New fuel added to an old tradition
Sock burning and fresh oysters make a comeback in Eastport
Socks seemed like the best accelerant for fires at the Eastport Democratic Club on Sunday, burning brightly to symbolize the beginning of spring. Sunday was the first sock burning at the club, an annual ritual usually held at the Annapolis Maritime Museum.
There was no sock burning last year, and this year it moved several blocks away and changed to a membersonly event.
The club has over 375 members, with a waitlist of more than 100 people.
Dana Forney, president of the Eastport Democratic
Club, said memberships started to bloom since the start of he pandemic because of live music outside last summer. The club will be doing shows every Sunday going forward.
“It’s been really nice and I can’t wait until we start going like last summer. This is keeping the community happy,” Forney said. “We do what we can to keep the community and the areas around us happy. A lot of smiles on faces today.” Sock burning has a long history in Annapolis, with roots in deck shoes and boatyards and a sign that warmer weather means getting out on the water. Forney said sock burning is something fun for the people who spend long spring weekends cleaning boats, a lot of hard work. Jeff Holland, an Annapolis poet, songwriter and columnist for The Capital, read one of his poems, written in the 1990s to kick off the event.
“It makes me feel apart of a long-standing tradition and it is wonderful being apart of this quirky culture,” Hollandsaid.“Hopefullythis is the start of the end of the pandemic and we can get back to normal. What you would normally see is a lot of hugging but there is not a lot of hugging going on right now, which is frustrating.”
Holland performed with the Eastport Oyster Boys band for 25 years, and they were there to entertain the group at the Sunday event.
The club gave handed out more than 150 tickets for Sunday’s event. It was also tied to the Annapolis Oyster Fest, a restaurant promotion designed to help out Maryland’s oyster industry and restaurants hurt by the pandemic. The club served oysters for a buck a shuck and Rockefeller style.
The club also asked members to bring in new socks to donate to the Lighthouse Shelter for the homeless.
Kevin Brooks, singer and guitarist for the popular Annapolis band, said if they don’t burn their socks then spring might not come.
“Next year we want this event more public,” Brooks said. “In the sailing community, this is the beginning of the sailing season.”
Brooks’ band missed more than 75% of its shows last year because of COVID19.
“It was a difficult year for any performers but we took the time to write and do projects like getting your boat or marriage back in shape,” he said jokingly.
Michael Hughes, a member of the Eastport Democratic Club, said events like this one are popular rituals. Who doesn’t like a freshly shucked oyster and National Bohemian Beer?
“We celebrate the day with oysters and music from the Oyster Boys,” said Hughes, a longtime Annapolis radio executive who know owns his own marketing company.
Don Townsend volunteered to shuck oysters for the club. He said the oysters were fresh from the Bay Bridge area.
“We are recycling the shells and we throw them back in the water,” Townsend said. “It feels good to have everyone out here, it’s been a long winter.”
Sheryl Garfinkel, a member of the Eastport Democratic Club, said she’s been looking forward to Sunday for the live music and the warm weather.
“It’s been amazing, as soon as we heard there was a campaign to help with the restaurant and oyster economy we were all in,” Garfinkel said.
Garfinkel and her husband are recent powerboaters and they wanted to join the tradition. She has been an Annapolis resident for three years.
“This group of people is amazing and they are respectful and let people be themselves,” Garfinkel said.