Mayor Brandon Scott announced the dates for Baltimore City’s premiere summer events series on Monday afternoon.
Artscape, at one point hailed as the largest outdoor free arts festival in the country, will be held on Memorial Day weekend, May 24 and 25th. There will be no Friday evening start this year.
“We’ve heard you loud and clear about how hot and stormy and rainy it is at Artscape,” said Mayor Brandon Scott during a Monday afternoon press conference.
That won’t be the only chance for Baltimoreans to get out and party. The rest of the city’s major summer events series is as followers:
AFRAM– June 21 and 22
The Baltimore Caribbean Festival– July 12 and 13
Charm City Live– September 20
Scott announced that the Baltimore Caribbean Festival will now be a completely city run event. Some of that planning will include insight from the mayor’s newly created Baltimore Advisory Commission of Caribbean Affairs, which was announced also on Monday.
As for Artscape, the festival historically took place in early August where it became infamous for scorching days. After halting the event during the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers tried to relaunch the event in September 2023 but most of that year’s activities were rained out by Tropical Storm Ophelia.
The new date isn’t the only historic factor in play.
Scott’s administration will run the event after the city parted ways with the Baltimore Office for Promotion of the Arts (BOPA) earlier this year. But residents should still expect concert stages and blocks of vendors.
“Even when BOPA was running the festival, it’s not like the city didn’t have any involvement,” said the mayor, who said it was his office who booked legendary disco singer Chaka Khan as the headliner last year (her performance was cancelled due to severe weather).
When asked by a reporter if the festival would still cover the same footprint of Bolton Hill, Station North, and Mount Vernon, Scott said that was “to be announced.” The city does not yet have a public list of performers, either.
Scott encouraged communities to be familiar with the city events calendar as permits will likely not be issued to additional groups on those dates.
