Eric Davis Sr. and Mark Krysiak tell Nestor all about what saved the Dundalk Heritage Fair this year. Get all of the information on the bands, food and a weekend of fun here. www.dundalkheritagefair.com
Nestor Aparicio discusses the revival of the Dundalk Heritage Fair, which faced cancellation due to financial struggles and adverse weather conditions over the past four years. Eric Davis, the president of the board, and Mark Crazy Act, the executive director, led the community effort to save the fair. Key sponsors included Weis Markets, Trade Point, and Atlantic McNabb Funeral Homes, contributing $45,000 to pay off debt. The fair will feature live music, including Heart by Heart, Crack the Sky, and local bands, and will host events from July 3-6. Admission is $5 on Friday and $10 on Saturday and Sunday.
Eric Adams and Mark Krysiak te…ndalk Heritage Fair this year.
Wed, Jun 25, 2025 6:40AM • 45:17
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Dundalk Heritage Fair, community support, local businesses, sponsors, volunteers, entertainment schedule, fireworks, weather concerns, heritage fair history, community events, local bands, food vendors, family-friendly, Fourth of July.
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SPEAKERS
Mark Krysiak, Eric Adams Sr., Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 task of Baltimore. And I mean home. I mean home east side. In this one, I got my Costa shirt on. We’re actually going to be doing the Maryland crab cake tour at the other cost is the one up in Timonium right now. We have the Back to the Future scratch offs that’s going to be on the 10th of July. On the eighth of July, we’re actually going to be on my side of town in Canton, at deepest squad. Ladies, probably sausage before breakfast. We’re going to have great, great guests. That’s on Tuesday the eighth, and then on the 10th, we’re Costas and Timonium, also at the racetrack in the afternoon. Johnny Oh, our congressman, also an East sider. One of us will be joining me on the north side to talk about what’s happening on the South Side in Washington. So be doing all of that in July, but between now and then biggest weekend of the year. If you’re from my part of town, I don’t know how many heritage fairs I’ve been to, probably the over under on how many Billy Joel or Bruce Springsteen or Jimmy Buffett concerts I went to. I probably went to my first heritage fair in the late 1970s certainly into the 80s and 90s, and also never missed one. And there was a and it was more than a rumor. It was like a thing that I circulated. And I’m in the Dundalk high Hall of Fame. I got done dog friends all over the world scattered literally everywhere. And I said, the heritage Fair has been canceled. We’re not having a heritage fair. And within minutes, literally minutes, and I think I posted it before anybody had really posted it, I had sort of gotten a whisper and a rumor. And it says over here on my Facebook, I’m a journalist. Um, Mark crazy act joins me now. And Eric Davis, who I’ve known for a long, long time, he’s wearing a an LC food shirt to compete with Mike Costas in church. Let’s get softball teams together. Tell Chad. I’ll meet at that at stemmers run. Um, guys, the heritage fair is on, and I know you two, you’re going to be humble. You’re going to say it’s the community everybody live. But you guys, like, got some piss and vinegar, some old east side and you rolled your sleeves back up and put some elbow grease behind this. And I know on my page alone, the first night this is going back a couple of months, that people found it unacceptable that the heritage fair would cease to exist, and you guys got involved. So I don’t know, literally, I’m blind at this. I’m going Larry King, I didn’t read the book. I just know it came back. Bro. Heart told me I want soup to nuts. What’s gone on here, really, in the last calendar year, in the last couple of calendar years, to put us into this position? Mark, are you the chairman of the board and Eric’s the consulate? Or how does this even work? I’m trying to figure out who runs the thing.
Mark Krysiak 02:35
It’s kind of the other way around. So Eric’s the president of the board. I’m the executive director. So he’s the he’s the
Nestor Aparicio 02:40
8boss. Okay, I’m back with Dave Sutherland. Dave would come out 30 years ago, and David tell me about the fair. And you know, I go back way, way back with the fair. And you know, all the local businesses, whether Squires and North Point village serving the Roma sausage. And you know, everybody being involved in what was really a community barn raising around the Fourth of July that was always dependent upon weather, especially when Dennis the Young was coming on, or kicks, or Joan Jett, or, you know, any going back to Mel Tillis, when you would bring him it back in the day, Eric, I’ll put it to you because, I mean, you have been, you know, unbelievably kind to me. I’ve tried to promote this for you. I know, 100.7 and they had Van Hollen out there every year, and Brill Hart. And I, you know, I love my classic rock friends, but when it comes to, like the city supporting this and regions outside of Dundalk, it does feel like it. This is on the Dundalk and under Dundalk, and coming to Dundalk, and after the bridge went down, getting people to come back home or home, for all you out there, it’s been challenging, even for me, to try to get people to come back, and I want to use this segment as an opportunity for you to implore people to come back and talk about what you all have done the last six months to make sure that this still exists next weekend.
Eric Adams Sr. 03:57
Well, thank you. Back in April, our board met, and we had seen some really tough times over the past four years since COVID and mother nature, of course, never cooperates with us. It’s always either hotter than hot or it rains. So it it puts you in a predicament, because if the weatherman calls for rain, the people don’t come out. So with that, you try to do the best you can. You try to trim the budget a little bit here and there to make sense of what’s going on. But at the end of the day, over the past four years, we really have not profited
Nestor Aparicio 04:37
What, what’s the board exist? I mean, Erica, have you, Mark? I have you. I’ve seen other names and people out what does, what is the modern heritage fair in Dundalk been and again, I talk about bro heart, 100.7 and I know there’s other businesses wise markets who I’ve been in business with. I’m not in business with them now, but they came forth, and I’ve had Rob Santoni on the air years past, when he got involved. Wise and said, We need to underwrite this. The community needs to underwrite this. And I know the county’s been involved as well, but for what it is and what it represents for our community, for Dundalk, it’s just really significant. You guys know that I know that I want my people to know that. I want people from Dundalk to say, one time a year, we want to come back and support the community and be a part of this and show the heritage of Dundalk. And I know that you know that sits and breathes and lives within you guys, within all the high schools that show off yearbooks. We all went down. We all wanted to sign in and be a part of what we’re doing, and whether the band was Jones yet, or whether it’s crack the sky, or whether it’s the honey brothers, which is fine too. And now that we’re losing the real heart, we you know, we get the cover bands and whatnot, but it really is a homecoming for our community, and to think that it would go away was, I called it unacceptable, but it’s got to be acceptable. This is where you are. And I know vendors that sign up, people that come in, businesses that prepare sausages and pit beef and sandwiches and souvlaki and on fried dough and everything and lemonade, everything that we get that I’ve ever enjoyed there from, you know, the one side on dunman Way to the big stage, back and forth, different bands. I mean, it’s a hell of an undertaking that all of you take on. What is the board and what does support this at this point? Eric,
Eric Adams Sr. 06:30
okay, well, the board plays a significant role. It’s not just me. I do what I can. We all wear different hats all the time when this all snowballed, and we were just when we decided, like you said, that the community felt it was not acceptable. The sponsors, then all came together. And like you said, Weis markets, trade point, Atlantic, McNabb, funeral homes that took over conley’s Baltimore towing, Chesapeake Express Homes. They’re just a few.
8Nestor Aparicio 07:08
Keep going. I mean, listen, it’s businesses like Costas to support my business. I’m not here with a radio station with Baltimore positive, if there’s no Maryland lottery, if there’s no curio wellness, if there’s no liberty, pure solutions, Hey, man. I mean, I it’s hand to mouth out there. I understand that it’s and I built up my whole business that way. You’re building it on whether one week on volunteers, you know, primarily, and have been doing this for a couple generations really
Eric Adams Sr. 07:34
well, exactly. And I always say this, and then I’ll turn it over to Mark so he can really delve into it, because he’s been there longer than I for all the people that are Dundalk, born and raised or close to Dundalk,
Nestor Aparicio 07:48
that means you Essex and Highland town, I’ve never
Eric Adams Sr. 07:51
8moved there in my life. Wow. I was born in Rhode Island, moved to Towson, lived in Towson, became part of the fair through a friend. Wow, have never left.
Nestor Aparicio 08:08
That shocks me. I did not know that about you, so the
Eric Adams Sr. 08:12
closest I lived was in Essex,
Nestor Aparicio 08:15
and that’s not Dundalk. We can all agree with that. I’ve never
8Eric Adams Sr. 08:18
resided in 21222, in my life.
Nestor Aparicio 08:21
Mark, are you of the Highland town crazy acts in some way? Is that? Is that? Yeah. I mean, I knew some of the curly goons that went to some of the crazy acts, and some of the guys I grew up with, with the curly debellases and and again, these are the people that all come to the heritage fair. This is the Highland town, Dundalk, currently Catholic High girls, but perhaps we let them come over and we can cross over mirror Boulevard come visit us. Spanish point, I mean, but it really was such a and I go back to the Sacred Heart at carnivals, and I’m Colgate. So Mark Colgate, East Point, we had the card. We let her we wanted Berkshire over neighborhood to neighborhood, whether it’s gray man or whether it’s even down by Sparrows Point, it cost us, um, it was always um. I called it a barn raising. Man, I don’t know what to say. Mark, what was your first heritage fair? I mean, your family’s been a part of this forever, right?
Mark Krysiak 09:13
Well, mine personally was 1989
Nestor Aparicio 09:17
8so that’s only 36 years ago. It feels like yesterday to me. Feels like that was my third or fourth Senior Week. So so give it to me, honest for you. I mean, um, you’re, you’re east side on me. Said I, I have only been asked over years, and, man, I’m going back to last century. I’m going back to Dave Sutherland would literally come out to my studio when I was I didn’t have a radio station. This is before I had the station. He came out to the Towson Sheridan, so that hadn’t been 9697 to promote the heritage fair, because he knew I was from Dundalk. And I’m going back 30 years now. And you know, at that time, it was on a trajectory to say, how can we get bigger bands? How can we make it bigger? And next thing I know. Show up Joan Jetts there, and I’m like, I don’t know anybody anymore, and you didn’t know where to park. And you know, so, I mean, the the event based on bands, became a different kind of event for a period of time. And it really felt successful, right? It felt like there was a lot of money coming through. A lot of people finding Dundalk that didn’t know where the Key Bridge was when it was still there. People were coming into our community from other places, but it really did seed back in the 80s, when it was a bunch of Highland town people and Dundalk people, and our parents wanted to go, and our parents were alive, and there was a beer garden, and it was a place to see girls, see boys, make friends after they had some problems in the 80s, which is how the beer garden happened. But it was literally a reason to not go to Ocean City mark, right? It was a reason to not go to Ocean City on Fourth of July. It
Mark Krysiak 10:46
was, it was, it was a really big deal. I mean, everybody I knew went to the heritage fair, right? Everybody went there, and it was just a when you going to meet who there was, was the deal. But remember, in the 80s, you know, we really were able to grow it. We got to the point we were getting 20,000 people a year. But you could do that then, because we could pay so much less for a band. So the problem was, you know, you get $5 a head coming in, right? And you get, you know, 8000 people in a night. And
Nestor Aparicio 11:11
you know, you’re 40. Stand by hand. I come in, I come in. I park on the other side of Dundalk. I park behind pin land. Don’t tell anybody, it’ll get crowded. But I would always park over there. I’d walk across the park, past the post office, past scoops, you know, up the road, past what used to be Santoni, a little market, and I would enter on that side. They stamped my hand before I get to the beer garden. I got to go over and sign the high school book. You know what I mean? I got to get my fried dough over in the corner. I got to get my sausages. You know, I was always leaving five bucks everywhere, running around having a good time. The rides were on the back end with kids, and the kids I’m going to beer guard. But I, you know, I had a routine for 30 years, man, like I met my wife in 2003 I’m 23 summers into my marriage. My wife’s been to 19 heritage fairs. You know what I mean, like we we come to that we don’t go to Ocean City in the Fourth of July. And I remember people started having kids, and then they had two kids, and these are all the girls that were going to shake their ass on a hotel, white snakes car. I mean, all 1985 and they all moved to Harford County, and then they get a boat, and then they got have kids, and then they got a pool, and then they got the Fourth of July. And then I can’t get them to the railway anymore, and I can’t get them down to squires or Costas. And there was a period where it was just people dispersed out of Dundalk. I mean, I don’t know where you live now, Mark, or where all of your cousins, brothers, all the crazy acts and all the curly people went. A lot of people did go to Harford County, other things. But then they started like not coming back in small, little pieces. And I really hope this is the year we can incur. We’re not going to get everybody back, but I hope we can encourage people to let them know it’s on, the party’s on. We want you back. And I know you guys have worked super overtime with all the sponsors to try to make this weekend something that’s worth coming back
Mark Krysiak 13:02
for, right? Absolutely. And I do want to mention that the number two sponsor who we didn’t mention was his foundry station, the housing development where sea rooms distillery was I heard
8Nestor Aparicio 13:14
about this. Tell me about this because somebody told me they had owned that piece of land at some point that somebody in recent times told me that that was a piece of property, and I went sadly to a funeral. One of my dearest friends passed away at the funeral home right on the other side of Dundalk Avenue, kitty corner from the McDonald’s there and solids point. So I get my, get my get Yeah, get my, get my bear. I don’t, don’t. If I pull out Google Maps and Dundalk, I lose my card. They they throw me out. But so the foundry, so tell me about the sponsorship, and literally give me peel back the onion, go backstage here a little bit and tell me what’s really happened from the night when Eric, I believe it was you, and Mark, maybe you sent over a press release to me. So we’re not really announcing this till tomorrow. And I’m like, Well, let me put this up and see what. And I mean, kind of, I don’t know, I don’t get too emotional about it, but kind of like, I threw that out that night hoping that there’d be a piece here in late June where you guys, somebody would come in and save it. Because I knew, like, people were like, hey, Nestor, you should go save and I’m like, I don’t have the capacity to save it. I don’t even know what I’m doing the people who have been keeping it alive are the ones throwing in the white towel to some degree. And I don’t think there was no um, finesse in this. I mean, I think you guys had all come together and thought, we all think it’s worth saving, but there has to be a business behind this, right, right? It
Mark Krysiak 14:38
has to work out, right. And we don’t want to make money. We just want to make money. We just want to break even right. Want to have another fair. So we didn’t have a positive number fair since COVID. We lost money every year since COVID. We found ourselves at the end of the Fair last year, 45,000 almost $48,000 in the hole actually, and looking around for sponsors to pay. Off our debt so we can have another fair was not something anybody was interested in. So we got all the way through. Six months later, we get to the end of the calendar year, and no solution we give ourselves, you know, three more months, if we can’t do it by the end of March, then we don’t have a choice. We got to pull the plug, declare bankruptcy, and go away. And that’s where we were. And one of the first people to reach out to us was John von Tron, local
Nestor Aparicio 15:23
developer, hey, hey, that’s my guy. All right,
Mark Krysiak 15:26
8yeah. So John steps forward and says, Hey, we’re building this foundry station thing, you know, we’re putting money aside to help the community, you know, I think I can get you some money. So I calls us back, and he says, I can get you 20 grand. All right, that on top of 25 from wise. And you know, you get 10 here from, from, I don’t know if you remember Tom toporovich, the guy who used to be on the stage every year doing all introducing everyone. When Tom passed away, he set up a charity, and his nephew gave us $10,000 from the charity. And we were going from in the hole to all of a sudden, we had $45,000 to pay off the debt. And so it’s
Nestor Aparicio 16:01
that that really is the store that is backstage. Backstage is, how do we raise the money, like for any organization, really, right?
Mark Krysiak 16:07
Absolutely. I mean, there’s three things you need in something like this. You’d have to raise the money, you need volunteers to run the thing, and then you need people to attend it, right? That’s, that’s the name of the game. And, you know, so we raised the money, and we put out the call for volunteers, and we’ve gotten 50 or 60 more volunteers than we’ve had in recent years, which is great. So now we just need, you know, at least seven or 8000 people to show up. You know, 8000 people show up. Make us happy.
Nestor Aparicio 16:34
Mark, crazy act is here, and give me the titles for you guys again, because I don’t want to be getting the President and the Vice President wrong here Eric Davis, who I’ve known a long time, who’s never lived in Dundalk, which is crazy to me. Mark, have you lived in Dundalk? Or no, you did.
8Mark Krysiak 16:49
Oh, I grew up in the A to K streets, right at the top of Dundalk Avenue. When I first got married, we lived on trap road for a little while, and then we bought a house down on Woodley, which is right down by the the old little bowling alley, you know, the duck pond, you know, at the bar. And we lived there for a number of years, and then eventually we moved to Middle River. But we’re still in East County. We’re still active, you know, still doing,
Nestor Aparicio 17:11
I knew you were the crazy acts up off the 8k streets because my mother lived on Drew as Did Mark Carol Koski. I owned a home on Kane, um, some of my best friends at shennings lived on Joplin, so, and, you know, I mean, we, there’s a bus City Hospital up there near Greek town,
Mark Krysiak 17:28
that’s right, I could see it out my bedroom window. I was on Cornwall street.
Nestor Aparicio 17:31
8You know, I I’m a confused person, and because Eric’s an outsider to this, but I grew up in Colgate and and Colgate always fed Kenwood, so when I was a boy, in the 70s, I tell people I’m from like, East Point area, Colgate, East Point area, but it’s really the Essex exit office, 695, that dumped you off there. Now, of course, like you, I had a 21224, Highland town zip code. So I had a highland town zip code. I thought I was going to Kenwood. My family identified very much with Essex because my dad worked at Martin Marietta. My parents owned homes in Mars estates and on Taylor Avenue in Essex. My parent all our doctors, all of our every everything was Essex based, but my dad worked at the point, which wasn’t really Dundalk. It was more like Sparrows Point. It wasn’t thought of as Dundalk. And then all of a sudden, 1979 all hell breaks loose. I’m going to holler bird, and then I’m going to Dundalk high. And then all of a sudden, I get associated with Dundalk, but I never moved. And it was Highland town zip it was thinking you’re from Essex, but being on the other side of the poop plant and being from East Point mall that we became Dundalk, and the Dundalk heritage fair is alive and well, I want everyone to go to Dundalk heritage fair.com. Everything that you need to know is up on the website. I’m going to get everything out for out on the Facebook. I’m going to share things, because I do want people to come back and experience the heritage fair and come to the beer garden and be a part of it and listen to the bands. So how many of you are on the board? Because you mentioned all these cool businesses, and that’s great. Johnny von, that’s how many people come together for a year and put this thing together that sit on this board? Eric,
Eric Adams Sr. 19:19
we have 10 actual acting board members with one honorary board member. Our honorary board member is ms Carol Fogle, who has been with the fair since day one. Her husband started the fair. He was from the city, and he believed that at the Baltimore City could have a festival under the JFK. Why couldn’t he have a festival
Nestor Aparicio 19:43
in Dundalk? What year did it start?
Eric Adams Sr. 19:47
1976
8Nestor Aparicio 19:48
76 okay, I believe is
Mark Krysiak 19:50
that correct mark? Yes, it is. So the idea of the fair was they wanted to have a big celebration for the bicentennial. They went to works and the whole nine yards. So it was like one of those old movies. Movies, you know, where let’s get together and have a show to raise money, right? And that’s how the fair started. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 20:05
did that beget the run and the 5k and the parade exists before 76
Mark Krysiak 20:10
8it did the parades in its 91st year. So the parade existed.
Nestor Aparicio 20:15
I was the grand marshal in 2001 I was, I, I was the grand marshall once for the parade. So I hate parades, but I had the greatest time of my life that day. I saw everybody I knew. I mean, I’m out on York way. I mean, it was just, it was awesome. It was so awesome. I should have run the race while I was still young and fit, and I could have run a little bit. But, I mean, between the race would bring people into Dundalk, people would say to me all the time, running that race or Fourth of July, I’m not from Dundalk. I’m just a runner. You know what I mean? Like, it really did bring the community together in a way that I think only like something like this can. I mean maybe if we had a Christmas thing in the weather, and you like A Christmas Story and Ralphie and had trees and whatever. But and we do tree lightings, every community does a tree lighting. Fourth of July, and the fireworks over what was North Point junior high school was always a, you know, huge part of the day, and a huge part of my childhood and my adolescence, and my son’s childhood, quite frankly, into the 80s and into the 90s, and being a part of this, and I’ve got to wrestle my kid up, get him over there. He’s He’s bougie. Now, what’s the weather going to be? Is it too hot? You know, get your ass over the fair. Is what I would say to him. What are we going to have at the fair this year? Give me a lowdown on vendors, food, music, because sometimes you book country music, and I endure it. And I’ve sang karaoke in the beer garden. I have done this. You can look it up. But I mean, anytime you try to put bands together, I mean, I’ve, I can name the phone book of the bands that I’ve seen. I mean, Vince Neil has been at the Heritage fair. Dennis the young from sticks has been at the Heritage fair. 38 specials been at the Heritage Joan jetsman, I mean, we’re talking Rock and Roll Hall of Famers here. I mean, we’ve had any money, Eddie money. Thank you very much. Great, great entertainment. But to your point, we ain’t got 150 grand to book Springsteen, right? So you know, so you try to keep it local. I know Mike brohart, my dear Dundalk friend Mikey wasabi over at 100.7 getting the lead out every night out there. I know he’s helped try to bring bands in, and there’s always a little conjecture about what to do, but you’re never wrong where you’re in that classic rock Mahoney brothers Beatles. I mean, that’s what I want to come and see. And my wife’s always like that, too. Hey, What? What? Crack the sky playing this year’s kicks play. I know kicks retired. We attended that, but I mean, you guys go out of your way to really try to really try to make this special for everybody
Mark Krysiak 22:42
with the music we do, we try to bring in music that they wouldn’t necessarily see otherwise, right? Because it’s done, right? A lot of people don’t get a chance to see all those different bands. But we’re kind of limited, right? We can only get about 9000 people in front of the main stage at a time, so back in the day, right, when I could get a really, you know, really good band for under 20 grand. You know, I could get a really, really good national band. How
Nestor Aparicio 23:04
much did you pay Joan Jett? I
8Mark Krysiak 23:08
don’t have it in front of me, but Joan gave us such a deal that it wasn’t much.
Nestor Aparicio 23:12
I’m telling you, man, the day Joan Jett played there, I’ve never it was like Woodstock. She was like a Dundalk biker. Woodstock. There were people I had never seen in my life. It was just on, man, I looked around and I’m like, there, this is the greatest day in Dundalk to bring people from outside of Dundalk to Dundalk and and it held up a little bit. It was just, I have such great memories. That’s why I want to promote this with you fellas and make sure we can get as many people out next weekend as we can. You
Eric Adams Sr. 23:39
know, yeah, that was a year the derecho. That
Mark Krysiak 23:42
8was the year of the derecho. And Joan is such a homer. Did we barely paid anything at the end of
Nestor Aparicio 23:47
the day. She did my show that week she came on. I said, you’re coming to my hometown. I gotta have you, you know, be on the show. Any money. Did my show before he did the the heritage fair, many, many years ago as well. Because, like when they were coming to Dundalk, I knew about it back in the day, when you guys are really growing the thing so grassroots. Let’s start with this. We were going to cancel the fair. It was canceled. It was 50 grand in the red. We brought it back. We’ve got weather. We’ve vendors. The vendors want to still be a part of of the Heritage fair.
Eric Adams Sr. 24:18
Your commercial vendors, yes, your food vendors, for the most part, yes, your arts and craft vendors are a tough bunch. They’re used to only doing one day of events, so trying to get them to commit to three days is it doesn’t matter what you charge them. They don’t want to do three days of an event because it’s too much on them. They’re used to the one day, set up, do their thing, leave five hours later, and it’s done. Did you guys ever
Nestor Aparicio 24:48
consider making this just a one day, or do, I mean, has there been any consideration to major changes? I mean, I’ve seen changes cyclically, how the elementary school changed the time we’ve. On it, right? There’s a whole new school there. If you haven’t been to Dundalk in the last five or 10 years, stop by the high school and see that too. Wave at my plaque. Tell me how undeserving I am, and you’re right. But, but Dundalk Elementary, I played little. I played Pop Warner Football there with Johnny Rollo, Jimmy Thomas and, you know, so I practiced on that field. We’re literally where the the arts and crafts used to be down on that side, is where I played my little league football. So I just it’s a homecoming for me in so many ways, but I have seen it evolve. And you can get a snowball, you can get food, you know, all the steak on a stick, all the goods, the fried oreos, fried stuff that I wouldn’t eat. But we always come hungry and leave
8Mark Krysiak 25:42
happy. So we have looked at trying to shorten it up, looked at saying, maybe doing two days or one day. But keep in mind that the fair pays for the entire bill for the fireworks. So that’s, you know, 20 $25,000 off the top. Another $10,000 we give to the parade, another few $1,000 we used to support the run and some other things. So when you factor that in, we do have a lot of money going out. And as we was, we shortened it up, some of the costs that we have don’t get cheaper. So a lot of equipment we rent. We rent it for the week, although we use it for three days. Once they bring in the stages and the sound equipment and the lighting, it costs almost the same to do that for one day as it would for three. So you know, with those sunk cost in day one, making it a one or two date event would just make it a very expensive proposition.
Nestor Aparicio 26:29
Okay, so that makes, I love that I’m having you guys on Mark. Crazy act is here off the 80k streets and of all the Highland town guys I grew up with back in Dundalk, making this thing happen. The Heritage fair is really happening. Eric Davis, who’s always kept me informed and sits at the top of all of this, so you have a letter up at the front, and I would implore everybody to go read about how wise markets and McNabb funeral home and over a dozen local businesses by the way. Todd. Crandall, where? What are you hiding? Crandall, you done something cool. We saved a fair. Let’s go, get down to Casas. Let’s talk about things. Crandall and I grew up together. Um, this doesn’t
Mark Krysiak 27:05
happen. He’s, he’s, he’s always with us. Listen, he’s behind the scenes on everything we
Nestor Aparicio 27:09
8do, and he and I agree on very little politically every time we do. Johnny too. Johnny Ray, throw him in there too. He and I were jamming the 38 special. But I’ll tell you this for all the anti government that happens in our country. This doesn’t happen without local government. I mean, this is, this is what, this is what local, local, local government, tax base, businesses, people, community, vendors, music. I mean, street races, fireworks, family, that’s what this is all about. Man, right,
Mark Krysiak 27:40
we couldn’t survive if it wasn’t for recreation and parks, Baltimore County Public Schools, the Baltimore County Police Department, wise Avenue, volunteer fire. You know, all those things are necessary. If we had to pay for any of those services, this would be impossible.
Nestor Aparicio 27:53
Well, I love that this is coming together. All right. Mark your calendars. You patriots. Fourth of July is Friday, Fifth of July. Saturday, sixth of July. Sunday. We’re not going to the railway after, but I’ll meet you over Costas for some proper crab Imperial everything is up at Heritage Dundalk, heritage fair.com, most important, let’s talk about the bands fellas, Eric, let’s let’s talk bands with you. Let’s get you in on this. What’s going on with our entertainment schedule on the weekend, because I want to come down to rock from the beer garden with you guys.
Eric Adams Sr. 28:25
Okay, on Friday evening, starting at five o’clock, we have a group called the fantastic, fabulous hubcaps. They’re from the 60s, 70s and the early 50s. My understanding, I’ve never seen them personally, but I understand that they put on a fantastic show. So they are there Friday, and then we have opening ceremonies, then the Mahoney brothers at eight o’clock. If
8Nestor Aparicio 28:50
I have to explain who the Mahoney brothers are at this point,
Eric Adams Sr. 28:54
John The Beatles,
Nestor Aparicio 28:57
they used to play out at the barn 30 years ago too. They’re great. I love the Mahoney brothers. I’d
Eric Adams Sr. 29:02
8like to see him touch on a little bit of The Beach Boys for a song or two, just because of the passing of Brian Wilson. But we’ll see what happens.
Nestor Aparicio 29:10
It’s the fourth of July. You want the Beach Boys? They’re going to give you the beach boy. I think the Mahoney brothers can manage that.
Eric Adams Sr. 29:14
Sure. Um, Saturday we’ve got in early evening is remains of radio. Remains of radio is local to the 21222, with Robert Wawa grand, who was Teddy Pendergrass lead guitarist, Jerry black from Maryland truck and tire heads the group up as the bass player I grew up with Jerry Antonio Hancock’s dad, Wayne, another Dundalk boy, born and bred. And they are our five o’clock entertainment, doing 70s, 80s, little bit of funk.
Nestor Aparicio 29:48
Jerry Merritt, Colgate girl, man, that’s how, that’s how far back we’re going here. So I get, you know, I’m into all this. You guys are doing hard on on Saturday night, right?
8Eric Adams Sr. 29:56
Hard is Saturday night at eight o’clock, and
Mark Krysiak 29:58
it’s important to know, jumping by. Heart is not, is not a cover band. Heart by heart, are the members of heart, minus the Wilson Sisters.
Nestor Aparicio 30:06
Well, I’m I’m in, I’m in. On Saturday night, I’m in, and then Sunday, what do we got
Eric Adams Sr. 30:13
8up on stage two. We’ve got Gene Vincent and the Cadillac cruisers. And Gene has donated his time to this concert and the festival, because he’s been there so long to help try to support us and keep us moving forward. Gene’s a legend, right? I mean literally, right. And then on the main stage is crack the sky at eight o’clock, Dean Crawford at five o’clock. Look,
Nestor Aparicio 30:40
I don’t like country music, but I like Dean. I know Dean. I see Dean shaking his ass every weekend. I got friends that are groupies. They love him. I’ve seen his vibe. I’ve seen that whole island sort of country thing going on. He does. I would be there early on. So if you’ve never seen Dean Crawford get there early on Sunday night, and then, you know, Sunday I had Palumbo on a couple of months ago. I don’t do you notice Palumbo? I interviewed him in 1986 when I was the music critic at the sun, and I hadn’t talked to him in 39 years, like literally hadn’t spoken to John. But I am a crackhead, right? I mean literally. And the people with the band knew this, and they got in touch with me a couple of weeks before they played up it up in fallston, and they invited me, and I went. It was packed 50th anniversary for crack the sky. And my wife’s not from around here, but she loves hot razor. She’s, you know, she’s become a 98 rock 100.7 girl. She’s been here 22 years. She knows who crack this guy is, because she lives with me. She knows I she knows all that. And they were extraordinary. I mean, I did the whole evening. Was three hours of music. It was incredible. It was so incredible that I wanted to put John on the show. And John’s up in Philly now celebrating Eagles, and you’ll be wearing Eagles hat and all that. And I had him on and we did 40 minutes of just talking about his music. They have a book out on their their career story. Mean, we’re talking about legends in the beer garden on Sunday night. And I’m I love that they’re together. I love that they’re healthy enough to make it the stage. I love that I could run into Rick Witkowski. I have a picture me and him having a snowball at the Heritage fair about five years ago, when it years ago when they played. So if crack the skies out, that’s if you can’t get kicks. And I, you know, I know you can’t, because I can’t, I can’t talk white men out of it, but, but you can get cracked the sky. So, mean, you guys brought the a list here this weekend. You really have, I mean, all the way through. This is I’ve just given you three days and 100 reasons why people should come back to Dundalk and hang out, bring their kids. You know the another
Mark Krysiak 32:44
important thing to note is a lot of the local bands who are playing during the day and playing on stage two have donated their time. We’re paying very few of them this year. They’ve saved us 1000s of dollars in order to make this
Nestor Aparicio 32:56
thing happen. Well, let me give their names. The nut the nothing fancy band at the Shipway stage at one o’clock Friday. The Fabulous hubcaps we’ve talked about that they’re on the other stage. DJ by Tim nerve on the diamond way stage. Bear Creek dance, chess of beats, the gigs and experience on the side stage. And don’t forget, free range blue at 2pm on Saturday on the Shipway stage. Remains radio, we talked about them, Grand Illusion with a sticks tribute. I’m a sticks guy. Everybody knows that about me. Echo Avenue, the Doug, Lester band, Gene Vincent, the Cadillac cruisers, legends and karma coming back to do music as well at 730 on the stage on Sunday night. So really something for everybody. Food, sausage, come down and just be a part of it. You’ll smell it before you get there, because the food always smells delicious. You’ll hear the people, and I haven’t even promoted to beer. Is that good that I saved the beer garden for the end market? Eric, is that fair to say that we’re going to ice cold beer at a reasonable price in the beer garden always right?
8Mark Krysiak 33:59
Yeah. And more than just beer this year. So Jimmy seafood is coming in, and they’re doing slushes, right? Were they doing
Nestor Aparicio 34:08
liquored up in Dundalk on heritage fair week? Jimmy Scott
Eric Adams Sr. 34:11
has decided to join us in the beer garden. They were also a sponsor for this year out of the clear blue sky, and they’re putting their portable trailer in they’re doing orange crushes and grapefruit crushes out of the beer garden, and $2 to every sale comes back to the heritage fair to support the fair for next year. So
Nestor Aparicio 34:30
8you’re saying it ain’t even a beer garden anymore. It’s a beer and crush garden, is what you’re telling me, absolutely try. You have to mix it up. Now, most importantly, and I do want to give a plug out here to Justin Burke, the meteorologist, because he’s doing this incredible Maryland trek for kids. I did a big segment on it a week and a half ago out at the Y pool and Randallstown, where I had Barry Williams on not the Brady bunches. Barry was Barry Williams from Parks and Recs. You mentioned Parks and Recs in Baltimore County. He’s formerly from there. We you know, I spent last week out. Randallstown, talking about the importance of the why out there. And all they wanted to tell me is how great the y is in Dundalk. And I’m like, I hunted the wire Dundalk when I was a kid. It’s right there, where I park, right in front of the Heritage fair. So community, and it’s, it’s just, it’s crucial that, you know, Councilman, we haven’t talked about Kathy klosmeier. I saw her out at the BMW championship the other day, but we talked about putting these things together and getting it together. Justin Burke and the meteorologist, is going to be the most important person next week, so I want everybody to support him and what he’s doing. I got to drag him out for a crap. I think he’s coming to cost us and Timonium to to get a crab cake with me to talk about what he’s doing. It’s this incredible bike race across the state in the middle of August to raise money for for Hopkins and for kids, but the weather, um, how nervous you guys going to get next week? I mean, be honest with me, because I’m nervous already, uh, Hurricane berries, the B, and that’s my son’s name, so I’m worried about all sorts of storms. But let’s get you guys three days of 82 and sunny and 72 no mosquitoes in Dundalk, nothing like that. Next weekend. I just wanted to go perfect for you guys, because I know hard you guys would work. Man,
Mark Krysiak 36:10
we appreciate that. We really do that’s the one thing we can’t control.
Nestor Aparicio 36:14
Eric, what do you got from
Eric Adams Sr. 36:15
the weather perspective? We cross our fingers every year. We hope for the best. We haven’t seen three straight days with no rain and 100 degree weather since 2011
8Nestor Aparicio 36:28
Alright, I’m going to order this up right now. I’m sending a text over to just, I’m I’m going to hit Bob Turk, I’m going to hit norm Lewis, I’m going to hit tassel. I’m hitting all of them and just saying, just, just give us 72 hours of just the Perfect Fourth of July weekend where everybody doesn’t go to the beach or go to the pool, but they come down to the heritage fair and support Dundalk. And I tip my cap to you guys, from one Dundalk guy to a guy that came in through Towson and Rhode Island and made his way to Essex and Dundalk, I appreciate you, Eric. My love to chat and everybody at Al seafood, I see you. Sporn the Al seafood shirt family to me over there. I got to get back. I’m even gonna go down to Schultz’s and get a crab fluff in Essex, just because we’re all in this together, man. I mean, you mentioned Jimmy’s. I’m wearing Costas. He’s got out. You know, we’re it really does take a village in a community to pull this thing together. Mark, Eric, did I leave anybody out? Is there any shout out I gotta get other than God, weather America and good music and great cold beer at a reasonable price? I’d
Eric Adams Sr. 37:31
like to shout out to every volunteer that comes from Deep Creek, Lake, Florida, Maryland, all across Bel Air, Highland town, all the people that volunteered to help Mark and I and the rest of the board members make this happen. Because without them, our equipment companies that help keep the cost down for us, none of this is possible. The volunteers what make our jobs work without them, we have no fair. One
Nestor Aparicio 38:04
more thing I gotta tell you, there’s fireworks too. What? When are the fireworks this year? Just so I, because I’m a fourth of July, last six days, I never know anymore,
Eric Adams Sr. 38:13
8right? This year, our fireworks show is on the third of July at 9:15pm at Grange Elementary School. The rain date for that is July the seventh. The firework company shooting is fireworks extravaganza. This is their 20th, 25th anniversary celebration of shooting, and they stepped up to help be our firework company
Nestor Aparicio 38:36
this so you’re kicking it off on Thursday night to not compete with the fair. To remind people that there is a fair, you know, what you need to do is get those drones up. Says, fair starts tomorrow. Get your ass to the beer and crush garden. Come be a part of it. Practice sky.
Eric Adams Sr. 38:53
We have a pre ride mania night on Thursday night, also the third from five to 1030 The rides are open free admission. All you have to do is go to Houghton carnival.com and you can buy all night ride bracelet for $25 and they can ride for five hours. They can have a Ferris wheel.
Nestor Aparicio 39:16
I don’t know they
8Eric Adams Sr. 39:17
have one, but I think it’s booked at another festival, which is a one day
Nestor Aparicio 39:22
that’s okay. It always made me sick anyway. I mean, I’m just like, I didn’t want to get on it. I just, I watch people go, and I’m like, Nah, you know, I saw their
Eric Adams Sr. 39:31
ferris wheel at Christmas time, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. It’s at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. I did see that down there. Okay, huge. That is their Ferris Wheel. All right, it’ll
Nestor Aparicio 39:43
8be the Dundalk eye over Dundalk elementary school where I played my Pop Warner Football. I love Dundalk. I’m proud of my community. I want everybody to come back down to Dundalk and be a part of this, this heritage fair, barn raising for our community. And I tip my cap to everybody who’s made this happen that. For me over the weekend, I’ve made no plan. I’m a little weather dependent on, you know, if crack this guy’s gonna get rained on. It’s messy. It is what it is. But I have circled the whole weekend, and I put a big bubble over top of it and out and Dean, you know, I don’t like country music, but I’ll even get there early to see you, because I want to get down there. I want to be supportive of everything you’re doing, because I’m just proud of all of you to be able to get this back together, and I want to make sure that it doesn’t fall apart and and I know the sponsors do too. So let’s get the right weather. Get everybody down. You know, free parking, how much it cost to get in, fellas,
Mark Krysiak 40:36
on Friday, go ahead, Eric,
Eric Adams Sr. 40:38
on Friday, we’re doing $5 Friday. Roll back the prices from 12 to five. We’re going to try to open the gates around 1130 right after the car after the parade ends, and anybody who comes through the gate over 12 gets charged $5 instead of 10. At five o’clock, we go up to the normal price, which is $10 for an adult. Children 12 and under, are free with an accompanying adult. So we heard, after having open meetings with the community, what can we do different? Try to roll the prices back a little bit, try to shake it up a little bit and do something different and unique for the community.
Nestor Aparicio 41:15
Well, you’ve already shaken it up by letting people know that this could go away. We already resurrected it. Um, everybody got together and thinks this is important. I think it’s important. You think it’s important? And I saw it all along my my facebook page tonight, that the word leaked, that it wouldn’t be happening, that it was important to people. And I’m going to be reiterating that, ringing the bell, coming back down, singing the alma mater, doing all the things that I do. And some of you weren’t as fortunate as I to go to Dundalk high school, but you do come back and support Dundalk, and I appreciate that, so come on back down to Dundalk next weekend. Mark, thank you for your time, Eric, thank you for your time. I’m sorry I got the consciary and the boss is all confused, but at least I nailed the crazy act family, right? Because a last name means everything in East Baltimore, right? I mean, it does, right?
8Mark Krysiak 42:01
It does. I can’t go anywhere without somebody knowing who we are. That’s true. Well, when I start
Nestor Aparicio 42:06
dropping all the 80k names in the neighborhood, you knew what Unity Eliopoulos is. You knew all those people up there, right? Money, Otis, Rollo, all my guys, man, so, uh, let’s I’m shouting all of you out, and I’m shouting you out on the EVA going to Deepa squalis, because my deepest squally show brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Gonna get the Maryland crab cake tour back out. I’m gonna be a deepest squad is on the eighth of July, and it’s a Tuesday morning. And I hope I have some new old war stories from the beer garden and the crush. You know what? What we would do? This is the truth my and I want to give my heritage fair story away for all of my done dog goons, Mike fountain and Chris pipes and Laura mill, all my friends when I had my house on Kane Street, for all the years that I had my house there, we would party, and we would all meet. We would all go down to the heritage fair together. And we called it celebrity watching. So we saw anybody we knew from high school that we hadn’t seen in a year or more. It was like, did you see any celebrities in the beer garden? So that was my jargon for 25 years to say, like, I’m gonna run into I’m just trying to think of people I know that I only see at, you know, like, like, Matt Blair, I would only see him in the beer guard, Chris Turner, only seem in the beer so these are my old high school friends, guys. Those two names I dropped. I played Pop Warner Football with them in 1978 79 and I would only see them in the beer garden. Excuse me, the beer and crush garden is how we’re going to rebrand this. So I am hoping that I come back and see at least a few celebrities, a few familiar faces, and a few people that I haven’t seen in a number and that means you. Alicia Lewis, I’m shouting out people that I see in the beer garden. I want to make sure that I see them So Mark, thank you. Thank you for your efforts. Eric, thank you. Tip of the cap to you. If there’s anything more I can do between now and heritage fair, but I’ll be here this year. I’ll be here next year. I’ll be here every year. And even though we don’t go to the railway and do the little hockey uh, bowling thing with the with the little puck that hit the pins and made him go up. I’m gonna find a new tradition over at Costas. How about that?
Eric Adams Sr. 44:08
Sounds like void us? Well, you’ve just been invited. You’ve
Nestor Aparicio 44:12
just been invited. You know when it starts, the minute that Palumbo leaves the stage, right around 9:28pm, and the lightning bugs are out. On Sunday night we’ll be over. Cost is having crab Imperial. How about that? That sounds like a plan. That’s a done dog plan. Eric Davis senior, Mark crazy act of the crazy act, family of the 21224, in the 80k streets, putting the heritage fair back together again. Heritage fair.com is the details. Everything’s there. Five bucks, 10 bucks, get down to Dundalk and make it happen to make the community proud. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Dundalk. I almost wore my, my, my, my, my Dundalk shirt. I had the Twin Tower shirt I was going to wear, that I was going to. Wear you. I have my, my, my, I have three or four different Dundalk shirts. My Dundalk I’ll wear that in the beer garden. I have three clean shirts, one for the fourth, one for the fifth, and one for the sixth. But I’m wearing my crack the sky shirt on the sixth. Back for more. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.
