Thousands, including Gov. Wes Moore, gather in Crisfield for Crab & Clam Bake
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“One if by land, two if by sea.” The back half of the line from the poem "Paul Revere’s Ride" came to mind Wednesday as a pair of Black Chevrolets carrying Maryland’s governor and lieutenant governor arrived at the gates of Crisfield’s Somers Cove Marina, driving through standing water.
The danger was not an impending British invasion as it had been for the 18th century Boston silversmith, who lore says rode his horse through the Massachusetts countryside warning of the Redcoats, but what Somerset County officials called “nuisance flooding.”
“Annapolis is here in Crisfield, and they can see what nuisance flooding does,” said Danny Thompson, executive director of Somerset County's economic development commission. What brought the plethora of politicians to one of the state’s southernmost cities was not the standing water, which covered large portions of the ground inside the gated marina, but the 46th annual J. Millard Tawes Crab & Clam Bake, an event named after a former governor and Crisfield native.
Thompson, who helps organize the annual event, called the day “almost like a backyard party,” and not even the standing water could spoil the fun for the thousands on hand for the local fare, which included watermelon, corn on the cob, and, of course, crabs.
'We’re going to fix this,' Gov. Wes Moore tells Crisfield mayor
Attending his first crab and clam bake while in office, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore got to business after stepping out of the SUV, hugging the city’s mayor and stating, “We’re going to fix this.”
Flooded by locals, elected officials and a U.S. Senate candidate, it took the governor about 15 minutes to go about 15 feet from the inundated gates to inside the marina’s largest tent, sponsored by an Annapolis lobbyist, where crabs and clams were consumed. Campaign signs for Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, a Democratic candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat in 2024, lined the outside of the tent.
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“You can’t buy this kind of exposure,” said Crisfield Mayor Darlene Taylor, in an interview before the governor arrived. She said there was no water on site when she drove by the marina Tuesday night or when she arrived for the event on Wednesday morning, but that all the tidal water came in the space of a few hours.
Taylor’s first directive upon seeing the flooding was: “How can we get this water out?”
“You know the governor is coming, let’s get this water out,” she told workers on site, who summoned a Somerset County truck designed to vacuum up the water that covered the lot. Taylor, the city’s first elected Black mayor, said she then had a change of heart and a change of view on racing to tidy up the tidal waters that can consume the bayside city of about 2,500.
“No, the governor needs to see the water,” said Taylor, in the interview, as the county truck drove by outside the gates. “He needs to see up close and personal what our challenges are.”
(After the truck came, much, but not all, of the standing water in the marina had gone too.)
'Center of the political world,' Eastern Shore delegate says
A slew of state legislators, ranging from a Western Maryland senator to Montgomery County and Baltimore City delegates, were on hand for the festivities, as were at least three county executives, including Alsobrooks, who greeted Moore as he returned to his chauffeured vehicle about two hours after he arrived.
One of those executives on hand was Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano, a Republican, who said in an interview that she was “happy” the event, which used to be held in the summer heat, was moved to the fall.
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The chair of the Eastern Shore delegation to the Maryland General Assembly, Del. Chris Adams, R-Wicomico, also noted the event’s move, but for a different reason than the weather.
“Now that it’s in the fall, it’s much closer to our legislative session,” said Adams, of the session that begins in January. “This will probably be some of the first conversations we’ll have with our colleagues about things that matter.”
He called the Eastern Shore “the center of the political world for the day.”
In an interview while standing inside the event’s largest tent, Sen. Mike McKay, R-Allegany, may be glad the center of the Maryland political world is not always on the Eastern Shore and the state's capital is not in Crisfield. It took him about five hours total to arrive at the event from near Cumberland, he said, including a bus ride from Annapolis.
Crisfield’s Mayor Taylor, a native to the city, noted both the “economic boost” and the “joy” the event brings to the citizens. The day may bring tangible long term benefits too.
She met with the state secretary for the Department of Natural Resources before the governor arrived and discussed an infrastructure project the city is working on in concert with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid with the flooding. Last month, too, the city got one step closer to receiving $500,000 from the federal government for a downtown business incubator on Main Street.
That combination of economics and environment is what the governor, who was presented with a pair of rain boots upon arrival, said could address the flood water, which rose up to greet attendees at the annual event on Wednesday.
“Being very pro-economic growth and also pro-resilient infrastructure is the only way that we’re going to be able to come (up) with long lasting solutions,” he said.
Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Thousands gather in flooded Crisfield for annual Crab & Clam Bake
