ANNAPOLIS – Chesapeake Bay Week returns next week for the 22nd year featuring films and programs showcasing the bay’s unique character and the people who value it.
“Whether you live near the bay or not, you have some sort of connection to the bay – whether it’s enjoying seafood, or whether it’s to one of the tributaries of the bay,” said Sarah Sampson, senior producer for Maryland Public Television who is managing the Chesapeake Bay Week initiative.
More than 30 documentaries and programs related to the Chesapeake Bay will air April 19-26 on Maryland Public Television.
Sampson is also the director of “Lifeblood: Chesapeake River Stories,” the hour-long documentary that premiers at 7 p.m. April 19.
The film features nine stories and seven rivers on the bay. It is about “exploring the connection that people have with their home rivers or it’s exploring the idea that water connects all of us,” Sampson said.
Larry Ringgold, a former carpentry teacher turned artist, is featured in a segment of “Lifeblood.”
“My art is an assemblage of different pieces of driftwood, hand selected pieces, mostly from the Chesapeake Bay, Potomac River, or watersheds,” he said.
Ringgold said he is often out looking for driftwood, which he called “addictive.”
“It’s always a treasure hunt, going out to the beach and trying to find really unique, cool pieces of wood,” he said.
Ringgold searches for driftwood by boat in warm weather with his friend, Bernie Houston, who is also a driftwood artist.
Sampson said the friends have a great relationship and “create really stunning art.”
“They’re inspired by the water, and they’re inspired by just what’s washed up and it’s got this, this character to it,” she said.
Other featured documentaries include, “Unfiltered,” a story about oyster farms, which airs at 9 p.m. on April 20 and “Bay to Baltimore,” which is about Katie Pumphrey attempting to become the first person to swim from the Bay Bridge to Baltimore Inner Harbor. It runs at 8:30 p.m. April 21.
Sampson said Maryland Public Television’s mission is to inspire and educate viewers and Bay Week is a way to do that.
“The question when they were developing Bay Week 22 years ago was, what is something that brings all of Maryland together?’’ Sampson said. “And the answer was the Chesapeake Bay.’’