4th Chesapeake Print & Book Arts Fair — Havre de Grace, MD — May 9, 2026

The 200 block of N. Washington Street in Havre de Grace, Maryland, will transform into a lively open-air marketplace on Saturday, May 9, 2026, when the 4th Chesapeake Print & Book Arts Fair returns from 11 AM to 4 PM. Hosted by Glyph Design Studio, the free street fair draws together fifteen or more studios, presses, and makers from across the Mid-Atlantic — Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. — for a single-day showcase of letterpress printing, bookbinding, papermaking, zines, comics, and hand-printed ephemera. Admission is free, the block is closed to vehicle traffic, and the public is welcome to browse, buy, and talk craft directly with the artists behind the work.

The fair arrives at a moment when handmade print arts are drawing renewed interest from both collectors and a younger generation of makers drawn to the tactile, the slow, and the intentional. “Letterpress has always been about the impression — literally and figuratively,” said Don Starr, Creative Director of Glyph Design Studio, Professor of Graphic Design at George Mason University, and former President of the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Printing History Association. “What I love about this event is that it puts the presses and the people who run them right in front of the community. You can pick up a card, feel the bite of the type in the paper, and ask the printer how they set it. That conversation doesn’t happen anywhere else.”

Confirmed vendors for 2026 include .918 Club (Lancaster, PA), Base Press (Elkins Park, PA), Comics & Zines / Deanna Draws (Hyattsville, MD), Conestoga Press (Ephrata, PA), Frederick Book Arts Center (Frederick, MD), Glyph Design Studio (Havre de Grace, MD), ipsy bipsy studio (Washington, DC), Lambs Ear Press (Ephrata, PA), Lead Graffiti (Newark, DE), Mason Jar Press (Baltimore, MD), Paper Moon Bindery (Philadelphia, PA), Reyookah (Burke, VA), Sargent-Thamm (Clifton, VA), Sea Heart City Press (Wall Township, NJ), and Story Supply Co. (York, PA), with additional vendors to be announced. Sargent-Thamm will present flag papermaking and relief prints in a nod to the America 250 commemoration. The fair is organized by Glyph Design Studio and sponsored by the Havre de Grace Alliance.

Among the standout Havre de Grace events in May 2026, the fair is easily integrated into a full day in the historic waterfront town at the head of the Chesapeake Bay, known for its galleries, independent shops, and walkable downtown. The fair runs concurrently with the 3rd Annual Franklin Street Mother’s Day Market (10 AM–4 PM), hosted by Blue Heron Gifts and Marie + Rae Boutique, and precedes the HDG Roper Romp (1–7 PM), a pub crawl and photo scavenger hunt in which participants dress as Mrs. Roper of Three’s Company. Full vendor information and event updates are available at chesapeakeprintersfair.com.