Delaware
Festival frenzy for Delawareans in 2024: Lineup of 14 dope events in new year
Meet, Devin Ball, the new general manager of The Queen
Come inside Wilmington’s The Queen and hear from new General Manager Devin Ball as he shares his observations and plans for bringing it back to life.
Who in their right mind in Delaware is already thinking about can’t-miss festivals for 2024? It’s the type of person who messed around and found out that events do sell out.
To avoid that drama, you can get an early start on planning your schedule for 14 sweet festive events located in and around the First State in 2024.
There’s a strong focus on spring and summer events for this preview, stick with us for updates.
Kennett Winterfest, Kennett Square, Pa.
The beer event Kennett Winterfest gives new meaning to the phrase “cold drinks.” The February festival has over 60 breweries on tap serving over 130 beers, joined by live music and food trucks.
The event has a Delaware vibe since it’s just down the road and features local breweries like First State Brewing, Iron Hill, Bellefonte Brewing, Big Oyster Brewery, Wilmington Brew Works, and Dewey Beer. A regular admission ticket gets you an unlimited number of tastings. Designed drivers pay $15 (plus fee) and will receive a mocktail.
Kennett Winterfest (600 S. Broad St., Kennett Square, Pennsylvania) from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24. General admission $60 (plus fee); Designated driver $15 (plus fee). Visit kennettwinterfest.com.
Dover NASCAR weekend in Fan Zone
During NASCAR weekend there’s always a festival atmosphere at Dover Motor Speedway’s Fan Zone, a place that often offers free and fun activities for supporters.
The Fan Zone is home to driver autograph sessions, free concerts (which have hosted big names like Jimmie Allen and X Ambassadors), games and attractions for kids and adults.
The Monster Monument at Victory Plaza is a huge attraction and some of fans’ favorite NASCAR drivers and executives are usually spotted doing interviews at the 46-foot-tall Monster.
When NASCAR returns with a tripleheader to the Monster Mile in April, fans can look forward to the Track Treasures Trailer that features mementos, NASCAR collectibles, one-of-a-kind autographed items, clothing and advertising banners for sale near the Monster Monument.
Proceeds will benefit Speedway Children’s Charities, Dover Motor Speedway Chapter, per Dover Motor Speedway’s website.
Race fans are encouraged by the Speedway to keep checking the website for added attractions, event times and more about Fan Zone festivities for the spring.
Dover Motor Speedway (1131 N. Dupont Highway, Dover) from Friday, April 26 to Sunday, April 28. More details TBA. Visit dovermotorspeedway.com.
WrestleMania 40, Philadelphia
The Super Bowl of professional wrestling is back in the City of Brotherly Love for the first time in 25 years with WrestleMania 40. This two-day event also marks WrestleMania’s first time in the home of the Philadelphia Eagles.
It’s confirmed (via a promo image on their website) that the Mania card includes wrestlers Brock Lesnar, Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, Roman Reigns, Asuka, Bianca Belair and Seth Rollins. Other stars that fans want/expect to see on the card are CM Punk, Randy Orton, John Cena and Stone Cold, and plenty others. More clarity about who is participating in WrestleMania will likely be revealed after the Royal Rumble happens Jan. 27.
Lincoln Financial Field at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7. Tickets combos for both days are $560 to $10,000+. Tickets for each night are $188 to $5,000+. Visit wwe.com.
420 weed party and more, Townsend
You and your best buds can roll up to one of the First State’s biggest 420 celebrations for a one-of-a-kind, 24-hour event that’ll unite marijuana lovers in the same month that Delaware legalized weed in 2023.
Delfire Group and Delaware NORML are teaming up to deliver two marijuana-themed events in one: Delfire’s Spring Fling event and Delaware NORML’s 420 Party.
This fully baked collaboration features art vendors, merch, live music, cannabis advocacy and camping at, and lots of weed. The event is for ages 21 or older.
Fire Base Lloyd (474 Flemings Landing Road, Townsend) on Saturday, April 20. More details TBA. Visit Facebook.com/weedstockde or Facebook.com/DENORML.
Dover Days Festival
One of Delaware’s oldest and largest festivals is in the Capital City, Dover Days takes guests back to the Colonial era for two days.
The first day has fireworks and the second offers a full festival and parade. Dover Days is known for Maypole dancing, balloon rides, historic re-enactments, artisans, games and food vendors, and more. This festival is rain or shine.
Near Leg Hall (411 Legislative Ave.) on Friday, May 3 and Saturday, May 4. More details TBA. Visitdelawarevillages.com.
Point-To-Point, Winterthur
A fashion show, carnival and horse racing — these ingredients make up the 46th annual Winterthur Point-To-Point Steeplechase.
The yearly event raises money for the preservation and maintenance of the garden and estate at Winterthur. It features a parade of pups and carriages, steeple chase racing, vintage vehicles, raffles, community vendors and lots of family activities. But folks love to come out for tailgating to show off their extravagant outfits.
Winterthur (5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur) from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 5. More details TBA. Visit winterthur.org or (302) 888-4600.
Wilmington Flower Market
A lavish garden of fun and entertainment will blossom at a festive, three-day event that’s a staple in northern Delaware. The 103rd annual Wilmington Flower Market has live music, rides, food, beer and (of course) flowers, and lots more. The event also has a habit of booking musical acts that’ve played Firefly.
Proceeds from the Flower Market benefit children’s charities in Delaware.
Rockford Park (2629 W. 19th St., Wilmington) from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 9; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, May 10; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, May 11. More details TBA. Visit wilmingtonflowermarket.org.
Dover Comic Con
Since actions speak louder than words, you can tell everyone who your favorite anime is by cosplaying them at Dover Comic Con.
The free event is family-friendly and particularly good for folks who are new to cosplay and/or want to get a taste of what a comic convention is all about. (The con is also perfect for folks who love to people watch.) Lots of vendors and artisans sell wares and items at the convention.
There’s usually cool vehicles on display like replicas of the Batmobile or “Jurassic Park” Jeep. Last summer, “Pokémon” fans went wild over a replica of the Pikabug car pulled up.
Near Leg Hall (411 Legislative Ave.) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 8. More details TBA. Visit delmarvaevents.net.
June Jam, Houston
The longtime festival June Jam will make some noise with its 46th annual musical rodeo featuring headliner Shoot to Thrill, the all-female tribute to AC/DC.
June Jam, which is a nonprofit, is self-branded as the longest-running music festival in the nation (since the pandemic couldn’t even stop it).
Over the years, proceeds from June Jam have benefited all sorts of causes, from helping people struggling with medical bills to supporting Toys for Tots.
G&R Recreation Campground (4075 Gun and Rod Club Road, Houston) on Saturday, June 19. More details TBA. Visit junejam.com.
Delaware State Fair, Harrington
From pig races and concerts to crunchy fried Oreos, there’s a little something for everybody to enjoy at Delaware’s hottest event of the summer: the Delaware State Fair.
Last year’s event attracted 308,989 guests over 10 days with headline performances by comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, rappers Nelly and Vanilla Ice, country acts Lainey Wilson, Tyler Hubbard, Jackson Dean and Riley Green, plus Christian artist Zach Williams.
Delaware State Fair (18500 S. Dupont Highway, Harrington) Thursday, July 18 through Saturday, July 27. General admission tickets are up to $10 in person or $10.50 (online). Concerts on the Grandstand are extra. More details TBA. Visit delawarestatefair.com or (302) 398-3269.
Phish festival, The Woodlands Dover
The iconic jam band Phish will debut a new four-day festival in The Woodlands of Dover this summer.
The Woodlands have been starving for a festival since Firefly took a break and skipped 2023. The surprise announcement of the Phish event (which isn’t part of Firefly) is giving the Capital City renewed excitement by attracting a fresh audience of music lovers. Phishheads tend to be little older than the college-aged Firefly crowd, yet they’re still passionate and intense about seeing live shows (something “Phish phans” have a reputation for).
Details about Phish’s event are bare at the moment. But ticket prices and more information is probably coming soon. Check back with us soon.
The Woodlands (1131 N. Dupont Highway, Dover) from Thursday, Aug. 15 to Sunday, Aug. 18. More details TBA. Visit Phish.com.
Firefly Music Festival, The Woodlands Dover
Despite some fan speculation that Firefly Music Festival might not return for a second straight summer, Firefly organizers said in 2022 that they will come back to The Woodlands for 2024.
So far, the festival producers haven’t said otherwise. The last Firefly brought four days of music to The Woodlands with over 100 acts including headliners Halsey, My Chemical Romance, Green Day and Dua Lipa.
With Firefly attendance dropping over the years, the annual festival took the year off in 2023 to “recharge our lights.” Firefly producers have been quiet during their hiatus and haven’t revealed their festival lineup yet.
The Woodlands (1131 N. Dupont Highway, Dover). More details TBA. Visit fireflyfestival.com.
Delaware Renaissance Faire, Townsend
Vikings, elves and everyone in-between are welcome for a third season at the Delaware Renaissance Festival, organizers announced.
In 2023, Delafaire expanded to three weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) and sold out each Saturday. The fall festival also drew new vendors and entertainers to this family-friendly event that offers archery, axe-throwing and much more.
Since launching in 2022, Delafaire has quickly become one of the First State’s most beloved events. The Ren Faire’s website announced it’s coming back for its third annual event in 2024. Ticket prices and dates haven’t been announced yet.
Fire Base Lloyd (474 Flemings Landing Road, Townsend) in fall 2024. More details TBA. Visit delafaire.com.
Oceans Calling — Ocean City, Md.
The debut of Oceans Calling in the fall saw more than 30 artists hit the stage across three days. Acts included John Mayer, Alanis Morissette, Incubus, Jack Johnson and The Lumineers.
Festival organizers recently promised “a triumphant return” back to Ocean City this September. Oceans Calling hasn’t announced its lineup yet.
Ocean City Inlet Beach (809 South Atlantic Ave., Ocean City, Maryland) from Friday, Sept. 27, to Sunday, Sept. 29. More details TBA. Visit oceanscallingfestival.com.
If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters.
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300 years later, Shad welcomed back to Brandywine
Dam removal begins in the Brandywine as the Shad and other fish are welcomed back to historic breeding grounds. The project is the first of many on the waterway and one of a series in the Delaware River watershed.
William Bretzger, The News Journal
The Delaware history column features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and The Evening Journal. See the archives at delawareonline.com.
20 years ago, The News Journal, June 7, 2006
100-year-old Stone Balloon demolished for condominiums
There was no ceremony or parting words. Just the sound of the orange high-reach excavator machine as it began clawing into the wall of the Stone Balloon tavern on East Main Street in Newark.
A large crowd gathered Tuesday to watch the 100-year-old building come down. As the familiar walls crumbled, they snapped photos on their digital cameras and cell phones.
Owner Jim Baeurle will replace the tavern with a 54-unit project called the Washington House Condominium, as well as retail and office space. Demolition could take several days. Construction is set to start in July.
“To me, the emotional part was on Dec. 17, saying goodbye to the staff and customers,” Baeurie said before the demolition. “But now we turn the page and bring to Main Street what I tried to do for two years. The excitement outweighs the sadness.”
University of Delaware students, residents and business owners had mixed emotions.
Travis Duke, 22, a UD senior from Wilmington, went to the Balloon every Thursday night for two years. His dad went there in the 1970s to watch George Thorogood perform.
“I’m upset,” Duke said. “You can’t really replace the Stone Balloon with condos. It was a one-of-a-kind type of place.”…
The Stone Balloon was opened by Bill Stevenson in 1972.
“I don’t think people will ever realize how much fun we had at this building,” Stevenson said.
50 years ago, The Morning News, June 9, 1976
Governor vetoes bill to merge 3 vo-tech schools
Fearing more problems with budget deficits and desegregation, Gov. Sherman W. Tribbitt yesterday announced his veto of a bill to put three New Castle County vocational schools under the control of a single school board. ….
The bill would have given the New Castle County Vocational Technical Board of Education control over Wilmington’s Howard Career Center which opened last year and Newark’s Hodgson Vocational-Technical School, due to open this fall. …
Before making the decision, Tribbitt talked with Albert H. Jones Jr., president of the State Board of Education. He also met with vo-tech officials and school superintendents from Wilmington and Newark which would have lost control of their vocational schools through the bill….
While vetoing the merger bill, Tribbitt let stand the two companion measures. Those bills increase the vo-tech property tax from 3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 4 cents in Sussex County, 4 cents this year and 5 cents next year in Kent County, and 8 cents in New Castle County. The revenues raised in New Castle County will be split, based on enrollment, among the Wilmington, Newark and vo-tech districts.
Tribbitt said the cost of consolidating the three vocational schools under one board would be greater than the increased taxes would raise. The problem, he said, is “leveling up,” which state law requires when districts are consolidated. By putting three schools under one district’s control, the district would have to pay all staff according to a pay scale equal to the highest now existing at any of them. That, Tribbitt said, would have created at least a $300,000 deficit next year.
Desegregation was mentioned indirectly in the veto message, but Jones elaborated on it. In consolidating, Jones said, the district’s three schools would have to meet U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare standards. Those standards require that the district couldn’t have one school with mostly white students while another was mostly black or have a similar racial imbalance between teachers at different schools.
Meeting those guidelines, Tribbitt said, could have meant “significant shifts” in students, teachers, administrators and programs. “It could have meant busing,” a Tribbitt aide noted.
100 years ago, The Evening Journal, June 12, 1926
Wilmington to join in nation’s 150th birthday celebration
Wilmington Mayor Forrest, at 11:11 a.m. on June 28, simultaneously with the ringing of the Liberty Bell by Mayor Kendrick in Philadelphia, will ring a bell in this city, as an echo of the tolling of the symbol of liberty.
The ringing of the bell will be a signal for the commencement of American Independence Week.
President Coolidge in Washington is expected to perform a similar service, and each of the state governors are expected at that time to toll a bell in the state capitols.
The week has been set aside by a special act of Congress for the celebration of the 150th birthday of the Declaration of Independence and commemorating the Centennial of the death of its author, Thomas Jefferson.
Claude G. Bowers, executive secretary of the national commission, yesterday wired Mayor Forrest about the celebration and received an immediate return telegram from the mayor assuring the commission of his fullest cooperation. …
The tentative program follows: “Patriot’s Pledge of Faith Day” on Monday, “Universal Education Day” Tuesday, “Founders Day” Wednesday, “Great American Day” Thursday, “Signers Day” Friday, “Monticello Day” Saturday, “Jefferson Centennial Day” Sunday and “Sesqui-Centennial Independence Day” on Monday.
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
Residents in Wilmington are testing a traffic safety measure they hope will make a dangerous intersection safer and eventually lead to permanent changes.
With permission from the city, neighbors spent a whole day cleaning, taping off and painting part of the area around Lancaster Avenue and Connell Street as part of a temporary project known as daylighting.
Daylighting improves visibility at intersections by preventing vehicles from parking closest to corners, making it easier for drivers, pedestrians and others using the roadway to see one another.
Organizers say the temporary project is only supposed to last for a few days. Afterward, they plan to survey neighbors to determine whether residents believe it improved safety.
Neighbors say this intersection has long been a concern because vehicles often travel fast down Lancaster Avenue, making it difficult for drivers on Connell Street to safely see oncoming traffic when turning onto the avenue.
“This is local. It’s a local solution from a local set of neighbors who are taking matters into their own hands,” Jamila Davey of Green for the Greater Good said.
For Tracy Jenkins, who lives nearby, the project is personal.
“There used to be a building that sat on this block here, it got hit and knocked off the foundation,” Jenkins said. “My mom every time she gets in the car she cringes because of being afraid of us being hit. It’s just horrible.”
If neighbors believe the temporary project made the intersection safer, organizers plan to push the city and DelDOT to make the daylighting measures permanent.
For now, residents say the effort is about trying to solve a problem they see every day in their neighborhood.
“You gotta try so we’ve gotta try this first,” Jenkins said.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.
Delaware
Recovery mission underway on Delaware River after Philadelphia barber goes missing in the water
Marine crews are searching for a man who went missing in the Delaware River in Philadelphia on Friday morning.
The search is focused on a stretch of the river between North Delaware and Linden avenues.
Investigators say just after midnight, the man jumped from a boat and went into the water, but then disappeared and never came back up.
Friends identified the man as Carlos Manuel, saying he is a well-known barber in Philadelphia. Friends say he is in his early 30s and had been drinking before entering the river.
Authorities believe this happened during a large social gathering on the water.
“He swam out of the boat with my other friend and the last word he told my friend [was] ‘hey, I can’t no more, I love you,’” a friend told CBS News Philadelphia. “That breaks my heart because the last word he said is I can’t swim anymore and I love you.”
Police have not yet confirmed the man’s identity.
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