Brian Lawrence Live

Saturday, Sept. 27
It was a wet, soggy day for a steeplechase, but hundreds still turned out for this year’s Shawan Downs races. After slogging through the muck and down the hill to the Preservation Point tents, I met up with Dorothy Fuchs and Lisa Shenkle in the Classic Catering tent. After sampling some bourbon and ginger, along with some great fried chicken and a wonderful crabcake, I ventured through the downpour and ankle-deep mud (luckily I was wearing my trusty L.L. Bean duck hunting boots) down the row to Ed St. John‘s tent, where Edie Brown, WBAL’s Kate Amara and Sharon Akers greeted me. Also spent some time chatting with Anne Boone Simanski and with P.W. Feats’ Paul Wolman. It seemed as though the run-off from the entire hill behind us was routing directly through the tent, as water and mud rushed underfoot as we stood inside the tent socializing. I also caught up briefly with Brown Advisory’s Greg Barnhill and J Shoes’ Myles Levin as I made my way to some of the other tents. After the second waterlogged race, the remaining races were canceled, as a safety measure. Everyone inside the tents was having a great time, even as the rain continued incessently outside.