheel.”  When he is not performing, he teaches at Frederick Community College.

Tomy Wright is a well-known singer-song writer in Frederick County.  He hosts two open mics and performs regularly around the Greater Washington/Baltimore area.  He has developed a quirky, energetic guitar style that makes everything he sings his own.  He is also becoming known as a back-up percussionist.

Rick Hill is another folksinger with whom increasing numbers of Frederick County residents are becoming acquainted.  Leaning heavily on the style and songs of the folk music from the 60’s Hill accompanies himself on  guitar, hammered dulcimer and banjo.  He combines humor, musicianship and insightful songwriting to create musical montages that really do build better communities.

The Frederick Acoustic Music Enterprise is a new organization in the Frederick area that seeks to nurture, promote and preserve acoustic music of all genres in the Frederick County area.  The group sponsors open mics, concerts and workshops to musicians become better performers, help venues see music as an integral part of their business and help audiences appreciate the value of live performances.

For more information about F.A.M.E. we invite you to visit their website here.  To read about Rick Hill in a recent article of the Frederick News Post, click here.

See you there!

Saturday, April 2, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Bell and History Day

Bell and History Day kicks off the museum season in Frederick County, with free entry and activities at museums all over the county.  This year, it will also be celebrating the ribbon-cutting of the new Frederick Visitor Center.

SMHS will open at 10 a.m. with the ringing of its bell (alongside the bell of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church next door and other bells all over the county), and will be open until 4 p.m.  Passports will be stamped!  See our new exhibit of Civil War letters and artifacts from the Burkittsville area, and ask our Historian to tell you about the history of the church, the town, and the surrounding farms.

For more information about the county-wide event, see Frederick’s tourism website.