Fun Festival at Fells Point draws crowds

This Saturday, the historic Baltimore neighborhood of Fells Point held its 48th annual October Fun Festival. The festival, which took place on Thames Street, is steeped in tradition.

“Fun-festers may amble about the festival sampling grub, buying stuff and rocking out with your libation in a festival cup,” the festival’s website states.

The event featured local food and drink, including alcohol offered in trademark orange cups, as well as booths set up by local artisans, non-profit organizations and other vendors.

Four seniors from Loyola University Maryland who experienced the event for the first time on Saturday spoke of its charm.

“We’re seniors at Loyola. We’ve never been here before, but we’ve always seen pictures,” Meaghan Carney said.

“It’s good to be downtown. It’s a nice area,” Christina Pagayunan added. “It’s good to take advantage of what [Fells Point] has to offer.”

The festival attracted longtime Baltimore residents as well as newcomers. Greg Montross just moved to Baltimore from Washington, D.C. and was experiencing the day for the first time.

“My favorite part [of the festival] is all the people,” Montross said. “I’m here with a friend. It’s a fun event. It brings life to Fells Point.”

Due to the influx of people on Thames Street, its shops and restaurants enjoyed more business, including landmark establishments like Thames Street Oyster House, the Kooper’s Tavern and Riptide by the Bay.

Vendors who have been coming to the Fun Festival for years to sell their handmade products often see the same people there year-after-year. Bob Ross works as a vendor selling his own handmade clocks decorated with famous album covers and visuals from musical history.

“My business is ‘Tunes.’ I make clocks and posters from vintage album covers. [Fun Fest] is great and really helps business. I’m here for a second year. It’s good to see people coming back, and it’s good sales. My favorite part of the day is just being in Fells Point — I love it here” Ross said. “People come all the way from Manhattan to Fells Point; they come here every year. It’s on the water, and you’ve got kind of a good group here. You’ve got some happy folk here.”

Some of the area’s most popular stores bring their merchandise outside. One such business is The Sound Garden, a record store on Thames Street, which brings vintage CDs, socks, t-shirts and music-themed accessories onto the street to attract more customers.

Marcia Bass, who works for The Sound Garden, said that the festival is beneficial for revenue and helps her connect with potential new customers. The record store has been a landmark in Fells Point since 1993.

“This is part of what we sell, but our main products are CDs and DVDs and vinyl, which is a big market right now. The Fun Festival most definitely draws a lot of business. It’s one of our bigger weekends out of the year; we have a pretty good turnout each year. We do a lot of business right here. We get a lot of clientele from all over,” Bass said.

Christian Lopez, a Loyola freshman originally from Puerto Rico, was able to experience the festival with friends.

“I went to the Fun Festival because I wanted to get out of my dorm this weekend and see something different,” Lopez said. “It was much like an activity back home in that [it] was really traditional. It’s a good representation of the Baltimore city and culture. I feel I saw a different side of Baltimore. What stood out to me was the sheer enormity of the activity; it was like five streets long.”

Lopez was able to explain the differences between a typical festival in Puerto Rico and his experience in Fells Point on Saturday.

“Back home, it’s more about drinking and dancing. Here it’s... still about drinking, less about dancing, more social than back home. People actually talk,” Lopez said.

Jose Solis, a Hopkins freshman, was very happy to break free from the “Hopkins bubble” and explore a new neighborhood, having already been to the Inner Harbor and Federal Hill.

“I happened to be a part of the whole experience,” Solis said. “I wasn’t planning on going. It’s more like a tornado of nice energy; my friend came and took me away. My overall experience was getting to know another part of Baltimore... The Fun Festival was definitely a way to do that. It was nice to be a part of the city, if only for a few moments. People would ask, ‘Are you from around here?’ and I would say, ‘Yeah, kind of. I’m learning to be.’”

Festival-goers celebrated between noon and 8 p.m.; many carried their celebrations into Sunday.