The Baltimore Pride parade and block party kicked off at the intersection of North Avenue and Charles Street. It featured foam, supportive hugs, and plenty of rainbows.

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Baltimore doesn’t have a WNBA team (yet), but fans got a taste of what it might be like to have one on May 28 when the Washington Mystics took on the Indiana Fever at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore.

“Despite the unseasonably cold weather and Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark out of Wednesday’s lineup due to injury, the arena was nearly full of fans looking for their first opportunity for a live WNBA game in Charm City,” Baltimore Beat’s Reeta Hubbard wrote about the game. The Mystics defeated the Fever 88-77.

These images capture the excitement of fans as they headed into the venue. 

The Mystics will visit Baltimore again on Sunday, September 7, at 3 p.m. (Lisa Snowden)

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You wouldn’t know this just from looking at them, but the cement pillars under the Jones Falls Expressway downtown used to have murals painted on them. For this year’s Artscape, organizers commissioned 32 artists to bring life to the pillars again. 

While there was a suggested theme of “urban oasis,” artists had a significant amount of freedom to create designs within their own style, and to interpret the theme as they wished.  

The resulting murals showcase a wide range of artistic visions, including references to Maryland plants and animals as well as personal experiences. For example, duo Chelsea Henery and Sammi Seezox, who paint under the name Ham and Cheese, included a vivid rendition of the prickly pear cactus, the only species of cactus that is native to Maryland. 

A few artists created murals that depict their vision of an urban oasis, like the view of the city from a fire escape. Other artists explore the challenges of city living, such as having to limit your gardening to the available space within and around urban residences.  

Aspects of surrealist, abstract, illustrative and realistic styles can be found throughout the murals under the JFX, representing a wide spectrum of creative ability. Together these murals create an artistic oasis within an area of concrete and asphalt, inviting viewers to wander through what feels like a forest of artwork, offering a small visual respite from the surrounding environment. 

For some artists, having to translate a flat image onto a surface in which only part of the image is visible at a time was a challenge. Several murals explored different ways to draw the viewer around the entire piece, with specific elements trailing around the pillar and leading to other elements within the mural.  

Interactions between elements of nature and man-made environments are evident in all of the murals. Painter Jenn Wait mentioned that she was inspired by how nature can eventually overcome urban spaces. Her mural includes plants physically breaking through man-made objects. 

The juxtaposition of organic shapes within the geometric, hard lines and edges of the parking lot and surrounding structures adds a break of color in the visual monotony and uniformity of downtown’s architecture. 

Muralists faced a variety of challenges while creating their artworks. They spent hours painting under the highway while cars rumbled constantly overhead.

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On April 24, The Mill on North — a seven-vendor food hall in West Baltimore, an area long known as a food desert — was packed for its grand opening, complete with words from Baltimore officials and a cheerful ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

Balloon formations lined the building’s entrance, drawing everyone from elders in the neighborhood to both students and alumni representing nearby Coppin State University inside.

The 7,800-square-foot food hall, where locals can find everything from baked treats to fresh salads to fried shrimp baskets, comes courtesy of Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation, Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore, and the West North Avenue Development Authority.

“I’m here today to see Black development finally come together in a predominantly Black City, 10 years after the uprising,” said patron Derrick Compton, who was sporting a “Black Dollars Matter” t-shirt.

“At one time, this area was inundated with a lot of drugs. Today, we’re developing a space where people can congregate. It’s empowering because now, instead of young people seeing people doing negative things, they can [come here to] see people doing positive things.” (Grace Hebron)

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On March 29, volunteers young and old gathered on Charles Street from 21st to 23rd Street to paint the words #WEWON’TBEERASED. Maryland Safe Haven, an organization that provides support services for TLGBQIA+ residents, organized the event. The street painting also featured the signature of Executive Director Iya Dammons. 

The group has painted the street before. In 2020, they painted the words “Black trans lives matter.” However, that was covered up when the road was repaved. (Lisa Snowden)

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