As he sat writing his memoirs in Maryland in the 1970s, Walter Elsasser recalled that Erwin Schrödinger made good sandwiches. 

“I felt like a Boswell to this remarkable genius,” wrote Elsasser, who was no slouch himself when it came to brains. A European-born scientist who knew Schrödinger in Germany before moving to the United States, Elsasser developed the dominant model of how Earth’s magnetic field was generated, published research on topics as diverse as biology, radar refraction and seafloor spreading — among others — and ended his teaching career in the Old Line State. 

“We did not, however, work jointly on a scientific program,” Elsasser wrote of Schrödinger in the next line, “but simply conversed. When the evening wore on, he would say: ‘Why don’t you stay here for a little longer, let’s look what there is in the refrigerator.'”

That culinary nugget from interwar Berlin is one of dozens of scientific stories in the life recalled by Elsasser — born 120 years ago on March 20. Said by colleagues to have twice come close to a Nobel Prize — the Nobel committee declined to disclose whether he was under consideration when asked for this story — Elsasser was instead awarded the National Medal of Science by Ronald Reagan, among other honors, capping a life in which he made widely lauded scientific discoveries and got to know and work with famous figures from Einstein and Blackett to Fermi and Heisenberg. 

(Elsasser also worked in a lab with Marie Curie during his Paris years but described her in his memoir as a “somewhat shadowy, frail figure” who was given a respectful distance by the awed younger researchers around her, meaning he did not develop a close acquaintance.) 

A story that stretched from Nazi Germany to Roland Park and the Johns Hopkins University campus, Elsasser’s time on the planet whose inner workings he eventually learned to mathematically describe was marked by curiosity, a warm, calm demeanor and nearly constant movement, according to those who knew him. His life ended in Baltimore, a city run at the time by a proudly Black, Harvard-trained lawyer. But it began in a lopsided amalgamation of a country still ruled by a blue-blooded, colonialist monarch. 

The longest ovation

Walter Maurice Elsasser was born in Mannheim, in the short-lived German Empire, to a Protestant family of Jewish lineage, in 1904, at a time when the family tree was soon to matter for their safety. 

After an early education that included a teacher’s recognition of his genius, Elsasser’s start in a university setting in Heidelberg, near his home, was rocky, with the star physics lecturer striding onstage the first day of class, wearing a 10 centimeter-square swastika pinned to his suit breast. It was 1922, years before Nazism became omnipresent. 

Elsasser wrote in his autobiography, Memoirs of a Physicist in the Atomic Age, that a distinguished senior professor at that time “was most certainly not expected to brandish symbols of political extremism in class. But the students thought otherwise,” clapping and shouting in a chilling display that Elsasser — in his 70s at the time of his reminiscence in the late 20th century — called “the most dedicated and loudest ovation I ever witnessed in my life, before or after.”

So it was made clear at an early moment how important it was for Elsasser to find a place where he could practice science unthreatened. Initially, that meant going to Munich, but he was shortly disabused of the notion that Munich in the 1920s was a good place to dodge antisemitism. He had more luck in Göttingen which, a sympathetic professor in Munich had told him, was “very good, and full of Jews.” It was there that he finished his PhD, working alongside some of the most famous names in science.

(Among them, Werner Heisenberg was noted by biologist Harry Rubin in a National Academy of Sciences biography of Elsasser as having convinced the young man that physics could be fun. Before Göttingen, Elsasser “had grown up in the stolid environment of the German middle class and who could think of scientific research only as a matter of duty or personal ambition or just to make money,” Rubin wrote.) 

It was at this time that Elsasser made his first published contribution to the upper tier of global physics research. 

“Browsing in the Göttingen library in 1925 at the age of 21,” wrote Bruce Marsh, an eventual  colleague of Elsasser’s at Johns Hopkins University, in a 1993 appreciation. “Walter found a newly completed dissertation by Louis de Broglie (perhaps hastily passed over by [department head and noted physicist Max Born]) containing the suggestion that matter such as electrons might also behave as waves.” 

“Walter made the fundamental observation that the hitherto confusing and unexplained experimental results of electron interaction with metals from Bell Laboratories were in fact confirmation of de Broglie’s hypothesis. This discovery characterized Walter and established him as a scientist of world class. (Two others later received the Nobel Prize for the same observation made two years after Walter’s.)”

With his doctorate finished, Elsasser worked in two postdoctoral positions — first in Holland, then in Switzerland — before finding himself somewhat underemployed in a Berlin lab. 

After taking a short-term job at a university in Kharkiv, which was then part of the Soviet Union, he made his way to the University of Frankfurt in 1931, where he stayed for a year and a half, until a day a couple months after the Reichstag Fire, when his university ID was confiscated by a newly arrived group of brownshirts. 

Acting on the impassioned earlier advice of his psychologist, who was also of Jewish descent, he fled to Zürich, as the borders were still open and his passport still valid. Entering the physics building at the Federal Polytechnic School in Zürich, Elsasser was immediately greeted by Wofgang Pauli at the top of a grand staircase, according to his memoirs. 

“Elsasser,” the famous physicist shouted down. “You are the first to come up these stairs; I can see how in the months to come, there will be many, many more to climb up here.”

Shortly afterward, Elsasser had luck with a job application and was able to move on to Paris. 

American nomad

The Nazi machine continued taking over Europe, so it was impossible for Paris to be the end of Elsasser’s travels. Receiving a United States immigration visa in 1935, he soon married his first wife, Margaret Trahey, who was from Chicago — his  parents settled in nearby Ann Arbor — and began teaching at the California Institute of Technology, where he became an expert on the way heat is radiated in the atmosphere, before working for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which was done in affiliation with Columbia University. He became a U.S. citizen in 1940, according to his C.V., which is among his archived papers at Johns Hopkins, his last employer.  

It was during Elsasser’s Signal Corps research, which lasted until 1947, that he pulled together in his spare time the building blocks for what would become his dynamo theory model — the now commonly accepted articulation of how Earth’s magnetic field is generated. 

The theory, as popularized and mathematically described by Elsasser in his writings throughout the 1950s, is that the heat of the liquid iron composing Earth’s outer core, combined with the coriolis effect, causes convection behaviors that are largely mathematically predictable, and that these movements act like a self-agitating dynamo, generating a magnetic field in a way roughly analogous to a spinning electrical generator. 

Elsasser’s dynamo theory was at direct odds with a theory by Einstein that said any sufficiently large rotating body would create a magnetic field like Earth’s. Einstein is said to have privately doubted Elsasser’s model as being not simple or elegant enough to describe something as beautiful as Earth’s magnetic field, but the matter was put to rest fairly quickly when the British physicist Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett conducted an experiment involving a cloud chamber and lead spheres, lending weight to Elsasser’s conclusions. 

Not content to focus narrowly on one part of science, Elsasser went into overdrive over the next two decades, teaching and researching at universities in Utah, California, and along the American east coast. Along with geographic itchy feet, the professor was wary of becoming too specialized in one field, leading him to study seemingly far-flung topics like the enormous number of possible states living cells can be in, the stress diffusion behaviors shown in plate tectonics and the boolean algebra used by computers.   

His daughter, Barbara Elsasser, who now lives in Oregon, told Baltimore Fishbowl about a time she visited her father’s office at the University of Utah when she was a child. 

“On the table that day was a big metal box,” she said. “And all the men in the department were looking in the box. I wondered what they were all looking at with such profound interest, one pointed intensity and passionate enthusiasm.” 

“The box, it turned out, was the computer designed and built by John von Neumann who had asked daddy if he could find a problem to test it. Daddy said he could.” 

Dr. Elsasser “was happy that one member of the family went into teaching, but he made an interesting and revealing comment about teaching one afternoon after lunch,” wrote Dr. Elsasser’s nephew, Andrew Dodge, a retired teacher and museum education specialist in DC, in an email to Baltimore Fishbowl. “He made the point that the first year of teaching a subject was a lot of hard work establishing yourself in the institution with your fellow colleagues and students. The second year was easy and somewhat smooth sailing, but by the third year it became a bore.”

“Looking back on this comment and his reference to himself as a ‘rolling stone’ for going from one university to another, it seems that he always needed a challenge and new experiences. This would also help to explain the diversity of his scientific pursuits from geophysics to atmospheric and radar studies during World War II, and finally his interest in the study of biology and the probability of evolutionary development.” 

This scientifically omnivorous nature meant that Dr. Elsasser was often immersed in the study of technical and philosophical problems few in his new country — let alone his family — could understand. While that made his parenting unusual and could give him an otherworldly image for those around him, it did not seem to lead to conflict, based on what Dodge and Barbara Elsasser told Baltimore Fishbowl. 

“He was always very nice and solicitous, but he was just different,” Dodge wrote. 

“On our family vacations, we visited Walter and his family in Salt Lake City in 1955 where Walter’s daughter and son and my two brothers and I went ‘camping’ in the backyard. In 1959 the families got together again in La Jolla, California. We all went to the beach together, and Walter asked if we wanted to go water skiing. This was another example of his being ‘different.’ He was being very nice and wanted us to enjoy our stay, but I doubt if Walter had ever been in a boat much less gone water skiing. My father made a joke of it to us in private, but even at my age, I saw it as the professor trying to interact as a normal person.”

“I always thought of him as being just one step below God,” Barbara Elsasser wrote. 

“We had an uninterrupted, even, warm flow between us that never faltered. There was never any discord or disagreement of any kind. At age 11 I decided not to marry and to give myself to God.” 

True to her word Barbara Elsasser lived in a Hindu Ashram for 18 years and for decades now continues to live a Hindu Monastic life at a Temple, having been initiated by Swami Aseshananda, who she calls the the most powerful spiritual force in the Western Hemisphere.

Final years spent in Baltimore 

A deep interest in spiritual life runs in the family. According to his daughter, Dr. Elsasser kept three sacred spiritual books near him throughout his lifetime: The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis, Meister Eckhart and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. 

“Those were some of the most profound books on Earth,” she said by phone.

Another family member who was the chief stone mason on the construction of the Washington National Cathedral, she says, was decreed on his death, by the Bishop, to have been saintly and was honored by being buried in  the Cathedral, near Helen Keller.

Dr. Elsasser’s interest in the “software” of life grew over time, according to those around him, as well as his own autobiography and his NAS biography, to the extent that he was dedicating about half of his research time to complex systems biology by the time he arrived in Maryland in 1967 to teach in College Park. He retired from the University of Maryland in 1974 and moved to Johns Hopkins shortly thereafter. 

“Walter was convinced that a distinguishing characteristic of organisms was that their long-term behavior was not causally determined,” wrote the biologist Rubin. “He set himself the task of finding a way around von Neumann’s completeness proof and found it in the concept that the members of any biological class are heterogeneous; that is, they share some but not all characteristics, while the members within any physical class such as electrons, photons, atoms, and molecules are rigorously identical to one another.”  

When not researching Earth sciences or biology, Dr. Elsasser often spent his time in the Mid-Atlantic with family or writing his memoirs. 

“He would visit my mother, and the rest of the family regularly as far back as I can remember into the early 1950s,” Dodge wrote. “He would come to Washington, D.C., for scientific gatherings and go to the Cosmos Club, but he always had time to visit. Walter was a quiet and reserved person who didn’t try to impress anyone. However, it was obvious even from childhood, one knew he did not live in the same world as others.”

Working at the University of Maryland, then at Johns Hopkins in the 1970s and 80s, Dr. Elsasser collaborated closely with Marsh, who described him in a video interview with Baltimore Fishbowl as a “fast friend” who lived in an apartment on West University Parkway before moving to Roland Park Place. Dr. Elsasser sometimes spent Christmas with the Marsh family at their house on Deepdene Road. 

“He was an absolute gentleman. He was one of the kindest, gentlest people,” Marsh said, mentioning that the older scientist was great with kids. 

“[My young children, William and Hannah], would come [to the Johns Hopkins Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences] with me one day per week,” Marsh stated, “I went over to see Walter’s office one time, and there was Walter, with William sitting on his lap; Walter was telling a story, and Will was reaching up under his neck, pulling on the loose skin. And Walter had him in arms, telling him the story, and WIll was just so caught up in the story — it was very nice.”

Marsh was active in pushing the Reagan administration to award the National Medal of Science to Dr. Elsasser in the 1980s — an effort that was successful — and says that while Dr. Elsasser was in many ways similar to Einstein, he didn’t follow some of the somewhat Bohemian tendencies of his more famous colleague late in life. 

“But of course, Einstein and Walter were friends — they were pretty good friends.” 

Dr. Elsasser never wrote in his biography about whether he had to do his research in proximity to any of the many former Nazi scientists who were imported to the U.S. during the Cold War via Operation Paperclip, beyond a few very oblique words in one of the earlier chapters, stating that a Göttingen friend who later worked in the German military with great reluctance eventually was brought over by the U.S. army “in that mass transplanting of a great many, carefully selected scientists and other technical specialists.” 

A visually adept man who knew German, English, French and at least some Russian (along with possibly some limited Dutch), Dr. Elsasser went out of his way in his autobiography to mention that he had little musical skill — an unusual trait among his colleagues. However, he continued to be interested in art in his later years, having seen Rembrandt’s etchings in the Netherlands as a young postdoc and being a quite capable architectural illustrator himself. 

“My mother would make periodic visits to Walter’s apartment, and he and his [second] wife Suzi would visit local art galleries,” Dodge wrote. “In the early 1980s, I went with my mother one day, and we spent most of the morning at the Baltimore Museum of Art near the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University.”

After he died in 1991, Dr. Elsasser’s body was cremated at Greenmount cemetery, according to official records. His ashes were then brought to the family plot at Fort Lincoln Cemetery in Prince George’s County, Dodge stated. 

Marsh writes in his remembrance that “perhaps no other scientist in this century has had as profound an effect on so many fields of science.” 

Alongside all his accomplishments as a renowned scientist, however, Elsasser’s willingness to make an abstention that resulted in considerable career damage may stand out as his most selfless trait. The physicist who would later spend so much time researching biological topics related to free will received a chance during World War II to display some of his own decision-making abilities. 

“[Walter’s work] on atmospheric and radar studies during the war was of a defensive nature and did not directly involve the destructive nature of war,” Dodge wrote. 

“Walter knew and was a colleague of Robert Oppenheimer while both were in a German university graduate program in the late 1920s. Oppenheimer recognized Walter’s scientific work and abilities, and when Oppenheimer became part of the Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb, he wanted Walter to join him in this effort. Walter refused, and on that point made the comment that he did not want to get into the mass murder business.” 

Family members debate whether the two ever spoke again.

Editor’s note: This column won first place (Division C) and Best of Show overall in the Online Blog Commentary category of the Maryland, Delaware, and D.C. Press Association’s 2023 Contest. Read our other award-winning pieces here.

A cross-country drive is a form of escapism. It is also a form of comparison.

Even as you seek out the unexpected, at every stop you evaluate – consciously or not — how another place stacks up against your own.

Karen and I traveled 6,978 miles across the country this fall, driving to the Pacific Ocean and back. We traversed 16 states and spent time in dozens of cities and towns. We aspired to learn what was distinctive about every place. Through it all, I was comparing each place to Baltimore.

This was our third major driving journey of several thousand miles. The first came more than 30 years ago. We were unmarried, and set out in a hatchback packed with a never-used tent, stiff hiking boots, and a copy of “Roadfood” by Jane and Michael Stern, an eater’s guide to local dives and hotspots. (The book is now in its 10^th edition; I’m guessing we carried the first.) We were young reporters taking a break before graduate school. We put nearly 10,000 miles on Karen’s Acura Integra, and AM radio was our guide to what people were talking about in 1992.

Our second major journey came in 2007, in an RV borrowed from a friend in Los Angeles. There were four of us then – two parents and two kids, ages 10 and 7. We looped counterclockwise for 4,200 miles and visited must-see national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite, but also cities like Boise, Idaho.

This year’s trip was different. For the first time, we had the internet and smartphones and apps that made it easy to find a scenic camping spot or the best local beer. We never turned on AM radio. We didn’t play Jenga.

In the past 30 years, our nation has – at least superficially – become more homogenized. The same style of development abounds in every exurb, with the same nets of fancy golf driving ranges, the same billboards for lawyers, and the same big box stores lining every highway.

Our western destination was Los Angeles, where we picked up a little lightweight fiberglass travel trailer that was to become our transportable home and remote office for the next month, and for hopefully many months in the years ahead.

On this journey, we sought to explore every place on foot – often by running, which is what we do.

Running around a new city has so many benefits. You savor the flavor of neighborhoods and development patterns. You absorb architecture and find pocket parks and tucked-away blocks. You can follow a main boulevard from the oldest buildings to the newest. You see art in public places, and learn about the philanthropists who funded it.

And in every city, you encounter the unhoused and neglected buildings; you reach the end of one thriving block and cross onto another that is struggling. The ravages of addiction, of an uneven economy, and of systemic racism and redlining are everywhere.

Spend time in any city – any place that grew organically over the last century or two with thousands of people living together near each other – and you observe that Baltimore is not unique.

The very real problems that consume us here are felt everywhere.

This sense of commonality hit me for the first time in St. Louis, after we left the soaring Gateway Arch and tried to find a Riverfront Trail that a map showed us stretched north along the Mississippi River. We never got there, thwarted by detours and roadblocks around decrepit warehouses and homeless encampments. The whole stretch of industrial waterfront north of a downtown casino is tremendously blighted.

At one point, I saw a few cars parked around a building and thought that the signs of life indicated the point where we could get on the trail. Instead, I watched people shooting needles in their arms.

Within an hour, we saw the best of what St. Louis has to offer a visitor, and the tremendous challenges facing any American city grappling with economic woes, racism and social ills. It was a scene repeated in Los Angeles, and Oklahoma City, and Lexington, Kentucky.

I found myself imagining about a doppelganger from any of these places who lands in Baltimore and heads out on foot. They would explore the Inner Harbor and Harbor East, and travel up Charles Street. Maybe they would explore the Howard Street corridor to experience an arts district, and quickly find abandoned buildings and pan-handlers.

They would see the beauty of Baltimore, the good bones. They would feel the challenges.

We often focus on the worst in Baltimore, the violent crime, car thefts, underperforming schools, stagnant jobs. We obsess over numbers and rankings, and shake our heads when Baltimore tops the nation in some depressing statistic.

Those figures represent real lives and real futures built or squandered. We shouldn’t ignore them.

But everything we lament here is lamentable somewhere else, whether it’s the third worst city on some list or the third best. We saw this ourselves in Columbus, Ohio; and Kansas City, Missouri; and Salina, Kansas; and Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Boulder, Colorado; and Los Angeles.

And in every place, we saw the grandeur of both the natural environment and the built one, and the spirit of the people. Just like in Baltimore.

Every year, a group of Baltimore leaders under the auspices of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council travel to a different city to get an inside perspective on the strengths and struggles of a peer metropolitan area. They’ve visited Cleveland; New Orleans; Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia; Detroit; and the twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Each of those places has, at one time or another, been the butt of national jokes or source negative headlines. They have also been a source of innovation, and our leaders are learning from them.

The policy and political solutions that evade us in Baltimore are elusive everywhere. The benefits of clean water, good transportation, thriving arts and social connections are also everywhere – and they are here.

We are all dealing with the same stuff. If you look to escape it with a long drive, you probably won’t. And it’s OK to compare. You’ll see that we are all closer than we might imagine.

Baltimore Fishbowl will not publish new content on the July 4th holiday. Our team will return tomorrow, providing news and features on what makes Baltimore interesting. We hope you enjoy the Independence Day break.

With the Preakness Stakes less than two weeks away, more than 20 Baltimore businesses will be giving away a pair of Preakness 148 tickets each day through May 19.

The giveaways are part of the new “Preak Weeks” initiative, launched by the Maryland Jockey Club and creative agency Kiss Tomorrow Hello.

Participating businesses will also receive 10% of all proceeds made through their custom QR code for Preakness 148 ticket sales.

“We launched Baltimore 1/ST in 2022 to leverage the platform of the Preakness to make a meaningful, long-lasting impact for Baltimore,” said Audra Madison, the Maryland Jockey Club’s marketing director, in a statement. “Through Preak Weeks, we look to drive support  and economic value to these independent – and in many cases small, BIPOC- and women-owned – businesses. Our hope is to expand Preak Weeks in future years to incorporate even more local businesses and entrepreneurs.”

In all, 27 businesses are participating in Preak Weeks, ranging from restaurants to museums to spas and more. They are part of communities in Pikesville, Park Heights, Hampden, Woodberry, Mount Vernon, Downtown, Federal Hill, Harbor East, and Fells Point.

“Preak Weeks is a great example of how institutions can have an impact on local business and support the Baltimore economy,” said Jason Bass, founder of Kiss Tomorrow Hello. “This program ensures that Preakness isn’t just happening around us but includes us.”

Travis Bell is the owner of Black Acres Roastery, one of the participating businesses, which recently opened a stall in the renovated Lexington Market.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to be a part of such a historic Baltimore event,” Bell said. “We applaud the Maryland Jockey Club and 1/ST for collaborating with local businesses in Baltimore.”

The full list of Preak Weeks businesses includes:

• Mike & Mike’s Auto Spa
• Park Heights Renaissance
• Sankofa Children’s Museum of African Cultures
• At the B.A.G. 
• KSM Candle Co.
• The Charmery 
• Ekiben
• Bright Side Boutique
• Kelley Gardens
• Christian Schafer Clothier
• Mount Royal Soaps
• Mess in a Bottle
• Vinyl and Pages
• Sangria Patio Bar
• Allora
• Revival Baltimore
• Eat Fish Net
• Black Acres Coffee
• Reginald F. Lewis Museum 
• Crust By Mack 
• Maryland Art Place
• Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower
• Bar One Baltimore
• Nola Seafood and Spirits
• Art of Balance Wellness Spa
• Damon Renard Hair Studio
• KEYS Empowers

For more information about the businesses participating in Preak Weeks, including their hours and locations, visit the Preakness website.

It’s the season of lemon sticks, flower hats, sculpture races, and more in Baltimore. Celebrations of all kinds are taking place citywide this weekend, from Mount Vernon to Patterson Park to South Baltimore and beyond.

Check it all out in this weekend’s lineup:

Upsahl, Thursday, Thursday, May 4, doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m., Ottobar. Arizona native Upsahl will perform at Ottobar, with guests to be announced. Upsahl released her first album, “Lady Jesus,” in 2021.

Tinder Live! with Lane Moore, Thursday, May 4, doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m., Baltimore Soundstage. Comedian Lane Moore will swipe left or right on Tinder profiles, and message the online suitors, live on stage.

Pop Culture and Jewish Culture, Thursday, May 4, 7-8:30 p.m., Chizuk Amuno. Former Baltimore Jewish Times senior reporter Mathew Klickstein will speak about the intersection of Jewish culture and fandoms, examining an array of media and genres from comic books to science fiction to fantasy and more. A pop culture historian, Klickstein is the author of “See You at San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture” and “The Little Encyclopedia of Jewish Culture.” The talk is open to fans of all ages.

Flower Mart, Friday, May 5, and Saturday, May 6, Mount Vernon Place. What better time to stock up on flowers and gardening supplies than Flower Mart. Vendors selling flowers, herbs, and other plants will surround Baltimore’s Washington Monument and nearby streets. And be sure to grab a lemon stick to enjoy while you’re there.

Kinetic Sculpture Race, Saturday, May 6, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., throughout Baltimore. Back for its 23rd year, the theme for the American Visionary Art Museum’s Kinetic Sculpture Race this year is “Everyday People.” Teams in sculptural vehicles will race around Baltimore in three main stages — land, water, and sand/mud obstacles — before crossing the finish line at AVAM. Following the race, the museum will host an awards ceremony, bestowing honors like “Worst Honorable Mention,” Grand Mediocre Champion,” and others. Read more in this Baltimore Fishbowl article.

Garden Festival, Saturday, May 6, 8 a.m., to 4 p.m., Ladew Gardens. Ladew Gardens will host their 15th annual Garden Festival, where visitors can shop perennials, annuals, small trees, exotic plants, garden furniture, urns, and other items from more than 30 vendors.

Open Studio Tour Weekend, Saturday, May 6, and Sunday, May 7, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., throughout Baltimore. Baltimore artists will open their working studios, giving members of the public the opportunity to peek behind the curtains of their creative process. Read more in this Baltimore Fishbowl article.

Magically May, Saturday, May 6, noon to 4 p.m., Maryland Science Center. A magician never tells their secrets, but you just might be able to use science to figure it out. Explore optical illusions, chemical creations, cloud conjuring, and more — all through the wonders of science.

Free Comic Book Day, Saturday, May 6, noon to 7 p.m., Atomic Books. Atomic Books will be giving away 50 official Free Comic Book titles, plus dozens of free first issues from the past year. While you’re at it, look at the rest of the comic book shop’s selections to buy some more to take home.

No Pix After Dark, Friday, May 5, 6 p.m., Creative Alliance. Arron Dante will record his No Pix After Dark podcast live, with guest Ngaiire, a first nations Papua New Guinean songwriter known for her blend of neo-soul, gospel, and big pop sounds. The live podcast will be followed by time to mingle with the host and guest, then a performance by Ngaiire. The session is a first in a series of live podcast recordings with Creative Alliance artists.

Charlie Reichert Powell and New River, Friday, May 5, 7 p.m., An Die Musik. Baltimore-based guitarist, producer and composer Charlie Reichert Powell leads his group New River. Powell has worked in a variety of musical genres, including jazz, R&B, rap, alternative, electronic, experimental, and more. He plays with bassist Aidan Taylor and drummer Koleby Royston, both students at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto, Saturday, May 6, and Sunday, May 7, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Pianist Behzod Abduraimov will perform Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Music Director Designate Jonathon Heyward will conduct the orchestra with a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances.

YES and The Band Geeks, Saturday, May 6, 8 p.m., Lyric Baltimore. YES vocalist and songwriter Jon Anderson will perform with The Bank Geeks. They will play YES classics, like “And You and I,” Starship Trooper,” Heart of the Sunrise,” and more.

I Love SoBo Day, Sunday, May 7, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Baltimore Museum of Industry. Celebrate South Baltimore with a photo contest, sailboat tours, exercise class, kids storytime, trivia contest, hula hooping performance, scavenger hunt, silent auction, and more.

Doppio Pasticceria Sicilian Bakery has been a high-energy two-person mobile operation for a little more than a year now, but Tuesday they’re ready to kick it up a notch and open up shop at R. House in Remington.

Residents may have spotted the bakery’s rustic tables decked out with baskets of old world Italian delicacies at the 32nd Street Farmers Market on a chilly Saturday morning, or on a balmy Tuesday afternoon at the Kenilworth Farmers Market in Towson, or amidst the bustling Sunday morning crowds at East Saratoga and Holiday streets. 

They’ve already made many fans with their handmade sweet and savory Sicilian delights. Fried arancini balls, biscottis, cannolis, focaccia bread, lemon ricotta cookies, and an array of other treats are offered up with a warm smile and a touch of finesse. They even have fresh milled flour. 

Starting Tuesday, the roving bakery will be taking up residence at R. House, offering folks in Remington a taste of Italy. Going forward they’ll be open Tuesday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the popular food hub. Their market stands will still continue business as usual with all the favorites folks have come to love.

The founders, 30-year-old Megan Cowman, hailing from Dundalk, and 31-year-old Baltimore native Luke Ilardo, find inspiration from family, tradition, world travel, fine dining, and even the deli around the corner.

The couple aren’t married, but Ilardo said being in business together is practically like tying the knot.

“Well we’re about to apply for a business loan, which is like getting married,” he said.

Cowman and Ilardo met in 2018 at The Full Moon bar in Carroll County, where Cowman was bartending. Ilardo described it as a biker bar with a Tiki Bar outside.

Born in Dundalk in Baltimore County, Cowman moved to Winfield in Carroll County when she was a young child. There, she was immersed in nature.

“I grew up in a really rural and isolated place in the foothills of the Frederick mountains and Appalachia,” she said. “I was always surrounded by agriculture. I remember it being a big deal when a neighbor’s cows were calving, and we’d have to walk up the road to go watch cow’s being birthed. Because of the isolation and the lack of neighborhoods, I spent a lot of time in the woods and the fields by myself, or with a couple of neighboring farm kids.”

Cowman spent a lot of time growing food and cooking with her maternal grandmother, who came from Lithuanian/Ashkenaz extraction. She grew up eating a lot of Northern European and Jewish fare from her mother’s background.

But Cowman also had strong culinary influences from her father’s side of the family back in Dundalk and Middle River, whom they visited almost every holiday. Her father’s family was half-Sicilian and half-Irish, but the Sicilian side usually won out.

“The Sicilian culture is so strong,” she said. “There’d be a lasagna, or some Geresbeck’s cannoli platter, or other store-bought southern Italian fare, but rarely was there an Irish platter of anything. So I grew up mostly identifying my father’s side with Sicilian fare. His Italian side, Serios, were from the town of Santo Stefano di Camastra.”

“There’d always been some store-bought platters of Southern-Italian food because my dad’s side was a bit removed from the old cooking ways,” Cowman continued, “and that’s when I really started to grow to appreciate that Italian-American strain of cuisine, while learning that it could be made so much better with things found in Maryland.”

Ilardo and Cowman both majored in journalism in college. But Cowman knew in her heart that she had another calling, one that would continually draw her back into the culinary world. 

“I always knew I’d be in food,” she said. 

After working in food chains and a pizza restaurant run by a Sicilian man as a teen, Cowman moved to Salem, Massachusetts, which she saw as “weird and pretty” and an opportunity to leave her “one-horse town” in Carroll County. Cowman worked at a fine Northern Italian restaurant called A Tavola in Winchester, and at a bakery on the sea in Swampscott. 

After living in Salem from 2013 to 2015, Cowman yearned for the mid-Atlantic and moved to Baltimore. She worked at a bar, then a pastry chef at the original JBGB, and later as a personal chef for private clients while taking nutrition courses. 

“In 2018 I finally made it to my great-grandmother’s town in Sicily, Santo Stefano di Camastra, and really learned what Sicilian food was,” she said. “I took some cooking classes while I was there, and I think I really started to dream about this concept then. In 2021, I left all of that for my trip down the Silk Road, an informal, self-led culinary education adventure that I knew would be the last big hurrah before inevitably returning home to start a business with Luke.”

Cowman traveled the middle section of the Silk Road, from the border of China and Kyrgyzstan, to the border of Europe. Between hostels and the occasional hotel, she’d stay with families to get an authentic taste of the cultures.

Back at R. House, curious customers peek into the window over tiny house plants which line the window sill. The couple brought them from their place to bring that feel of home. Over bubbling pans and wonderful aromas, Cowman continues to explain the reasons for her Silk Road adventure.

“I went on that journey for personal interest, the history of globalization, and the food spectrum,” she said. “My goal was to cook and eat as much as I could all the way across ’cause I figured I would take something away from how every one of these places does it, and I did. I feel very lucky to have had such a broad understanding of food and ingredients from the north of Europe, through the south Mediterranean, and from mountains and piedmont in Maryland to the Chesapeake.”

The inspiration of Cowman’s Silk Road journey can be seen in the many shades of baked goods  festooning their market tables, like the warm Uzbekian-style tandoori bread with intricate designs in the middle made from stamps used in the baking process to add that extra layer of wow. It’s these little details which make the duo’s food stand out from the rest. 

Cowman admits there was a learning curve at first. She recalls the awe-inspiring moment when she got to see the bread being made firsthand in Uzbekistan. She took notes, watching the bakers working hard to achieve the right consistency by pounding the bread into form, then braving the extreme heat of the traditional tandoor oven so as to slap the bread on the sides of the walls. “Those bakers put their whole arm inside a fire pit,” she said. “It was wild.”

A tall, bearded Ilardo takes a break from getting the food stall up to snuff. He leans against the metal counter and reminisces about his own food origins. 

“I started working at my dad’s pizzeria when I was 12 in Pigtown at the Montgomery Ward building making $5 an hour under the table. My parents were like ‘You’re getting into a lot of trouble. You need to start working.’ So they threw me into the kitchen, which is not a good place for a 12-year-old trying to stay out of trouble. They told me: ‘You’re too young to be up front dealing with customers so you’re working in the back making pizza.’ I worked there for a while and eventually started working in other kitchens.”

Like many other people, Ilardo’s family’s business was impacted by the Great Recession of the late 2000s.

“In 2008, my dad’s business took a real big hit,” he said. “Then he and one of my older brothers worked up a new thing that they opened up in the Baltimore casino called Piezzetta Pizza Kitchen. They have one in Baltimore’s Horseshoe Casino and one in a casino in Reno, Nevada.”

After graduating highschool, Ilardo moved to New Orleans where he worked in kitchens while taking night classes at Tulane University studying journalism. 

“I thought I was gonna get a degree in journalism and stay there, but they canceled the journalism program three years into it and told me maybe I should become a nurse,” he said.

“After New Orleans I moved to Colorado for a year which was hell,” Ilardo continues. “I didn’t like being in a landlocked state. I was three years into a journalism degree and lost a bunch of credits when I transferred so I ended up on class number three about how to write a thesis, and thought what the hell am I doing here?”

Ilardo dropped out of college and found a Craigslist ad for a farm on the Oregon coast that was looking for seasonal farm hands. He made the move, lived there for three and a half years, and was ready to plant roots when life threw him a curveball.

“I came back to Baltimore for the holidays in December of 2017, for what I thought would be a three-week visit. My dad suffered a massive heart attack over Christmas, and went into the hospital where he stayed for four and a half months until he passed in May 2018,” Ilardo said. “It was a tough time, and I decided to stick around Baltimore to regroup and be with family.”

Shortly after his father’s passing, Ilardo met Cowman.

“We didn’t start hanging out more seriously until 2020, but kept running into each other at the market,” he said. “I decided to go back to Oregon in March of 2021, and Megan took off for Central Asia in May of 2021. We linked up in Oregon later that summer.”

“I was working on a farm with some close friends growing produce,” he continued. “To supplement my meager farming income, I bought a small mill, and was milling local grains to sell at market. I also started baking a few things, like cookies, and cakes, to further supplement my income.” 

Luke smiles as Megan walks by.

“When she arrived, we scaled up baking as much as possible out of our 10×10 uninsulated, unplumbed shed next to a chicken coop. We drove back to Baltimore in October of 2021 and started at Doppio in April of ’22.”

Doppio Pasticceria Sicilian Bakery will have a soft opening Tuesday at their new spot at R. House in Remington. Customers can also stop by anytime between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. In addition to their popular items they will be introducing coffee drinks and some other soon-to-be-announced additions to their menu at the R. House location. 

Customers can also visit Doppio Pasticceria Sicilian Bakery at the following markets:

Kenilworth Farmers Market (Tuesdays 3 p.m.-6 p.m.) 800 Kenilworth Drive, Towson, MD 21204

32nd Street Farmers Market (Saturdays 7 a.m.-12 p.m.) 400 E. 32nd St., Baltimore, MD 21218

Baltimore Farmers’ Market and Bazaar (Sundays 7 a.m.-12 p.m.) East Saratoga Street & Holliday St, Baltimore, MD 21202

Spring temperatures are mild this weekend, but Baltimore is going to be burning up with the Jonas Brothers on Friday. The weekend also brings two inaugural events: the Waverly Book Festival and the BSO’s GospelFest, sure to please bookworms and gospel music fans, respectively.

And there’s an array of art exhibitions, performances, and more to keep you entertained.

Check out our lineup and make some fun weekend plans:

Waverly Book Festival, Friday, April 28, through Sunday, April 30, Waverly neighborhood. Baltimore’s Waverly neighborhood is starting a new chapter with their first-ever Waverly Book Festival this weekend, featuring authors, bookstores and other vendors. Participating authors include D. Watkins, Devin Allen, Tarana Burke, Lawrence Burney, Alanah Nicole Davis, Teri Henderson, Baynward Woods, and more. Read more in this Baltimore Fishbowl article.

Jonas Brothers, Friday, April 28, doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m., Baltimore Soundstage. If you’re a sucker for Kevin, Joe, and Nick, you’ll want to catch them live here in Baltimore. For one night only, the Jonas Brothers will perform at Baltimore Soundstage.

Shen Yun, Friday, April 28, through Sunday, April 30, Hippodrome Theatre. Shen Yun returns to Baltimore, telling the story of five millennia of Chinese culture through music, dance and theater.

GospelFest, Friday, April 28, and Saturday, April 29, Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Gospel singer Karen Clark Sheard, a founding member of The Clark Sisters, will headline the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s first-ever GospelFest. Read more about it in this Baltimore Fishbowl article.

Monster Jam, Friday, April 28, through Sunday, April 30, CFG Bank Arena. Rev your engines and get ready to rumble at the Monster Jam this weekend. Monster truck drivers will race, perform donuts, and show off other tricks.

See Beyond Festival, Saturday, April 29, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Maryland School for the Blind campus. The Maryland School for the Blind will host their second annual See Beyond Festival, where attendees of all vision levels can participate in blind sports like goalball, beep baseball, and more. There will also be braille crafts, blind taste tests, guide dog demonstrations, live music, and accessible playground, and more.

Nerdpocalypse, Saturday, April 29, 3-9 p.m., Power Plant Live! Nerds, geeks, cosplayers, and anyone else who wants to have a good time can party at this festive fandom event. Featuring video games, virtual reality experiences, fandom-themed bars, a cosplay contest, bull riding, axe throwing, a free photo opportunity with the Knight Rider Kitt Car, rave sets by DJ Villainess, karaoke, sing-alongs, and more, Power Plant Live will be the place to be when the Nerdpocalypse strikes.

Artists for Autism, Saturday, April 29, Eubie Blake National Jazz and Cultural Center. Young Baltimoreans will perform spoken word, poetry, dancing, singing, and rapping. Proceeds will benefit the Roxanne L. Reeds Scholarship in Baltimore to fund educational expenses for autistic young adults.

Katalepsis, Sunday, April 30, 2-4 p.m., The Peale. The immersive Katalepsis show explores a potential future in which humans are no longer Earth’s dominant life form. Audience members — appearing as “holobeings from the past” — will help three Creators create content for their Benefactors. The show has been extended through May 7.

Korean Ceramics Lecture, Sunday, April 30, 2-3:30 p.m., Walters Art Museum. Hear a lecture about Korean ceramics and their development through history by Robert D. Mowry, the Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art Emeritus at Harvard Art Museums and Senior Consultant at Christie’s. There will be a Q&A session with Mowry after the lecture.

Grow your personal library and hear from authors during the seventh annual Books in Bloom Festival in Downtown Columbia on May 13.

This year’s festival will be headlined by Nikki Giovanni, a Black poet, activist, and author; and Chasten Buttigieg, a teacher, LGBTQIA+ advocate, and author. 

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Color Burst Park, located at 6000 Merriweather Drive in Columbia. It is free and open to the public, though attendees are encouraged to RSVP.

“I am excited to welcome Chasten Buttigieg and Nikki Giovanni as headliners for this year’s Books in Bloom festival, providing a platform for important conversations, with Chasten and Nikki set to inspire us all with a shared dedication to education and equality,” said Phillip Dodge, executive director of the Downtown Columbia Partnership, in a statement. “Through the power of books, we can explore diverse perspectives and engage in meaningful dialogue that enriches our lives and expands our horizons. As the largest progressive book festival in the region, Books in Bloom provides a space for these conversations, encouraging us to learn, grow, and connect with one another.”

Buttigieg, whose husband is U.S. Secretary of Transportation and 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, has newly released a young adult adaptation of his 2021 memoir, “I Have Something to Tell You,” about being gay in a small town in the Midwest. Buttigieg will share personal stories about his journey of embracing his identity. 

Giovanni is a New York Times bestselling author and seven-time winner of the NAACP Image Award. Her latest book, “A Library,” is a children’s novel about the magic of libraries. Giovanni will read from her work as well as discuss how social issues intersect with children’s literature. The author previously held a sold-out event at Busboys and Poets in Downtown Columbia in November 2021.

The festival will also include authors Aiden Thomas of “Cemetery Boys”; Chrissy King of “The Body Liberation Project”; Efrén C. Olivares of “My Boy Will Die of Sorrow: A Memoir of Immigration from the Front Lines”; Eleanor Herman of “Off With Her Head – Three Thousand Years of Demonizing Women in Power”; Emily Barth Isler of “Aftermath”; Eric Klinenberg of “Palaces For The People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, And The Decline Of Civic Life”; Kevin Naff of “How We Won the War for LGBTQ Equality”; Manuel Betancourt of “The Male Gazed”; Maureen Johnson of “The Truly Devious Series”; Sarah Cypher of “The Skin And Its Girl”; and Rafael Alvarez of “Don’t Count Me Out.”

There will be discussions around freedom of speech, freedom of expression, banned books, race, gender, and more.

The Books in Bloom Festival began in 2017 to celebrate Columbia’s 50th anniversary. It is presented by the Downtown Columbia Partnership and The Howard Hughes Corporation.

“From the start, Columbia was envisioned to be a garden for growing people,” said Greg Fitchitt, president for the Columbia Region for The Howard Hughes Corporation, in a statement. “We are proud to support Books in Bloom as a part of our continued commitment to James Rouse’s vision for a vibrant, thriving community valuing civic life and building an inclusive culture.”

4014 Greenway, Baltimore.

Hot House: Stunning stucco Palmer & Lamdin with putting green in the heart of Guilford. 8 bedrooms/7 bathrooms. 6,488 square feet. Asking price: $2.2 million.

What: As you know, if there’s a Palmer & Lamdin property on the market, I am probably going to write about it, so here’s the most recent P&L house – a gorgeous stucco home, on a corner lot in the heart of Guilford, complete with a putting green. This is the first time this house has been on the market in nearly 30 years.

This house, which sits on just over a half-acre corner lot, is a very short stroll to the famed Sherwood Gardens. It is on the corner of Greenway and Highfield Road, with the entrance to the house on Greenway and to the garage on Highfield.

One of the main attributes of this house is that nearly all of the windows on the ground floor are floor-to-ceiling arched French doors, which elevates the elegance both inside and out. As you enter the house, you will notice a small, rounded brick terrace with a portico, and an oversized set of double French doors above it.

As typical of homes of this era, you enter through a large center hallway, with the living room and dining room, both with fireplaces, on either side. The sweeping staircase is above and behind you, and the French doors on the landing provide a lot of morning light. The kitchen with its terra-cotta floor has been modernized and includes a breakfast room.

The second floor contains the primary suite, which includes a porch off the side, an en-suite bathroom and a walk-in closet. There are four additional bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. The third floor has a large area which could be used as a playroom, a work-out room or an entertainment space, as well as three additional bedrooms and another bathroom.

The grounds of this property feature a brick patio, outdoor kitchen, old-growth plantings, including specimen trees, mature gardens and a large lawn. One unique feature is the on-site putting green where you can practice for hours on end. The two-story, jerkin-head garage is entered via Highfield Road with access to the upper level via the back yard.

Where: This house is in the heart of Guilford, just a minute’s walk from Sherwood Gardens, and an easy drive to downtown Baltimore. It’s convenient to the shops and restaurants along St. Paul’s Street, including a Starbucks! It is also a short drive to the schools and shops on Roland Avenue. But it is also a quiet oasis in the city.

Final Appraisal: If you’re a fan of Palmer & Lamdin or the gracious style of living from the 1920’s, this is the perfect house. The unusually large number of arched French doors makes this one of unique good looks. It is a perfect house for entertaining family and friends! The listing for the house is here.

All photographs from the listing.

Late April is a busy time in Charm City and Baltimore restaurants have a full dance card this week, including appearances at festivals, wine and cocktail dinners, and new menus. Here’s a look at what’s coming up:

Openings & announcements

Earlier this week, the owners of Canton’s Verde announced it will open a Federal Hill outpost, operating out of a food truck on Key Highway. The pizza spot will open in the former home of the On Brazilian Time food truck, and is partnering with Crushed Velvet, a shaved ice concept, which will operate out of the former gas station building on the same property.

Ouzo Beach has reopened for the season – just in time for gorgeous spring temps and sunny weather.

Woodberry Tavern, the new spin on Woodberry Kitchen, continues to tweak its approach. The Clipper Mill restaurant has lowered some pricing and added the burger to the dinner menu, instead of just making it available during earlier hours.

Changes are afoot at JBGB’s. The butchery aspect of the Remington restaurant, which is about to celebrate two years in business, will have limited hours (Friday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.) through May 2. After that, JBGB’s Butchery will reopen with a new name and menu options, including sandwiches currently offered at John Brown’s, JBGB’s sister butchery. JBGB’s will continue to offer meats in the case and via special order and the sit-down restaurant menu will also still be available.

Beloved South Baltimore institution Baba’s Mediterranean Kitchen announced this week that it will close after service on May 14. The restaurant’s owner cited “business changes in a post-COVID world” and expressed his sadness at the news, while also announcing that the kitchen staff would be moving on to positions at other local spots, Café Campli and EAT.

Hotel drinks

Mid-spring is such a great time to get out of the house for a drink or two. This month, local bars are providing some additional incentive, with new cocktail menus and venues.

LB Skybar, the rooftop bar at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, will reopen on April 28 – for the first time since 2019. The Skybar offers excellent views of downtown, plus fun specialty drinks, beers and light fare.

B-Side Cocktail Lounge in the Hotel Revival, is celebrating its first anniversary with a new drinks menu including some beautiful new choices, like the “Don’t Say Goodnight,” a mix of gin, Aperitivo Bianco, Velvet Falernum, plum bitters and lime oil.

Happy birthday to Mr. Trash Wheel

Inner Harbor icon Mr. Trash Wheel turns nine this weekend – and the city is celebrating with a party at Pierce’s Park. The family-friendly party starts at 1 p.m. and features a performance by Fluid Movement, a trash “birthday cake” that will be fed to the wheel, and the opportunity to purchase Peabody Heights Brewery’s Mr. Trash Wheel beer and its brand new Mr. Trash Wheel Hard Selzer (a strawberry-mint flavor). 

Lock House Craft Beer & Wine Fest

On Saturday, the Lock House Craft Beer & Wine Fest returns to Havre de Grace for its fifth year. The festival, which takes place on the grounds of the Susquehanna Museum at the Lock House, features food, beer and wine from tons of great local companies, including Taco Bar Food Truck, Delisha Peruvian, Red’s Smokehouse, The Abbey Burger, Shell & Barrell Oysters and Havre de Bakes.

Ramps & Rosé at Foraged

This week, from Saturday to Saturday, Foraged Eatery is showcasing the best of spring with its annual Ramps & Rosé menu. Multiple menu items will feature delicately-flavored ramps, which are only available for the briefest of windows in early spring in Maryland.

Black Ankle Earth Day dinners

Speaking of Foraged, chef/owner Chris Amendola will pop up at Black Ankle Vineyards on Sunday evening for a chef’s dinner hosted in honor of Earth Day. Black Ankle is busy this weekend, with another dinner planned for Saturday night – that one featuring Ggoma Supper Club’s Chef Tae Strain and JBGB’s Chef Tyler Johnson.

Feastival

Rash Field welcomes one of the city’s best food-related fundraisers on Saturday afternoon. Feastival, benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, features a terrific lineup of food and beverage companies, including Dutch Courage, Taharka Bros., The Urban Oyster, Kora Lee’s, Black Acres Roastery, James Joyce, Marta, Clavel, Guardian Baltimore, RA Sushi, Café Fili, The Tilted Row, Guilford Hall Brewery, Union Craft Brewing, Baltimore Waffle Co., True Chesapeake Oyster Co., The Local Oyster, The Capital Grille, Groundwork Kitchen, Italian Disco, BLK Swan, Baltimore Spirits Company, Copper & Shark, The Waterfront Hotel, La Cuchara, CAnE Collective and more.

Oysterfest season

The Manor Tavern kicks off a long weekend of oyster specials and fun events on Wednesday, April 26. The celebration, which will raise money for the Oyster Recovery Partnership, culminates in a big ticketed Oyster Festival featuring live music, an oyster bar and more on Sunday, April 30.

Fells Point is also getting in on the oyster action, with Fells Point Oyster Fest starting on Friday, April 28 and running through the weekend. The festival, which takes place throughout the neighborhood, is organized with the help of Kooper’s Tavern and Max’s Taphouse, and will feature live music every day, crafts, oysters and more food – and a chess tournament.

Tucán, a cocktail dinner

On Thursday, Alma Cocina Latina, Don Q Rum and Baltimore Spirits Co. team up for a three-course cocktail dinner featuring Venezuelan dishes paired with drinks made with ingredients from Don Q and Baltimore Spirits Co.

Laotian learning

Charming Elephant is leaning into the “charm” part of its name with an online series sharing education about how to eat traditional Laotian dishes. The Canton restaurant celebrated Lao New Year this week and is a great resource not just for good food but also for learning about the culture of Laos.

Planning for the future

Mark your calendars for:

April 28: Fells Point Oyster Fest

May 3: Afro Mexican Pop-Up at Clavel

May 11: Bourbon & Bowties

Developer P. David Bramble on Wednesday cleared a key hurdle in his efforts to “reimagine” Harborplace when Baltimore’s Board of Estimates voted to amend a ground lease between his company and the city, paving the way for the property’s redevelopment.

The Board of Estimates initially approved the lease in 1979 to spell out the terms and conditions under which a developer is allowed to operate the two Harborplace pavilions, which occupy roughly three acres at the southeast corner of Pratt and Light streets in Baltimore. 

The lease was made between the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, the landowner, and an affiliate of The Rouse Company, the developer that opened Harborplace on July 2, 1980. It has been amended several times as the property changed hands over the years.

The document approved Wednesday is the fourth amendment to the 1979 lease. It was drafted to reflect the most recent change in Harborplace’s ownership, from Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation to an affiliate of Bramble’s company, MCB Real Estate, which took over as Harborplace’s owner last year. No exchange of funds was involved in Wednesday’s transaction.

Colin Tarbert, president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation, said at the Board of Estimates meeting that the lease amendment was needed to facilitate the redevelopment of Harborplace, a project that’s considered critical to the revitalization of downtown Baltimore and its waterfront.

He said the 125,000-square-foot property has been “in limbo” for the past several years, after Ashkenazy experienced financial problems, a court-appointed receiver assumed control, and most of its tenants left. He said the city worked with the receiver to identify a new owner to bring the area back to life.

“Today is a milestone,” he told the board. “This allows us to officially now move forward with the reimagining and the redeveloping of Harborplace.”

Changes to the lease

Under the latest amendment, the city assigns the ground lease to MCP HP Baltimore LLC, the affiliate of MCB Real Estate that has replaced Ashkenazy as the developer of Harborplace.

According to materials presented to the Board of Estimates, the amendment also states that the city will “waive any and all existing defaults under the lease,” and “abate, for the ‘Development Period’ of up to three (3) years, any rent owed to the city under the lease.”

It states that MCB Real Estate, “in furtherance of the goal of community engagement, will endeavor to develop a program for ‘pop up’ rentals for local businesses during the Development Period” and “will maintain Harborplace in the condition in which it [was] received at the time of settlement.”

Finally, it states that the developer and the city “will endeavor to work in good faith on a redevelopment plan for Harborplace, the specific development plan for which may require further amendments to the lease.”

Two-step strategy

Bramble has previously outlined a two-step strategy for redeveloping Harborplace. The first step, he said at a recent meeting of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, is to find tenants to occupy the existing Pratt Street and Light Street pavilions on a short-term basis, so they won’t remain empty and more people will come back to the waterfront.

The second step is to arrive at a long-term redevelopment plan for the property, which could involve major changes to the existing buildings in order to attract and accommodate long-range occupants. Bramble has said he wants to launch a “community engagement process” to help his team arrive at a vision for redeveloping Harborplace.  

“We’re super excited about the concept of interim use,” he said at the Downtown Partnership meeting. “Everybody knows this project is going to take a lot of planning. However, we can’t let our crown jewel sit around and languish while we work” on long-range plans.

The language about ‘a program for pop-up rentals’ is consistent with Bramble’s previous statements about the first step of his development strategy and his desire to activate the waterfront. In the past, the city’s ground lease has expressly limited the number of short-term or pop-up tenants allowed in and around the Harborplace pavilions.

The language about the good faith planning effort is consistent with Bramble’s statements about the need to take sufficient time to develop a long-term vision for Harborplace without allowing the property itself to remain dormant.

Tarbert said there were no “existing defaults” under the lease, but the amendment was written to make sure MCB was “not inheriting anything that they did not cause.” He said the “development period” may not take three years but “we have given ourselves three years in the agreement” to provide a time cushion in case it does.

Bramble did not address the Board of Estimates on Wednesday. He told the Downtown Partnership last month that he hopes to launch the ‘community engagement’ process soon.

Once a profound presence at lakes in Columbia, resident geese are finding the grass really is greener on the other side. For years the Columbia Association has been managing their goose population on community lakes, and for years the geese have been looking to increase their own territory.

One of the most effective methods of control have been working dogs like border collies Lotus, Levi, and Ben who are led by handlers from Maryland Geese Control, located in Westminster. They have been patrolling Columbia’s waters, and are helping make the community’s lakes less attractive to congregating flocks of Canada geese.

Dogs and their handlers in boats “police multiple sites, including Lakes Elkhorn, Wilde, and Kittmaqundi every day, 365 days a year,” said Nicholas Mooneyhan, director of open space operations for the Columbia Association. “Some of those locations are multiple visits. They will go out in canoes, swim after the geese, run after the geese. It’s quite remarkable, and it’s a really humane, effective way of keeping (geese) off our property.”

Mooneyhan said the goose challenge has been ongoing in Columbia for over two decades. Media reports from 2012 related that two years after the previously hired dogs had stopped working the lakes the geese returned in abundance once again.

Today’s management of geese can end up being especially relevant at this time of year, when Canada geese nest and grow their families. Since the hatchlings can’t fly, the border collies aren’t allowed after them, but the geese are encouraged not to nest in active areas, Mooneyhan said.

Later, when dogs do chase the geese again, the birds fly, seeking friendlier fields and waters. Some Columbia nature lovers may be sad to see them go, but others, not so much.

The geese create an abundance of goose droppings, which often get smeared over Columbia’s many public walkways. Pressure washing is done, but complaints are steady, Mooneyhan said. The water pollution and danger of E. coli the droppings can create are also unappealing to many of Columbia’s human residents.

A trip to Columbia’s Lake Kittamaqundi’s pier on Monday found human visitors enjoying sitting in the grassy areas there to do yoga, strolling on the paths, fishing, and using the playground at nearby Bailey Park. Much of that might not be possible without the dog’s regular visits.

Only two geese were visible on the lake Monday afternoon. The pair seemed highly sensitive to a pedestrian walking their dog nearby, immediately retreating to the water. One park visitor said they weren’t fond of the geese, because his own dog ate the droppings and would often get sick.

Another visitor thought the management program was effective in allowing human residents to enjoy the manmade lake.

Heather Duncan from Columbia was enjoying the lakeside as her child used the playground.

“I haven’t seen one goose in the past two days,” she said. “I’ve been here twice. The geese obviously are being managed. I like seeing wildlife and wildlife being able to act naturally, but geese poop does become a problem, and geese aren’t that nice.

It is an issue that impacts many Maryland communities. Resident Canada geese are actually considered a subspecies of migratory Canada geese, Maryland Department of Natural Resources waterfowl project manager Josh Homyack said in a recent interview. There are approximately one million migratory Canada Geese that come to Maryland each year. The year-round resident geese number is about 70,000.

The resident geese were introduced by Americans many decades ago.

“It’s a big problem,“ Homyack said. “In urban and suburban areas it’s harder to control the problem, which is typically conducted through regulated sport hunting. These are all (descendants of) captive-reared birds …those birds are here because man brought them here – captive birds that were released in refuges. You used to be able to buy a pair of (Canada) geese and keep them on your pond if you wanted to.”

Homyack said generally the resident Canada geese are larger than migratory birds, with higher reproductive capacity because they don’t have to expend energy on migration. Although there could be a very small amount of overlap between the two goose species, he said, tens of thousands of years of evolution drive the migratory birds to their nesting grounds 1,000 miles north of Montreal, Canada each year.

Locally, the regular not-so-wild goose chase in Columbia shows no signs of changing, as humans continue to enjoy their constantly-reclaimed waterfront, and the geese are ever vigilant to find an opportunity to get a new webbed-foot hold on the lakes.

“Every homeowners association that has a pond likely has some type of mitigation efforts,” Mooneyhan said. “It’s the same geese. Everybody has to do their own thing (goose mitigation), and if you’re the one who’s not doing it, you just gave them a place to go to.”

Adult life is hard, and I have yet to meet anyone who actually feels like a grown-up. Most of us are making it up as we go along, trying our best to be decent humans, doing as little damage as we can. The political state of our country hasn’t helped matters, and making sense of all the anger buzzing around us is an exercise in frustration at best, despair at worst. Add to this the ups and downs of love – well, it ain’t easy. Hestia Harris gets it: “Life is a near-constant calculation of risks” she tells us, and she also believes we “are born knowing everything we need to know about love.” 

Through her deeply relatable and likable protagonist, Hestia, Christine Grillo has channeled the fear and rage and craziness of the past decade, giving readers a smart, hilarious, and ultimately compassionate view of what it is to live a meaningful life in a world full of strong opinions and even stronger weapons. 

Hestia Strikes a Match is the story of a woman in her early 40s, newly single thanks to the second Civil War (she is ostensibly widowed when her husband leaves to fight for the cause), and trying to figure out how to navigate dating, friendship, family, and career in a world defined by divisive politics and violence. Grillo manages to capture the uncertainty and fear of this era of political extremes, at the same time showing the difficulties of simply moving through middle age with more questions than answers, coming to terms with loneliness and compromise, and ultimately making peace with the myriad forces beyond our control.

I caught up with Chris and she answered some of my questions about this stunning debut.

Baltimore Fishbowl: Did you set out to write a novel that takes place during a civil war or did that come later? How did the plot of this novel evolve?

Christine Grillo: I think the first spark for this novel was a conversation with an old friend, someone whom I had really liked and would have characterized as simpatico. The conversation took place during the Trump Administration, and we were catching up after about 15 years. As we chatted, I realized that he had become shockingly right-wing. That exchange made me think a lot about what ideology can do to friendship and love, and I started writing about crappy romances taking place during a civil war.

BFB: What research, if any, did you do to write this book? How did the real-world events of Trump and January 6, etc. influence your writing/revision process?

CG: Life can be stranger than fiction, and real-world events proved satire-worthy. What feels weird to me now is that some of the events I “invented” for the novel later came true. For example, in the novel, terrorists bring down Baltimore’s electric grid, and in February of this year, neo-Nazis were arrested for plotting attacks on Baltimore’s electrical sub-stations. But back to your question: I had to do some reading about the original civil war to figure out the mechanics of what happened when, and I adjusted for today. I wrote timelines for the current unraveling, as well as a Declaration of Immediate Causes that Impel Secession, and even a preamble to the New Confederated States of America’s constitution. And does watching Derry Girls count as research?

BFB: Those Derry girls know civil war, so yes, that is 100% research! What was the most challenging part of writing this novel?

CG: I had a hard time figuring out why Hestia wants to find love. I got very granular with that question, trying to nail down what, exactly, people crave when they’re looking for a partner. Is it the hand-holding? Is it someone to text with? A best friend? What is it? But something else I struggled with then and now is the worry that I’ve made light of civil war. The novel is often humorous, but I don’t think there’s anything funny about our current ideological conflict. In a real-life civil war, people like Hestia, Mildred, Sarah, and Ed would probably be fine, because they have resources. But there are so many Americans—people whom we glimpse in the novel but are not represented fully—whose lives would be devastated by civil war. 

BFB: I’m glad you mention the humor in the novel, which reviewers – and even the jacket blurb – have noted. Did you set out to write a “slyly funny” novel? How did humor help you tell Hestia’s story?

CG: Civil war, white nationalism, and insurrection were all very much on my mind when I started writing this book. I wanted to write about those things, but I didn’t want to write a depressing book about how doomed we are. Who wants to read that? Characters like Hestia, Mildred, and Sarah allowed me to build a sad world, because their insecurities, squabbles, and confusions yield funny conversations and situations. Funny people are funny whether there’s a civil war not, which is a helpful fact.

BFB: Indeed! And one of the funniest characters is the inimitable Mildred, a sparky 80-something who provides much of the wisdom in the novel. Hestia’s job at a nursing home and the inclusion of excerpts from a writing club Hestia conducts with the residents of the home provide further perspectives from the octogenarian set. Was a nursing home always a part of Hestia’s story?

CG: Mildred is probably an amalgamation of several older ladies in my life who had no filter. I love when elderly people don’t hold back, because they have actual wisdom to share, unlike young people. The retirement village was a way for Hestia, who’s clueless in so many ways, to mingle with people who know some stuff and have seen some things. I remember talking with a dear friend’s elderly mother, I was remarking on how warm and generous she is, and she said, “Oh, well, I’m also petty and resentful and vindictive.” She said it with zero judgment toward herself. She just owned it. I love women like that and wanted to represent them.

BFB: Hestia’s other bestie is younger – a millennial – who provides an excellent foil for Mildred.

When I started writing the novel, Sarah mostly existed to illustrate how frustrating it is to be the Gen Xer who has to deal with the annoying tensions between millennials and Boomers in the workplace. But an agent wanted me to expand Sarah’s arc, and when I shared a draft with the Baltimore Fishbowl’s very own Betsy Boyd, she said, “Chris, you should make Sarah a foil.” So, of course, I did.

BFB: Already the book is receiving rave reviews and appearing on must-read lists. How does it feel?

It feels like I’ve won the lottery! I have no idea how this happened. But I’m also trying to detach a little bit from the reviews and lists now, because self-care means not checking Goodreads.  

BFB: Fair enough, but so far everything I’ve seen has been positive. The novel is so vivid, as I read I kept imagining the Netflix series. Have you thought about what actors would play the roles in a TV/movie version?

I certainly have! I have a long list. For Hestia, it’s a toss-up between Aubrey Plaza, Abbi Jacobson, and Lizzy Caplan. For Mildred, I’d love to see Judith Light or Lily Tomlin. There’s a UN Peacekeeper, Marcello, who I want to be played by Pedro Pascal. I can see Zach Galifianakis as the brother-in-law, Jamie, and I can see Alexei, the bartender, played by Jason Mantzoukis. I want Jack Black to be cast as Johnny Puppets, and I want Monkey Tea Tom to be played by Blake Anderson. I could go on, but I’ll finish by saying that Isabella Rossellini has to play the part of Clara, and if she could bring one of her goats from her farm to the set, I get first dibs on feeding it.  

Upcoming Events for Hestia Strikes a Match

Monday 4/17 Politics & Prose, Bethesda MD (in conversation with Angie Kim) 

https://www.politics-prose.com/event/book/christine-grillo-hestia-strikes-match-angie-kim-conn-ave

Thursday 4/20 The Ivy Bookshop, Baltimore MD (in conversation with Elizabeth Hazen)

https://www.theivybookshop.com/upcomingevent/33591

Saturday 4/22 Old Town Books, Alexandria VA (in conversation with Kristin Zory King)

Saturday 4/29 The Annapolis Book Festival (with Nikki Payne, Martha Anne Toll, Michelle Brafman)

https://www.keyschool.org/community/annapolis-book-festival/festival-panels

Tuesday 5/2 The Curious Iguana and Frederick Public Library, Frederick MD

Tuesday 5/31 The Center for Fiction, Brooklyn NY (with Elliot Ackerman)

BONUS! Here’s a 5-minute audiobook clip: https://soundcloud.com/macaudio-2/hestia-strikes-a-match-by-christine-grillo/s-KERQHr8prHg

For the first time ever, VidCon will hold an East Coast event this year – and it will happen right here in Baltimore.

The annual convention for online video creators and fans will take place at the Baltimore Convention Center on Sept. 29 to Oct. 1.

Among the first round of video creators announced for the Baltimore convention are the Merrell Twins, Molly Burke, Aimsey, Ranboo, Queen Khamyra, and SeanDoesMagic, as well as a handful of local Baltimore creators, including CircleToonsHD, ContraPoints, and Rich Black Guy. Organizers plan to announced additional Featured Creators, speakers, partners, and programming in the coming months.

Attendees can purchase tickets online at VidCon’s website.

The convention’s expansion to the East Coast is a long time coming, said VidCon Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications Sarah Tortoreti.

“We’re thrilled to be expanding to the east coast, further solidifying VidCon’s presence and commitment to connecting fans from all over and celebrating those making the biggest impact on the digital world,” Tortoreti said in a statement. “It’s something we’ve been looking to do for some time, and it’s exciting that it’s finally coming to life. VidCon Baltimore will feature VidCon’s signature Industry and Community Tracks, where some of the biggest local and global creators across the gaming, lifestyle and comedy verticals will meet with a new group of fans, while top executives discuss the latest trends shaping the online video industry.”

Founded in 2010 by YouTubers and brothers John and Hank Green, also known as the “vlogbrothers,” VidCon was acquired in 2018 by Viacom (now Paramount).

The annual event was held in Los Angeles for its first two years before moving in 2012 to Anaheim, California. The organizers have also held international VidCon events in Amsterdam, Netherlands; London, United Kingdom; Melbourne, Australia; Singapore; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Mexico City, Mexico.

Last year’s VidCon Anaheim took a hybrid approach, allowing fans to livestream the event. The virtual option will continue this year with the Baltimore convention and other events.

Local arts advocates are questioning whether the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA) is the appropriate agency to serve as the city’s official arts council, with responsibility for stewardship and conservation of the city’s valuable collection of historic and contemporary art.

Mayor Brandon Scott in January expressed lack of confidence in the leadership of former BOPA CEO Donna Drew Sawyer and called for her resignation, which he got.

The advocates, a group that calls itself Friends of Public Art, or FOPA for short, are questioning whether BOPA is the right entity to be in charge of making decisions about Baltimore’s vast public art inventory, or commissioning future works of public art in the city.

They suggest that relying on BOPA, a quasi-public agency that’s not a direct branch of city government, makes no sense and essentially leaves Baltimore without a true arts council.

Furthermore, they say the combination of “promotion” and “the arts” in one agency is a questionable marriage that belittles the role of art and culture in Baltimore. They suggest that the city “untangle” promotion and the arts and explore other organizational structures for a full-fledged arts council — preferably one that is part of city government and not a quasi-public agency under contract with the city.

Finally, they say the city needs to be stricter about enforcing its Percent for Art ordinance, which requires that a portion of the construction budget for city buildings and infrastructure be used to create public art or to conserve existing works of city-owned art. They say the city has been lax about monitoring adherence to the Percent for Arts ordinance and has missed opportunities to enrich the landscape as a result.

“I think that there’s a question of whether it was a good idea to put promotion and the arts together in an agency, in a quasi-public agency, in the first place,” said Baltimore sculptor Mary Ann Mears, one of the members of Friends of Public Art, during a recent meeting of Baltimore’s Public Art Commission. “Boston did that and they pulled them back apart in 2014. So that’s one thing that should be on the table for the arts community to take into consideration.”

Another issue, Mears said, “is that Baltimore has never had a true arts council…We’ve never had a real arts council.”

A real arts council, she said, “is a city arts agency funded by a city government and it’s what every other city has and it’s what our arts community really deserves. Whether or not festivals and Artscape-sorts of things belong under an arts council or under a promotion agency, it’s a question… I would say the history of BOPA is that it has gone to one extreme or the other, and that’s a serious problem.”

Even though it’s mandated by the city’s Percent for Arts ordinance, funding for new works of art and conservation of existing public art has been an issue because BOPA is not a city agency, Mears said.

“In terms of our view, there has been a real problem with the ordinance, which does provide for conservation funding through the capital budget,” she said. “That has not been enforced. We’ve been in conversations with the Comptroller about that, and again, I think that BOPA being outside of city government has been a real hurdle, a real barrier. And the way I see it, BOPA has been pushing a boulder uphill because they’re not a city agency.”

Mears, who is married to longtime Abell Foundation president Robert C. Embry Jr., wrote a letter to Scott earlier this year asking him to use the change in leadership at BOPA – a change that he instigated — to take a fresh look at how the city supports the arts and local artists.

She told the art commission that she believes there is a strong desire on the part of Baltimore’s arts community to come together and have “an inclusive conversation” about “what the priorities of the city should be in the arts, how the city should be serving its fantastic arts community, and to do it in a way that is inclusive and is responsive to all the corners of our city.”

Mears is one of three “Friends of Public Art” representatives who outlined their concerns to members of the Public Art Commission, a citizens board that reviews proposals for new works of public art in the city and conservation of existing works of art.

She appeared via Zoom along with Linda De Palma, a local sculptor, and Cindy Kelly, an art historian and author of a seminal book about Baltimore’s outdoor public sculpture, “Outdoor Sculpture in Baltimore: A Historical Guide to Public Art in the Monumental City.”

Mears said after the meeting that her letter to the mayor represented her personal views, but De Palma and Kelly said they agree with the points she made and echoed them in their meeting with the art commission.  They say they aren’t questioning the role or value of the Public Art Commission, which is part of city government but not set up to serve as the city’s arts council.

‘Missing pieces’

Baltimore contains hundreds of works of city-owned art, both indoors and outdoors, contemporary works such as the abstract Mark di Suvero sculpture near the World Trade Center, and historic pieces such as the Antoine-Louis Barye bronzes in Mount Vernon Place. Many of the so-called contemporary pieces date from the 1970s, a period when Baltimore required that new schools, fire stations and other civic structures incorporate works of public art.

Kelly said she is concerned that Baltimore is failing to conserve works of public art that need repair and periodic maintenance. She said the city is losing valuable works of art because they don’t receive adequate oversight and protection.

Kelly said she was hired by Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) to survey the city’s inventory of outdoor sculpture in 1991 and she surveyed it in 2009 for her book and again in 2014. 

Between the 1991 survey and the 2014 survey, she said, many pieces were lost for a variety of reasons, from damage to neglect to removal, accidental or otherwise.

“The number of missing pieces grew exponentially, unexplained,” she said. “We finally convinced BOPA they should survey the indoor pieces because I was only surveying the outdoor pieces, and they did. It was somewhat incomplete, but we were able to document, using the inflation calculator…$1.7 million worth of lost art, indoors and outdoors, and that is taxpayer money. So it just has become increasingly obvious to us over the years that the city must start taking care of its artwork….We are losing pieces just from disintegration, just from paying no attention.” 

Kelly said one of the biggest problems today is that many of the city’s works of art aren’t marked with any signs or labels, and if they become damaged or vandalized no one knows whom to contact. 

“That’s one of the most important things,” she said. “It might not seem so, but just to have a sign that gives the title of the piece, the artist’s name, the year it was commissioned, what the material is and who to call if there’s a problem with the piece,” can make a difference.

Without on-site documentation of the art, “it becomes a problem for the schools and the community health centers and the fire stations, because they don’t know who to call; they don’t know what to do about it. And so, well-meaningly, they repaint it and half the work out there doesn’t look like it did when it was installed.”

Kelly said conservation of public art is important because “it represents our city. It’s part of the cultural landscape.” The art work at public schools is especially critical to protect, she said, because “in many cases it’s the first, if not the only, introduction to art that a student has.”

Strategic thinking

The FOPA members were invited to address the Public Art Commission by Alma Roberts, an artist on the panel. Roberts told the commission she was aware of FOPA’s concerns and the letter that Mears wrote to Scott about the state of the arts in Baltimore, pegged to Sawyer’s resignation.

Roberts said she agrees with Mears that the transition period between Sawyer’s resignation in mid-January and the appointment of a new CEO for BOPA, which hasn’t happened yet, is an ideal time for Scott and the local arts community to evaluate how the system works and whether it’s the best Baltimore can do, and she wanted the art commission to be part of the conversation.

“Is the Public Art Commission in the right place, being under BOPA?” Roberts asked the other panel members. “Let’s use this interim period to do some strategic thinking…This is the time to reflect on goals and objectives.”  

According to its website, BOPA is 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves as the arts council, events producer and film office for the City of Baltimore. In addition to organizing almost every fun, free city-wide event, BOPA uplifts Baltimore’s creative community through funding and support to artists, arts programs and organizations across the City. BOPA is the primary advocate for the arts within the City of Baltimore and BOPA’s annual economic impact for special events and festivals is $111.1 million.”

As Baltimore City’s arts council, the website states, “The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Art provides resources and opportunities to artists and artist organizations to continue to make Baltimore a city for the arts.”

According to the Mayor’s Office, the city of Baltimore has a contract to work with BOPA until June 30, 2024. The City of Baltimore is the primary source of funding for BOPA’s operations, allocating roughly $2.6 million a year.

As part of its contract with the city, BOPA provides staff support for the Public Art Commission, a city review board that meets monthly and is somewhat comparable to CHAP, except that it reviews projects involving public art rather than buildings. The Public Art Commission also makes decisions about whether to ‘deaccession’ certain works of public art, just as CHAP considers requests to permit demolition of buildings protected by landmark status.

Lost confidence

After initially expressing support for Sawyer as CEO of BOPA when he became mayor in 2020, Scott changed his mind last fall and called for her resignation, saying he had lost confidence in her ability to lead the agency.

BOPA has drawn heavy criticism in recent years for failing to fulfill its mission as the city’s events producer. It hasn’t put on an Artscape festival, book festival or Light City festival since 2019.  The City Council’s Ways and Means Committee was so displeased with Sawyer and BOPA last June that it withheld $196,000 from its budget for fiscal 2023 until council members got more information about its operations. That money has never been restored.

One of the last straws came in January when Sawyer said she didn’t plan to put on a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in January, a decision that was blasted by U. S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, former Mayor Sheila Dixon and others.

Scott couldn’t legally fire Sawyer because she headed an agency outside of city government – one of the issues Mears brings up — but he could put pressure on BOPA’s board because the city provides the bulk of its operating funds.

Scott responded to Sawyer’s MLK parade decision by saying he wanted her gone by Jan. 15, King’s birthday. He said the Mayor’s Office would put on the parade, which it did successfully, and he hired one of her lieutenants, Tonya Miller Hall, to fill a new position at City Hall, Senior Advisor for Arts & Cultural Affairs. His pressure worked: Sawyer’s resignation was announced on Jan. 10.

No new CEO

Three months after Sawyer’s resignation, BOPA still hasn’t named an interim leader. Brian Lyles, the Director of Development for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company and chair of BOPA’s board, said he is running BOPA for now, without pay, and “the search process has begun” for Sawyer’s replacement.

Lyles said last month that BOPA’s board was planning to form a committee and hire a search firm to assist in its work.  He said he didn’t know if BOPA will change its name to Create Baltimore, a suggestion floated when Sawyer was CEO.

Asked about Mears’ comments, Lyles said he had not read her letter to Scott but had heard about it. He said he hopes that BOPA’s relationship with the city will continue:

“I would just say that we would hope we’re going to be continuing to do everything that we’ve been doing in the past, including administering the Public Art Commission,” he said.

‘Meeting with everyone’

Miller Hall, the mayor’s new arts czar, said she has been touch with Mears and many other arts advocates around the city. As part of her new role at City Hall, she said, “I’m meeting with everyone.”

Asked how Scott will respond to the issues raised by Mears and others, Miller Hall said he takes their concerns seriously. She indicated that he may speak about BOPA during his State of the City address Monday night.

“It is a very good question,” Miller Hall said of Mears’ comments about the proper home for Baltimore’s Public Art Commission. “I’m a month and a half into my role and so there are a lot of things we’re evaluating…We’re rolling up our sleeves and trying to sort it out.”

Complicated issue

Members of the Public Art Commission took no action after their discussion with FOPA but said they’re glad Mears, De Palma and Kelly spoke up about the future of the arts in Baltimore. They said it’s a complicated issue that deserves a broad discussion in the arts community. They invited FOPA to come back to a future meeting when members have a specific proposal for the commission to consider.

Aaron Bryant, chair of the Public Art Commission, said he believes Mears is raising complicated issues that affect more than art, and more than city government.

“Is this really an art issue or an infrastructure issue?” he asked at one point. “It just becomes a much bigger issue than arts advocacy.” 

Whatever action the city takes, he said, it will be important to get support from elected officials who can provide public support for arts initiatives. 

“The reality is, we do have a city that is dealing with decay in lots of areas – education, housing, employment. And so how do we then make this an issue that can get on the radar of someone who doesn’t know anything about art or appreciate art?”

Bryant warned that the city likely will need help from others to address its art conservation needs.

“I would say that with all of the public art that we have in the city right now, it’s much bigger than the city,” he said. “And I’m not so sure the city can solve the problem, to be honest. I think it would have to go bigger. Would this have to be a statewide kind of movement? Or is this something that’s taken on by the arts community and then it becomes a federal thing, so we might apply for national grants or even international grants to take care of this issue as opposed to just relying on the city?”

Questions about the organization

Bryant added that he has always wondered why Promotion and The Arts are together in one agency, and how that came about. He thinks Baltimore should have a separate department within city government for arts and cultural affairs.

“There should be a Commissioner of Arts and Culture like there might be a Commissioner for Education,” he said. “Education and art should be seen on the same level to a certain degree…The implication should not be about promoting anything other than art and quality of life for the residents of Baltimore, as opposed to suggesting that it’s about marketing and tourism.”

Part of the challenge, he said, will be undoing what’s currently in place.

“I would say that to untangle what’s been tangled is really, really difficult. But it has to start somewhere.” 

Kelly said she hopes the members of the Public Art Commission will see the value of an arts agency that is fully part of city government, not a quasi-public agency.

“We really want you all to be an advocate for a city arts council, because within a city arts council there can be a genuine, professional, fully-staffed public art program that then you can be in a position to clearly advise,” she said.