Artscape Saturday
On Saturday, Teresa and I checked out Baltimore's Artscape. This outdoor artists festival in Bolton Hill is considered the largest free artists festival in the United States. It is held over an entire weekend every summer. Through a variety of sponsors, the festival schedules a multitude of musical, theatrical, film, fashion, and various other performances. Plus, a ton of local artists sell their work. Of course, there are plenty of options for food and drink. The weather was sunney and not too hot. Consider that a blessing for July in Baltimore.
The center of Artscape is in Bolton Hill. The festival winds through the Meyerhoff, University of Baltimore and the Maryland Institute College of Art. There are about four stages for live music performances. Artists booths line the streets. There are tents for movies. A few tents were erected for things like a fashion show. Inside some of the buildings were other performances. Thy Meyerhoff had a dance schedule. Teresa and I focused on the music schedule. I really wanted to go on Friday afternoon. We missed The Bridge, Martin Sexton and Los Lonely Boys. Such is life. We did catch a few blues performances, but I didn't recognize the artist. We did grab lunch from some Thai vendors - Teriyaki on a Stick! It was so good. We balanced out the stick of meat with a heaping pile of lo mein. With full bellies, we walked the entire festival.
We did purchase a few goodies. We purchased some black and white photography. We first saw the photographer at last year's Fells Point Festival. His name is Dan Westfall. He specializes in haunting images. My favorite is the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania. I became the proud new owner of a new t-shirt. A local clothing artist designed some interesting prints on American Apparel t-shirts. Mine was labeled with Enjoy Baltimore.
We walked through the rest of the festival. We did stop for some refreshing lemonade. We sat down on the outskirts of Artscape and had some quality people watching time. We planned on staying longer, but we were tried of walking. Luckily, the Cultural Center light rail stop was right near our people watching spot. We jump on the next train to Camden Yards.
As we walked back toward home, we decided to stop for a drink at Metropolitan. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we stayed through dinner. In between Abita Purple Haze and Rogue Ales, I did have a humus plate. We did have full intention of making it all the way home, but there are so many fun spots along the way! A new bar recently opened called the Stalking Horse. It didn't look too packed. Plus, they had the LA Galaxy game on the TV. Of course, we stopped. The theme of the new bar is frozen drinks and a jukebox. Each song in the jukebox is accompanied by its video on a few TV screens. It is a cool concept to see a Tom Petty video when you play Free Falling. We took up residency at the bar, and I was able to see the second half of Beckham's debut. He certainly has caused quite a stir. He only played for 15 minutes, but the game was enjoyable. We did make friends with some fellow Federal Hill residents, Steven and Emily. We closed down the Stalking Horse with our new friends.
It was an epic Saturday. The kind of Saturday that is slightly but not overly planned. There was plenty of time left to improvise. Artscape was definitely a great experience. We had some good food, saw some great vendors and heard some decent music. The rest of the day was fantastic. You can't beat the late after cafe atmosphere at Metropolitan. I really dig the new Stalking Horse -- new friends too boot. It was a good day.
