SEPTEMBER 21, 2023
CINDY HOFFMAN/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
WHERE’S THE FIRE
Sadie and Logan Simpson try on the big jackets and hats firefighters have to wear to do their job at the Big Truck Day in Ocean Pines on Saturday. See more photos on page 15.
Farr assumes OPA presidency Position seemed unlikely back when he was suing to validate his candidacy By Cindy Hoffman Staff Writer (Sept. 21, 2023) Ocean Pines Association’s new president, Rick Farr, has come a long way since his rocky election to the board of directors in 2021, when he was disqualified because the property in which he lived was held in the name of his family trust instead of his name. He ultimately prevailed in the
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BERLIN • NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY• OCEAN PINES
courts after spending $35,000 in lawyer’s fees. Two years later he became the heir apparent to Doug Parks. “Doug Parks mentored me throughout Rick Farr the year,” Farr said. In Farr’s professional life, he is the chief human resources officer for the Town of Easton in Talbot County and served in the U.S. Air Force for 22 years. He considers his leadership style to be collaborative. He hopes that
under his leadership, the board will work together in a cohesive way in the best interest of the community. So far, the board members have been receptive, he said. “I want to get buy-in from everybody and be one group with one voice.” He also wants to focus on transparency and open communication. He plans to do a lot of back end work to hear member’s thoughts before meetings. That was clearly the case during its first meeting, when they unanimously elected officers on the See FARR Page 8
By Stewart Dobson Editor (Sept. 21, 2023) In 2020, it was the coronavirus. In 2023, the most likely cause of the cancelation of the Berlin Fiddlers Convention is nimbostratus. Those would be the heavy storm clouds that deliver prolonged rain, which is what the National Weather Service is predicting locally for Friday night and Saturday in Berlin. That, along with the strong winds associated with a low pressure system off the coast, led Berlin Chamber of Commerce officials to make the call midweek to pull the plug on what would have been the 31st edition of the annual event. “Making sure we approach these events with a sense of fiscal responsibility [so we can do it again next year] is every bit as important as making sure everyone has a good time at the events in the first place,” chamber Executive Director Ryan Nellans said in an email. This weekend’s forecast virtually guarantees that good times will be hard to find, as the weather service reported that an intensifying low pressure system will move into the area Friday night. The weather is expected to bring with it winds on the coast gusting up to 40 mph and rain totals creeping into the 4-inch range from Friday through Sunday. That could change, but one thing is certain: fiddlers can’t fiddle in the rain because the rosin they use on their bows absorbs moisture from the air. If the rosin absorbs too much, it prevents the bow from gliding across the strings as it should. Besides, spectators don’t like rain much either.
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