DON'T MISS ONE of Linthicum's most enjoyable outdoor events for the whole family. That would be the 12th annual Strawberry Festival, sponsored by the Ann Arrundell County Historical Society on Saturday on the grounds of the Benson-Hammond House.
The event will feature crafts, demonstrations, displays, food and entertainment. Tours of the house, which was built in the early 1820s, will be offered for $2, and the Browse and Buy Shoppe will be open for business.
In keeping with the theme, fresh strawberries will be served on hot milk cake, and strawberry wine and jam with the Benson-Hammond House label will be sold.
Friendly Thyme Herb Club will be selling strawberry plants, as well as a selection of herbs. Their tent is set up by the herb garden where herbal tea can be sampled. You can see the variety of herbs and flowers, arranged in small bouquets called tussie mussies, that will be for sale.
Handmade crafts and home-baked goods will be available. The event will include demonstrations of spinning, rug hooking and weaving and displays antique guns and antique firefighting equipment.
BWI Airport Fire and Rescue Department personnel will be at the grills, cooking hot dogs and hamburgers.
A percentage of the profits from the grill sales will benefit the Johns Hopkins Bayview Burn Center.
Three quilts being raffled for the benefit of Hospice of the Chesapeake will be on display. Volunteers from the hospice will be selling tickets. A demonstration it scheduled on how to make quilt blocks using an 1880 Wheeler and Wilson treadle sewing machine.
Activities for the children will include face painting and make-and-take crafts.
Maryland Transportation Authority Police will be on hand for child fingerprinting. BWI emergency medical technicians will offer free blood pressure screenings.
Demonstrations will be given by the Happy (Rug) Hookers and the Friendship Quilters Guild. Antique firefighting vehicles will be on display. The Talent Machine Company Inc. will perform.
Parking will be available on the festival grounds for people with special needs. Others are asked to follow the strawberry trailblazers along the roads to the free public parking area off Aaronson Drive.
Transportation to and from the festival will be provided, or you can stroll the BWI Bike Trail to the festival grounds.
If you would like to display crafts, call Carolyn Dalton at 410-544-2616.
Admission to the festival, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is free. The Benson-Hammond House is at Aviation Boulevard and Andover Road.
Information: Carol Riley at 410-850-4422 or the Benson-Hammond House at 410-768- 9518 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday through Saturday.
Relay for Life
Another free family festival is taking place next weekend. Everyone who participates has fun while raising money for the American Cancer Society.
Relay for Life will run from 6 p.m. Friday through the night to 8 a.m. Saturday at Lindale Middle School track, 415 Andover Road.
The relay is open to all even if you have not signed up. Cancer survivors will take the first lap around the track at 6 p.m. They will be followed by the team members who will take to the track, walking throughout the night to raise money.
After dark, about 9 p.m., the track will be lighted with luminaries. This is a touching ceremony, recognizing cancer survivors and remembering those who have lost their battle.
There will be entertainment, games, activities and more. Many of the teams participating will be selling food as a way to raise money they will donate.
Judy and Jim Cifala, a husband-and-wife team, are the local coordinators. This will be the fourth year they have been on the planning committee and the second time they have chaired Relay for Life.
"We hope everyone will come out and experience the event," Judy said.
Local AARP birthday
Before taking a summer hiatus, Linthicum Chapter 2244 of AARP will celebrate its 27th birthday with a covered-dish luncheon at noon Thursday at St. John Lutheran Church, Maple and Hammonds Ferry roads.
Servers and those assisting are requested to be at the church by 10:30 a.m. A brief board meeting will take place at 11:30 a.m.
Set-up will be at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Volunteers are needed to help.
Admission will be by reservation. Those who wish to attend and have not signed up are asked to call Connie Monroe at 410-437-9259.
Information: Mary Foster, 410-850-4630.