As Artscape, Baltimore's annual free arts festival, celebrated its 41st iteration this weekend with a new time and location, it finally broke its curse of bad weather this year, drawing large crowds under partly sunny skies.
Artscape drew an estimated 91,000 people Saturday based on hourly crowd counts monitored by the city fire department and public safety teams, according to Barbara Hauck, communications manager for the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts.
"The festival is going well -- the weather is absolutely beautiful, the energy is up, and people are showing out," Hauck. wrote in an email to The Baltimore Sun on Sunday afternoon.
Hordes of people filled the streets with artwork, food and drinks in their hands. Festivalgoers milled from tent to tent under the Jones Falls Expressway, the usual location of the Baltimore Farmers' Market, as rumbles from traffic echoed from above.
Under one of the white vendor tents Sunday, Baltimore-based painter Josef Kardell was actively working to craft a new piece to sell because his shop had done so well the day before.
"It has all worked out splendidly to the point that I got so busy I sold out," Kardell said. "Everyone has been ranting and raving about how good the setup is with the music, food and vendors all separated this year."
Farther down from Kardell's tent, Pittsburgh-based illustrator and screen printer Max Wesoloski was reeling after three hours of what he said was nonstop customers.
Wesoloski said it was his first year at Artscape, and he was happy with the layout and location.
"It is very clear people are coming with the intent to buy stuff, which is really cool," he said. "It has been great, and I am thrilled to be here."
Inside Artscape's new Scout Art Fair, curated by Baltimore native and artist Derrick Adams, a stream of attendees navigated the booths and chatted with artists.
"People are speaking very positively about the caliber of art and setup in Scout," Hauck said.
Amid the numerous white-walled exhibits, 33-year-old West Baltimore native Maurice Scarlett III displayed a number of city-life paintings mounted on black walls. The dark tones of his art was inspired by living in the city, and he said he was honored to share his creations at Artscape.
"Baltimore is a strong inspiration for me. It is in my foundation," Scarlett said against the backdrop of black, orange, yellow and blue paintings. "I am super thankful to be here because there are a lot of people I have been able to talk to about what I do and why I do what I do, and that means a lot because this is my city."
Held in the Baltimore War Memorial, the gallery was praised by Lisa Heidenson, who said she's been attending Artscape on and off for the past 15 years.
"I thought the War Memorial worked really well," she said. "I feel like it's kinda cool that they set up different pockets of attractions throughout the area, all with different energy."
Devin Johnson said he likes the new setup and that Artscape is not being held in the dead of summer.
"I do believe this is a better location for Artscape because everything is closer together, close-knit and more of a community vibe," Johnson said. "It is a lot better, and I hope the next Artscape is in this location or something similar."
Away from the main stage by City Hall and the vendor village under the JFX overpass, the murmur of food truck engines radiated through crowds formed by long lines.
Marisa Dobson, who oversaw the new Flavor Lab at Artscape 2025, said the selection of food vendors involved was intended to showcase Baltimore's culinary artisans, rather than resorting to typical festival fare.
Local heavyweights such as Ekiben and BLK Swan boasted lengthy lines of hungry festivalgoers throughout Saturday and Sunday.
Dobson said there were plenty of restaurants that she reached out to that weren't able to spare the staff to participate in selling food, which prompted her to invite some local chefs to perform cooking demonstrations on one of the festival stages.
Another change: This year's festival was run by a partnership, including the newly formed Mayor's Office of Arts, Culture, and Entertainment, instead of falling onto BOPA's shoulders.
Baltimore City Office of Emergency Management Director Joe Henderson said that this year's Artscape has been one of the easiest to manage.
He made sure to emphasize the city's embrace of AI and geofencing technology to track calls from within the boundaries of Artscape, and send them to first responders on-scene, rather than going to the 911 call center.
"It cuts out a couple of steps, allowing our 911 dispatchers to geofence this area," said Henderson. "If a call comes in from this area, it goes right from the dispatchers to the folks that are on the scene."
Given the temperature being only in the low 70s, and much of the festival being held in shaded areas, Henderson said Saturday that there have been fewer heat-related emergencies than in previous years.
The Peale, which reopened in 2022 as "Baltimore's Community Museum" after being closed for 20 years, had a central position in the festival, located just steps away from the main stage in front of City Hall.
Daisy Brown, the Peale's guest services manager, counted over 2,000 guests from Artscape on Saturday afternoon, and expected at least twice as many by the time the museum was set to close at 10 p.m.
"We were expecting a crowd, but not one like this!" she said.