June 11, 2024 • 21 mins
This week’s episode was fun for me. Not only did we talk about an area near where I live that I love. I also got to speak with someone that I’ve known for a long time.
On this episode of Delightful Destinations, we are talking about Harford County Maryland. And I’m speaking with Tyler Zeisloft. He's the marketing and communications Coordinator for Visit Harford. Some of you listening may know him better as Tyler Daniel from his time on the radio for the country station WXCY based out of Havre De Grace Maryland. So it was great to catch up with him in his new endeavor promoting the beauty of Harford Country.
For a lot of people in the Baltimore area Harford County is the place you drive through as you’re going north up to Philadelphia. But there’s so much in Harford County. From hiking and other outdoor activities to coastline along the Bay and Susquehanna River and a very rich history that goes back to the earliest years of this country, Harford County has it all.
I hope you enjoy my conversation with Tyler Zeisloft.
For more info about Harford County, please check out visitharford.com
On this episode of Delightful Destinations, we are talking about Harford County Maryland. And I’m speaking with Tyler Zeisloft. He's the marketing and communications Coordinator for Visit Harford. Some of you listening may know him better as Tyler Daniel from his time on the radio for the country station WXCY based out of Havre De Grace Maryland. So it was great to catch up with him in his new endeavor promoting the beauty of Harford Country.
For a lot of people in the Baltimore area Harford County is the place you drive through as you’re going north up to Philadelphia. But there’s so much in Harford County. From hiking and other outdoor activities to coastline along the Bay and Susquehanna River and a very rich history that goes back to the earliest years of this country, Harford County has it all.
I hope you enjoy my conversation with Tyler Zeisloft.
For more info about Harford County, please check out visitharford.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey, what's going on? Everybody? Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
is Jeff Saint Pierre. Delightful Destinations. It's a show designed to give people
an inside or maybe a deeper lookat vacation locations around Maryland, the mid
Atlantic, and of course some otherspots as well. My hope is to
speak with people who know these areasbest and inspire you, maybe for your
next trip. This week's episode wasa fun one for me because not only
(00:23):
did we talk about an area nearwhere I live that I really enjoy,
but I also got to speak withsomeone that I've known for a long time.
So on this episode of Delightful Destinations, we're talking about Harford County,
Maryland, and I'm speaking with TylerZeislob, the marketing and communications coordinator for
Visit Harford. Now, some ofyou listening may know him better as Tyler
Daniel from his time on the radiofor the country radio station WXCY, which
(00:45):
is based out of Haverd of Grace, Maryland. So great to catch up
with Tyler in his new endeavor promotingthe beauty of Harford County for a lot
of people in the Baltimore area.Harford County is the place you drive through
as you're going north up to Philadelphia. But there is so much in Harford
County, from hiking and other outdooractivities to coastline along the Bay and the
Susquehanna River, and just a veryrich history that goes back to the earliest
(01:07):
years of this country. Harford Countyhas it all, like literally, like
a little bit of everything. Ihope you enjoy my conversation with Tyler Zeislop.
Thanks for having me. I feelvery nervous about this conversation because it's
not often I'm interviewing someone that hasa background in media like I do.
Yeah, I will be air checkingthis when it's over. Inside radio humor
(01:30):
for you. So, Tyler,I know I know you from radio.
You were on country radio up therein Hartford County for many years and now
you've landed here. Was it Harford? How did this whole thing come about?
So a real fast story. Thegentleman who owned WXCY when he retired,
he always had a love for everythingHarford County, So when he retired
(01:53):
he became an ambassador for visit Harford. Where he would, you know,
if you need somebody to go outand do an no one was available.
He was more than happy to dothat. If there was a luncheon that
we all had meetings, he wouldgo to it. So when I chose
to leave Radio, had a briefstint as a chorus teacher, but then
started seeing that there was an openingat Visit Harford and that same general manager
(02:15):
work there. So he and Ihad a conversation and we felt it was
the right fit and I applied,interviewed, got the job, and I
would say it took two business daysto start falling in love with tourism,
especially because there's really no competition.Everybody is like, for the state of
(02:36):
Maryland, I'm not competing with GarrettCounty, Kent County, Maryland, Prince
George's County. There's no competition.Everybody's trying to win. So having that
no competition, everybody just wants towin. It's all one big club.
Was a really good feeling of camaraderiethroughout the state, and I just really
(02:57):
started to fall in love with it. You're right interesting point. I've talked
to folks in Kent County and WorcesterCounty so far, and you know,
they're very complimentary of each other andit's like, yeah, you're trying to
get people to come to your countyand bring some you know, some economic
impact into your area. But likeyou're not, you know, discouraging anybody
else. Like you're also hoping theydo well the same, right. Governor
(03:19):
Wes Moore isn't at the end ofthe year gonna sit us all down and
say, Kent County, I needyou to do better because just around the
corner Harford's doing But like it's it'snot like that. We actually have something
called Upper Bay Best Bets and thatis a collaboration between Kent County, Maryland
Cecil County, and Harford County andit's the three of us and we essentially
(03:43):
get together monthly and put our braintogether and sometimes our finances to do things
like for example, you've got theMaryland five Star coming to Cecil County.
That's where it's happening, but theycan stay in Harford County too, So
we do some monetary things to spreadthe word about it so that people come
up to that corner of Maryland,the Upper Bay. And we had a
(04:06):
travel showcase in Pittsburgh. We wantedpeople to come to our neck of the
county. So the three of usput in our money for lack of a
better term, and went to Pittsburghand we endorsed all three of our counties
together. Because you know, ifyou've got if it costs three thousand dollars
to register now it's only one thousanddollars per county. Yeah, that makes
(04:27):
sense, that's very valid. Tellme a little bit more about Harford County.
So I know, I am familiarwith Harford County in some spots I've
done a lot of work with,like the Harford County Library and some different
organizations up there. But I thinkfor a lot of people that live in
the Baltimore area, or maybe evensouth of Baltimore, Harford County is that
place you drive on ninety five toget up and go further north. So
tell you more about Harford County.Why should people come to see your county.
(04:49):
The best way I like to describethis is we're the quiet between the
noise. You've got Philadelphia to thenorth, you've got Baltimore and DC to
the south, and we're the stopin the middle. And we want you
to not just drive by, notjust fill up, but really stop and
take a look at everything that we'vegot We sit right on the Susquehanna River,
(05:12):
so there's a lot of the ChesapeakeBay Watershed that you can even if
you don't have a boat or youdon't have a fishing rod, you can
have dinner right on the water.You can walk the promenade and have ady
grace. We've also got parks andtrails all throughout the county that are really
conducive to family hikes or you know, going to Deer Creek and doing some
(05:32):
fly fishing. And there's just somany opportunities where there's quiet. And then
if you're looking for like a baseballgame, for example, the noise,
we've got Ripkin Stadium, you know, which is something that we're very proud
of. So there's just a wholelot of options. And I feel like
everybody's looking for not everyone is lookingfor fast paced Disney World. Itinerary all
(05:59):
the time. It's warranted on certainyears, but there's sometimes where it's like,
you know what, I just wantto get away for a little bit,
and we are that. We havegreat bed and breakfasts in Haverty Grace
and throughout the county that are justreally a nice way to get away and
do so you know, you don'thave to worry about the bachelorette party slamming
the door and running down the halllike Las Vegas or anything like that.
(06:20):
It's just a nice it's needed,we are needed. There's a lot of
different options in Hartford County. Ifyou want the more rural aspect, you
want a little bit of a city, like a bel Air kind of thing,
you can find that there too.Haverdy Grace. I have had so
much fun in over the years goingto little festivals right there on the water.
Is that where that little lighthouse is. Is that where the promenade is?
(06:41):
Is that what you're Okay? I'vedone a few different things, like
a wine festival there. It's soawesome to just hang out on the water
in that area, just chill.Yeah, the Conquered Point Lighthouse is a
really cool spot. And you know, we going back to that specific location
on New Year's Eve, that quietHaverty Grace has. You know New York
City has the ball drop. Wehave a duck drop because Haverty Grace is
(07:04):
the decoy capital of the world forall of the hunters out there. So
they do this big duck and lightlights up and comes down just like the
ball in New York City. Sothey really trying to take those moments in
the small town and light it upa little bit. Yeah, and I
think that's cool. You got tohighlight that stuff because it doesn't always have
to be New York City, right, Like there are less New York cities
(07:26):
than there are Haverdy Graces or belAirs or Falston's, you know, so
you got to highlight those sort ofsmaller towns that have their own traditions and
their own fun. You almost takeit for granted when you live in the
area. Somebody who's asking me theother day, why would somebody want to
come to Hartford County, not justyou asking? And they spoke about Haviity
Grace specifically, and I started rattlingoff all of the things. You know,
(07:49):
was what Habity Grace was one voteaway from becoming our nation's capital,
so it was almost the DC.Marquis de Lafayette part of his trail was
through Havity Grace. That's why it'sa French named town. There's just so
much history American history in Harford Countythat I think is often overlooked just because
(08:11):
you don't know there really is.And I don't want to dive into it
because I don't know all the specifics, but I know from other conversations with
folks that work at Harford Community Collegeor different things, there is so much
history American history in there, fromthe African American journey to things like you
were just talking about that Havard Gracewas almost the capital of the nation.
(08:31):
I mean, there is so muchright there in this pocket of the country.
Yeah, and to your point ofthe Civil Rights Project, we're in
the middle of putting together a verycool trail for lack of a better term,
where people will be able to stopalong this civil rights trail for when
they did the Freedom Ride, andwe will have QR codes that you can
(08:52):
scan at even if it's called somethingelse now, like we have certain places
where you would stop along the way, you scan the QR code and it'll
pull up a hologram of somebody fromthat civil rights movement. And we're in
the process of working on that now. It is going to be incredibly fascinating.
And whether you're in Harford County forthe civil rights movement or not,
(09:16):
it's an experience. Yeah, well, that sounds awesome. I love that
idea. I know, one ofthe big things that from friends of mine,
one of the big things they goto Harford County for is Ladu Topiery
Gardens. I know so many peoplethat make a day of it and go
check it out. I have notyet been in my years in Maryland.
I'm sort of embarrassed to admit that, but I know it's a hot spot
for people to check out. Tellme more about LaDou So. LaDue Topiery
(09:37):
Gardens was voted one of the tenIncredible Topiary Gardens around the world. Wow,
and there's more than ten, sothat that says something. You know,
It's wonderful and has events all throughoutthe year. You've got things like
Garden Glow in October, which islit up pumpkins that are carved by artists
(10:00):
and dignitaries throughout Hartford County. They'reall lit up at night, a huge
event. They've got Christmas events wherethey turn every you know, everything,
especially if it's snow covered. Itreally is just sensational to look at.
Definitely a destination something where you know, I know you've heard of like Longwood
Gardens up the road. Sure,a lot of times people will drive by
(10:22):
the do to get to Longwood,and we encourage you to stop and take
a look at one of the topten incredible topiary gardens around the world because
it really is just breathtaking. Beforewe move on, where can people go
if they want to find out moreinformation about Harford County. Yeah, sure,
you can go to our website.Visit Harford dot com. And just
to be clear for those listening tothe podcast, that is not like Connecticut.
(10:46):
There's no tea in the middle.It's harror for not Heartford. Yes,
that's right right, Visit Hartford dotcom. I know another big thing
in Harford County. People love togo hiking. They love to hang out
in the outdoors. You've got theseexperiential trails there as well. We like
to put parks and trails together,but we've also incorporated experiential trails. So
let me go back a little bitand talk about the parks and trails in
(11:09):
Hartford County. We've got so manydifferent ones like the Ma and Paw Trail,
which sort of goes all around thecounty for lack of a better term,
which is really conducive to strollers andbikes. You know, there are
certain places for these things, andyou know there are people on there all
the time. We've also got alot of watershed where you can go enjoy.
(11:31):
You can enjoy Bid them Run Park, which is a cool place where
you can do some fishing with littleones. You know, it's more like
a big pond type of thing.We've in Whitehall, We've got Camp Hidden
Valley which is just breathtaking to lookat, and Conquer Point Park in Habiting.
Gracie and I were talking about justa little bit ago that sits right
on the water, has you know, these great views of the Susquehanna River.
(11:54):
We've also got the King and QueenSeat in Rock State Park, which
is a cool place to sit uphigh and just sort of there are some
people that, you know, doindividual yoga up there and just really or
meditate. We've also got kill GoreFalls. It's got waterfalls in it that
are just breathtaking to look at.You can play underneath, you can you
(12:15):
know, I don't encourage anybody toslide down it, but you can play
at the bottom of it. Andyeah, there was it's so pretty that
I don't know if you've ever seenthe movie Disney's Tuck Everlasting that was filmed
in Rock State Park because of allof the views that are in Hartford County.
Yeah. I tried to go tokil Gore Falls one day, and
(12:35):
I think it was like a daythat all the kids had off or something,
so with the time we got there, all the parking areas were totally
full. Like I guess it wasn'tour day. We'll come back again another
time, But I've only heard amazingthings about some of these little hidden gems
up there. Yeah, that wholeFalling Branch area, which is where kil
Gore Falls is, is really youcan almost feel yourself leaving society a little
(12:58):
bit as you drive back into RockState Park. And just bravo to everybody
that runs the State park Service thatruns all that back there, because they've
done a wonderful job at keeping itclean and keeping it a place where people
can visit for a bit and notturn it into like a vacation spot.
Yeah. I mentioned this in thelast episode of the podcast, which you
weren't on. But I grew upin New Hampshire and one of my favorite
(13:20):
things was going further north into thestate and you'll just be driving along the
road and you'll just happen to seea few cars pulled off on the side
of the road, and you're like, well, what do these people know
that I don't know? So youmight pull off and you'll see like a
trail that goes into the woods andyou find this amazing hiking trail or waterfall
or pool of water, whatever itmay be. And I feel like in
Hartford County you have some of thosegems where like you just might be driving.
(13:41):
I think about when I drive theJones Junction to get my car serviced.
I'll be driving along and I'll comeacross a pull off where there's like
six cars and just turns out there'sa hiking trail right there that I didn't
know about. And I think that'swhat's so cool about Harford County is so
much of it is just naturally thereand people can find it and they can
go explore. Not every place youhave to stop has to have a giant
(14:03):
welcome sign lit up in colored dates, and I think that Marker County has
a lot of those. So talkabout the arts up there. I know
that you have an event coming uplater this summer into the fall in September
Arts across Harford that is a bigevent for you guys. Right. Yeah,
So it actually won us an awardlast year with the Maryland Tourism Coalition.
It won the award for Best Eventbecause it was a sixteen day event,
(14:26):
and this year it'll be seventeen days. We've got September thirteenth through the
thirtieth, and it started as calledHarford County Arts Week, and because it
was so successful, we've taken theidea along with our friends at the Maryland
State Arts Council, the Maryland Centerfor the Arts, and all of our
arts collectives in Hartford County, meetingof the minds coming together make iting a
(14:50):
two week plus celebration. Wherever thereis art, they are a part of
arts across Harford from the thirteenth throughthe thirtieth of September. If it's a
middle school chorus singing at the mall, if it's a chorus line going on
at the community college. I'm makingthese up as examples. But if it's
a gallery crawl for like pottery orvisual art or whatever it may be,
(15:15):
poetry, it's happening in Hartford County. It's happening in Harford County Arts Week.
And we've worked with these art councilsand collectives to make sure that everybody
that has some sort of collective ortheater troupe or what have you, knows
about it and is going to tryto put something in those weeks because we're
going to be featuring them. AndI will say last year was our first
(15:37):
two week celebration of the event,and we got people coming from New York
City, New Jersey, up stPA, down into just past DC,
into Virginia. It was just areally exciting time to hear people coming from
outside in as opposed to what youmight I think it is arts across Harford,
(16:02):
where it might be mom and dadgoing to see their daughter in a
dance recital. It's way bigger thanthat. My hopes is that it turns
into some sort of fringe type festivalwhere it's you know, maybe poetry at
a bar that never has poetry ata bar on like a Saturday afternoon or
something. I was just kind ofthinking back to earlier in our conversation where
(16:22):
you were talking about how in tourismthere's no real competition, right, like,
everybody's trying to bring people to theircounty. But you can work together,
you can find ways to team upon things. And I was thinking
last summer my family went to GreatWolf Lodge, which I believe is in
Cecil County, right, and allwe did we went, we hung out
there during the day, did thewater stuff, and then we went to
(16:42):
dinner and habit of grace right acrossthe bridge we just drove over. So
it is kind of interesting, like, especially in an area where you do
sort of cross the boundaries, there'sso much that you can find by visiting
multiple places. Yeah. Well,and when you look at tourism, you
know, let's pick any other statethat you you know, like if I
(17:02):
drove to New Hampshire, I wouldn'tknow if I was in County A and
then just got into County B,right, I would have no idea of
that. But and I think ourvisitors are the same way. You know,
maybe if they live in Baltimore County, they might they'll know when they
hit the Harford County line. Butif someone's coming from you know, Arlington,
Virginia, they don't know. Theydon't know where that line is from
(17:22):
Baltimore to Harford, Harford to Cecil, They're not sure. Yeah, And
I guess I think my point waslike it's cool that if you were to
say, go visit that massive hotelbecause it's a big tourist attraction. There's
other spots right around there that youcan go check out, and some of
those are in Harford County, Likehard of Grace is so close and very
easy to get to, and you'vegot all those restaurants, You've got things
for the kids to check out outdoorsas well. Like so, I think
(17:44):
it's always important if you know someonelistening is getting ready to travel, look
around the area you're traveling too aswell, because there's a lot of cool
spaces right there as well. Andeven when you go to a place like
Great Wolf Lodging Seatzel County, toyour point, feel free to come down
and have dinner like you did,and see an Orioles game Orioles, listen
to me An Iron bird S andthen head back to Great Wolf Ladge.
(18:07):
You've got a couple more events Iwant to touch on before we have to
wrap things up. I know thePride of Baltimore two is sailing into hard
of Grace and that's happening in September. I know that's always a big draw
when it comes through Baltimore and theInner Harbor two, so I know people
love seeing those tall ships. Yeah, they actually were here in May.
The Pride of Baltimore two came inMay and everybody was excited about it.
(18:27):
I know we had a little bitof rain, but I mean, welcome
to the mid Atlantic region. Right. If you want the weather to change,
wait five minutes. We do getall four seasons. But the good
news is the Pride of Baltimore twolives in the water, so we don't
have to I mean, the boatis fine, you just might need a
poncho. But it's coming back inSeptember the sixth and the seventh, and
(18:48):
we are very excited to bring itback because the captain is spectacular, very
welcoming. You're able to get onthe ship and look around it and talk
to the crew, talk to thecaptain. You know, a lot of
people we live in such an electronicworld these days that you know, these
minimally electric ships are almost fascinating tosomebody, like ask a six year old
(19:11):
or an eight year old, likethere's very little electronics on here, if
any, and you know, tohave them grasp that, it's pretty fascinating.
So we welcome everybody to come downthe sixth and the seventh. It's
coming to ha Any Grace and yeah, Pride of Baltimore too. If you've
never seen it before, give ita Google before you come up. Another
event coming up that I think theseevents are always fun for folks is a
(19:33):
running festive. We get the SusquehannaRunning Festival happening in September as well.
I believe that's on September twenty first. Yes, you're too, you can
get registered. It's with our friendsat Charms City Run. Nice. Yeah,
we've got we have it listed onour website, visit Harford dot com.
Everybody at Charms City Run is fantastic, Will Murdoch and everybody just does
(19:53):
a great job. But we wantedto make sure that our runners, like
yourself, liked it. Know thatyou're going to be running around the Susquehanna
and across the bridge and bringing iton back. And of course obviously it's
not just running then go home.There's going to be, you know,
a chance to hang out and enjoyyourself and habity Grace as well, there
(20:14):
always is. I love that kindof thing, all right. A lot
of stuff going on in Harford County. Tyler the Maryland State Barbecue bashe coming
up in October, and they canfind everything at visit Harford dot com.
Correct. That is correct. Andif you're looking for hotels, we've got
you covered. If we like tomake it easy as easy as possible for
everyone to come out and enjoy andenjoy themselves, so we've listed we've got
(20:36):
itineraries on our website. If you'relooking for sports, we've got that covered.
If you're looking for just dining,we've got that covered. Parts and
trails and our experiential trail too,is really itemized for you. And download
the Hartford Digital Passport and check outall of the stops along the way and
that's a way for you to turnsome some stops along the way into some
(20:56):
prizes, some Visit Harford Prizes.Ilaft, Marketing and Communications coordinator for Visit
Harford Tyler, it's good to seea man. I'm glad you landed in
a pretty awesome spot for you.Yeah. I'm happy to be here and
I always enjoy hearing the silky smoothsounds of Saint Pierre. Silky smooth sounds.
I like that. I'm gonna putthat on my resume and my LinkedIn.
(21:17):
Okay, yeah yeah, put iton the business profile. Big thank
you to Tyler's eislab from visit Harfordfor his time. I learned some new
stuff today about Hartford County, andI'm sure that you did too. Check
out visit Haarford dot com for anyinfo that you need about the county and
to plan your next trip. Andthank you to all of you for listening
today. I appreciate you for sharingsome time with delightful destinations. I'm Jeff
(21:38):
Saint Pierre and I'll be back soonwith another great destination for you to check out.
Hey, what's going on? Everybody? Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
is Jeff Saint Pierre. Delightful Destinations. It's a show designed to give people
an inside or maybe a deeper lookat vacation locations around Maryland, the mid
Atlantic, and of course some otherspots as well. My hope is to
speak with people who know these areasbest and inspire you, maybe for your
next trip. This week's episode wasa fun one for me because not only
(00:23):
did we talk about an area nearwhere I live that I really enjoy,
but I also got to speak withsomeone that I've known for a long time.
So on this episode of Delightful Destinations, we're talking about Harford County,
Maryland, and I'm speaking with TylerZeislob, the marketing and communications coordinator for
Visit Harford. Now, some ofyou listening may know him better as Tyler
Daniel from his time on the radiofor the country radio station WXCY, which
(00:45):
is based out of Haverd of Grace, Maryland. So great to catch up
with Tyler in his new endeavor promotingthe beauty of Harford County for a lot
of people in the Baltimore area.Harford County is the place you drive through
as you're going north up to Philadelphia. But there is so much in Harford
County, from hiking and other outdooractivities to coastline along the Bay and the
Susquehanna River, and just a veryrich history that goes back to the earliest
(01:07):
years of this country. Harford Countyhas it all, like literally, like
a little bit of everything. Ihope you enjoy my conversation with Tyler Zeislop.
Thanks for having me. I feelvery nervous about this conversation because it's
not often I'm interviewing someone that hasa background in media like I do.
Yeah, I will be air checkingthis when it's over. Inside radio humor
(01:30):
for you. So, Tyler,I know I know you from radio.
You were on country radio up therein Hartford County for many years and now
you've landed here. Was it Harford? How did this whole thing come about?
So a real fast story. Thegentleman who owned WXCY when he retired,
he always had a love for everythingHarford County, So when he retired
(01:53):
he became an ambassador for visit Harford. Where he would, you know,
if you need somebody to go outand do an no one was available.
He was more than happy to dothat. If there was a luncheon that
we all had meetings, he wouldgo to it. So when I chose
to leave Radio, had a briefstint as a chorus teacher, but then
started seeing that there was an openingat Visit Harford and that same general manager
(02:15):
work there. So he and Ihad a conversation and we felt it was
the right fit and I applied,interviewed, got the job, and I
would say it took two business daysto start falling in love with tourism,
especially because there's really no competition.Everybody is like, for the state of
(02:36):
Maryland, I'm not competing with GarrettCounty, Kent County, Maryland, Prince
George's County. There's no competition.Everybody's trying to win. So having that
no competition, everybody just wants towin. It's all one big club.
Was a really good feeling of camaraderiethroughout the state, and I just really
(02:57):
started to fall in love with it. You're right interesting point. I've talked
to folks in Kent County and WorcesterCounty so far, and you know,
they're very complimentary of each other andit's like, yeah, you're trying to
get people to come to your countyand bring some you know, some economic
impact into your area. But likeyou're not, you know, discouraging anybody
else. Like you're also hoping theydo well the same, right. Governor
(03:19):
Wes Moore isn't at the end ofthe year gonna sit us all down and
say, Kent County, I needyou to do better because just around the
corner Harford's doing But like it's it'snot like that. We actually have something
called Upper Bay Best Bets and thatis a collaboration between Kent County, Maryland
Cecil County, and Harford County andit's the three of us and we essentially
(03:43):
get together monthly and put our braintogether and sometimes our finances to do things
like for example, you've got theMaryland five Star coming to Cecil County.
That's where it's happening, but theycan stay in Harford County too, So
we do some monetary things to spreadthe word about it so that people come
up to that corner of Maryland,the Upper Bay. And we had a
(04:06):
travel showcase in Pittsburgh. We wantedpeople to come to our neck of the
county. So the three of usput in our money for lack of a
better term, and went to Pittsburghand we endorsed all three of our counties
together. Because you know, ifyou've got if it costs three thousand dollars
to register now it's only one thousanddollars per county. Yeah, that makes
(04:27):
sense, that's very valid. Tellme a little bit more about Harford County.
So I know, I am familiarwith Harford County in some spots I've
done a lot of work with,like the Harford County Library and some different
organizations up there. But I thinkfor a lot of people that live in
the Baltimore area, or maybe evensouth of Baltimore, Harford County is that
place you drive on ninety five toget up and go further north. So
tell you more about Harford County.Why should people come to see your county.
(04:49):
The best way I like to describethis is we're the quiet between the
noise. You've got Philadelphia to thenorth, you've got Baltimore and DC to
the south, and we're the stopin the middle. And we want you
to not just drive by, notjust fill up, but really stop and
take a look at everything that we'vegot We sit right on the Susquehanna River,
(05:12):
so there's a lot of the ChesapeakeBay Watershed that you can even if
you don't have a boat or youdon't have a fishing rod, you can
have dinner right on the water.You can walk the promenade and have ady
grace. We've also got parks andtrails all throughout the county that are really
conducive to family hikes or you know, going to Deer Creek and doing some
(05:32):
fly fishing. And there's just somany opportunities where there's quiet. And then
if you're looking for like a baseballgame, for example, the noise,
we've got Ripkin Stadium, you know, which is something that we're very proud
of. So there's just a wholelot of options. And I feel like
everybody's looking for not everyone is lookingfor fast paced Disney World. Itinerary all
(05:59):
the time. It's warranted on certainyears, but there's sometimes where it's like,
you know what, I just wantto get away for a little bit,
and we are that. We havegreat bed and breakfasts in Haverty Grace
and throughout the county that are justreally a nice way to get away and
do so you know, you don'thave to worry about the bachelorette party slamming
the door and running down the halllike Las Vegas or anything like that.
(06:20):
It's just a nice it's needed,we are needed. There's a lot of
different options in Hartford County. Ifyou want the more rural aspect, you
want a little bit of a city, like a bel Air kind of thing,
you can find that there too.Haverdy Grace. I have had so
much fun in over the years goingto little festivals right there on the water.
Is that where that little lighthouse is. Is that where the promenade is?
(06:41):
Is that what you're Okay? I'vedone a few different things, like
a wine festival there. It's soawesome to just hang out on the water
in that area, just chill.Yeah, the Conquered Point Lighthouse is a
really cool spot. And you know, we going back to that specific location
on New Year's Eve, that quietHaverty Grace has. You know New York
City has the ball drop. Wehave a duck drop because Haverty Grace is
(07:04):
the decoy capital of the world forall of the hunters out there. So
they do this big duck and lightlights up and comes down just like the
ball in New York City. Sothey really trying to take those moments in
the small town and light it upa little bit. Yeah, and I
think that's cool. You got tohighlight that stuff because it doesn't always have
to be New York City, right, Like there are less New York cities
(07:26):
than there are Haverdy Graces or belAirs or Falston's, you know, so
you got to highlight those sort ofsmaller towns that have their own traditions and
their own fun. You almost takeit for granted when you live in the
area. Somebody who's asking me theother day, why would somebody want to
come to Hartford County, not justyou asking? And they spoke about Haviity
Grace specifically, and I started rattlingoff all of the things. You know,
(07:49):
was what Habity Grace was one voteaway from becoming our nation's capital,
so it was almost the DC.Marquis de Lafayette part of his trail was
through Havity Grace. That's why it'sa French named town. There's just so
much history American history in Harford Countythat I think is often overlooked just because
(08:11):
you don't know there really is.And I don't want to dive into it
because I don't know all the specifics, but I know from other conversations with
folks that work at Harford Community Collegeor different things, there is so much
history American history in there, fromthe African American journey to things like you
were just talking about that Havard Gracewas almost the capital of the nation.
(08:31):
I mean, there is so muchright there in this pocket of the country.
Yeah, and to your point ofthe Civil Rights Project, we're in
the middle of putting together a verycool trail for lack of a better term,
where people will be able to stopalong this civil rights trail for when
they did the Freedom Ride, andwe will have QR codes that you can
(08:52):
scan at even if it's called somethingelse now, like we have certain places
where you would stop along the way, you scan the QR code and it'll
pull up a hologram of somebody fromthat civil rights movement. And we're in
the process of working on that now. It is going to be incredibly fascinating.
And whether you're in Harford County forthe civil rights movement or not,
(09:16):
it's an experience. Yeah, well, that sounds awesome. I love that
idea. I know, one ofthe big things that from friends of mine,
one of the big things they goto Harford County for is Ladu Topiery
Gardens. I know so many peoplethat make a day of it and go
check it out. I have notyet been in my years in Maryland.
I'm sort of embarrassed to admit that, but I know it's a hot spot
for people to check out. Tellme more about LaDou So. LaDue Topiery
(09:37):
Gardens was voted one of the tenIncredible Topiary Gardens around the world. Wow,
and there's more than ten, sothat that says something. You know,
It's wonderful and has events all throughoutthe year. You've got things like
Garden Glow in October, which islit up pumpkins that are carved by artists
(10:00):
and dignitaries throughout Hartford County. They'reall lit up at night, a huge
event. They've got Christmas events wherethey turn every you know, everything,
especially if it's snow covered. Itreally is just sensational to look at.
Definitely a destination something where you know, I know you've heard of like Longwood
Gardens up the road. Sure,a lot of times people will drive by
(10:22):
the do to get to Longwood,and we encourage you to stop and take
a look at one of the topten incredible topiary gardens around the world because
it really is just breathtaking. Beforewe move on, where can people go
if they want to find out moreinformation about Harford County. Yeah, sure,
you can go to our website.Visit Harford dot com. And just
to be clear for those listening tothe podcast, that is not like Connecticut.
(10:46):
There's no tea in the middle.It's harror for not Heartford. Yes,
that's right right, Visit Hartford dotcom. I know another big thing
in Harford County. People love togo hiking. They love to hang out
in the outdoors. You've got theseexperiential trails there as well. We like
to put parks and trails together,but we've also incorporated experiential trails. So
let me go back a little bitand talk about the parks and trails in
(11:09):
Hartford County. We've got so manydifferent ones like the Ma and Paw Trail,
which sort of goes all around thecounty for lack of a better term,
which is really conducive to strollers andbikes. You know, there are
certain places for these things, andyou know there are people on there all
the time. We've also got alot of watershed where you can go enjoy.
(11:31):
You can enjoy Bid them Run Park, which is a cool place where
you can do some fishing with littleones. You know, it's more like
a big pond type of thing.We've in Whitehall, We've got Camp Hidden
Valley which is just breathtaking to lookat, and Conquer Point Park in Habiting.
Gracie and I were talking about justa little bit ago that sits right
on the water, has you know, these great views of the Susquehanna River.
(11:54):
We've also got the King and QueenSeat in Rock State Park, which
is a cool place to sit uphigh and just sort of there are some
people that, you know, doindividual yoga up there and just really or
meditate. We've also got kill GoreFalls. It's got waterfalls in it that
are just breathtaking to look at.You can play underneath, you can you
(12:15):
know, I don't encourage anybody toslide down it, but you can play
at the bottom of it. Andyeah, there was it's so pretty that
I don't know if you've ever seenthe movie Disney's Tuck Everlasting that was filmed
in Rock State Park because of allof the views that are in Hartford County.
Yeah. I tried to go tokil Gore Falls one day, and
(12:35):
I think it was like a daythat all the kids had off or something,
so with the time we got there, all the parking areas were totally
full. Like I guess it wasn'tour day. We'll come back again another
time, But I've only heard amazingthings about some of these little hidden gems
up there. Yeah, that wholeFalling Branch area, which is where kil
Gore Falls is, is really youcan almost feel yourself leaving society a little
(12:58):
bit as you drive back into RockState Park. And just bravo to everybody
that runs the State park Service thatruns all that back there, because they've
done a wonderful job at keeping itclean and keeping it a place where people
can visit for a bit and notturn it into like a vacation spot.
Yeah. I mentioned this in thelast episode of the podcast, which you
weren't on. But I grew upin New Hampshire and one of my favorite
(13:20):
things was going further north into thestate and you'll just be driving along the
road and you'll just happen to seea few cars pulled off on the side
of the road, and you're like, well, what do these people know
that I don't know? So youmight pull off and you'll see like a
trail that goes into the woods andyou find this amazing hiking trail or waterfall
or pool of water, whatever itmay be. And I feel like in
Hartford County you have some of thosegems where like you just might be driving.
(13:41):
I think about when I drive theJones Junction to get my car serviced.
I'll be driving along and I'll comeacross a pull off where there's like
six cars and just turns out there'sa hiking trail right there that I didn't
know about. And I think that'swhat's so cool about Harford County is so
much of it is just naturally thereand people can find it and they can
go explore. Not every place youhave to stop has to have a giant
(14:03):
welcome sign lit up in colored dates, and I think that Marker County has
a lot of those. So talkabout the arts up there. I know
that you have an event coming uplater this summer into the fall in September
Arts across Harford that is a bigevent for you guys. Right. Yeah,
So it actually won us an awardlast year with the Maryland Tourism Coalition.
It won the award for Best Eventbecause it was a sixteen day event,
(14:26):
and this year it'll be seventeen days. We've got September thirteenth through the
thirtieth, and it started as calledHarford County Arts Week, and because it
was so successful, we've taken theidea along with our friends at the Maryland
State Arts Council, the Maryland Centerfor the Arts, and all of our
arts collectives in Hartford County, meetingof the minds coming together make iting a
(14:50):
two week plus celebration. Wherever thereis art, they are a part of
arts across Harford from the thirteenth throughthe thirtieth of September. If it's a
middle school chorus singing at the mall, if it's a chorus line going on
at the community college. I'm makingthese up as examples. But if it's
a gallery crawl for like pottery orvisual art or whatever it may be,
(15:15):
poetry, it's happening in Hartford County. It's happening in Harford County Arts Week.
And we've worked with these art councilsand collectives to make sure that everybody
that has some sort of collective ortheater troupe or what have you, knows
about it and is going to tryto put something in those weeks because we're
going to be featuring them. AndI will say last year was our first
(15:37):
two week celebration of the event,and we got people coming from New York
City, New Jersey, up stPA, down into just past DC,
into Virginia. It was just areally exciting time to hear people coming from
outside in as opposed to what youmight I think it is arts across Harford,
(16:02):
where it might be mom and dadgoing to see their daughter in a
dance recital. It's way bigger thanthat. My hopes is that it turns
into some sort of fringe type festivalwhere it's you know, maybe poetry at
a bar that never has poetry ata bar on like a Saturday afternoon or
something. I was just kind ofthinking back to earlier in our conversation where
(16:22):
you were talking about how in tourismthere's no real competition, right, like,
everybody's trying to bring people to theircounty. But you can work together,
you can find ways to team upon things. And I was thinking
last summer my family went to GreatWolf Lodge, which I believe is in
Cecil County, right, and allwe did we went, we hung out
there during the day, did thewater stuff, and then we went to
(16:42):
dinner and habit of grace right acrossthe bridge we just drove over. So
it is kind of interesting, like, especially in an area where you do
sort of cross the boundaries, there'sso much that you can find by visiting
multiple places. Yeah. Well,and when you look at tourism, you
know, let's pick any other statethat you you know, like if I
(17:02):
drove to New Hampshire, I wouldn'tknow if I was in County A and
then just got into County B,right, I would have no idea of
that. But and I think ourvisitors are the same way. You know,
maybe if they live in Baltimore County, they might they'll know when they
hit the Harford County line. Butif someone's coming from you know, Arlington,
Virginia, they don't know. Theydon't know where that line is from
(17:22):
Baltimore to Harford, Harford to Cecil, They're not sure. Yeah, And
I guess I think my point waslike it's cool that if you were to
say, go visit that massive hotelbecause it's a big tourist attraction. There's
other spots right around there that youcan go check out, and some of
those are in Harford County, Likehard of Grace is so close and very
easy to get to, and you'vegot all those restaurants, You've got things
for the kids to check out outdoorsas well. Like so, I think
(17:44):
it's always important if you know someonelistening is getting ready to travel, look
around the area you're traveling too aswell, because there's a lot of cool
spaces right there as well. Andeven when you go to a place like
Great Wolf Lodging Seatzel County, toyour point, feel free to come down
and have dinner like you did,and see an Orioles game Orioles, listen
to me An Iron bird S andthen head back to Great Wolf Ladge.
(18:07):
You've got a couple more events Iwant to touch on before we have to
wrap things up. I know thePride of Baltimore two is sailing into hard
of Grace and that's happening in September. I know that's always a big draw
when it comes through Baltimore and theInner Harbor two, so I know people
love seeing those tall ships. Yeah, they actually were here in May.
The Pride of Baltimore two came inMay and everybody was excited about it.
(18:27):
I know we had a little bitof rain, but I mean, welcome
to the mid Atlantic region. Right. If you want the weather to change,
wait five minutes. We do getall four seasons. But the good
news is the Pride of Baltimore twolives in the water, so we don't
have to I mean, the boatis fine, you just might need a
poncho. But it's coming back inSeptember the sixth and the seventh, and
(18:48):
we are very excited to bring itback because the captain is spectacular, very
welcoming. You're able to get onthe ship and look around it and talk
to the crew, talk to thecaptain. You know, a lot of
people we live in such an electronicworld these days that you know, these
minimally electric ships are almost fascinating tosomebody, like ask a six year old
(19:11):
or an eight year old, likethere's very little electronics on here, if
any, and you know, tohave them grasp that, it's pretty fascinating.
So we welcome everybody to come downthe sixth and the seventh. It's
coming to ha Any Grace and yeah, Pride of Baltimore too. If you've
never seen it before, give ita Google before you come up. Another
event coming up that I think theseevents are always fun for folks is a
(19:33):
running festive. We get the SusquehannaRunning Festival happening in September as well.
I believe that's on September twenty first. Yes, you're too, you can
get registered. It's with our friendsat Charms City Run. Nice. Yeah,
we've got we have it listed onour website, visit Harford dot com.
Everybody at Charms City Run is fantastic, Will Murdoch and everybody just does
(19:53):
a great job. But we wantedto make sure that our runners, like
yourself, liked it. Know thatyou're going to be running around the Susquehanna
and across the bridge and bringing iton back. And of course obviously it's
not just running then go home.There's going to be, you know,
a chance to hang out and enjoyyourself and habity Grace as well, there
(20:14):
always is. I love that kindof thing, all right. A lot
of stuff going on in Harford County. Tyler the Maryland State Barbecue bashe coming
up in October, and they canfind everything at visit Harford dot com.
Correct. That is correct. Andif you're looking for hotels, we've got
you covered. If we like tomake it easy as easy as possible for
everyone to come out and enjoy andenjoy themselves, so we've listed we've got
(20:36):
itineraries on our website. If you'relooking for sports, we've got that covered.
If you're looking for just dining,we've got that covered. Parts and
trails and our experiential trail too,is really itemized for you. And download
the Hartford Digital Passport and check outall of the stops along the way and
that's a way for you to turnsome some stops along the way into some
(20:56):
prizes, some Visit Harford Prizes.Ilaft, Marketing and Communications coordinator for Visit
Harford Tyler, it's good to seea man. I'm glad you landed in
a pretty awesome spot for you.Yeah. I'm happy to be here and
I always enjoy hearing the silky smoothsounds of Saint Pierre. Silky smooth sounds.
I like that. I'm gonna putthat on my resume and my LinkedIn.
(21:17):
Okay, yeah yeah, put iton the business profile. Big thank
you to Tyler's eislab from visit Harfordfor his time. I learned some new
stuff today about Hartford County, andI'm sure that you did too. Check
out visit Haarford dot com for anyinfo that you need about the county and
to plan your next trip. Andthank you to all of you for listening
today. I appreciate you for sharingsome time with delightful destinations. I'm Jeff
(21:38):
Saint Pierre and I'll be back soonwith another great destination for you to check out.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!