Cambridge peach festival raises money for church
Sun-ripened peaches, pies, fritters, home-made cobbler, authentic Eastern Shore crab cakes, and peach ice cream were all hot topics at Saturday’s festival. Members of the church tell 47 ABC that this is the most sought out event of the year.
However, there was a little concern. Officials say 80% of the peach crops on the Eastern Shore were destroyed during early blossoming and late frost this year. That left the festival with a shortage of peaches but certainly not people.
“It’s been hard with less peaches but we’re making it work. I’ve sold out a couple times and had to raid the kitchen supply twice to get enough but we’re still going strong,” said Edwina Sipler, a long time member of the church.
Edwina tells 47 ABC that all the proceeds will go to rebuilding their 116-year-old church that’s currently under construction, in addition to supporting missionary work. The original church was built over 200-years-ago but burned down. The current church has been standing ever since with little to no work done – until now.
“I think that it’s amazing that the young people carry it on and I think it’s great it gets everybody together. I’ve been coming to these events here for almost 30 years and every year – it just touches me that we’ve kept this up,” said Claira Mace, who has been a member of the church for over 50 years.
She tells 47 ABC most of the adults there, she’s known since they were kids. And that many of them have very strong ties to these events. Much like Opie, who is a long time member of the church. Opie is known for her festival crab cakes and had people waiting in line for them.
“I can’t tell you what’s in them, umm, it’s my mother’s recipe and we’ve been using it for our church for years. My mother hasn’t been with us in some time but we still carry on her tradition with her recipes,” said Opie.
The Antioch United Methodist church will be hosting a *carry out Crab Cake Luncheon* on Friday October 21. All proceeds for this will also go to the church.
