Easton Prepares for 54th Annual Waterfowl Festival

(EASTON, Md) – Entire streets blocked as the town of Easton prepares to welcome thousands in for the 54th annual Waterfowl Festival.

And they’re expecting one of their biggest crowds yet.

“Easily 25 to 30000 people come. The hotels are booked up generally one or two years in advance. And we know that those people are all over town in every single venue,” says Waterfowl Executive Director, Deena Kilmon.

It’s the busiest weekend of the year for local business owners.

Easton Economic Development Director, Holly DeKarske tells WMDT, “And it’s been calculated in the tens of millions of dollars, which isn’t just in Topic County. It’s even some of the surrounding counties between the hospitality, you know, everyone dining out, the shopping. It’s it’s a huge impact.”

There’s plenty to look forward to with this year’s festival, following opening night.

Deena says, “Then we go into Friday, Saturday and Sunday, where you have the retriever demonstrations, the fishing derby, the dog demonstrations, the calling contests. And this year is actually the world championship.”

And all that excitement is going to lead to a major economic boost for Talbot County.

“But this makes a huge impact. And then it also rolls right into the holiday season, which is nice. But, I mean, if if this festival wasn’t here, it would it would definitely be reflected in their financials each year. I mean, this is a massive impact for them,” says Holly.

The festivities for the Waterfowl Festival kick off Thursday morning.