MLK Day — Day of Service & Symphony in the City
MLK Jr. Blvd / Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
The city honors Dr. King with a citywide Day of Service and a special Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert at the Meyerhoff.
Edgar Allan Poe Birthday Celebration
Westminster Hall & Burying Ground / 519 W Fayette St
On or near January 19th, the city marks Poe’s birthday with candlelit catacombs tours, theatrical performances, and tributes to the legendary “Poe Toaster” at his grave.
Harbor Point Ice Fest
Harbor Point Central Plaza / 1310 Point St
A free winter festival with live ice-carving demonstrations, interactive sculptures, circus performers, stilt walkers, and seasonal food and drinks on the waterfront.
Black History Month Parade
MLK Jr. Blvd from Eutaw St to Baltimore St
Held on Presidents’ Day, this city-wide parade celebrates the culture, resilience, and contributions of Baltimore’s Black community with marching bands, civic leaders, and dance ensembles.
Baltimore Restaurant Week
Restaurants citywide
Dozens of Baltimore restaurants across every neighborhood offer menus at reduced prices. It’s a great way to explore the city’s dining scene.
Baltimore St. Patrick's Day Parade
Washington Monument south along Charles St to Pratt St
One of the East Coast’s oldest St. Patrick’s Day parades, the day is kicked off by the Shamrock 5K race. Parade travels from the Washington Monument to the Inner Harbor.
Orioles Opening Day
Oriole Park at Camden Yards / 333 W Camden St
An unofficial Baltimore holiday. The bars surrounding Camden Yards fill with fans hours before first pitch, and the energy inside the historic ballpark rivals any sports experience in the country.
Baltimore Farmers' Market & Bazaar Opens
Under the Jones Falls Expressway, near Holliday St (Sundays through December)
The largest producer-only market in Maryland opens its season, spotlighting local farms, artisans, and community orgs sheltered beneath the highway overpass.
Maryland Day at Historic Ships
Inner Harbor, Pier 1
Free admission days at Baltimore’s fleet of historic vessels, including the USS Constellation, the only surviving Civil War-era Navy ship, with special programming on Maryland’s maritime heritage.
Mount Vernon Flower Mart
Mount Vernon Place, around the Washington Monument
Established in 1911, the Flower Mart is the longest-running festival in Baltimore, held each May in the city’s most elegant public square. The festival’s signature treat is the lemon stick: a peppermint candy straw pressed into a fresh-cut half a lemon, a Baltimore tradition that dates to the Flower Mart’s earliest days. Free!
American Visionary Art Museum Kinetic Sculpture Race
Starts at the American Visionary Art Museum / 800 Key Hwy, Federal Hill and finishes at the Inner Harbor
Only in Baltimore! Teams of humans propel handmade, people-powered sculptures. These part art installation, part engineering experiment, part absurdist performances make their way through a grueling multi-terrain course covering concrete, mud, and water. The race has been running since 1969 and the judging criteria include not just speed but also artistic merit, “bribing” of judges, and the coveted Mediocre Award for the team placing in the middle. Free!
Artscape
Downtown Baltimore / War Memorial Plaza (Memorial Day Weekend)
The largest free outdoor arts festival in the United States, running since 1982.
Maryland Deathfest
Various venues, Baltimore (Memorial Day Weekend)
The premier extreme metal festival in North America, drawing fans from around the world for several days of heavy music across multiple Baltimore venues.
AFRAM Festival
Druid Hill Park / 900 Druid Park Lake Dr (Juneteenth Weekend)
One of the largest African American cultural festivals on the East Coast. Over 100,000 people gather for nationally headlined music, local food, children’s activities, and community programming. Free!
Baltimore Pride Festival & Parade
North Charles St parade route / Druid Hill Park
Dating to 1975, one of the longest-running Pride events in the mid-Atlantic. The parade steps off along North Charles Street and culminates in a full festival in Druid Hill Park.
Waterfront Week & Charles Street Promenade
Inner Harbor / Charles St between North Ave and Saratoga St
A week of waterfront arts and community events, capped by a day when historic Charles Street closes to traffic entirely — shops, tours, and galleries spilling onto the sidewalk.
Fourth of July at the Inner Harbor
Inner Harbor: visible from Federal Hill, Canton, Harbor East, and Fells Point
Free concerts, food trucks, family activities, and a midnight fireworks display launched from barges over the harbor, visible from every direction across the waterfront.
Baltimore Caribbean Carnival
Inner Harbor area
A 40-year tradition modeled after Trinidadian street carnivals: an extravagant parade of masqueraders, stilt walkers, steel bands, and floats, followed by a two-day fair with Caribbean food, music, and dance.
Little Italy Open Air Film Festival
Little Italy neighborhood, Stiles St (Friday nights, July–August)
Classic Italian and Italian-American films projected onto the side of a rowhome while visitors spread blankets on the brick street and order from surrounding restaurants. A decades-old Baltimore tradition.
Crab Fest
Inner Harbor waterfront
Baltimore’s blue crab celebrated in every form: steamed by the dozen, crabcakes, tacos, soup, and more. Live music, craft beer, and the harbor as your backdrop.
Baltimore Book Festival
Waverly neighborhood
A free weekend festival with author readings, poetry, storytelling, panel discussions, and local press exhibitions, reflecting Baltimore’s deep literary roots from E.A. Poe to H.L. Mencken.
Charm City Live
War Memorial Plaza, downtown Baltimore
The city’s unofficial end-of-summer music event: a one-day outdoor concert spotlighting local and national acts at War Memorial Plaza.
Baltimore Running Festival
Starts at Camden Yards, finishes at the Inner Harbor
Marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K, and a famous 0.05K fun run through Baltimore’s most beloved neighborhoods. The marathon runs past the Maryland Zoo, through Federal Hill and Fells Point, finishing on the Inner Harbor waterfront.
International Edgar Allan Poe Festival
Edgar Allan Poe House / 203 N Amity St / Westminster Burying Ground
Three days of macabre programming: a masquerade ball, twilight catacombs tours, film screenings, live readings, and a costume contest. October is when Poe’s Baltimore is at its most atmospheric.
Baltimore Greek Festival
Annunciation Cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Church
Three days of Greek food, wine, folk dancing, and live performances. Get your spanakopita, baklava, and pastitsio! hosted by Baltimore’s Greek-American community.
Great Halloween Lantern Parade & Festival
Patterson Park, East Baltimore (last Saturday of October)
An all-day festival of hayrides, lantern-making, and costume contests, culminating at twilight with 12,000+ participants carrying handmade glowing lanterns through the 137-acre Victorian park.
Baltimore International Black Film Festival
Various venues across Baltimore
A multi-day festival of features, shorts, and web series by and about Black filmmakers, with panels, Q&As, and community screenings.
Hampdenfest
36th Street (“The Avenue”) / Hampden
Hampden’s autumn street festival. See local vendors, live music, and neighborhood character in one of Baltimore’s most distinctive communities.
Miracle on 34th Street: Lights Switch-On
700 block of W 34th St, Hampden (late November through New Year’s Eve)
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, the 700 block of West 34th Street lights up with one of America’s most beloved neighborhood holiday displays. Over two dozen decorated rowhomes. Free!
Christmas Village in Baltimore
West Shore Park, Inner Harbor / 501 Light St (late November through Christmas Eve)
Modeled after the famous Christkindlmarkt in Nuremberg, Germany, Baltimore’s Christmas Village contains more than 50 local and international vendors set up in traditional wooden booths. Admission is free. The market runs Wednesday through Sunday, with extended weekend hours, from late November through December 24th.
The Mayor's Christmas Parade
Falls Road to 36th Street through the Hampden and Medfield neighborhoods
A Baltimore tradition since 1973, the Mayor’s Christmas Parade winds 1.5 miles through the heart of Hampden and neighboring Medfield on a Sunday afternoon in December, drawing thousands of spectators to line the route. The parade is a neighborhood-organized affair, funded and sponsored by local community associations and businesses. Floats, marching bands, the Boumi Shriners, local personalities, and, in a tradition that delights children and baffles newcomers, Darth Vader, all make their way down “The Avenue” before Santa Claus brings up the rear.