5th annual Decoy Heritage Festival highlights craftmanship of eastern shore carvers

POCOMOKE CITY, Md.- “The carving community is just really great around here,” Gordon said.

Birds of all shapes and sizes were up for grabs as carvers and enthusiasts flocked to the Delmarva Discovery Museum for the 5th annual Decoy Heritage Festival. “When we had this five years ago, we started with a very small group and just grew from word of mouth and social media. They just really support each other,” Delmarva Discovery Museum Executive Director Christy Gordon said.

This year’s theme was celebrating many generations of family carvers. “We have a father with 3 of his sons. It’s really cool to watch them today. We just want to promote and keep this heritage going,” Gordon said.

Carvers we spoke with call this process a labor of love. We’re told a typical decoy can take anywhere from just a couple of hours to a couple of months to complete “So you can knock and shape out your bird probably within a week or so with a hatchet and a band saw. Then you start doing the feathering and then once you get that finished you have to paint,” White said.

Carver Jim White was the 2023 Heritage Award Winner.

He tells us his work with decoy’s started two decades ago and now it’s turned into a passion. “I think the nice thing about it to me is that you’re a part of the spirit of nature. When you’re actually working with that decoy you can kind of share the spirit of that particular bird that you’re working with,” White said.

Thanks to community donations, the event also included a silent auction with proceeds going to support the museum. “They take care of day-to-day operations, help us produce field trips, new programs, and new educational opportunities for students when they come in. We use every dollar that we get to just keep going,” Gordon said.

If you weren’t able to join in on the fun Saturday, you still have a chance to get in on the action.

The festival will run Sunday, March 26th from noon-4:00p.m.

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