Annual Events for Every Season

For Baltimoreans, Opening Day for the Orioles is an unofficial holiday. Join the crowds playing hooky from work for food and drink specials at one of the pubs surrounding Camden Yards. You’ll also find live music, fun souvenirs and kid-friendly activities. Opening Day 2025 takes place March 31 against the Boston Red Sox.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards is just steps from the Inner Harbor.

What could be better than sitting outside, listening to live music and enjoying a local brew? For ten years, the best in national and regional talent from across the old time, bluegrass and roots music traditions have come together for the Charm City Bluegrass Festival.

The Infamous Stringdusters performed at the Charm City Bluegrass Festival in 2023. Photograph by Marc Shapiro.

The Maryland Film Festival (MdFF) is an annual five-day international film festival hosted the Parkway Theater each May. The festival screens approximately 40 feature films and 100 short films of all varieties. Filmmakers are often in attendance so audience members can mingle with the creative minds behind the movies.

Lemon sticks are a Baltimore tradition made with half a lemon and a peppermint stick straw.

Established in 1911, Mount Vernon Place Conservancy’s Flower Mart is the longest-running festival in the city of Baltimore, held each May in Mount Vernon. With live music, street food, demonstrations and vendors selling flowers, plants, arts and crafts and more, Flower Mart was conceived to encourage home gardening and the beautification of Baltimore. While you’re there, be sure to try a lemon stick, a quintessential Baltimore treat.

For more than 20 years the American Visionary Art Museum‘s Kinetic Sculpture Race has been a beloved tradition. Teams of inventive artists build and pilot original sculptures over land and sea from one end of Baltimore to another. The race is a day of good-humored merrymaking, fun mishaps in engineering and creative costumes.

Human-powered works of art cross the harbor during the annual Kinetic Sculpture Race.

The annual Preakness Stakes, the second thoroughbred race in the prestigious Triple Crown series, is held the third Saturday in May at Pimlico Race Course. The entire weekend is a celebration, with traditions and events that include sunrise tours of Pimlico, Black-Eyed Susan Day celebrating women and racing and a massive concert in the middle of the race track.

Pimlico Race Course has seen its fair share of horse racing history.

From the organizers of the iconic German Christmas Village that takes over West Shore Park every winter, the Inner Harbor Wine Village invites you to grab a glass of wine, frozen wine slushie or nonalcoholic cocktail and take in the sunset over the water. On select evenings, enjoy musical acts, family-friendly activities and so much more.

This free, family-oriented celebration of Baltimore’s African American heritage is typically held Juneteenth weekend and features music, entertainers, children’s activities, African drumming, carnival mask making and more. Past AFRAM festivals have included special appearances from celebrities like Vivica A. Fox and Dru Hill, as well as features like Culture Vent, which give you the opportunity to research your DNA and genealogy.

Performers on the stage at AFRAM.

Pride parade

Baltimore’s diverse neighborhoods celebrate LGBTQ+ culture all year long, but residents turn out in droves at the annual Baltimore Pride. As one of the oldest Pride celebrations in the country, the annual event features a series of parades, such as the pet parade and high heel parade. You can also meet and mingle at the block party or the family-friendly festival featuring music, drag and food trucks.

This free waterfront festival was founded for residents of Cherry Hill, a culturally and economically diverse neighborhood along the Patapsco River, to celebrate their community’s artistic legacy. Performers represent a wide range of genres from soul to gospel to reggae, salsa and more, and activities include historic reenactments, fashion shows and a fireworks show. The festival is free, but attendees are encouraged to donate to the Cherry Hill Arts & Music Waterfront Festival Relief Fund to support educational supplies and opportunities for youth and their families.

Every year, residents of Baltimore and the surrounding area eagerly flock to the Inner Harbor for the Fourth of July fireworks show and free performances. Enjoy music at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater, food trucks at West Shore Park and kid-friendly activities at Rash Field Park, among other waterfront locales. The day commences with a spectacular fireworks show visible from Federal Hill, Canton, Harbor East and Fell’s Point.

Experience the magic of Carnival without leaving Charm City at the Baltimore Washington One Caribbean Festival, a tradition more than 40 years old. Modeled after Trinidadian street festivals, this two-day event typically begins with a larger-than-life parade of performers, masqueraders, drummers, stilt walkers, floats and steel bands, and is followed by a lively fair and concert consisting of delicious Caribbean food, costumes and entertainment.

Presented by Downtown Partnership of Baltimore and Visit Baltimore, Baltimore Restaurant Week provides an affordable and exclusive taste of the city’s vibrant culinary scene. Restaurants participating throughout Baltimore’s neighborhoods will offer ten days of special prix-fixe menus for brunch, lunch and dinner.

Sample foods from delicious Baltimore restaurants like Alma Cocina Latina.

Artscape is the nation’s largest free outdoor arts festival. Featuring interactive visual arts exhibits, musical performances, poetry workshops and street dance, Artscape is also a culinary showcase for Baltimore’s top food vendors. No matter what draws you, there’s plenty of fun for the whole family. Artscape returns Aug. 2-4, 2024 in Station North Arts & Entertainment district.

Find more music festivals in Baltimore. 

Street performances are part of the fun at Artscape.

This free, two-day outdoor event celebrates the famous Baltimorean scribe, with Poe-themed performances, art, vendors, and food. Highlights of the International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards include the Black Cat Ball, a cognac and roses graveside masquerade, appearances by world class Poe impersonator Tim Beasley and a tour of Poe’s Baltimore.

Be sure to explore the Poe House & Museum where Poe Fest International takes place.

This five-decade old festival began as a fundraiser to protect the neighborhood from development and preserve its historic integrity. It’s now one of the city’s largest community celebrations. Across six blocks in Fell’s Point, explore tasty bites from local vendors, craft cocktails and beers, one-of-a-kind products from area artisans and energetic live music performances—all with a spectacular view of the harbor.

The annual Baltimore Running Festival offers races for all types of runners, from the full marathon to a .05K fun run. The course takes you from Camden Yards at the start to the furry cheerleaders at Maryland Zoo to the beautiful finish at the Inner Harbor. Tour every corner of the city while tackling some challenging (yet respectable!) hills, that make the post-race festivities well worth it. Be sure to check out the free activities for families throughout race week.

This free literary arts celebration is a book lover’s dream come true. Featuring poetry readings, workshops, panel discussions and book signings, this is the place to revel in the spirit of the written word. Past festivals have featured appearances by chef and television host Carla Hall, poet Samantha Thornhill, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jason Reynolds and Terry McMillan. The Baltimore Book Festival returns Sept. 27-29, 2024.

Come see what the other communities are squealing about. Named for the hogs that were once herded through the streets of the neighborhood, Pigtown is one of the most cultural and economically diverse neighborhoods in the city. Go hog wild and see the pigs hoof it at the Pigtown Festival, Baltimore’s only community festival wild enough to bring you the “Squeakness” running of the pigs! The free event features food, music and a sense of humor.

On the last Saturday of October more than 12,000 spectators and participants take part in a magical light-filled procession, holding aloft handmade lanterns and glowing floats as they march among stilt walkers, dancers and other performers during the Great Halloween Lantern Parade. The parade is the culmination of an all-day lantern festival, featuring hayrides, a costume contest, food trucks, beer garden and plenty of fun for the whole family.

Each year, the 700 block of 34th Street in the Hampden neighborhood comes aglow with more holiday decorations than you can imagine. The tradition started in the 1980s by a couple, Bob Hosier and Darlene Hughes, who both loved decorating their home for Christmas. As the decorations grew, the street attracted more attention until it became a can’t-miss holiday attraction.

During the holiday season the houses on 34th street are packed full of lights and decorations.

Each year West Shore Park in the Inner Harbor transforms into an authentic German Christmas market! Starting from Thanksgiving and running until Christmas Eve, enjoy dozens of local and international vendors selling handmade gifts, and traditional German food and drinks such as bratwurst, schnitzel, sauerkraut and glühwein.

Shake up the winter doldrums with an excursion to one of Baltimore’s best eateries. The biannual Baltimore Restaurant Week gives you the chance to discover new restaurants or repeat visits to some of the best the city has to offer, with a generous discount.

For more than sixty years, this St. Patrick’s Day Parade has brought thousands of spectators to downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor to enjoy Irish music, dance, food and culture. A full day affair, the parade is preceded by a Shamrock 5K race and church service at the gorgeous Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption, the oldest Catholic cathedral in the United States.