Southern Delaware Tourism honors 2023 awardees

Five winners were recognized at the 2023 Southern Delaware Tourism Awards luncheon at Hyatt Place Dewey Beach Dec. 13. Lavender Fields founder Marie Mayor received the Tourism Legacy Award.

SDT Chair Matt Parker said Sussex County led the way in Delaware tourism this year, accounting for $2.7 billion in visitor spending and supporting 24,000 jobs. Every dollar in direct sales results in $1.20 given back toward the local economy, he said.

Keynote speaker Dru Tevis, corporate pastry chef for SoDel Concepts, recounted his culinary journey from his early days working in restaurants to launching SoDel’s pastry program in 2018 to winning Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship in 2022.

Marie Mayor, founder of Lavender Fields at Warrington Manor LLC, received the Tourism Legacy Award, said SDT board member Karen Falk. Mayor and Sharon Harris purchased the lavender farm more than 20 years ago, and subsequently made handcrafted soap, lotion and other bath and beauty specialties, as well as blended teas and culinary lavender and herb products. 

Mayor served as president of the Milton Historical Society board of trustees, on the Milton Theatre and Milton Chamber of Commerce boards, and is a past SDT chair, Falk said. Several years ago, she restarted the Delaware Agritourism Association with the Delaware Department of Agriculture and Governor’s Office for Tourism, Falk said, and served as its president for three years. 

“Sadly, Sharon is no longer with us, but we know how proud she was, and how proud she would be of Marie today,” Falk said. “As some of you know, Marie has very recently sold Lavender Fields at Warrington Manor. Her legacy and her contributions to tourism in Southern Delaware and beyond, particularly agritourism, will live on indefinitely.”

SDT board member Ben Gray announced Rehoboth Beach Main Street’s Margarita Crawl as the year’s Best New Event winner. Rehoboth Beach Main Street collaborated with Dano’s Tequila to create the new event to attract visitors to downtown Rehoboth Beach in the off-season, Gray said.

The inaugural event June 3 featured 15 participating restaurants and welcomed 600 ticket purchasers to sample 2-ounce margaritas, vote for their favorites and enjoy complimentary appetizers, Gray said. Almost half the tickets were purchased by out-of-state visitors, Gray said, and the Margarita Crawl will join the Community Unity Dinner and Gumbo Crawl as a fundraiser for RBMS.

Best Event went to the Milton Chamber of Commerce and Friends of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge Horseshoe Crab & Shorebird Festival, which originated in Milton in 2000, said past SDT Chair Bonnie Hall. 

Since then, the festival has continued to celebrate and raise awareness of Delaware Bay’s horseshoe crab spawning and migrating shorebirds by taking place at the height of the spawning season, she said. Last year’s attendance grew to well over 7,000 local attendees and visitors representing 15 states.  

The Jolly Trolley was named Best Attraction, said SDT board member and Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Carol Everhart. The business originated in 1970 as the first tour transportation service in Rehoboth and Dewey, Everhart said, and was purchased by the Hastings family in 1992.  

The Jolly Trolley carries passengers on a fixed-route loop from Rehoboth to Dewey; runs year-round service in fleet vehicles to all major airport, train and cruise terminals that brings in tourists from transportation hubs from New York to Baltimore; and operates private charters, weddings and private/public school transit as well, Everhart said.

The Philanthropic Award went to the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce, said Beebe Foundation Gift Officer Sean Flanigan. Through multiple events and an enormous amount of work from its staff, the chamber has enhanced tourism to Sussex County and raised almost $85,000 for local nonprofit organizations, including Santa’s Letters, Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, and Beebe Healthcare’s South Coastal Emergency Department and Cancer Center, Flanigan said.

Past award recipients include Joshua M. Freeman Foundation, Delaware Botanic Gardens and 302 Day.

For more information about Southern Delaware Tourism, go to visitsoutherndelaware.com.