Black-Eyed Susan Paddleboat Cruise

Saturday was the official Black-Eyed Susan Cruise for my organization (Maryland Association of School Librarians - MASL). For those of you that do not know, the Black-Eyed Susan flower is the state flower for Maryland. MASL also conducts the Black-Eyed Susan Book Program. Each year the BES committee reads hundreds of books before making the final decision on the nominees for the different categories (Picture Books, Chapter books for grades 4-6, 6-9 & high school). Students read and vote for their favorite book. You can read more about the program here. Each year at the end of April all the votes from students across the state of Maryland are counted and the winner is announced. Four years ago, the board found the BES Paddle boat and we decided to host an event on the boat! So now, most votes are counted before the cruise and then the final tally is revealed while on the cruise. It's a fun time! Here are some pics of the boat.

The boat dock's at Baltimore's Fell's Point. Here's a side view of the boat. There are two decks to the boat.


And what a gorgeous day we had for this event!!


Here's the group of gals that were at my table. We all work in the same county, so it was loads of fun!

We were having so much fun and laughing so much that people wanted to join our table and find out what we were talking about! *heehee* That's me on the end in the official BES black polo.

The immediate past president of the organization sings in a barbershop quartet and we were able to invite them aboard as our entertainment. They are wonderful! We have had them as our entertainment for 3 years!

Here's another table of librarians from my county. They are enjoying the entertainment!

And here we are again, enjoying each others company!

When the 3-hour cruise was over we DID manage to make it back to land! *laugh*