Farewell Calvert Country Market

Dear Bay Weekly:

It’s with a heavy heart I write this letter, but the time has come to say goodbye.

This week Calvert Country Market’s doors will be closed, and the family of vendors that has served the public for the past five years will be gone.

On behalf of myself and the vendors, I wish to thank everyone who has supported us all these years. Your patronage and friendship has meant a great deal. We are very sorry to have to leave.

Calvert Country Market was a unique environment that brought many aspects of the community together — young, old, tourist, and local — and gave them a place of common interest. It blended agriculture with the arts and a homey environment with retail. There will never be another Calvert Country Market. We shall all miss her greatly.

We will also miss our great customers who gave us encouragement when the times got tough. Thousands of you came to bat for us and tried to help us fight our battle. Your outpouring of support was awesome and will never be forgotten.

We shall all be moving on to other venues, whether it’s our own home or another location. Please watch for the ads that will be placed by your favorite vendors for their new shops. We will all be looking for our old friends, as well as new, wherever opportunity takes us.

—Leslie Downs: President Calvert Country Market Vendors Association

Patuxent or Potomac?

Dear Bay Weekly:

I enjoy Bay Weekly. As a matter of fact, it is often the best part of visiting a local store or restaurant. But I was a little concerned about the state of geographical knowledge of one of your writers, Carrie Madren. The piece she wrote in the June 14-June 20 edition: ‘The Patuxent’s 11th Hour’, stated: “At 110 miles long, Maryland’s longest and best documented river is ailing.”

I am not sure about the “best documented” part, but the Potomac is about three times as long as the Patuxent. I have fished, swam, and boated the Patuxent from its trout stream size in Montgomery County to Cedar Point where it enters the Bay, and I can attest to its beauty and worthiness of protection. But it is no Potomac, and should not be erroneously granted top billing.

–Jim Sullivan, Bowie

Editor’s note: The Patuxent is the longest river entirely in Maryland, from source to mouth.

Bellydancing Not Exotic

Dear Bay Weekly:

[In reference to] the calendar announcement Belly Brava for June [7, 14 and] 21: Bellydancers are not exotic dancers. A lot of people still have no idea what belly dancing is and think it is like striptease and poledancing. My friends and I battle a constant fight against this kind of reputation. That is why I prefer to call my art Middle Eastern Ethnic Dance. The dance is ancient, graceful, creative, expressive, etc., but not exotic. You would understand this if you were a belly dancer.

Also I am a dancer and performer, but not a troop. And the classes are definitely more a workout than relaxed.

–Carmen Nolte, aka Ishtar, Chesapeake Beach

Editor’s note: Calendar writer Diana Beechener, who is a wordsmith rather than a bellydancer, chose the word exotic for its original meaning: of foreign origin or character; not native; introduced from abroad, but not fully naturalized or acclimatized.