The cult dedicated to Baltimore’s premier floating, garbage-eating machines will likely grow this fall, with a planned fan festival offering all-you-can-drink beer, food trucks and art inspired by the two web-savvy harbor cleaners.
The Healthy Harbor Initiative, the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore’s division that operates and maintains Mr. Trash Wheel and Professor Trash Wheel, today announced the inaugural Trash Wheel Fan Fest at Peabody Heights Brewery in Abell, happening Saturday, Oct. 20. Admission gets you a special pint glass and as many beers as you care to drink, plus the honor of being among the first to see “new performance pieces, songs and artwork inspired by” both characters.
A media advisory says the whole point of the event is “celebrating the fans, the devoted and wonderful people who cheer the trash wheels on and root for a healthy harbor.”
Both machines, designed by Clearwater Mills in Pasadena, Maryland, have captured more than 900 tons of garbage and debris combined since they hit the water, per data through May of this year. (Mr. Trash Wheel, who is larger, was deployed in the Inner Harbor in May 2014, and thus accounts for the lion’s share of that total. Professor Trash Wheel was placed near the Canton waterfront at Harris Creek in December 2016.) In the process, they’ve become celebrities with admirable social media savvy, original merch, a playful cult and their very own signature alcohol.
In addition to beers—the event will almost surely have the eponymous “Mr. Trash Wheel” session IPA and Professor Trash Wheel’s Thomas Dolby-inspired “She Blinded Me Wit Science, among other great Peabody Heights offerings on tap—local food truck favorites Gypsy Queen and Mexican on the Run will be there as well.
Early bird tickets are going for $30 through Oct. 7. The price goes up to $35 until the day of the event, and they’ll cost $40 at the door.
