Wilmington Buzz

A weekly look around Wilmington.

Issue 1 - A boardwalk through the Riverfront marsh and Elkton's marrying parsons

Hey, neighbor. Welcome to the first Wilmington Buzz. Every Tuesday I'll send you one email about life around here, from the Riverfront out to Newark and Hockessin, down to Middletown, and over the line into Elkton and the rest of Cecil County. This first one runs from Halloween weekend through Sunday, Nov 8, so grab a coffee and save it.

What's in this one

1

Hot picks · Tram & Treat at Winterthur, Ladybug's Dark Bloom in Trolley Square, and Halloween night on Main Street in North East.

2

Field guide · How to walk the Markell Trail boardwalk out over the Peterson marsh.

3

The scrap · A DSTP flashback, a drone run under the Reedy Point Bridge, and Google Maps putting the Rodney dorms in a pond.

4

What's building · New Castle County's second data center rule, and the Cecil County charter question on your Nov 3 ballot.

5

Makers · First Friday Art Loop in Wilmington, and the Cecil County Arts Council's photography show in Elkton.

6

Deep cut · How Elkton became the place everybody went to get married fast.

7

Season · The last two pumpkin weekends at Ramsey's Farm and Milburn Orchards.

Hot picks

This weekend's best bets around here.

Halloween lands on a Saturday this year. I'd start with the kids at Winterthur in the morning and finish on Main Street in North East after dark, with Trolley Square in between if you've got the energy.

Two kids in witch costumes carrying treat buckets along a garden path under fall trees

Photo: Winterthur

Winterthur · Sat Oct 31 · 10am-2pm · included with admission

Tram & Treat at Winterthur

Winterthur runs Tram & Treat on Halloween morning from 10 to 2 at 5105 Kennett Pike. Kids come in costume for treats, crafts and games, with live music going. It's a drop-in, so registration is optional. It's included with admission, which runs $29 for adults, $27 for seniors and students, $12 for ages 3 to 12, and free for kids 2 and under. Members get in free and get a preview hour from 9 to 10. Put the kids in costume and let the tram do the walking. Winterthur

Dark Bloom title in gold lettering with two ladybugs on a black background

Image: The Ladybug Festival

Trolley Square, Wilmington · Sat Oct 31 · starts at noon

Ladybug's Dark Bloom in Trolley Square

The Ladybug Festival team is throwing a Halloween edition called Dark Bloom in Trolley Square on Saturday starting at noon. The organizers pitch it as an autumn festival crossed with Día de los Muertos and The Nightmare Before Christmas, with music, art, makers, food and vendors. The lineup and any ticket price aren't posted yet, so check the site before you go. I'd wear the costume. Ladybug Festival

BEWITCHED! Halloween Night 2026 graphic with a witch, a cauldron and a black cat, Oct 31, 6-8pm, Main Street, North East, MD

Image: North East Chamber of Commerce

North East, MD · Sat Oct 31 · 6-8pm · rain or shine

BEWITCHED! Halloween Night on Main Street in North East

Over in Cecil County, the North East Chamber of Commerce runs BEWITCHED! on Main Street in North East on Halloween night from 6 to 8. Local businesses hand out candy along the street, and it goes on rain or shine. The chamber says more activities are "to be announced," so keep an eye on its page this week. It's a nice small-town way to finish the night. North East Chamber

Field guide

One useful guide to living around here.

Illustration of a wooden boardwalk crossing a cattail marsh, with herons and ducks in the water, a modern nature center building behind, and a truss bridge and city skyline in the distance

Jack A. Markell Trail and the Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge, from the DuPont Environmental Education Center (1400 Delmarva Lane, Wilmington Riverfront) south toward New Castle

The Jack A. Markell Trail - a marsh walk from the Riverfront toward New Castle

I must have driven past the Peterson marsh a few hundred times on I-95 before I ever walked into it. It sits at the south end of the Wilmington Riverfront, and the Markell Trail crosses it on an elevated boardwalk that starts right at the DuPont Environmental Education Center.

Walk out over the marsh to the 300-foot bridge over the Christina and turn around, or keep going and the trail takes you all the way to Battery Park in Old New Castle. The marsh was a dumping ground for I-95 fill in the late 1960s, and it took a decade of restoration to turn it back into a refuge.

The full guide has parking, the two tunnels to bring a light for, and the free Delaware Nature Society marsh walks on Oct 31 and Nov 7.

Read the field guide

The scrap

The best stuff you missed in the area's social media world.

Somebody brought up the DSTP and every Delaware kid flinched at once. Plus a drone that flew right under the Reedy Point Bridge, and Google Maps still pinning dorms in a Newark pond.

Wilmington · TikTok

"Who remembers the DSTP?"

Every Delaware kid who sat through the DSTP is getting flashbacks from this one, me included. TikTok

via @jytoophly

Drone footage flying low down a gravel lane between two tall concrete piers under the Reedy Point Bridge

Delaware City · Reedy Point Bridge · Reddit

"Flying under the Reedy Point Bridge"

A drone pilot skimmed a gravel lane under the Reedy Point Bridge, low enough to count the weeds. Reddit

via u/TopDownDrones

A wooden boardwalk trail through green woods

Wilmington · X

"Fun facts ab the 302"

Wilmington got called "a bunch of banking hqs in a trench coat," but the trail photos fight back. X

via @Lilitheriann

Illustration of a stylized campus map with dorm buildings beside a pond, a map pin over the pond, and a compass rose

Illustration by Buzz Artist

Newark · Reddit

"Rodney Dorms still show up on maps"

Google Maps still pins the Caesar Rodney dorms in Newark, right on top of a pond. Reddit

via u/JelloGrape

What's building

What's going up, getting paused, or getting fought over.

New Castle County added a second rule for data centers, this one about whether there's enough power to go around. And Cecil County voters get a charter question on Nov 3 about the county's budget calendar.

Illustration of a generic data center building with rooftop cooling units behind a chain-link fence, with power transmission towers beyond

Illustration by Buzz Artist

New Castle County · passed council Oct 13 · awaiting the county executive's signature

County Council passes a second data center rule

New Castle County Council passed a second ordinance on data centers on Oct 13, according to Spotlight Delaware. It requires new large energy users, data centers included, to show there's enough electric capacity for them, either through a certification from the state Public Service Commission or a county form. Spotlight Delaware reports that the rule isn't retroactive, so it wouldn't apply to the pending Project Washington proposal north of Delaware City. It builds on the data center rules the council adopted in March, which covered things like buffers and closed-loop cooling. As of Spotlight Delaware's Oct 15 report, it was awaiting the county executive's signature. Spotlight Delaware

Illustration of a generic stone civic building on a tree-lined lawn

Illustration by Buzz Artist

Cecil County, MD · Tue Nov 3 · on your Nov 3 ballot

Cecil County Question A: when the county budget gets submitted

Cecil County voters will see a charter amendment, Question A, on the Nov 3 ballot. It asks whether to move the deadline for the county executive to submit the annual budget from April 1 to on or before the second Monday in April, which would come after the Maryland General Assembly's session ends. A vote FOR moves the deadline to the second Monday in April. A vote AGAINST keeps it at April 1. No dollar amount is attached to the question. The full text is on the Maryland State Board of Elections site. Maryland State Board of Elections

Makers

Local makers nights and market tables worth hitting.

The first Friday in November is Art Loop night in Wilmington. The same day, the Cecil County Arts Council in Elkton opens its yearly photography show, with a party the following Friday.

Image: Art Loop Wilmington

Wilmington · Fri Nov 6 · 5-8pm · free

Art Loop Wilmington, with a stop at Jester Artspace

Art Loop Wilmington runs the first Friday of every month, and November's is Friday, Nov 6, from 5 to 8. It's free and self-guided, so pick a few galleries and wander. A shuttle runs 5:30 to 8:30 from The Delaware Contemporary. One stop I'd make is Jester Artspace at 2818 Grubb Road, where the members' show "Connected" has a reception from 5:30 to 7:30. Grab the map, start at the shuttle, and see where it takes you. IN Wilmington

Flyer for the Cecil County Arts Council's Annual Photography and Digital Art Show with a roll of film

Image: Cecil County Arts Council

Elkton, MD · Nov 6-20 · reception Fri Nov 13, 5-8pm

The Cecil County Arts Council's Photography and Digital Art Show

The Cecil County Arts Council's annual Photography and Digital Art Show goes up Friday, Nov 6, at its gallery at 135 East Main Street in Elkton. It's on view through Nov 20, weekdays 10 to 4 and Saturdays 10 to 2. The opening reception is Friday, Nov 13, from 5 to 8, with refreshments and live music. It's the kind of show where you'll recognize half the places in the pictures. And if you go, read this week's Deep cut before you walk Main Street. Cecil County Arts Council

Deep cut

One local history leftover worth knowing.

Illustration of a small-town street lined with little house-style wedding chapels with bell cupolas and flower arches, a couple walking up the steps of one and a 1930s car at the curb

Main Street, Elkton, MD (Cecil County's county seat)

Elkton's marrying parsons - how a Maryland county seat became the elopement stop of the East Coast

In 1913 Delaware started making couples wait between the license and the wedding. Maryland didn't, and Elkton was the closest Maryland county seat, so couples from all over the Northeast started stepping off the train there to get married the same day.

Cab drivers met them on the platform and handled everything from the license to the minister. At the peak, Main Street had around 20 wedding chapels. Maryland voters added a 48-hour wait in 1938, and the last chapel on Main Street closed in 2017.

The full story has a myth check on how Cecil County voted in 1938, and a reason to walk Main Street this month.

Read the deep cut

Season

What's in the air right now. Farm stands, orchards, peak harvest.

There are about two weekends of pumpkin season left on both sides of the state line. Ramsey's has bonfire nights on top of the patch, and over in Elkton, Milburn is running its fall festival without U-pick apples after a rough crop year.

Pumpkins across a field under an orange autumn tree at Ramsey's Farm

Photo: Ramsey's Farm

North Wilmington (Brandywine Hundred) · weekends through Sun Nov 8

Pumpkins and bonfire nights at Ramsey's Farm

Ramsey's Farm, at 440 Ramsey Road, has its pumpkin patch and fall activities going every weekend through Nov 8. Walking the patch is free, and pumpkins are 80 cents a pound. The farm market is open Thursday through Sunday, 9 to 6. On Friday and Saturday nights through Nov 14 there are bonfire nights from 6 to 9 (get in by 7:30), $15 for anyone 4 and up. On Halloween the bonfires are private bookings only, so plan on the next weekend. Bring a wagon if you're going big on pumpkins. Ramsey's Farm

Kids and families walking a path into a tall corn maze at Milburn Orchards

Photo: Milburn Orchards

Elkton, MD · through Sun Nov 8 · from $14

Milburn Orchards' last fall weekends

Milburn Orchards, at 1495 Appleton Road in Elkton, runs its fall season through Nov 8. On weekdays it's Fall Fun Days, 9 to 6, at $14 online ($12 for 60 and up), except Monday, Nov 2. On Oct 31 and Nov 1, and again Nov 7 and 8, the weekend Fall Festival runs 10 to 6 for $21 ($19), with food vendors and the cider bar added. Either ticket gets you the hayrides, the corn maze and the Boo Barn, and last entry is an hour before close. One thing to know before you go: there's no U-pick apples this year, because the orchard had what its ticket page calls a "devastating crop loss." I'm still going for the cider. Milburn Orchards tickets

See you on the Riverfront.

Wilmington Buzz · written from around here · Tuesday mornings

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