Frederick Fifties Night

In Frederick, the first Saturday of the month is usually some sort of celebration. We were there for 1950s night, which meant stores were open late and bands were playing in the streets. We walked into town from our rental house which took maybe five minutes without the children. We crossed Carol Creek and were in the middle of the action.

A bridge we did not use but thought was pretty

Amazing flower on a water lily

As we walked down the street, a lady asked us if we wanted to visit the Potters' Guild of Frederick. They had a special offer on--if a customer buys an item from a special rack, the money will be donated to a local charity. Also, such purchases come with a ticket for a free ice cream from South Mountain Creamery. They had a booth just outside the shop. We went in, perused and purchased. Outside, we had some yummy grasshopper ice cream. It wasn't made with grasshoppers, however. It was a mint chocolate chip variant.

Potters' Guild of Frederick

The real attraction was music on the streets. We saw one band down an alley playing for a restaurant crowd. The restaurant is called Brewers Alley (it seemed like a yuppy-ish bar) but the band, Nightcrawlers, was good. And a little too loud, so we moved on.

Nightcrawlers at Brewers Alley

Further up the street was a quintet that was actually a sextet (we didn't see #6 for a while). They played a very long song, of which you can see a clip.

Street musicians

We continued to wander around, enjoying the pleasant August evening and the quaint Civil War-era architecture of Frederick. It was a great way to end our first evening in Frederick.