Havre de Grace, Graw Days Festival

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[Jack Fox]

The Beerdz Hill Rode "Duo" will be playing at the Main Stage on Pennington Avenue from 10:00 - 11:00 AM
We hope to see you all there enjoying this great day full of fun!
Read below for more details:

In exquisite Fall weather, thousands of people enjoyed the First Annual Graw Days Festival. With a wide variety of delicious food, live foot-stomping music all day, horses from the Susquehanna State Park Mounted Patrol reminding us that horses and horse racing were the theme of the Festival, lots of kids games, a wheeled horse parade, artisans and craftspeople displaying their handicrafts and talents, pumpkin making, historic presentations and displays, and our local merchants' doors swinging all day, we can say only one thing. Put this date on your 2009 calendar:Saturday, October 10, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., The Second Annual Graw Days Festival!

The Graw Days represent a colorful time in Havre de Grace's history beginning in 1912 with the construction of the Havre de Grace Racetrack, affectionately called "The Graw."  The track was considered on the of the best racing strips of the American turf and was the main training ground for owners who hoped to win the Kentucky Derby.  It also made Havre de Grace a popular stop-off for travelers and gamblers up and down the East Coast.

The timeframe of the Graw Days Festival will be the Roaring Twenties, with period music and costumes, a wide variety of food, beer garden, historic displays and presentations, and artists and craftspeople in booths along downtown streets closed to traffic.  Havre de Grace Main Street, Inc. expects to draw thousands of visitors to this event, which will be held rain or shine.  

Family-friendly daytime events will take place downtown from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.  Games and horse-themed activities for kids of all ages will take place including free pony rides, a Wheeled Horse Parade and Contest, and the Havre de Grace Library will have fun projects for children.  

Horse-drawn carriages will take visitors on tours of the downtown area.

The History Tent will feature speakers: David Craig Harford County Excutive as well as expert on the Graw; David Pietrusza respected author and historian will speak on the notorious criminal kingpin, Arnold Rothstein (Graw owner); Mitch Shank, Havre de Grace Councilman will speak on the history of the street names in Havre de Grace; Ryan Kelly, MD Jockey Club historian; Dr. Ken Unruh, History of Havre de Grace; Donna Miller, Havre de Grace tales of ghosts.