Jimmy Edgerton had never played pickleball when he decided to open his own court. A few years ago, the engineering consultant had been watching as the game took over his Patterson Park neighborhood—first quietly, then quickly—mirroring its trajectory as the fast-growing sport in America.

“I’d sit on the stoop with [my daughter] and watch people play across the street,” says Edgerton.

Then in late 2022, he and his wife, Heather Keating, purchased a former marble-and-stone warehouse on Spring Street in Fells Point. Soon enough, the couple got an idea: Maybe they could turn the building into a community hub, centered around this increasingly popular pastime. Construction began in 2024, and soon after, Edgerton finally picked up a paddle and became hooked himself.

With the backing of two silent partners, SOS Pickleball opened its doors this past September.

Invented in 1965, pickleball—a combination of tennis, table tennis, and badminton—found a massive resurgence during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what initially felt like a passing trend has proven to have staying power; according to The New York Times, there are now more than 26,000 pickleball courts nationwide.

And now, thanks to Edgerton and Keating, Baltimore City has its first dedicated indoor court.

One of Edgerton’s favorite things about the sport is that anyone can play—something he learned the hard way. His first few games were with neighborhood regulars at Patterson Park. Within about 30 minutes, the lifelong basketball and tennis player had learned most of the rules, rotated through games with strangers, and experienced the sport’s particular brand of humility after repeatedly losing to a 75-year-old named Betsy.

“Pickleball is such an interesting, accessible sport that anyone at any level can play,” says Edgerton.

SOS stands for “serve on spring,” a play on words to evoke the urgency needed to get your pickleball hit. In a nod to the Ravens, its purple walls, handpicked by Keating, span roughly 7,300 square feet, housing two dedicated pickleball courts, table tennis, and billiards rooms, alongside lounge seating and a bar. The club has a full liquor license, a bunch of non-alcoholic options, and food from nearby newcomers Bank St. Deli, which Edgerton helped build.

The temperature-controlled indoor space operates on a self-serve, no-membership-required model, allowing players to reserve courts through an app and play on their own schedule. Because pickleball is most often played in teams of two, the cost breaks down to about $10 per person per hour. Equipment rentals and on-site coaching from a small staff are also available, making the space accessible to first-timers and experienced players alike.

“The thing we’ve really been zeroed in on is creating this space where you can come and learn and be social,” says Keating. “And have a good time as well.”

When Luca Useli arrived in Baltimore from the island of Sardinia, he was 18 years old, spoke no English, and worked as a dishwasher at his aunt’s restaurant, Daniela Pasta & Pastries, in Hampden. Eventually, he moved from the kitchen to the front of house and managing roles. Today, Useli is 31, has mastered the language barrier, and is the owner of La Tavola in Little Italy.

He took over the restaurant two years ago when former chef Carlo Vignotto retired after more than two decades. Useli says he misses the country where he was born and raised but has no regrets about the move. “I was meant to be here,” he says.

Useli calls himself an entrepreneur, not a chef, though he is responsible for the menu’s lineup, which features many family recipes.

“It’s a work in progress,” he says, as he slowly introduces Sardinian food and wine to the menu’s more traditional Southern Italian offerings. Useli wants to provide the same quality food from his homeland that led to the island being designated one of the world’s Blue Zones, where residents live long, productive lives, many to age 100.

A simple diet is considered a contributor. As such, you’ll find dishes like a regional preparation of linguine vongole, featuring a mound of bottarga, which Useli calls Sardinian caviar. Tangles of fresh-made pasta, glistening in a white wine sauce and surrounded by castanet-sized clams, get a salty kick from the dried fish roe.

On the more traditional front, tomato-sauce lovers will find many dishes to satisfy, from veal scallopini to rigatoni puttanesca. We lapped up the lasagna Bolognese, which weaved a stew of red meat sauce and a subtle bechamel sauce amid the ribbons of noodles.

But before diners indulge in the big plates, there are antipasti and salads to consider. The fritto misto takes a light-handed approach with flash-fried calamari and shrimp delivered to the table with, yes, more red sauce. The rounds of squid and tentacles were tender, and the shrimp was juicy. We just wish there had been more of the shrimp, instead of the two buried in the pile. We appreciated the well-portioned eggplant appetizer. Rounds of aubergine are fried before being layered with tomatoes and mozzarella and then baked in a pomodoro sauce.

Salads range from field-greens to a lush burrata presentation, showcasing a tennis-ball heap of the creamy cheese atop strips of roasted red bell peppers and arugula splashed with balsamic vinaigrette.

If you haven’t had your fill of cheese, the formaggi misti is a satisfying finish to a meal. Our platter was laden with goat cheese, Taleggio, Gorgonzola, pecorino, and semistagionato. La Tavola’s house-made cannoli gets full marks in a town where the pastry is a mainstay on many menus. A pizzelle shell bundles ricotta cream studded with pistachios, almonds, and dried fruit for a dreamy melding of texture and flavor.

Useli, who has been remodeling the interior of the restaurant himself, is just getting started. His goal: “I want a beautiful restaurant filled with people who are having a good time.”

LA TAVOLA: 248 Albemarle St., Little Italy, 410-685-1859. HOURS: Wed. 4-10 p.m.; Thurs., Fri., Sun. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sat. 11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. PRICES: Appetizers: $8-22; salads, $12-18; entrees: $22-36.

In the spring of 2023, Joe Benny’s, a casual Little Italy restaurant beloved for its meatballs, focaccia pizza, and unstuffy attitude, closed after a decade-long run. It was yet another post-pandemic blow for a gastronomically iconic neighborhood where unfortunately more restaurants seemed to be closing than opening.

Today, Little Italy’s outlook looks a little tastier, thanks in large part to Joe Benny Gardella, the man who put his heart, soul (and body) into Joe Benny’s and has opened its bigger and bolder successor, Benny’s.

Gardella shuttered his first restaurant in part because he needed back surgery, a result, he says, of working virtually nonstop for 10 years in the small, cramped space. Now physically and spiritually renewed, he has teamed up with co-owner Benny Sudano to open a restaurant that they hope will help spark a renaissance in the neighborhood.

“We said, ‘Let’s get the guy who was born and raised in Little Italy and the new guy and see if we can get this resurgence going,’” says Gardella, who has lived in Baltimore since 2000 and moved to Little Italy in 2020. “The goal was to have old-school Little Italy meet new Little Italy—and if they had a kid, that’s what I wanted it to be.”

The reproduction metaphor is an apt one considering “Best Balls on the Block” is written on the awning over Benny’s High Street entrance (Meatballs in this case.) Once inside, it’s even more apparent that this is a less stodgy restaurant than its more traditional neighbors.

Classic rock fills the air in the spacious and lively bar, which, on the nights we visited this summer, was crowded with some people who were just drinking, others who were snacking, and couples eating full meals. There’s a small dining room in the back with dark wooden tables, no red-and-white checkered tablecloths in sight.

We started with cocktails curated by Josh Sudano (Benny’s son), another partner in the venture. The Margarita Siciliana adds limoncello to the standard tequila, triple sec, and sour mix to create a version with a sweeter aftertaste. Wednesdays feature half-price bottles of wine, which are grouped into two categories on the menu: Decent (the Ermes Vento pinot noir is described as “light but with attitude, like Sicilians”) and the pricier Reserves. Sangria, bottle and tap beer, and nonalcoholic drinks also are available.

The star of the antipasti is, of course, the Sloppy Balls (Benny’s loves its cheeky puns), the same beef and pork variety slathered in tomato sauce from Gardella’s grandmother’s recipe that he served at his previous establishment. There is a difference: Here they come on a bed of polenta covered with burrata, making for an even more decadent and delicious dish.

The tasty octopus carpaccio features thinly sliced pieces of octopus with a crisp, light dressing that accentuates the natural flavors. An order of focaccia pizza delivers, as the menu warns, the promise of “a big damn slice.” We split about half of the Norma Jean, topped with eggplant, tomatoes, escarole, and burrata, and took the rest home.

We suggest you save your carb intake for one of the excellent pastas. Orecchiette e granchio, small ear-shaped pasta with corn, tomato, and crab in a guanciale cream sauce, was rich but not overpoweringly so. Rigatoni with short rib cooked for four hours was a special on a night we visited; the meat was tender and the sauce exquisite.

But the best pasta dish is undoubtedly the rigatoni al pistacchio, crumbled fennel sausage in a pistachio pesto sauce that’s a milder yet more complex version than we’ve ever had. The origins of the dish can be traced back to Sicily, where Gardella’s parents emigrated from before eventually settling in Prince George’s County, where he grew up.

“On the base of Mount Etna there’s a town called Bronte,” he says. “Their main source of income is the pistachio business. You go to this town, 75 percent of the menus, whether it’s sweets, savory dishes, you name it, use pistachios. I’d go every year and bring back pistachios. I’ve always had a liking for them.”

Vern Smith, Benny’s chef, created the dish. Its presence is another sign that Gardella—who says he and Sudano have more projects in the neighborhood in the works—is infusing a shot of adrenaline into the Little Italy food scene.

“If you don’t put life into these ethnic neighborhoods, they kind of fall by the wayside,” he says. “I want to be part of the resurgence, because I don’t want Little Italy to fade away.”

BENNY’S: 300 S. High St., Little Italy. HOURS: Tue.-Fri. 4-10 p.m., Sat. noon-11 p.m., Sun. noon-9 p.m. PRICES: Antipasti $13-18; pasta $19-29; entrees $24-36; dessert $8. AMBIANCE: Not your father’s Little Italy restaurant.

The roots of Little Italy’s Venice Tavern lie not across the ocean in the Old World, but in the basement of an old mansion just 1.8 miles to the east.

The original Venice, opened in 1933 upon the repeal of Prohibition, is a Highlandtown landmark, the ultimate corner pub where locals descend five cement steps from street level to the barroom for a shot and a beer after work.

When fourth-generation family owner Dominic DeSantis opened the Little Italy location in August 2019, he aimed to impart a similar everyone-is-welcome vibe to the spot, while offering a more extensive food, beer, and cocktail menu.

Visit the sequel on a Friday night and nearly every stool is occupied. Groups of friends cluster at the long bar and high-top tables, laughter emanating from seemingly every party. There’s a cocktail list that includes classics like an Old-Fashioned, martini, and Side Car, along with nods to the neighborhood, like the Negroni, a combination of gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth.

A few people sip wine, but pint glasses are the most prominent glassware here. DeSantis is a beer lover who has tipped back mugs all over the world. He also owns Canton’s Hudson Street Stackhouse, one of the city’s preeminent beer bars, and has cultivated nearly as comprehensive a draft list at his second Venice Tavern. It’s ever-changing, but often includes heavyweights like Maine Brewing’s Lunch IPA, an intensely hoppy brew that’s a favorite of beer nerds (including this writer) everywhere. There are local offerings like Monument’s Pagoda Pale Ale along with German and Belgian imports. Of course, Coors Light and Natty Boh are on offer, too.

The surprisingly extensive food menu features standard appetizers like wings and mozzarella sticks, and burgers and sandwiches like a chicken Parm are available at prices far below other (admittedly fancier) restaurants in the neighborhood.

Precious little about the original Venice Tavern has changed since DeSantis’s great-grandparents opened it 88 years ago. The walls of the one-room establishment are adorned with boxing memorabilia, including a poster advertising a 1954 Rocky Marciano fight. (DeSantis’s great uncle Vince, depicted in a drawing that hangs near the pool table, was a boxer.) There’s an ATM in the corner—this Venice Tavern is cash-only. Cards are accepted at the Little Italy locale, but not everything else is. At the bottom of the menu are the house rules, one of which is that “loud” profanity will not be tolerated.

“Ladies and Gents, be Good or Be Gone,” reads the last commandment. Fair enough. We’re fans of the place—and its forefather—so we’ll be on our best behavior, thank you very much.

A crowd of activists toppled the marble Christopher Columbus statue near Little Italy Saturday night and dumped it into the Inner Harbor amid Fourth of July firework displays across the city.

Two weeks ago, an anti-racist protest group known as Baltimore Bloc publicly warned Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young that activists planned to take down the city’s Columbus monuments if his administration did not act to remove them.

The most prominent of three city monuments to Columbus, the statue at the eastern edge of the Inner Harbor was unveiled by President Ronald Reagan and Mayor William Donald Schaefer in 1984 and dedicated with the inscription to the “Discoverer of America.” The 14-foot statue was paid for by a citywide fundraising campaign led by the Italian American Organizations United of Maryland.

Two years ago year this summer, 19 months after a city commission recommended two of the city’s four Confederate monuments be taken down and two more receive educational plaques, then-Mayor Catherine Pugh ordered the removal of all four.

Lester Davis, a spokesman for Young, told the Baltimore Sun that the destruction of Columbus statue is part of a “re-examination taking place nationally and globally around some of these monuments and statues that may represent different things to different people.”

City Council President Brandon Scott, who won last month’s Democratic mayoral primary, issued a statement Saturday night saying he supports both the Baltimore’s Italian-American community and Baltimore’s indigenous community. “I cannot, however, support Columbus,” Scott said.

In 2016, Scott introduced a bill that would’ve renamed Columbus Day in the city to Indigenous Peoples Day. Scott said the intention of the legislation, which did not pass, was “to honor the many peoples inhabiting North America before its colonization by European settlers.”

Scott said he suggested to former Mayor Catherine Pugh that she remove the Columbus statue along with the city’s Confederate statues following a violent conflict between white supremacists and anti-racism activists in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Baltimore City Councilman Ryan Dorsey has introduced a bill that would rededicate the Columbus obelisk at Herring Run to the victims of police brutality.

In a statement Sunday, Governor Larry Hogan condemned the destruction of the Columbus statue and said Baltimore leaders had lost “control of the city and their own streets.”

“While we support peaceful protests and constructive dialogue on whether and how to put certain monuments in context or move them to museums or storage through a legal process, lawlessness, vandalism, and destruction of public property are completely unacceptable,” Hogan said. “That is the antithesis of democracy and should be condemned by everyone, regardless of their politics. Baltimore City leaders need to regain control of their own streets and immediately start making them safer.”

Several state delegates representing Baltimore County and Harford County and a group of Italian-American activists demanded Young and Hogan protect the city’s statues and monuments erected to honor Christopher Columbus at a June 29 press conference at the Inner Harbor.

In a tweet Saturday night, Del. Kathy Szeliga called the pulling down of the Columbus memorial on July 4 “shameful,” and asked where the police and Mayor Young were while the statue was being toppled. She suggested citizens, “move out of Baltimore City while you can if you still live there.”

“This is deeply personal and an affront to the Italian American community and all law-abiding Marylanders,” tweeted State Del. Nino Mangione, a Republican from Baltimore County. “The city of Baltimore has been disgraced once again. America weeps at this outrage.”

Baltimore’s annual October Columbus Day Commemoration and Italian Heritage Festival and parade, approaching 130 years, is believed to be the longest-running celebration in honor of Columbus in the country.

In his speech on July 4, President Donald Trump pledged to “defend, protect, and preserve American way of life, which began in 1492 when Columbus discovered America.”

The Italian-born explorer’s legacy has received increased scrutiny in recent decades as his brutal treatment of the native people of the Caribbean islands and Central America—including mass slaughter, forced mining, enslavement, and child rape—has become better known and understood.

Popular myths regarding Columbus, long taught in schools, have also been exposed by scholars, changing public perception of the nature of his voyages. Columbus did not prove the “flat Earth” theory wrong. Nor was Columbus the first European to sail to the continent, as Scandinavians sailors had done so centuries earlier. Those beliefs and others took hold in the United States after acclaimed writer Washington Irving popularized an “Americanized” Columbus in a best-selling fictionalized historical biography in 1828.

With the pulling down of the statue, Baltimore joins a growing list of cities this summer, including Richmond, Montgomery, Boston, and St. Paul, that have witnessed the toppling of Confederate and Columbus memorials. Numerous cities across the country have made plans to remove statues.

In the wake of Baltimore City extending its stay-home order last week, Sergio Vitale, chef-owner of Aldo’s Ristorante Italiano on High Street, has led a coalition of Little Italy spots hoping to close down one of the neighborhood’s main streets to allow for open-air seating so that customers can enjoy curbside fare en plein air.

Vitale was hoping the city government would support the efforts, but says that a private phone conversation with Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young did not go the way he’d hoped.

“I’ve never wanted to make this about me,” Vitale says, “But it fell to me to become the voice of a movement that’s growing in Baltimore City. This mayor’s response was, ‘If you try operate, we will shut you down.’ He said he would pull our food permit from the health department and shut us down. And I took that to mean permanently. I don’t want to make it about him, but he happens to be the decision maker in this right now—he and the governor. We need a lifeline here. All we’re asking for is an opportunity to earn a living.”

At press time, the mayor’s office couldn’t be reached for comment.

Tell me about your idea to have an outdoor food court in Little Italy.
The ideas are not original—we are just trying to do what other places have done. I’ve tried to pitch this “curbside-plus,” as I call it, sort of an outdoor food court idea. All the curbside rules are in place, you’d order the same as you order now, but you’d be able to eat like at Herald Square in New York. We’d bleach the tables in between and come up with the protocol. I was hoping this call to the mayor could have followed up with a meeting where we establish a protocol together with stakeholders, public policymakers, restaurateurs, and small businesses to talk next steps, but he dismissed the opportunity.

We are 10 weeks into restaurants and bars being closed for dining in by Governor Larry Hogan. Why did you come up with this plan now?
All the cuts that could have been made have been made. What else are we do to? Curbside is working for about half the restaurants in my anecdotal experience, but for the other half, it’s a slow way to lose money. They talk about next steps, and 25 percent occupancy is a fast way to lose a lot of money. We need 50 percent, and no one is really comfortable with that yet.

“Curbside is working for about half the restaurants in my anecdotal experience, but for the other half, it’s a slow way to lose money.” —Sergio Vitale

Why is 25 percent occupancy problematic?
With 25 percent occupancy, you’re at a different level of service. There’s more cost involved than just the curbside model. I have to zone air conditioning for that. I have to bring in staff. We have to assume liability. No one is talking about the potential of civil liability if someone were to, god forbid, contract COVID and blame you for it. I’m not sure how you’d prove it, but that’s a potential liability. And then rent is a tough thing. This is a sad and tiresome cliché, but this is unprecedented and we’re going to have to come up with new ways to do it.

Why the opposition?
He’s making a public health argument. He says, ‘What if we have outdoor dining and someone coughs?’ Well, why is the restaurant industry being held to a different standard? The city is encouraging people to go out on bike lanes and closing streets to exercise, so if the measure is someone coughs within 50 feet of you, we will never move forward. And people have to assess their own risk, we are not forcing this on anyone.

I closed my restaurant the day before the governor mandated it. I check four of the five boxes for high risk on COVID, so I take it seriously. My father is 75, he checks five of the five boxes. We don’t want to put anyone at risk, our staff or our guests, but we are trying to thread this needle to move forward and this is just a baby step. I’m now so concerned because what should have been an easy opportunity to work together has been so thoroughly rejected. I’m worried about the whole restaurant industry in the city now.

What is the workaround if the mayor is trying to shut you down?
We want him to publicly commit that if the governor further eases restrictions, he will retroactively follow suit. In Little Italy, we were in the position of wanting to take this matter in our own hands, at our own risk. We were going to shut down the street ourselves, put tables in the streets, serve invited guests, and invite the media to show what it would look like. I invited the mayor to come to that to announce a revision to his policy and use that opportunity and he yelled at me and said that he would shut us down, fine us, open the streets, and pull the health permit from the health department. I can’t ask any of my colleagues to risk their entire businesses just to make a point, so we are going to rachet up the pressure and continue the good fight.

It has been suggested that we reconvene with a group of experts so we can give the mayor a proposal. I don’t see why we have to do that—other cities have done the yeoman’s work on this. If he wants a benchmark, there are a 1,000 of them out there. I ended my acrimonious phone call with the mayor by saying, ‘Let’s not end on a sour note. Thanks for taking my call and let’s keep the lines of communication open.’ That’s still my position. At the end of the day, it’s not about either of us, it’s about the industry and the whole city.

“I’m now so concerned because what should have been an easy opportunity to work together has been so thoroughly rejected. I’m worried about the whole restaurant industry in the city now.” —Sergio Vitale

When did this all come about?
All of us have been trying to think about what next steps would look like for a number of weeks now and last week was a turning point in curbside. I hadn’t spoken with anyone who was open who didn’t see a downturn in their curbside business last week. I think the governor’s order [to reopen the beaches and boardwalks] was a wet kiss to Ocean City. People with two months cabin fever wanted to get out of the house and if they were allowed to do it legally, they were going to go down there. I think that was the impetus behind the downturn in Baltimore City last week. It just became more relevant. These programs that the government has created like PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] are not applicable for restaurants that easily. The state has been slow to give the grants. It became inevitable that if we didn’t start to raise our voices now, there would be nothing left to save in a few weeks.

How is carryout going for you?
My experience is the same as many others. It started off pretty strong. We love and appreciate the support. One of the things you find out at this time is who your friends are. It’s just amazing at this time to see the people coming out. It’s really humbling, but it’s not a sustainable model. Last week, we had our worst week with curbside. We rebounded on Saturday and Sunday a little bit. But from Monday until Saturday, we did about $4,000 in sales total. I heard from other restaurants last Tuesday that they did $90 on curbside.

But some of the restaurateurs are doing really well. At one point I was looking at our revenue and we were doing 25 percent of our normal volume with curbside. One of the things that allows us to operate curbside are the generous gratuities of the people picking up, which is amazing. Talk about stepping up—if the mayor and political class would step up in the way that the general public has, it would be an amazing thing. Instead, we have this contempt and adversarial relationship, which is disappointing.

Every day I talk to Alex Smith of Atlas Restaurant Group, I talk to Patrick Russell at Kooper’s in Fells Point, Jim Kinney at The Capital Grille, Chad Gauss at The Food Market, and Elan Kotz at Orto, who used to work for me. We have formed a coalition to try to move forward. I will tell you, it’s difficult for an Italian guy like me to be restrained, but we have to do something here to move forward. I feel compelled to speak out at this point.

“Despite the devastation to our industry, as rents reset, there will be another opportunity for a renaissance that we’ve seen in Baltimore recently—sort of small chef-driven funky and fun and often ethnic concepts, which is what makes a city exciting.” —Sergio Vitale

What will the culinary landscape look like when this is all over?
It’s a mixed bag. Sadly, I think 50 percent of restaurants will not reopen. You’ll have to make a reinvestment to open fully for indoor dining, that’s tens of thousands of dollars in training and supplies. If you don’t close permanently before that happens, you might find yourself in a position to have to close permanently after. Having said that, despite the devastation to our industry, as rents reset, there will be another opportunity for a renaissance that we’ve seen in Baltimore recently—sort of small chef-driven funky and fun and often ethnic concepts, which is what makes a city exciting. That would be a positive outcome of this.

Why do you think there will be more chef-driven spots?
Big chains will probably dominate the landscape for a while, but when there’s a correction in the rental market, no one will charge the rents they did before. People are going to start to see opportunity for small, 500-square foot to 1,000 square-foot models, maybe delivery and curbside-oriented. My sense is that these are how these things percolate up. Fine dining is a particularly challenging area because of concerns about the spread of COVID indoors, but the whole model has been under assault for years with razor thin margins and this only exacerbates the underlying problems. After the initial shock, how the restaurant business will re-engage is small, less expensive to open models.

Will restaurants survive?
It’s a human need to want to break bread in the company of others. That’s the reality. This is what we do. Those of us who were foolish enough to get into this business before will be foolish enough to get into it again. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of devastation in between.

Would you pursue this career path again?
When people ask about the restaurant business, I often say the good days are great and the bad days are horrible. On average, it’s a really fun thing. I’ve eaten better than medieval kings. I’ve been in the company of some amazing people who’ve bettered society and are captains of industry. I’m afforded the opportunity to have these experiences because of the restaurant business. And then all the staff that has worked with us. I love the business, it’s a good way to use my highly unemployable political science degree from Loyola. If I had to do it all over again, I would.

“It’s a human need to want to break bread in the company of others. That’s the reality. This is what we do. Those of us who were foolish enough to get into this business before will be foolish enough to get into it again.” —Sergio Vitale

You’ve definitely been a crusader for the city, where does that come from?
Mom was a fighter and both of my parents have a deeply imbued contempt for any sense of injustice. I think I probably picked up a little bit of that. I know it’s tough the inequities right now, and you have to balance that with public health concerns, but picking winners and losers by the government is not a just thing. I think I probably got the fighting spirit from mom. She fought small cell lung cancer for 14 months. That’s a terminal diagnosis from the beginning and she fought it to the end. It’s hard not to witness something like that and be inspired.

Why do restaurants matter?
Why do you go to a city except to dine well and to have an opportunity to see some culture in the company of like-minded people? Isn’t it an ancient Greek who said “all good things of this earth flow into the city?” Restaurants are the tip of the spear.

With mandated closures and practices of social distancing sweeping the state, Baltimoreans are forced to adapt to their new normal amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Here, we take a look at city spaces that were once full—congested Inner Harbor streets now silent, stocked grocery store shelves now barren, bustling restaurants now indefinitely shut down—as Charm City slows down to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

“Can I give you a heart?” Shelley Brown, a local wellbeing facilitator and speaker, asks the stream of patrons entering Lighthouse Liquors in Canton. While many decline, some brighten and carefully pluck a red enamel heart pin from her gloved palm.

“I don’t know what else to do for humanity,” she explains to passerbys. The pins are a symbol of mindfulness, as Brown encourages those who carry them to practice being present. “With everything that’s going on, our fear and our panic take us into the future of things that we actually have no control over. You can hold space for that emotion and notice it, but also remember you’re right here, right now.”

Last week, many area restaurants quickly responded to the COVID-19 crisis, taking precautionary measures by increasing sanitation efforts, printing disposable menus, sanitizing surfaces, and distancing tables.

As concern heightened throughout the weekend, some restaurants announced voluntary closures, including Fells Point businesses Max’s Taphouse, Kooper’s Tavern, and The Horse You Came in On Saloon.

Tony Foreman, whose Foreman Wolf Restaurant Group owns Charleston, Petit Louis, Cinghiale, Bar Vasquez, and Johnny’s, says there was a major downturn in diners over the weekend.

“Saturday night was fine, but you could feel it coming,” he says. “On a typical Sunday at Johnny’s we do 150 to 180 dinners. Last night we did 35.”

And then today, the hammer dropped.

While many restaurants continued to weigh what to do, Governor Larry Hogan ordered the closing of all Maryland bars and restaurants by 5 p.m. on Monday, March 16 to slow the spread of COVID-19. The deadly virus has wreaked havoc on businesses across the state—and nowhere is this more acutely felt than in the restaurant industry, a business based on social contact.

According to figures from Resy, a national reservation platform for higher-end restaurants, as of last Wednesday business was down by 20 percent across the United States from a year ago, by 30 percent in New York City, and as much as 60 percent in Seattle, with the highest reported number of cases and deaths in the country.

At his press conference Monday morning, the governor said the unprecedented steps “may seem scary,” continuing that the state has never faced anything like this before. “This is going to be much worse than anyone is understanding,” Hogan said.

Hogan is allowing for area businesses to stay open for delivery and curbside takeout. Many restaurants have been making the switch in the past few days, including The Corner Pantry, Foraged, Baby’s on Fire, Bon Fresco, Nepenthe Brewing Co., R. House, Stone Mill Bakery and Cafe, Orto, Sobo Market, and Clavel, which is offering its signature dishes along with special batches of spicy mezcalitas to-go.

In Little Italy, Aldo’s chef/owner Sergio Vitale is leading the charge with a new website for patrons to get food delivery and curbside pickup from neighborhood favorites including Aldo’s, Café Gia, La Scala, and Lew Gambino’s.

“Gia [Fracassetti] and I came up with this in response to these challenging times,” says Vitale, who points out that his full menu will be available to patrons. “My own father, chef Aldo, is 75 years old and at risk. We must all do our part to mitigate and combat the spread of COVID-19.” Vitale also points out that purchasing online gift cards to Little Italy restaurants is “another way to support the businesses you love.”

Even restaurants that don’t usually do a big takeout service are encouraging diners to place orders and pick them up curbside. All Foreman Wolf restaurants, with the exception of Charleston, for instance, will offer takeout, as well as delivery services at their Bin 201 and Bin 604 wine shops in Annapolis and Harbor East.

Josh and Stephanie Hershkovitz, the siblings who own Hersh’s in South Baltimore, embraced the carry-out only model over the weekend, even before Hogan’s mandate.

“It was a difficult decision to close,” said Josh, in a lengthy email filled with emotion. “At the end of the day, we both feel that if you believe in the human endeavor of science, you have to live by the practices that bear the best results, with respect to pandemic mitigation.”

This past Friday evening, Hersh’s saw a packed house and hosted a rehearsal dinner in the upstairs dining room.

“This crazy night filled us with joy at our restaurants’ impact on our community, but also a sense of dread as we watched folks waiting for tables, reaching over each other to get drinks, and rubbing up against each other as servers walked by them to get food to tables,” Josh added. “It was this packed night that steeled our resolve and made us commit to closing. We put so much love into our food and our hospitality that we have no doubt that our customers will see this move out of love, as well.”

At La Cuchara in Hampden, chef/co-owner Ben Lefenfeld said he and his team spent the whole morning preparing to shut down well before the governor made his announcement.

“I think that Governor Hogan is doing the right thing,” Lefenfeld says. “As a business owner, it was tough to figure out what to do. I’m glad we finally got some guidance.”

On a good day, the service industry operates on razor-thin margins. As workers scramble to make a living, employers are no doubt facing the tough decisions of laying off staff.

Alex Smith, president of Atlas Restaurant Group, concurs with Lefenfeld. “I agree the governor made the right decision for everybody,” he says, adding that his restaurants tried to stay open as long as possible to support their hourly employees, who rely on a base wage and tips from customers. “As a business with 1200 employees we can’t afford to pay all of them without revenue coming in.”

Lefenfeld adds that he and his team are weighing whether or not they will be open for carry-out next week, but for now they are selling gift cards.

“Twenty-five percent of the sale of the gift cards is going to our staff,” he says. “We are doing all that we can to keep people afloat.”

With regard to his 60 employees, Lefenfeld says that he is attempting to not let anyone go. “Everyone is using paid time off and we are hoping to pay our salaried employees through this entire ordeal,” he adds.

The Hershkovitz’s are trying to create other employment opportunities for their team.

“Being creative, we’ve come with several options for each staff member, from temporary unemployment to being part of our carry out/delivery operation to working at our father’s supermarket, which has no lack of positions for folks interested in working,” says Josh. “We have predicted our temporary closure will last about two weeks, but we will monitor the situation as it progresses.”

Though many chefs and restaurateurs are working diligently to secure employment for their staff, there is still a fear that some might not survive an indefinite shutdown: “This will close a lot of restaurants,” Foreman says. “A lot of places won’t be able to sustain this.”

Adds Smith, “It’s going to hurt.”

While the impact will be felt for some time to come, Lefenfeld points out that Charm City is uniquely resilient.

“The Baltimore restaurant community is a pretty tight-knit group,” he says. “People will rally, not just around the restaurants, but all of the small businesses in the city and support each other.”

Late Tuesday afternoon, around the time most Baltimoreans were in their cars headed home, to dinner, or settling in for the night, cell phone notifications alerted that a flash flood warning was in effect. The city was promptly inundated with lightning, thunder, and hail. And though it seemingly came out of nowhere, the heavy flooding that brought as much as five inches of rain—with citizens evading high waters by standing on top of their cars—is a symptom of a problem that might only get worse.

Heavier rainfalls are up 55 percent in the region since 1958. According to a 2018 study of urban flooding by the University of Maryland and Texas A&M, two-day events are up drastically, as well. This increase in precipitation—along with construction in Harbor East and Little Italy, where the majority of damage was seemingly done—has the potential to be a recipe for disaster.

“Baltimore is not alone,” Gerald Galloway, a University of Maryland professor of engineering who co-led the urban flooding study, recently told Baltimore. “The kind of flooding it’s been experiencing we’ve seen a lot of on the East Coast and Gulf Coast in the last five years. People are beginning to realize it’s a long road we are going down.”

Thankfully, many local business owners say it seems as though the brunt of the storm was felt out in the streets and not inside buildings in the area. Both Rosalyn Vera of Cocina Luchadoras in Upper Fells Point and Gia Fracassetti of Cafe Gia in Little Italy say that their businesses suffered little to no damage. Fracassetti observed construction workers physically climbing down from their perches and signs tumbling to the ground.

“It made it look like we were back in Venice,” Fracassetti says, referencing the canals in her family’s native Italy. “I was concerned for some of the workers that were kind of trapped up there.”

Vera says that in a worst case scenario, this type of flooding could completely shut down her business. But by the later hours of the night, it was hard to tell that the magnitude of this type of flooding had even descended upon the area. It’s a reminder that, while things are back to normal now, the city has work to do to prepare for when it happens again.

“You would’ve never known there was a bad storm last night,” Fracassetti says “Today is just another day.”

EAT

June 1: Taste of 3 Cities

Patterson Park, 2800 Eastern Ave. 12-9 p.m. $10-65.

Named one of the top 10 festivals in the Old Line State, this all-day food truck frenzy at Patterson Park is guaranteed to leave you stuffed and satisfied. Now in its eighth year, this fan-favorite fest will have all sorts of local eats—from tzatziki to tacos to ice cream—as well as live music from regional bands like Squaring the Circle and Muskrat Lighting, special activities for the kiddos, and even hot air balloon rides.

DRINK

June 1: TC40 Summerfest

Diamondback Beer, 1215 E. Fort Ave. 12-7 p.m. Free.

Since the city has already been hit with sweltering heat and almost-daily rain showers, we’re ready to declare summer’s arrival a few weeks early. To kick off the season, Diamondback Beer is throwing a mini music festival on its outdoor patio, with sets from locals like acoustic singer-songwriter Ray Wroten, funky-folk act Gene & Friends, and blues and reggae band Ray Wroten & The Revolvers. But the real star of the afternoon festivities is the Locust Point brewery’s latest beer: Marty Says, a lightly hopped cream ale brewed with German pilsner malt. Pair the new brew with onsite eats from Dooby’s, The Urban Oyster, and Hull Street Blues Café.

SEE

May 31-June 2: The Monument Quilt on the National Lawn

The National Mall, Washington D.C. Fri. 1-9 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. Free.

For the past five years, survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence from across the country have created more than 3,000 quilt squares that, when displayed together, spell out “NOT ALONE” and “NO ESTAS SOLX” over the length of four football fields. Known as the Monument Quilt, this project from Baltimore-based nonprofit FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture is the largest monument ever dedicated to survivors of sexual and domestic violence and will blanket the National Lawn starting Friday afternoon. Make the quick trip to Washington, D.C. for this momentous weekend dedicated to sharing survivors’ stories on the national stage, and participate in workshops, listen to speakers, and attend a self-defense workshop while you’re in town.

HEAR

May 31: Rocketman: Elton John Karaoke

The Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Ave. 8:30-10:30 p.m. Free-$11.

With plenty of buzz already circulating about the musical biopic on the fantastical life of Sir Elton John, it’s no wonder the SNF Parkway is celebrating the movie’s debut with an all-out karaoke party. Whether you’re attending the 7 or 9:45 p.m. screening, stop by the Parkway Lounge to join in on a rendition of “Tiny Dancer” or “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” with other fans decked out in The Rocket Man’s signature funky glasses and glittery jackets. Before heading into the theater, read our review of this surefire hit.

DO

June 1-2: Feast of St. Anthony

Saint Leo’s Catholic Church, 227 S. Exeter St. Sat. 12-8 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. $1.

This outdoor festival marks the start of summer in Little Italy, as its streets are packed with neighbors and visitors delighting in a weekend filled with enough carbs and wine to last the year. Indulge in authentic Italian food, participate in the bocce tournament or cannoli-filling contest, and walk in Sunday’s neighborhood parade to celebrate the roots of this historic community.

“He was one of the greatest of the true Colts . . . ”
—Pete Genovese, son of an Italian barber

Last week, when the first reports of Gino Marchetti’s death hit the news, somebody on TV flubbed the Hall of Fame football legend’s last name. Instead of pronouncing the second syllable with a hard C—as in “kettle”—he made a soft C, like “cheddar.”

Obviously, the guy behind the microphone did not grow up in Baltimore.

“Gino Mar-cheh-tee died,” was how it came over Phyllis DeFelice Rubino’s television in Belair. As soon as the words were out of the announcer’s mouth, the die-hard Colts fan called the station to complain.

Rubino, who came of age in 1950s Highlandtown when the area was Baltimore’s second Little Italy, wasn’t the only Colts fan to call TV Hill with a correction after Marchetti succumbed to pneumonia on April 29 in Paoli, Pennsylvania. He was 93.

But it’s a good bet that the she was the only one who jumped up and down on the Memorial Stadium sidelines and screamed Marchetti’s name —along with Unitas and Donovan, Ameche and Parker—in white boots and a short blue jumper way back when she was an original Colts cheerleader.

“He was like a freight train,” said Rubino of the 6-foot-4, 245-pound defensive end, a Colt from 1953 through 1966. Freight train, yes—his surviving peers were quoted in nationwide obituaries saying you did not want to get in Gino’s way. But he was also quick off the snap, agile, and as fast as just about anyone in the backfield, be it running back or quarterback, whom it was his job to bring down. “We went crazy when he made a tackle,” said Rubino, who cheered for the team for more than a decade.

The West Virginia-born Marchetti was the son of an immigrant coal miner. He was the husband to Joan Plecenik; father to Gina Burgess, Michelle Kapp, John Marchetti, and Eric Marchetti; stepfather to Donna Lloyd; and beloved grandfather and great-grandfather many times over.

But to Nazzareno F. Vellegia—the 86-year-old son of one of Little Italy’s original restaurateurs—Marchetti was a dear friend and, not long after the Colts were humiliated by the New York Jets in the 1969 Super Bowl, the best man at his wedding.

He was a big fan of the polenta parties hosted by Enrico Vellegia, founder of the restaurant at 829 East Pratt Street, which began serving meals out of the family’s private kitchen on High Street in 1937 and was sold in 2009. It is now a failed and shuttered sports bar.

“Gino’s favorite dish was veal saltimbocca,” said “Naz” Vellegia of the veal, prosciutto, and sage dish marinated in dry white wine. The name translates into “jumps in the mouth,” for how good it is and plenty made the journey from plate to palate when Marchetti dined at Vellegia’s.

Naz said his extended family got to know Marchetti and some of his teammates—particularly fellow Italians Alan Ameche and Joe Campanella—when the local Italian-American Civic Club invited them to a father and son dinner. “He was very proud to be Italian. We all were,” said Naz.

The trio of Italian ballplayers would later launch a fast-food restaurant called Gino’s in Dundalk, which became a chain whose “Gino Giant,” is said to have been copied by McDonald’s for the Big Mac. The burger joint’s jingle is still fondly remembered: “Everybody goes to Gino’s, cuz Gino’s is the place to go . . .”

“Marchetti was one of the greatest defensive players I ever watched,” said Pete Genovese, who grew up above his father’s barbershop at 234 South Highland Avenue before moving to St. Louis to teach college literature. “No smart coach or quarterback ever ran a play to his side.”

Genovese’s father Pietro was not an especially keen fan of sports, but he knew enough to know which teams had an Italian on the roster and would root for that paisan no matter for whom he played. “He’s the one who told me that [Red Sox outfielder] Tony Conigliaro’s name meant ‘rabbit,’” he said. “It was all a matter of pride.”

When it came to other ethnicities, however, the old barber had a decidedly closed mind. Pete never told his father that Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella of the Brooklyn Dodgers [and the Baltimore Elite Giants of the Negro Leagues] was African-American.

Marchetti, however, was vocal in his support of his black teammates, both in college and in the pros. “He stood up for his black college teammates [at the University of San Francisco] before a bowl game that tried to exclude blacks,” said Jack Gilden, author of Collision of Wills, a 2018 book about the testy relationship between Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas and coach Don Shula. “Gino urged the team to turn down the invitation and they did.”

Deeply held, Marchetti brought his convictions to Baltimore—where in 1969 he was named the best defensive end in the first half-century of NFL history—and the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio in 1972.

Upon learning of his old friend, teammate, and fellow Hall of Famer’s death, Colts running back Lenny Moore told the The Baltimore Sun: “With all of the racism and stuff going on then, Gino was right there in our corner, and we never forgot that.”

Marchetti’s death, said Moore, “ . . . hits the heart.”

Right between the blue horseshoes on a white helmet.

“I take some, for lack of a better term, some bad-ass glee in just saying, ‘Women, you know how to get it done. Know your power.’”
—Nancy Pelosi to CNN’s Dana Bash.

The first Native-American women and the first Muslim women were sworn into Congress yesterday. So was the youngest woman ever sworn into Congress. All were part of a record-breaking, 100-plus women taking office Thursday afternoon, none, however, more significant than a 78-year-old mother of five and grandmother of nine from Baltimore’s Little Italy—the daughter of former three-term Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro Jr.—Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi.

Pelosi, who became the first female Speaker of the House in 2007, is the first in six decades to regain the position.

With so many new Democratic U.S. representatives winning elections and flipping control of the House from the GOP, there had been talk among several Dems of finding someone other than Pelosi to assume the mantel of Speaker of the House. It did not last long. Two weeks after 16 Democrats released a letter opposing Pelosi as the next Speaker in mid-November, the mini-rebellion was over.

“Let me be clear, House Democrats are down with NDP—Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, the once and future Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman and New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries during the first session of the new Congress, in the first nod to a Naughty by Nature song—“Down with OPP”—in a nominating speech for House speaker.

Among those giving a shoutout, literally, to Pelosi’s hometown roots was Maryland Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, who yelled, “Born and raised in Baltimore, Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi!” as the vote giving her back the gavel was announced on the floor of the Capitol.

“Like me, Nancy Pelosi is homegrown Baltimore and she’s never forgotten it—partly because I won’t let her,” Ruppersberger said later.

Pelosi helped Ruppersberger get a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. In October, Pelosi and Ruppersberger visited Towson University, speaking to 200 students about voter engagement and the upcoming midterms. Ruppersberger noted that Pelosi, who has represented California for the past three decades, still had an affinity for Berger cookies, crab cakes, and Old Bay. (Her husband, businessman Paul Pelosi, whom she wed in 1963, is a San Francisco native.)

Fellow Maryland Rep. John Sarbanes also strongly supported Pelosi’s reelection as Speaker, pointing to her experience and skill as the Democrats’ top legislator in the House even before President Trump’s recent government shutdown over border wall funding.

“At this critical moment for our democracy, we need our best generals on the field,” Sarbanes said in November. “Nancy Pelosi is exactly the right person to hold the Trump Administration accountable over the next two years and to guide Democrats as we present a positive, meaningful legislative agenda for the country. She will be an outstanding Speaker.”

Not only did Pelosi’s father serve as Baltimore mayor (he also represented the state in Congress), but her brother Thomas D’Alesandro III served a term as mayor as well.

In a recent visit to Little Italy, she told CNN’s Dana Bash, however, that she learned as much about politics from her mother, Annunciata M. “Nancy” D’Alesandro (née Lombardi), who was born in Campobasso, Italy, a southern region that was home to many of Baltimore’s Italian immigrants. Her mother, Pelosi says, pulled together Little Italy’s women into her father’s grassroots campaign.

“He leapfrogged over the Irish [to become the city’s first Catholic mayor], that was a big deal,” she told Bash. “It took political organizing.”

Pelosi graduated from the Institute of Notre Dame in East Baltimore in 1958—just four years after the other most significant congresswoman in U.S. history—former Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, the longest-serving female member of the U.S. Congress ever. She earned a degree in political science from Trinity College in Washington, D.C.

After moving to San Francisco with her husband and young family, Pelosi worked her way up in Democratic Party politics, winning election in 1976 as a Democratic National Committee member from the state before her successful bid for Congress a decade later. Still, she’s never been far from her native Baltimore, especially once she began working in D.C.

In January of 2007, just three days after her first groundbreaking ascension to Speaker of the House, she returned to Little Italy for the ceremonial renaming of the street outside her childhood home to Via Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi.

When she spoke to the crowd, she highlighted her Italian immigrant ancestors, who came to this country poor, hardworking, and devout, and her own upbringing in the rowhouse at 245 Albemarle Street, according to The Washington Post reporting of the event.

“I wanted to come back here and say thank you to all of you,” Pelosi said. “Every step that I took to the speakership began in this neighborhood.”

More recently, when Pelosi returned to Baltimore in October for her interview with Bash at Sabatino’s—she was rewarded with another surprise. A family portrait with her parents and five older brothers in their rowhouse living room—painted when she was 7 years old and her father was assuming office in City Hall—had just been restored and hung in Germano Piattini, the popular Little Italy restaurant across the street.

The painting had been rediscovered six months before by one of Pelosi’s cousins when the property was being renovated and he turned it over to husband and wife restaurant owners Germano Fabiani and Cyd Wolf. They gave it to local artist and muralist Michael Kirby, who restored the badly damaged canvas.

“When she walked in and saw the painting, she got emotional about it,” Wolf said. “She remembered sitting for it, her mother going upstairs and getting out her white dress. It was the focal point of their living room, she said. You can tell by where she sat, between her parents, and by what she’s wearing—among all those boys, she was the light of the family.”

“I’ve become a big fan over the years,” Wolf added. “I’ve watched her on television and in public and I admire the way she conducts herself. She’s gritty and smart, and she has common sense. She is someone who thinks of what her actions are going to mean to her grandchildren 50 years down the road.”

As she did when she first became Speaker in 2007, Pelosi invited the children on the House floor, including some of her own grandchildren, to stand with her as she received the gavel.

If you’ve traveled to Harbor East within the last year, you may have noticed lots of ongoing construction—the new Harbor Point bridge, The Liberty apartments, Della Notte demolition—now add to the list the erection of a new luxury apartment building at 900 Fleet Street, which is set to be complete in 2019.

The current space is currently being used as an industrial switching station for Verizon. The new development of the space by Washington, D.C.-based developer Monument Realty calls for the partial demolition of the existing structure to build high-rise apartments. After much success with their recent building at 225 N. Calvert Street, Monument decided to set their sights on the popular “luxury district.”

“We look forward to delivering a new apartment building in Harbor East which is a spectacular submarket with some of the highest rents in the city,” said Colleen Kittell, spokeswoman for Monument Realty. “We love the neighborhood and think that more and more people will be interested in living downtown.”

This new property will be following a new trend that has hit Baltimore with the arrival of new residential buildings—Anthem House, 414 Light Street, Hanover Crossing, and The Liberty—with retail on the lower levels. The project is planned right next to 380-unit apartment tower going up on the former Della Notte restaurant site on Fleet and President streets.

The 377,000 sq. ft. building will feature 400 studio-, one-, and two-bedroom apartments and 300 parking spaces above 20,000 square feet of retail space on the street level. The area has morphed into a developer’s dream with expensive apartments, condos, shops, and restaurants.

“We have already received interest from potential tenants,” she said. Although she can’t reveal who they are just yet.

The $100-million building will feature a modern contemporary design with indoor and outdoor amenity spaces including a rooftop pool, fitness club, and pet amenities. Rental rates have not yet been determined but Kittell says they will be comparable to the rates of existing properties in Harbor East.

One concern that comes along with massive development is whether or not all of these new units will get filled—especially in a city like Baltimore whose population has remained stagnant for the past few years.

A unique model that’s been used by Monument Realty already is the pop-up hotel company, WhyHotel, which temporarily leases out vacant apartment units. There is no word yet on if this new apartment building will make a similar arrangement.

“We’re in the early stages of planning,” Kittell said. “We’re looking for next year for things to get underway. We’re really excited.”

Baltimore Seafood Festival
Sept. 15. The Canton Waterfront Park, 3001 Boston Street. Wed-Sun Noon-7 p.m. Free-$105. We take seafood pretty seriously in the Land of Pleasant Living, and this end-of-summer celebration is a chance for locals and visitors alike to feast on some of the best blue crabs, crab soup, crab cakes, and, of course, oysters that Maryland has to offer. At this fifth annual festival at Canton Waterfront Park, sip on refreshing cocktails, listen to live music, and honor the bounties of the bay from noon until sundown.

Charles Street 12
Sept. 1. The Shops at Kenilworth, Towson. 7:30 a.m. $80-90. The idea of running 12 miles in Baltimore’s late-summer heat is nothing short of intimidating, but this annual trek from Towson to Locust Point features city views (and hopefully a harbor breeze) worth running for. Lace up your sneakers and join thousands to jog down Charles Street from the Shops at Kenilworth, to the Inner Harbor, and around to Under Armour’s waterfront headquarters. After crossing the finish line, stick around for post-race festivities, including free beer, snacks, and live music.

Baltimore Comedy Festival
Sept. 1-3. Multiple Locations. 7 p.m.-11 p.m. Free-$10. For the second year, this comedy extravaganza will bring free standup performances, panel discussions, and podcast recordings to more than 20 venues across the Baltimore region. With an opening ceremony at Station North’s Motor House, the festival will be filled with side-splitting showcases by more than 100 comedians, including many from Charm City’s own flourishing comedy scene.

Hateful Things
Sept. 1-Oct. 14. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St. Wed-Sun 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free-$8. In this highly anticipated special exhibition at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, controversial memorabilia such as banks, posters, and tobacco tins featuring racist caricatures will be displayed as examples of the country’s segregated past. View materials from the late-19th century to the present that represent the lasting effects of the Jim Crow era, and, on September 22, participate in a discussion hosted by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Africana Studies about the history of objects used to negatively stereotype African Americans.

Little Italy Madonnari Arts Festival
Sept. 7-10. Multiple Locations. Free. During one of Little Italy’s fan-favorite traditions, master street-painting artists from around the world will color the city to reflect this year’s festival theme: respect. Watch as street artists fill the neighborhood’s historic sidewalks with chalk masterpieces and create a colorful homage to Baltimore’s cultural diversity.

Hampdenfest
Sept. 8. W 36th St. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Free. For one day only, Hampden’s can’t-miss block party returns with its annual celebration of one of the city’s most quintessential Bawlmer neighborhoods. Indulge in local food and drink, browse regional arts and crafts vendors, cheer on contestants in the Dangerously Delicious pie-eating contest, and rock out to three stages boasting hometown bands such as F City and Raindeer. Just be sure not to miss the iconic Toilet Races as porcelain flies down Chestnut Avenue.

Trillectro Music Festival
Sept. 22. Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. Noon. $79-199. Since its inaugural festival seven years ago in Washington, D.C., this hip-hop and electronic music festival has found a new home at the Merriweather Post Pavilion and grown into a can’t-miss concert that draws big-name acts and thousands of fans to Columbia every fall. At the end of the month, hear a killer lineup of artists including R&B star SZA, rapper 2 Chainz, internationally renowned DJ Carnage, and even a set by local performers curated by Lawrence Burney of Baltimore arts publication True Laurels.

Pigtown Festival
Sept. 22. 700-900 blocks of Washington Boulevard. Noon-7:00 p.m. Free. One of Baltimore’s most anticipated races of the year is finally here—no, not the Preakness Stakes—it’s “Squeakness,” aka Pigtown’s annual contest that sends piglets running around a ring on Washington Boulevard. Aside from this crowd-favorite tradition, the Southwest Baltimore festival boasts plenty of family-friendly fun, including live music, local food trucks, and an arts and crafts zone.

Baltimore Comic-Con
Sept. 28-30. The Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W Pratt St. Fri-Sun Noon-7:00 p.m. $25-500. For one weekend, the Baltimore Convention Center will transform into a comic book-lover’s paradise, complete with a costume contest, tons of comic books to peruse or purchase, and the chance to rub elbows with fellow nerds and famous cartoonists alike. Come decked out as your favorite superhero or villain during this 19th annual festival and take advantage of art exhibits, panels, and autograph sessions. Stick around for the chance to meet Maryland-born graphic novelist Frank Miller, the creative force behind the late-era Batman comics, or actor Zachary Levi, the future Shazam and voice of Flynn Rider in Tangled.

Baltimore Book Festival
Sept. 28-30. Baltimore Inner Harbor. Fri-Sun 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Free. Ten years after the release of her eighth book, The Glen Rock Book of the Dead, local author Marion Winik realized she had enough material to fill a sequel. (Since the first book’s publication, her mother, the family goldfish, and one of her favorite musicians, Lou Reed, had died.) With the same candid and often humorous writing style she fine-tuned through her years as an All Things Considered commentator, Winik memorializes the departed in short essays that evoke a tender sense of connection in readers. During the Baltimore Book Festival on September 28-30, she will debut The Baltimore Book of the Dead with a reading at the Inner Harbor Stage on Friday ahead of the official release on October 9. “For me, it’s important to find material that is challenging and scary to write about because that usually means that you’re onto something interesting.”

In response to the devastating flood that ravaged Ellicott City’s Main Street last Sunday, Charm City businesses are coming together to host fundraisers, dining promotions, and benefit concerts to help community members in need. Check out our growing list of ways to give back to those affected.

 EAT

June 2: Taste of Three Cities

Patterson Park, 27 S. Patterson Park Ave. 12-9 p.m. Free-$65. 410-960-9908.

As more food trucks join the local scene, it can be difficult to try all of the city’s new wheels while remaining loyal to longtime staples. (We’ll always have a soft spot for local favorites like Gypsy Queen Café and Greek on the Street.) Luckily for us, Maryland’s largest food truck festival will return to Patterson Park this Saturday with more than 50 regional food trucks, making it easy to sample eats from a variety of four-wheeled kitchens from Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. At this seventh annual extravaganza, fill up on snacks like savory seafood from the D.C.-by-way-of-Brooklyn Red Hook Lobster Pound, locally-sourced oysters from Charm City’s own Urban Oyster, and fried cheese from Philly favorite The Cow and the Curd.

 DRINK

June 1: Goodbye Union Avenue

Union Craft Brewing, 1700 Union Ave. 5-10 p.m. Free. 410-467-0290. 

With less than two months until the grand opening of Union Craft’s new brewery and makerspace at the Union Collective across I-83, it’s almost time to close down the beloved Woodberry tap room that’s been pouring out Duckpins for more than five years. This Friday, celebrate the next chapter with one last parking-lot party, featuring those well-loved corn hole boards, tunes by local indie band Cara Kelly & The Tell Tale and grub from The Local Oyster. Get there early to grab one of the limited-edition anniversary sours for an extra-special farewell toast.

 SEE 

June 1: Baltimore Youth Arts Showcase

116 W. Mulberry St. 6-8 p.m. Free.

Since Gianna Rodriguez (featured on our list of Baltimore Visionaries) established Baltimore Youth Arts back in 2015, the program has become one of the cornerstones of the city’s effort to provide artistic and professional opportunities to local kids. This Friday, stop by the Platform Arts Center to view various artworks and design projects by the next generation of artists, including pieces by young people involved with or in the justice system. Afterwards, BYA encourages attendees to walk one block over to Resort gallery for its silent auction fundraiser that helps support the youth program.

 HEAR

June 1: Celebration of Lafayette Gilchrist

Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. 8-11 p.m. 410-276-1651.

To the city’s delight, Baltimore-based pianist and jazz virtuoso Lafayette Gilchrist recently took home a 2018 Baker Artist Award for his signature funky, soulful sound that has been exciting critics since his debut album, The Music According to Lafayette Gilchrist, in 2004. (Not to mention when his music made it onto soundtracks for iconic television shows like Treme and The Wire.) This Friday, head to Creative Alliance to hear this genre-defying musician give a victory-lap performance with exceptional guest artists like drummer Eric Kennedy and trumpet player Dave Ballou.

 DO

June 2-3:St. Anthony Italian Festival

Little Italy. Sat. 12-8 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 

With pizza, pasta, and cannoli around every corner, it’s almost too easy to gain a few pounds during a trip through Little Italy. During this weekend’s Feast of St. Anthony celebration, kiss your beach body goodbye as you indulge in endless authentic Italian eats and, of course, glasses of vino. To walk off the carbs, stroll through the tiny historic neighborhood and participate in the festival’s many activities, including a bocce tournament, cooking demonstrations, and, if you’re still hungry, the annual Roma sausage-eating contest.

Ever wonder why children collect chocolate inside plastic eggs on Easter? Or the roots behind the roasted meats on the holiday table? In the Roman Catholic faith, similar to many other sectors of spirituality, every food tells a story.

“For Italians, it’s always all about the food,” says Mary Ann Cricchio, owner of Da Mimmo Restaurant in Little Italy. “We eat when we’re happy, we eat when we’re sad. We eat all the time. And Easter is right there with Christmas, it’s a day for the family to be together around the table.”

The restaurant, and its surrounding community, is commemorating the Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday with special programs at St. Leo’s Church and, of course, traditional holiday cuisine. Arguably the most important for Italians is the Easter lamb, which symbolizes the Lamb of God.

“Some people serve ham, but in Italian households the entree on the table is always lamb,” Cricchio says. “Easter Sunday is traditionally a big meat day because we haven’t eaten meat on any Friday during Lent leading up to it, especially on Good Friday.”

For Easter Sunday at Da Mimmo, chef Masood Masoodi prepares lamb from Southern Australia—which he marinates with garlic, rosemary, and sage for 12-15 hours. Then he grills the meat over an open fire and tops it with a sauce made from the leftover juices, flour, butter, onion, brandy, sherry, and red wine. He serves the holiday dish alongside green vegetables like Brussels sprouts or broccoli rabe.

“In Italy, colors have a lot of significance,” says Rosalinda Mannetta, a longtime instructor at Little Italy’s Pandola Learning Center. “Green means hope. I remember on Easter Monday, or Pasquetta, my mother would make these beautiful frittatas with asparagus. The green represents the hope of spring.”

Bread is another important part of the Italian Easter meal. Mannetta—who grew up in Little Italy but lived with her family in Sardinia for many years—explains that all of the regions in Italy make their own types of Easter bread. Her family, for example, makes a braided bread similar to a Jewish challah, which can be flavored with lemon or Mediterranean anise seeds. Growing up, she also remembers making hundreds of traditional ricotta pies for the holiday. Some of which were sweet, and others were filled with savory ingredients like salami and cheese.

“From small town to small town, there are so many different variations,” Mannetta says. “As children, we would exchange breads with neighbors from different regions. We would take one of theirs and give one of ours. They were all different variations on one delicious theme.”

An Italian bread that Cricchio enjoys most is the classic Colomba di Pasqua—a sweet loaf baked in the shape of a dove to represent the Holy Spirit. Similar to Christmas panettone, the bread is typically filled with nuts and dried fruit.

When it comes to sweets, Cricchio also likes to celebrate with Uova di Pasqua—large decorative chocolate eggs that typically come with a special trinket or toy inside for children. The chocolate iterations, which symbolize rebirth and renewal for the holiday, became popular throughout Europe at the end of the 19th century. Though Cricchio used to have to carefully transport the eggs back from Italy, she recently found an American distributor that has the desserts imported, and now accepts orders for them at Da Mimmo. 

“Italians are very strong in their faith,” she says. “And the food is a celebration of that. It’s really what Easter is all about.”

To continue Da Mimmo’s Easter traditions, Cricchio and Masoodi—who habitually take groups on summer tours of the Amalfi Coast—are in the midst of planning a special trip to the city of Ravello next year, where performers reenact the story of the holiday in the streets during Holy Week.

But, for Italians, the spirit of the holiday transcends merely one week out of the year.

“I was brought up on proverbs,” Mannetta says with a laugh. “And in Italian there’s a saying that goes, ‘Felice come una pasqua’ which means, ‘Happy as Easter.’ So no matter what time of year, if you see someone that is very happy, you say ‘Felice come una pasqua.’ It’s a very joyous time.”

Hampdenfest
Sept. 9. W. 36th St. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Free. For one Saturday, celebrate the hons and Hampdenites of one of our city’s most quintessentially Baltimore neighborhoods. This beloved block party features regional food, local beer, and three stages of music for homegrown bands like PLRLS and Wume. Don’t miss the annual toilet bowl races, as porcelain flies past the rowhomes of Chestnut Avenue.

Baltimore Comedy Festival
Sept. 1-4. Locations & times vary. Free-$15. 410-960-7821. If laughter is the best medicine, the first-ever Baltimore Comedy Festival is the ultimate Rx. For four days, attend standup showcases, podcast recordings, and comedy-themed discussions at different venues across the city.

Madonnari Arts Festival
Sept. 8-10. Little Italy. Fri. 5-10 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Free. 410-967-5441. Madonnari art is an age-old practice of street painting, still found commonly along the cobblestones of Italy and, for one weekend, alongside the byways of Baltimore’s Little Italy. At the beginning of the month, watch master Madonnari artists from around the world—and right here at home—set up shop in the heart of the Italian neighborhood and create beautiful works of chalk art to the theme of “Freedom.” Listen to live music, dig into carb-loaded eats at local enotecas, and kick things off early during a cabaret dinner on Thursday at Germano’s Piattini.

Maryland Collects: Jacob Lawrence
Sept. 9-Jan. 7. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 803 E. Pratt St. Wed.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. 12-5 p.m. Free-$8. 443-263-1800. In this new exhibit at the Lewis, explore more than 50 artworks by Jacob Lawrence, one of America’s most acclaimed 20th-century artists. Using bright colors, blocky shapes, and mesmerizing patterns, the celebrated painter weaves stories of African-American life in the 1900s. Featuring pieces culled from collectors in and around Maryland, the show might just be the must-see art event of the fall.

Sturgill Simpson
Sept. 15. Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. 7 p.m. $40-59.50. 410-715-5550. As summer slowly comes to a close, we recommend getting outside for one last night of live music. What better way than to giddy up with this Southern outlaw, who blends rock-and-roll, bluegrass, and country into a boundary-breaking, Grammy-nominated sound. With both rebellious rock numbers and heartbreaking ballads (we swoon over “The Promise”), Sturgill is sure to send the season off with a bang.

Baltimore Seafood Festival
Sept. 16. Canton Waterfront Park, 3001 Boston St. 12-7 p.m. Free-$99. 410-409-7123. Maryland and seafood go together like Old Bay and, well, pretty much anything. At this waterfront festival, join fellow seafood-lovers for blue crabs, local oysters, cooking demos, live music, and activities for the kids. 

Baltimore Book Festival
Sept. 22-24. Inner Harbor. Free. During the Baltimore Book Festival, the Inner Harbor transforms into a bookworm’s dream, filled with book sales, author signings, poetry readings, and more. For the 22nd year, peruse the goods and gather for panel discussions with renowned writers like TED Talk celeb Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, former Sun sportswriter John Eisenberg, and National Book Award winner Alice McDermott. While you’re there, be sure to enjoy a Dogfish Head happy hour with brewmaster Sam Calagione, a meet-and-greet with a Guerrilla Girl, and a chance to ask rock-star-matriarch-turned-author Virginia Grohl your burning Foo Fighters questions. 

Baltimore Comic Con
Sept. 22-24. Baltimore Convention Center, 1 W. Pratt St. Fri. 1-7 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-7 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $25-1,000. 410-526-7410. At the 18th Baltimore Comic-Con comic book convention, come dressed to impress and let your geek flag fly. Compete in the costume contest, peruse or purchase your favorite cartoons, and meet famous superheroes, like OG Wonder Woman Lynda Carter. You might even get an autograph from Maryland cartoonist Frank Miller, of late-era Batman comics, Daredevil, Sin City, and 300 fame.

Baltimore Innovation Week
Sept. 29-Oct. 7. Locations & times vary. Free-$75. Move over, Silicon Valley­—Baltimore was recently named one of the fastest-growing cities for tech. During Baltimore Innovation Week, release your inner techie and foster the city’s burgeoning innovation scene with events related to business, development, media, the sciences, and more. 

Five things to eat, drink, see, hear, and do with your Charm City weekend.

 EAT

August 24-September 4: Maryland State Fair

Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road, Timonium. Times vary. $3-8. 

Whether you’re 8 or 88, this quintessential summer ritual will make you feel young at heart, with amusement rides, carnival games, live animals, big-name blowout concerts—this year by hard-rock quartet Halestorm and Disney star turned pop singer Sabrina Carpenter—and best of all, fried fair food. While cotton candy, corn dogs, and caramel apples abound, head to the Maryland Foods Pavilion for crab cakes, soft-shell crabs, catfish salad, fried clams, pork barbecue, corn-on-the-cob, ice cream, and fresh fruit from Land of Pleasant Living farms or the Chesapeake Bay. 

 DRINK

August 26-October 22: Maryland Renaissance Festival

1821 Crownsville Road, Annapolis. Times vary. Free-$25. 

Hear ye, hear ye! For nine straight weekends, the country’s second largest renaissance festival will post up in the Anne Arundel County countryside for all the jousting, flower crowns, turkey legs, and mead-fueled merriment your heart could desire. Settle into one of the long beer garden tables and enjoy beer, wine, and mead. Drink like you’re on Game of Thrones and soak it all up with ye old English turkey legs, crab cakes, and hot apple dumplings. Coming with the family? There will also be root beer floats for the kids. 

 SEE

August 25: Little Italy Open Air Film Festival

Da Mimmo Ristorante, 217 S. High St. 8:30 p.m. Free. 

You know summer is coming to a close when the last flick graces the Formstone walls of Little Italy. For one more hot summer night, grab a seat under the stars and join hundreds of Baltimoreans for this Charm City tradition. As it has been since the very beginning, the season finale screening will be Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso, projected onto the outside of Ciao Bella Restaurant, with free popcorn and live music for early bird cinemaphiles. 

 HEAR

August 24-26: J. Roddy Walston & The Business

Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St. 8:30 p.m. $25-$65.

At Baltimore, we believe good things come to those who wait, and after four long years, we are thanking the music gods for the new music of J. Roddy Walston & The Business. On the eve of the music venue’s 20th anniversary, the once-local riotous Southern rock band returns to the Ottobar for the first time in several years, unleashing their brand-new album, Destroyers of the Soft Life, and hopefully some old favorites like “Used to Did” and “Brave Man’s Death.” Revel in Rod’s hair as it flips and flies in all its glory, and prepare to leave Remington soaked in sweat.

 DO

August 27: Dog Days Of Summer

Birroteca, 1520 Clipper Road. 12-5 p.m. Free. 

Calling all dog-lovers: this Sunday, collect your canine companions and head to Hampden-Woodberry border for an afternoon celebration of man’s best friends. At Birroteca, the pizza palace will be teaming up with BARCS and The Buddy Foundation of Maryland for a fete full of breweries—Dogfish Head, Monument City, Evolution, and the neighborhood’s own Union Craft Brewing—food from Birroteca, Encantada, and The Nickel Taphouse, and pet-friendly pop-up shops. Dress your pooch in his finest duds for the Best Dressed Dog Contest and be sure to snap a pic together in the Doggie Photo Booth. 

Let’s be honest—as much as we want to work toward our bikini bodies this season, summer is meant for eating. Of course, lots of that eating will take place at home (crab feast anyone?), but it’s time to get out of your kitchen and give your Weber a rest with the help of these food-driven festivals across the state.

Global Gourmands

MARYLAND LATINO FESTIVAL
8/5-6: Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road, Timonium. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. $30. Dig into the spicy flavors of Latin cuisine with live music and dancing to boot.

MUSLIM FOOD FESTIVAL
8/12: Islamic Society of Baltimore, 6631 Johnnycake Road, Windsor Mill. Noon-10 p.m. $5-10. Indulge in roasted lamb, curries, falafel, and homemade fruit pops at the fifth annual fete. 

FEAST OF ST. GABRIELE
8/19-20: Little Italy. Sat. 12-8 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Prepare to carbo-load (and cannoli overload) with Italian classics and vats of vino during this beloved Little Italy street festival. 

AUGUSTOBERFEST
8/26-27: 14 N. Potomac St., Hagerstown. Sat. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. $5. Head to the hills to celebrate German heritage and culture with steins of bier, brats, and pretzels to support scholarships for exchange students.

Local Pride (& Produce!)

MARYLAND STATE BARBECUE BASH
8/11-12: Bond & Thomas Sts., Bel Air. Fri. 4-10 p.m., Sat. 12-10 p.m. Free. More than 50 BBQ masters compete for the state championship title (and a spot at the world finals in Tennessee).

PEACH FESTIVAL
8/12-13: Weber’s Farm, 2526 Proctor Lane, Parkville. 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Free. Bite into just-ripe peaches and take home baked goods during this county festival.

HEIRLOOM TOMATO FESTIVAL
8/19: Carroll County Ag Center, 706 Agricultural Center Dr., Westminster. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Free. Celebrate the juicy goodness that is the end-of-summer tomato with tastings and seed exchanges during this summer tradition. 

NATIONAL HARD CRAB DERBY
8/22-23: Somers Cove Marina, 715 Broadway, Crisfield. Thu. 6-10 p.m., Fri. 9 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat. 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. & 7-9 p.m. Free-$17. The 70th annual crab derby includes piles of piping-hot steamed crabs, a parade, a boat-docking contest, and fireworks.

Renowned Restaurants

BALTIMORE COUNTY RESTAURANT WEEK
8/4-19: Locations & times vary. $15-35. For two weeks, dine out with discounted lunches and dinners at the county’s top eateries—places like Linwoods, Ruth’s Chris, and The Milton Inn.

BEST OF BALTIMORE PARTY
8/17: Hippodrome Theater at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. 5:30-11 p.m. $90-150. Celebrate Baltimore’s 110th anniversary and feast on dozens of eats from the city’s “Best Restaurants.”

Fluid Movement
July 29-Aug. 6.  July 29-30: Druid Hill Park, 800 Wyman Park Dr. Aug. 4-6: Patterson Park, 148 S. Linwood Ave. Fri.-Sun. Times & prices vary. One of the city’s most weirdly wonderful summer events is the Fluid Movement water ballet. This summer, the avant-garde group delves into the 16th-century Renaissance as aquatic ballerinas re-imagine Shakespearean classics such as Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Expect loads of glitter and good times as the local troupe fuses Old English prose with Baltimore swimming pools.

Flicks From The Hill
July 6-Aug. 24. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. Thu. 5-9 p.m. Free. 410-244-1900. Baltimore is home to a hoard of outdoor movie options throughout the summer, but for our money, you can’t top AVAM’s Flicks From the Hill. Perched atop Federal Hill with a sweeping view of the city skyline, it’s the place to be on warm Thursday nights, as the art museum projects big-name blockbusters, cult classics, and family favorites onto a 30-foot screen. Spread out a blanket, unpack your picnic, and best of all, enjoy free museum admission during each and every show.

Little Italy Open Air Film Festival
July 7-Aug 25. High and Stiles streets. Fri. 7 p.m. Free. 410-558-0022. Every Friday night through August, set up some lawn chairs, grab some free popcorn, and bring friends to watch open-air flicks projected onto the outside wall of Ciao Bella. This year, catch classics like Moonstruck, Grease, Rocky, The Godfather I and II, and, of course, Cinema Paradiso.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
July 7-23. Evergreen Museum & Library, 4545 N. Charles St. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. Free-$20. 410-662-9455. One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays will certainly feel like a summer dream in the grassy meadow at the historic Evergreen Museum. In this magical setting, join the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory for a mischievous, laugh-filled love story.

David Blaine
July 8. Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. 8 p.m. $74.50-127. 410-837-7400. Known more for death-defying illusion than rabbits and top hats, magician, illusionist, and stunt artist David Blaine promises to mesmerize a packed house during his first-ever North American tour. For one night only, let down your guard and prepare to be wowed.

Merriweather 50th Anniversary Concert
July 15. Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. 6 p.m. $55-125. 410-715-5550. It’s been 50 years since Merriweather, arguably Maryland’s best music venue, opened in the Columbia woods. To celebrate its half-century, the iconic stage is in the midst of a major summer lineup—from Jack Johnson and John Legend to Paul Simon and Santana—and now it’s about to kick off a four-act anniversary concert of epic proportions. In one night, hear fiery singer Grace Potter, eccentric songwriter Father John Misty, and two legendary headliners, the ever-gentle Jackson Browne and the pot-smoking country poet Willie Nelson, with his family band. 

Baltimore Caribbean Carnival
July 15-16. Clifton Park, 2701 St. Lo Dr. Sat. 12-10 p.m., Sun. 12-9 p.m. Free. Take a trip to a Caribbean island this summer without even leaving Baltimore. During this weekend-long celebration of paradise in Clifton Park, soak up the sounds of steel drums, dig into endless authentic eats, and see the colorful costumes at the lively parade. 

Artscape 2017
July 21-23. Mount Royal Avenue & Cathedral Street. Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.- 8 p.m. Free. 410-752-8632. The long stretch of iconic art cars, outdoor concerts, and local food vendors will once again take over the heart of Baltimore. Embrace all the youthful excitement that comes with the tradition of summer camp with this year’s theme.

Zoo Bop Kids Music Festival
July 29. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, 1876 Mansion House Dr. 12-4 p.m. Free-$25. 410-396-7102. Finally, kids have a music festival to call their own. The Zoo Bop outdoor concert will feature two kid-approved artists—Baltimore’s own Baby Beats and Latin Grammy winner 123 Andrés, pictured. When the kiddos aren’t grooving to the tunes, they can visit activity tables and food trucks, and partake in all-day admission to view the zoo’s own young ones, like Willow, the baby giraffe.

Five things to eat, drink, see, hear, and do with your Charm City weekend.

 EAT

June 10-11: St. Anthony’s Italian Festival

St. Leo’s Church, 227 S. Exeter St. Sat. 12-8 p.m., Sun. 12-7 p.m. Free.

It’s easy to eat your heart out in Little Italy, and this weekend, beach bodies beware—the tiny neighborhood will be celebrating the Feast of St. Anthony with even more Italian food. All weekend long, enjoy live music, cooking demonstrations, bocce tournaments, mass amounts of vino, and plenty of pasta, pizza, and cannoli. Just be sure to swing by on Sunday, to participate or observe, for the Roma Sausage-eating contest. Chin chin!. 

 DRINK

June 9: Pints in the Park

Center Plaza, N. Chares & Fayette St. 5-8 p.m. Free.

On second Fridays through the summer, head to the heart of downtown for al fresco drinking under the city skyscrapers and setting sun. During these monthly happy hours at Center Plaza, start your weekend with Heavy Seas beer, tiki bar cocktails, and Linganore wines, plus BrickNFire Pizza bites, corn hole, ping pong, and live music, this month by Brave Noise. Kids and pets are welcome, know before you go: the bar is cash only.

 SEE

June 10-11: HonFest

1002 W. 36th St. Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 12-6 p.m. Free.

There are few more truly “Bawlmer” celebrations than HonFest in Hampden. This weekend, for the 24th year, don boas, beehives, and other 1960s garb to honor the blue-collar spirit and historic workingwomen of Baltimore. It’s a rite-of-passage block party with lots of local food, three stages of live music (Caleb Stine, Raindeer, Fractal Cat, etc.), dance contests, and, of course, the colorful crowning of Baltimore’s best hon.

 HEAR

June 9: Paul Simon

Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. 6 p.m. $55-175. 

After a handful of memorable concerts at Merriweather over the course of his five-decade career, Paul Simon will once again grace the Baltimore region for the first time in more than 10 years. This Friday, catch Rhymin’ Simon for a night of enduring favorites from his classic albums—fingers crossed for “The Boy in the Bubble,” “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes,” and “Obvious Child”—and new hits from his most recent release, Stranger to Stranger. (He’s also bringing Lilith Fair songstress Sarah McLachlan along for the ride.) We, indeed, are still crazy for Paul Simon after all these years.

 DO

June 11: Tour Dem Parks Hon

Druid Hill Park, 900 Druid Park Lake Dr. 7 a.m. $20-55.

With this weekend’s weather looking like something close to perfection, there’s no better way to soak up that fine line between spring and summer than hitting the pavement for this 15th annual bicycle tour of Baltimore’s local parks. With the wind in your hair, cycle through the city’s diverse neighborhoods and luscious green spaces and make new friends along the way. Best of all, there’s a post-ride barbecue with live jazz.

Though there’s no shortage of Indian restaurants in town, after a few too many watered-down tikka masalas and bland buffets, we always welcome a new opening in the hopes of finding a real gem. Little India, which recently set up shop on South High Street in Little Italy, just might fill that bill. 

On the inside, the space—formerly occupied by India Rasoi and, before that, Yemen Arabian Restaurant—looks no different than it did under previous tenants. The same fluorescent lighting, drop ceiling, and dark wall-to-wall carpeting make it clear that this BYOB spot (aka the proverbial “hole in the wall”) did not receive a makeover. Strange as it may seem, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, considering the quality of the food in such establishments is often inversely proportional to the décor. Here, only a few Indian prints adorn the walls—a promising sign.

Another good sign: On a recent visit, our waiter, who promptly arrived at our table to take our order, turned out to be the son of chef/owner Chandar Sheknar. We tend to like chef/owners because they have more skin in the game, and this one popped out of the kitchen to check on his customers and answer questions. 

A mixed sampler of appetizers ($8) got us going. The platter included crispy lamb samosas, vegetable pakoras, and chicken poddy (think chicken tenders fried in a nutty chickpea flour), all of which disappeared in no time. For our main courses we ordered the goat vindaloo ($17) and the haldi jhinga ($18)—jumbo shrimp marinated in turmeric and served on a sizzling platter with onion, green pepper, and slices of fresh cucumber and carrot. The chunks of goat luxuriating in a tomato-based sauce were melt-in-your-mouth good, exhibiting a nice degree of heat. Though we would have liked a bit more kick, the plump shrimp were also well-executed. 

We rounded out the meal with sides of chickpea curry ($4) and mixed raita ($3), as well as the gorgeously flaky lachhaa paratha ($3), a northern Indian flatbread made out of whole-wheat flour and ghee, or clarified butter. The chickpeas and raita were perfect in their simplicity, and we would never order another naan if all Indian restaurants offered up paratha like this one—flaky, full of flavor. 

Ending on a sweet note, we opted for two standards—gulab jamun ($4) and Indian rice pudding  ($4). Like doughnut holes soaked in a rich syrup of sugar and rose water, the gulab jamun was served warm, contrasting with the cold creaminess of the rice pudding. It was a thoroughly satisfying way to end our meal.

›› Little India 411 S. High St., 410-385-4900. Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m., Fri. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10:30 p.m., Sat. noon-10:30 p.m., Sun. noon-9:30 p.m. Appetizers: $5-8; entrees: $16-22; desserts: $4.

Mangiamo!

East Pratt Street
January 18, 2017

“He flew in from Chicago, carrying 30 pounds of frozen meat, spatulas, a cutting board, knives, spoons, the works,” explains Marcella Volini, as her dad dishes meatballs at the sold-out Sons of Italy lodge. “He’s gone to the same butcher for 30 years, since before I was born, and doesn’t trust anyone else. And, of course, his youngest daughter couldn’t possibly have a well-stocked kitchen.”

Tom Volini, father of 12, made the trip to enter—along with his daughter, a Baltimore artist—the family meatballs into the 1st Annual Little Italy Meatball Fest “best recipe” contest.

“The meatball is a part of every Sunday dinner,” says Joe Gardella, the owner of Joe Benny’s Focacceria and organizer of the event, benefitting the nearby Rev. Oreste Pandola Adult Learning Center, which offers classes in Italian language, culture, and cooking. “Everybody has their own recipe and each family recipe has its own story.”

Naturally, there’s also plenty of baked ziti, rosemary bread, and Chianti.

The winning meatball recipe (as judged by taste-testing attendees) eventually goes to Margaret Miller, née Occhiogrosso, who works as an event planner at Aldo’s restaurant. “The veal and pork have a lot of flavor and then I substitute 10 percent beef brisket with regular beef. That’s the slight change,” she says, with a smile. “Just a little more flavor.”

The other contest this afternoon is a meatball-eating contest, which is won by Phil “the Fury” Fiore, who downs 31 meatballs made by Gardella himself.

Angelo Perri, who took third, came with nine family members, including his Italian immigrant mother, with whom he promises to enter the recipe contest next year. He ate 26 meatballs. “Honestly, I thought those were the best meatballs I had all day,” Perri says with a laugh. “I grabbed a few more to take home.”

Paper Dreams

Eastern Avenue
January 7, 2017

Katherine Fahey begins to unravel a long illustrated scroll at the Creative Alliance as an arabber just off center stage sings out: “Yeah, bananas, cantaloupes, and watermelons. Sweet potatoes and collard greens. Sweet apples and oranges.” Nearby, a musician clapping coconut shells and jingling bells mimics the jangled beat of a workhorse trodding through a narrow rowhouse street. “Each door on the block was a different color,” Fahey says, telling the story of “From Monument to Montford,” her paper cutout fable of an East Baltimore childhood when arabbers and their decorated horses and carts “seemed like fairy tale.”

Fahey’s narrative, hand-cranked scroll and musical accompaniment is based on a 19th-century visual storytelling form—once known as moving panoramas, and now called, with some endearment, “crankies.” In fact, the 4th Annual Baltimore Crankie Fest this weekend, the largest of its kind, sold out all three shows in advance.

“There is something really magical about it,” says Fahey, an award-winning artist who combines shadow puppetry with her exquisite backlit scrolls, and has collaborated on crankie music videos as well with the likes of Wye Oak and Ellen Cherry. “I remember at the first crankie fest being blown away by how entranced the audience becomes.”

Other crankies tonight revolve around a Syrian folktale, a girl from Nova Scotia, and a cosmic country ballad with roots in Alabama and Babylon. Musical pieces include performances by the Gospel Peacemakers, Caleb Stine, Liz Downing, and young old-time artists Anna & Elizabeth.

The most autobiographical “crankie” actually comes via a hand-held scroll sewn by 75-year-old German immigrant Ursula Populoh, who graduated with a degree in fiber art two years ago from the Maryland Institute College of Art. In a series of stitched images, Populoh recounts her story as a young widowed mother, her subsequent and nearly fatal bout with alcoholism, and her desperate hope of moving to America during her long stay in a German hospital.

“I was living in a small town with no money, shunned by my neighbors, and the dream of going to America kept me alive,” Populoh says. “I sold everything and I saw New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, and New Orleans. When I got to Denver, someone took me to a square dance,” she continues. “And I was in heaven.”

Riding Off

Paca Street
December 30, 2016

With the temperature nearing the freezing mark, David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” blares from the back of a pedaled sound trailer as 150 bicyclists depart St. Mary’s Park.

Let’s dance for fear
your grace should fall
Let’s dance for fear tonight is all

Founded in the spring of 2012, the last-Friday-of-the-month Baltimore Bike Party has a theme—tonight is a tribute to those who left this world in 2016—with each ride becoming a unique celebration of bicycling and Baltimore. This evening’s ride, however, is somewhat bittersweet given the numerous homages to Bowie, George Michael, and Prince, whose “Little Red Corvette” sparks a group-sing among both bicyclists and local residents as the ride passes several bus stops through Greenmount West.

“My first bike party the theme was ‘Pirates!’—I didn’t know what to expect, so I didn’t dress up,” says Josh Miller, reprising Bowie’s blond mullet, makeup, and puffy shirt from the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth. “At stoplights people were swashbuckling. Ever since I’ve gone all out.”

Meanwhile, other bicyclists are donning boxing gloves, cowboy hats, moon suits, and gorilla masks, in honor, respectively, of Muhammad Ali, Merle Haggard, John Glenn, and Harambe, the 17-year-old gorilla who was shot to death after a young boy fell into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo.

A few of the costumes—boxing gloves, for example—prove challenging to wear while operating a bike. Others are a surprisingly good fit, given the chilly conditions.

“The buns are great,” says physician’s assistant Fina Baca-Asher, 34, channeling recently departed Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia with the Star Wars heroine’s iconic hairstyle. “They’ll keep your ears warm.”

Justin Bieber
July 7. Royal Farms Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. 7:30 p.m. $47.50-113. 410-347-2020.
They say the higher you fly, the harder you fall, and boy, did Justin Bieber shoot straight for the sky. From a YouTube discovery at age 12 to a debut album at age 15 to platinum sales less than two months later, this Canadian pop star went from a cute haircut to an overnight media sensation. Sweet dance moves, swoon-worthy vocals, and a picture-perfect romance with Disney star Selena Gomez solidified his success, but then came his turbulent late teens, a time of fast cars, mouthy remarks, and overall bad-boy behavior that tested the conviction of even his most die-hard “Beliebers.” But, lo and behold, the Biebs is now making a miraculous comeback, with apologetic appearances on Ellen, new number one singles, and a world tour, aptly titled Purpose. His Instagram followers exceed 67 million, his latest album is packed with party-starters (we unabashedly have “Sorry” on repeat), and all the while, his newsworthy tattoo tally continues to climb. For one Thursday night, don your purple hoodies, get ready to catch finger-lip kisses, and see if you still belieb.

Cinema Al Fresco
July 1-Aug. 26. Little Italy, at the corner of High & Stiles Sts. Fri. Music 7 p.m., movie 9 p.m. Free. Few things say “Baltimore summer” quite like sitting in the parking lot of Da Mimmo Ristorante, watching old movies outside on a summer evening, amidst row homes and twinkling stars. Such is the beauty of Little Italy’s Cinema al Fresco open-air film series, now in its 17th season. On Friday nights through the end of August, gather some friends and unfold some lawn chairs for live music, free popcorn, and the main event, starting this month with the ever-comedic Moonstruck, followed by the likes of Diner, The Sound of Music, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Flicks From the Hill
July 7-Aug. 25. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. 9 p.m. Free. 410-244-1900. As the sun begins to set, pack a blanket and picnic for this beloved Baltimore tradition on Federal Hill. For the 11th summer, AVAM drops a giant screen down the side of the museum on Thursday nights for harbor-side films beneath the stars. Snuggle up with friends, snack on eats from local food trucks, and catch some favorite flicks, like last year’s Labyrinth and Big Fish.

Kimono and Obi
July 10-Jan. 15, 2017. The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr. Wed.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. 443-573-1700. During Japan’s Edo period, the Land of the Rising Sun was kept in the fashion dark ages, as common folk were forbidden from wearing showy clothing, especially colors like purple and red. When the laws were lifted in 1868, the country was entering an industrial age, and with its newfound prosperity, citizens were once again free to flaunt fineries in their own personal style. Embroidered kimonos and embellished obi sashes became en vogue, which are now on display at the BMA.

Baltimore Caribbean Carnival
July 9-10. Clifton Park, 2701 St. Lo Dr. Sat. 12-10 p.m., Sun. 12-9 p.m. Free. For the 35th year, the paths of Clifton Park will transform into a full-on fiesta during this annual celebration of Caribbean culture. Beginning with a party-starting parade on East 33rd Street, you can follow thousands of spectators as hundreds of colorful costumes, festive performers, and the sounds of soca and calypso musicians march for five full hours. Afterward, attend the two-day festival, with live music and entertainment, authentic food and drink, and arts and crafts until 9 or 10 p.m. Grab some jerk chicken, sip some summer wine, and saunter beneath the stilt dancers on your way to seeing the steel drums.

Artscape
July 15-17. Mount Royal Avenue & Cathedral Street. Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.- 8 p.m. Free. 410-752-8632. In the middle of the month, Station North will transform into an otherworldly galaxy as Artscape returns for the 35th year with an all-new outer space theme. From iconic art cars to big name concerts (read: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Wyclef Jean), this weekend block party is the largest free arts festival in the U.S., with thousands of guests, dozens of food vendors, and hundreds of artists, musicians, and performers. It’s a Baltimore tradition not to miss.

Baltimore Pride
July 23-24. Mount Vernon, Druid Hill Park, & other locations. Times vary. Free. 410-777-8145. With the LGBTQ community finally finding its place at the forefront of national conversation, there’s no better time to celebrate its achievements as well as acknowledge the road ahead. For an entire weekend, Baltimore will throw the largest event of its kind in the state, with an afternoon parade and evening street party in Mount Vernon, followed by an all-day festival in Druid Hill Park. Compete in a high-heel race down Cathedral, get your groove on in a streetwide dance party, and don your brightest colors at this big shebang.

The Music of David Bowie
July 30. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. 7:30 p.m. $25-65. 410-783-8000. It was six months ago that Ziggy Stardust left this earth, but it’s safe to say that his legacy will not be forgotten. Through music, art, and fashion, David Bowie transcended definition—always moving forward, unafraid of taking risks or thinking outside of the box. For one night, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will honor the rock-and-roll superstar’s influence, joined by a full band.

Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize Exhibition
To July 31. The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr. Wed.-Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. 443-573-1700. In conjunction with our city arts festival, the BMA presents the 2016 finalists for the prestigious Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize. Highlighting some of the most talented artists in the region, the exhibit features the works of local visionaries like art activist organization FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, painter Darcie Book, videographers Theo Anthony and Stephanie Barber, and photographers Eric Kruszewski, Christos Palios, and Larry Cook, whose work is pictured above. Explore the exhibit, and attend the award ceremony on July 9.

Along with the Free State, Old Line State, and Land of Pleasant Living, Maryland is also nicknamed America in Miniature, in reference to our medley of history, landmarks, and people. Celebrate that diversity with these six cultural festivals.

PHILIPPINE FIESTA
6/4: Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Rd., Timonium. 10 a.m.-10 p.m. $3. 443-812-3241. This 34-year-old festival is full of Filipino activities, including cultural crafts, live music, and festive games at the state fairgrounds.

MARYLAND TRADITIONS FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL
6/4: Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. 12-8 p.m. Free. 410-276-1651. Experience Baltimore Club music, Nepalese food, and Norwegian painting at this celebration of cultures from around the world.

FEAST OF ST. ANTHONY ITALIAN FESTIVAL
6/4-5: Little Italy, S. Exeter & Stiles Sts. Sat. 12-8 p.m. & Sun. 11-7 p.m. $1. Little Italy celebrates its roots with one big weekend of Italian food and wine, with a Sunday parade.

ST. NICHOLAS GREEK FOLK FESTIVAL
6/9-12: Greektown Square, 701 S. Ponca St. Times vary. Free. 410-633-5020. Dive into the culture of the Aegean Sea with four days of baklava, Mythos beer, and regional dance troupes in Southeast Baltimore.

LATINOFEST
6/25-26: Patterson Park, Eastern Ave. & S. Linwood Ave. Sat. 12-10 p.m., Sun. 12-9 p.m. Free-$9. 410-563-3160. For the 36th year, this giant outdoor celebration takes over Patterson Park with Latino food, music, and art.

LITHUANIAN FOLK DANCE FESTIVAL
6/30-7/3: Royal Farms Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. Times vary. $10-92. 410-347-2020. Nearly 2,000 dancers gather for a weekend of galas, live music, poetry readings, and traditional dances from Eastern Europe.