• Person or People: Phil Wiggins of Montgomery County is a master harmonica player in the tradition of the Piedmont blues, a delicate, lyrical style of blues originating in Black communities in the eastern United States in the 1920s and 1930s. Phil has taught thousands to both play and value the Piedmont blues and is the recipient of many awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.
• Place: The historic Dentzel carousel has been a fixture in Montgomery County’s Glen Echo Park since 1921. Crafted by the Dentzel Carousel Company, the amusement has for 100 years served as the site of community gathering, including a 1960 civil rights protest to open the park to Black visitors. The desegregation effort was ultimately successful, and the carousel has remained the centerpiece of the park and a cherished attraction for all guests.
• Tradition: Arabbing is the name for the Baltimore City tradition of selling fruits and vegetables by horse-drawn cart. Those practicing the tradition, known as arabbers, alert their customers to the availability of fresh food through unique hollers. For 150 years, arabbing has been recognized as a tradition primarily upheld by and for Baltimore’s Black communities, as well as an entrepreneurial economic system serving neighborhoods across the city.