Local Flavor Benefits a Regional Gem

Charm City cake at Jefferson Patterson Park

by Margaret Tearman

The name of the event is a little misleading: ‘An Affair at Point Farm’ only sounds fancy. In reality, the Friends of Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum’s annual benefit dinner and auction is going to be a laid-back Southern Maryland backyard party – down to the red-and-white checkered tablecloths and smoked rockfish.

“We wanted this year’s Affair to be a celebration of Southern Maryland,” says Celeste Furey, the president of the Friends’ board of directors.

But the lack of fancy doesn’t mean plain. The evening’s centerpiece — a confectionary tribute to Southern Maryland by cake-making super-star Duff Goldman of Baltimore’s Charm City Cakes — is unlikely to be simple. A favorite on Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, Duff is famous for his whimsical, over-the-top cakes. His extreme designs have landed him appearances on The Today Show, The Rachel Ray Show, The View, The Tonight Show and several Food Network challenges. With nothing too outlandish to consider, Duff’s cake for The Affair at Point Farm will live up to his reputation.

“The cake Duffy’s designing will be all Southern Maryland,” says Furey. “We talked about a cake loaded with piles of [confectionary] crabs, stuffed hams, rockfish. It’s going to be wild.”

But the evening won’t be all cake and frosting. The dinner menu will have a decidedly Southern Maryland flavor, including St. Mary’s stuffed duck, smoked Maryland rockfish and crab cakes. And Furey promises “plenty of drinks to whet your whistle.”

Continuing the event’s theme, items up for bid at both a silent and live auction are distinctly Southern Maryland, including a two-hour crab trot line and feast, an overnight stay in a historic 130-year-old St. Leonard cabin, a Bay cruise, local art and black Angus beef from Calvert’s own Pin Oak Farm.

All this local flavor is for the benefit of a regional gem: The Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum. This year’s honorary chairman, Bernie Fowler, asks the community to come out to support the Park and its programs.

“Jefferson Patterson Park is one of the greatest gifts Maryland has ever received,” says Fowler. “It’s a jewel.”

The 560-acre park and preserve on the Patuxent River was donated to Maryland in 1983 by Mary Marvin Patterson, wife of Jefferson Patterson. Once home to Maryland’s first attorney general, Richard Smith, and his descendant, Margaret Mackall Smith, wife of President Zachary Taylor, the farm today houses a Maryland history and archaeology museum and the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory, a state-of-the-art facility for studying, preserving and storing the artifacts of Maryland’s heritage.

Eat cake, and more 5:30-8:30pm Saturday September 6. $70: 410-586-8515; www.friendsofjppm.org