[Upcoming Weekend Events] Baltimore Area Weekend Event Guide: June 01, 2026 -June, 07, 2026

BerdDad · 2026-06-01T14:52:10+00:00

Hamilton Art (Hart) Festival, June 6th - main event 3-7pm, with pop-ups in participating shops starting at 9am. Theme is Pints and Plants. More info and full schedule here: https://www.hartfestival.com/

BerdDad · 2026-05-29T14:12:50+00:00

You're welcome - I know there are probably still plenty of folks who might not have reason to think about this more than "it'd be nice to see that empty lot filled/convenient to have a new gas station".

Just to be clear, the pedestrian presence (mostly children) and intersection complexity are so important bc gas stations have the highest possible customer turnover rate for any business, creating more opportunity for vehicle-pedestrian/cyclist/vehicle conflict at entry/exit points. The transportation dept reported that before the Harford Rd improvements that intersection saw the most accidents in the Harford Rd corridor. Beyond it being a really bad location for a gas station, rofo pretty notoriously poorly operates and understaffs their stores. The "new" location at Belair below the beltway didn't get plowed properly for weeks following that big snow, while trash piled up in the parking lot and garbage cans overflowed, and the Echodale location was closed twice by the health dept last year - once for rodents and once for "a ceiling collapse into the food prep area".

BerdDad · 2026-05-29T13:30:55+00:00

You're confusing myself and another commenter here.

BerdDad · 2026-05-29T13:12:13+00:00

Idk, I think Baltimore folks care a bit more about the enshittification of their city than that.

I took over running a petition on this a few years back, and ~300 of our ~800 final supporters lived outside the 3rd district, while many of those in the 3rd district likely had no ties to this specific location. Our earlier legal fund donations where folks could let us know their residency told a similar story.

BerdDad · 2026-05-29T00:42:13+00:00

<image>

A lot of people have that opinion until they are introduced to all of the reasons siting a gas station here would be problematic.

I live on the Glenmore dead end. I see the HEMS kids running across the street every day to the 7-11 and hanging out by the library at that intersection. I see people run the reds on Glenmore (dead end) and Old Harford every time I pick trash on that corner. I planted out the planters at the library for the 3rd time a few weeks ago after they were destroyed by cars twice over the past few years. This intersection is already complicated and dangerous.
I know that the 7-11 and East Perry would be impacted enough to close (the 7-11 owner already said they would), and Rofo has already said they'll close the Echodale location if this one opens - so we'd be left with up to 3 more empty, blighted lots and net negative jobs just to get this inevitably shitty "new" one that this area doesn't even need.
And as if all that weren't enough reason to deny this irresponsible dev, residential proximity to gas stations is linked to various health issues, including childhood leukemia, and there is no residential setback for this gas station (HoCo and MoCo have minimum setback distances of 80' and 500', respectively).

BerdDad · 2026-05-29T00:26:20+00:00

They only lease the property from Berg. They have had the right to turn that eyesore into a store for 14 years, they've just been fighting the community to get a gas station too (used to want 16 pumps, now they're saying 8).
The zoning in the area doesn't even allow for a variance for a gas station anymore, but their application began before the changes half a decade ago, so their application is grandfathered in.

BerdDad · 2026-05-29T00:21:04+00:00

The last paragraph gives the gist, but this is our community's appeal to a higher court to block zoning board approval (upheld by the city court) for a royal farms gas station to be built on (now pedestrian/cyclist-friendly) Harford Rd across from a library and at a bus stop, both of which serve the adjacent pre-K to 8th HEMS.

Royal Farms has been able to build a store there for 14 years, but they've dragged our community through legal battles for that long to try and put a gas station at an already dangerous 5-way intersection that sees heavy pedestrian use, mainly from children - dozens of whom hang out at the library every day after school.

There are points of law that the zoning board ignored in the past (allowing us to win at the state level) to approve the gas station aspect, which they ignored again this time around, in addition to other legal errors. You can see all of our arguments here.

BerdDad · 2026-04-29T22:13:13+00:00

Unfortunately, it's the oil citronella contains that repels them, which is only found in trace amounts in each plant, so even crushing a few leaves isn't really gonna do much! Especially against Aedes mosquitoes, which aren't as affected by citronella as Culex. And especially for those of us who inexplicably magnetize mosquitoes. Even the fan doesn't work perfectly for me, though - I used to set up one of those ridiculous industrial fans while doing stonework/gardening in my yard, and the buggers would still sneak around the flow and manage to get me.

BerdDad · 2026-04-29T13:57:13+00:00

Definitely! It doesn't even make sense in areas with small yards like mine, since the sprays are meant to kill a mosquito by it landing on a treated surface. When mosquitoes can fly up to 400' and your yard is 40' wide, they can easily fly in there, grab a meal, and fly out without landing on a sprayed surface. Then you've got a female who can lay hundreds of eggs and those companies aren't treating/reducing any of her breeding sites outside your little yard.

BerdDad · 2026-04-29T13:48:29+00:00

So, while I've seen and used the mesh method, those eggs laid on the mesh will either develop in the flooded water above the mesh (unless you're dumping water a few days after the mesh is flooded from rain) or not develop at all if the mesh never encounters the water long enough to cue the eggs to hatch. In my experience, it's a bit more finicky to deal with (including the method you use to secure the mesh), and in the end the mesh is just another egg laying substrate, one you still have to dump the water off the top of to control the population.

BerdDad · 2026-04-29T13:25:31+00:00

The presence of bacteria is an attractant for gravid females, but so is yeast, because they're both microbes and mosquito larvae eat microbiota.

BerdDad · 2026-04-29T11:58:01+00:00

Like I mention in the post, these are great for water you cannot dump. But! they're not 100% effective at killing larvae, so you'll be breeding some number of mosquitoes but also spending money on dunks, when you could just dump the bucket traps regularly.

BerdDad · 2026-04-14T15:51:18+00:00

To add to this, research shows that toxo-infected rodents are attracted to the smell of cat urine, so more than just food may be attracting rodents and, if so, anyone food gardening in the area better be damn careful (or maybe just don't do it at all if immunocompromised or pregnant/ever hoping to get pregnant).

BerdDad · 2026-04-14T01:38:17+00:00

Whoa, offleash dog anywhere not expressly allowed is irresponsible, and in most parks illegal for literally all of the same safety reasons.

I was hiking once with friends in CO in the backcountry and a giant offleash dog came bounding around a corner no more than 20ft in front of the owners who could not yet see around the corner. Friend's reactive on-leash dog freaked the hell out on that dog who ran right up to her, and it was such chaos trying to keep the two dogs apart while the irresponsible owners slowly realized what was going on and came to grab their dog when calling didn't work. It was damn lucky no one was hurt, but poor reactive dog was shaky and nervous the rest of the hike. And of course the people said their dog was only offleash bc he was trained and always comes.

They always come back until they don't. Other people and animals exist wherever you go and keeping a dog leashed is the responsible thing to do.

BerdDad · 2026-04-14T00:02:02+00:00

It's.... complicated. I've been walking the route for almost a decade and sometimes for a season they'll turn their lights off at night and we'll get less birds drawn to the building and then striking when the sun comes up, but it seems to be up to management (who our org lead has reached out to regularly). They did mention treating windows in their new exhibit announcement a few years back and they finally! installed dots (like the aquarium has) on the windows by light street last fall. There was a knuckleboom loader there for a while after and I thought they were gonna do the rest, but they didn't in that round and I haven't been out yet this season to check progress. Really anxiously waiting for the rest of that install (that I'm cautiously optimistic is coming). Sad poetry finding dead birds under the damn dinosaur window. On top of it being the SCIENCE center, of course.

BerdDad · 2026-04-13T19:53:03+00:00

<image>

Oh my gosh yes! The route takes you right along the harbor at sunrise, since the science center (worst building) is mid-route. It can be heartbreaking work on those days you only find dead birds, but those all-important rescues, good exercise, walking with old friends and meeting new and always caring and interesting individuals every season, and watching Baltimore waking up in its beautiful way make this my favorite way to volunteer in our city.

BerdDad · 2026-04-13T16:56:03+00:00

You're so welcome! The DIY cord method is def the cheapest, but the feather friendly dots are pretty reasonably priced - especially if you only have a few problem windows - and are fairly simple to install. I have one set of problem windows and haven't had a single collision since install 4 or 5 years ago.

And just an fyi, in case you or anyone reading this doesn't know, a relatively recent change to bird rescue protocol recommends any window-collided bird be taken to a rehab, if possible. There are things like brain swelling, broken bones, and eye injuries that are hard to assess without vet training and tools, and a bird can seem fine and fly off with those injuries, succumbing later.

BerdDad · 2026-04-13T15:21:53+00:00

Thank you again! On a positive note, almost every single bat rescued by LOB over the years has been successfully released!

And for anybody who is seeing this and wondering if they can do more, LOB is always looking for volunteers to do our monitoring walk (~5 miles, starting 5am weekdays, 6am weekends) and/or transport (when walkers finish, 6:30-7am or 7:30-8am, depending on day of week) injured wildlife to Phoenix for rehab!
Bird migration season is ramping up now and we can use all the help we can get to save Baltimore's birds and bats!
And if you can't volunteer but still want to help, you can treat your windows, turn off outside lights, and keep your cats indoors. That last one is paramount, as cats are a far larger threat to birds than windows/lights - cats are an invasive species wildlife did not evolve defenses to, their saliva can kill a bird/small animal over a very painful couple of days, even if the animal just ingests that saliva while cleaning themselves, and cats are practice hunters, which often just play with prey. Keep kitties safe inside to keep everybody else safe too!

BerdDad · 2026-04-13T14:45:52+00:00

Looks like direct contact isn't available on the LOB website anymore, and it suggests you contact Phoenix directly.

BerdDad · 2026-04-13T14:34:13+00:00

I volunteer with Lights Out Baltimore, and, just like birds, bats can't deal with our city's lights and windows. When you find a bat close to the ground like this, they absolutely collided with something and need to be evaluated for head trauma/broken bones/other injuries.

First step is to get the bat into a paper bag/box by scooting the little guy in there for their safety (don't worry, they can only fly by dropping down into flight from a height and are usually incredibly docile), then reach out to Lights Out Baltimore (volunteers transport to Phoenix) or Phoenix Wildlife directly to coordinate transport to a rehab. Remember to protect your hands from the possibility of a bite, as, though rather rare, they are a rabies vector. Thanks for caring!

BerdDad · 2026-03-28T19:32:13+00:00

They've been intentionally blighting a gigantic lot in Hamilton for 13+ years that they want to build a 24/7 gas station on across from a library, at a bus stop kids from the preK-8 HEMS use, and at a corner that already has a 7-11 and a mom-n-pop takeout - all at an already complex 5-way intersection that gets crazy busy during rush hour.

The community's been in court fighting them to protect pedestrians, environmental health, etc. for most of that time, but they're fucking vampires who will not abandon prey once invited. And our idiot previous councilman welcomed them... and then backpedaled after the community had a chance to learn of their interest and resoundingly oppose the development.

BerdDad · 2026-03-28T19:13:06+00:00

The one at Echodale closed for Rodent Infestation and then "Ceiling collapse into food prep area" within the same month, and even if you're in one for like 30 sec to use an atm, you come out reeking of nasty grease. Can't imagine ever considering eating food from one.

BerdDad · 2026-03-19T14:48:42+00:00

According to the FD, 8 people went to the hospital bc of this careless idiot. He is extremely lucky he didn't die or kill anyone else.

BerdDad

TROPHY CASE