Can-can dancers, racing waiters and local merchants are teaming up this weekend to raise money to bring a Civil War-era fife and drum corps to Ellicott City.
PJ's of Ellicott City, Tersiguel's French Country Restaurant and Historic Ellicott City Inc. are sponsoring a festival Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in front of PJ's on Main Street.
It will offer live music, food and games in an effort to raise money for the B&O Railroad Museum's new Patapsco Guard Fife and Drum Corps.
The festival weekend is that of the French Bastille Independence Day, but the cause is for American Civil War history.
Three years ago, museum director Ed Williams organized volunteer re-enactors for the Patapsco Guard, a group of about 100 Ellicott Mills German and Irish immigrants who fought in the Civil War. The most famous battle they were in was Gettysburg -- their assignment was to bury the dead. Understandably, they were heavy drinkers, said Mr. Williams.
Since its re-existence, the Patapsco Guard has been missing something vital -- the teen-agers who issued company commands with their fifes and drums.
"I've always wanted to have a fife and drum corps," said Mr. Williams, director of the museum for three years. "[There's] something about it. . . . It's like a soundtrack to a movie. You don't know it's missing until it is there."
With the help of a $1,650 start-up check from Fernand Tersiguel, owner of Tersiguel's, a down payment on five drums was made. Then, 134 years after the Civil War began, another call for area youths to join the war effort was given.
Pat Patterson, owner of PJ's, and Mr. Tersiguel hope to raise $4,000 to $5,000 this weekend for the new corps.
At the festival, waiters will race an obstacle course through PJ's and Tersiguel's, with the most skillful waiter winning a trip for two to Sonoma Valley vineyards in California. Local dignitaries will sit in a dunking booth, and raffles for overnight accommodations, antique appraisals and dinners at local restaurants will be held.
Fifty percent of the proceeds from food sold outside will go to the corps, in addition to raffle and game money sponsored by other area merchants.
The money will pay for uniforms, music and the hand-made drums, which cost $650 apiece for snare drums and $900 for the bass drum. The rosewood fifes cost $80 each and were donated to the museum by Ellicott City's Mumbles & Squeaks Toy Gallery.
