Mayor Brandon Scott and about 150 other energetic people got relief from the harsh summer heat this weekend as they jumped into the Inner Harbor on Sunday for Harbor Splash — the Baltimore waterfront’s first public swimming event in over four decades.
Making the harbor swimmable and even fishable has been in the works for more than 13 years and has been a goal of the non-profit Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore.
“We installed trash wheeled interceptors, we passed new legislation to ban foam containers and plastic bags,” said Adam Lindquist, vice president of the Waterfront Partnership. “We tested water quality here every single day leading up to this event.”
During a press conference before swimmers jumped into the water, Scott admitted that years ago he was a skeptic himself about the future health of the harbor.
“I’m going to be honest, if you were to ask me ‘would I be, at almost 40 years old, swimming in the harbor?’ when I was 20, I’d be like ‘yeah, I’ve got a stadium I can sell you too.’”
But due to the hard work of the Waterfront Partnership and other community partners, the harbor is now a place where residents and visitors can safely enjoy being in the water, Scott said.
“We have to talk about what happens here in Baltimore consistently,” he said. “People say that we can’t, and we say we’re going to show you not only that we can do it but we can do it better than anyone else.”
Participants donned bright colored swimsuits and trunks, striped sets topped with hats, and Orioles merch. Families posed against a pink inflatable flamingo. Swimmers in yellow life vests floated in the water and basked under the sun, with temperatures under 90 degrees.
“This is the first time I’ve legally been in the water and it felt incredible,” said James Lentzwiler, who made a splash in the water alongside his wife. “I was curious if there was going to be a flavor, a scent. Not really. [It] just feels pretty clean.”
Like Lentzwiler, many other swimmers were surprised about the clean look of the water and were not afraid to get the water in their mouth.
“There’s no fear about getting some weird disease,” Sharon Reuter said.
Reuter and her husband have kayaked through the harbor for 15 years and “we’ve seen the water get better,” she said.
For Nick Polk, a swimmable harbor has been his long-time dream since he and his third grade science teacher discussed the possibility, so he had the coolest day ever, he said.
Swimming for recreation in the harbor is not recommended except during supervised public swim events because boat traffic, polluted sediment and heavy rainfall need to be considered.
Lindquist said a lot of work still has to be done to make the harbor cleaner and more swimmable for Baltimoreans.
“The whole atmosphere all day has been nothing but a party,” said Hannah Hoffman, a swim participant. “It’s a party about how people have worked so hard, how people have resisted the doubters. People who say Baltimore can’t do this or Baltimore can’t do that. Well, Baltimore just did this.”
Baltimore Fishbowl photojournalism intern Maggie Jones took the photos for this article. Baltimore Fishbowl reporting intern Tolu Talabi filmed and produced this Instagram Reel about the Harbor Splash event.
