Flower Mart, Baltimore’s oldest free public festival, will return to Mount Vernon Place in 2022.
The city’s annual rite of spring, organized by Mount Vernon Place Conservancy, is set to take place April 29-30.
The event features a marketplace of local vendors selling flowers and plants, arts and crafts, and local food.
Mount Vernon Place Conservancy took over management of the event in 2019.
The festival was founded in 1911 by the Women’s Civic League, an organization that was formed to promote gardening and improve living conditions in the city.
Last year, the event was canceled due to COVID-19, and this past spring it went virtual.
While organizers were disappointed that the event could not be held in person this year, there were some benefits to going virtual.
Hosting the event online allowed for a broader reach, said Lance Humphries, the conservancy’s executive director.
“We had really great reach with the educational sessions,” he said.
“We had people in India watching them,” he added, “That’s what happens when you go online – somebody shares it, and then somebody else shares it.”
The organization was also able to work with vendors who would otherwise be too busy to attend in person, Humphries said.
This coming spring, the conservancy plans to carry over some aspects of the virtual event, like online educational sessions and a few online vendors.
The organization is currently looking for local vendors selling flowers and plants, food, and flower and plant-themed arts and crafts.
In the coming months, the conservancy will be on the lookout for local musicians to perform at the festival.
While it’s still early, organizers hope that the outdoor event will remain possible.
“We want to bring the beautiful charm of this event back to Mount Vernon Place,” Humphries said.
