With ghosts and ghouls visiting Baltimore for the month of October, it will also soon be time for the return of the annual International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards.
Now in its eight year, the three-day event will take place Oct. 3-5 at the Edgar Allan Poe House & Museum, located at 203 N. Amity St., as well as other locations throughout the city.
Festivities will kick off Oct. 3 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, the official hotel and sponsor for Poe Fest International. The reception will include a toast to the 180th anniversary of Poe’s most famous poem, “The Raven”; a movie night; and a VIP twilight tour of Green Mount Cemetery.
The festival will officially open Oct. 4 at 11 a.m. with a main stage show at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, featuring performances by Dance Baltimore, Baltimore post-punk band Skydivers, Ballet Embody, comedy from Chad The Bird, nerdcore rapper and “lit-hop” artist MC Lars, a costume contest “POErade,” and Virginia-based music trio Please Don’t Tell.
Later that night, the celebrations continue with a masquerade ball at Westminster Hall. Attendees of “The Black Cat Ball, A Mesmeric Masquerade” are encouraged to dress in their finest Victorian gothic attire as an homage to the father of horror literature, who died 176 years ago.
Entertainment continues on the hotel’s main stage Oct. 5, including performances by The Dan Meyer Choir; traditional Irish music from Gallagher’s Frolics; Big Whimsy’s Corvid Drum Corp; horror punk, rockabilly, and graveyard goth rock band Mr. Fang and The Darktones; Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” performed by Sean Hunter; roots, rock n’ roll, and rockabilly band The Ultra Kings; and bagpipe and drum corps The Baltimore City Pipe Band.
Throughout the weekend, attend a The Poe Monument 150th Anniversary Exhibit & Westminster Cemetery Tour at Westminster Hall & Burying Ground (519. W Fayette St.), Death Weekend Bus Tours of Poe’s Baltimore, and The Poe Death Exhibit & The Raven Room at the historic Carroll Mansion (800 E. Lombard St.).
Find more information about this year’s events on the Poe Fest’s website.
