One of the best things about Baltimore is its wealth of subcultures. We’ve got the noise musicians, and the pizza society; the Sherlock Holmes-obsessed, and the 12 O’Clock Boys. Add to that list the homing pigeon fanciers, who breed, raise, and race the birds that only an extremely ignorant person would mistake for a rat with wings.
A few years ago, Urbanite looked at the older, mostly-white pigeon fanciers who make up the bulk of Baltimore’s two official pigeon clubs, The Baltimore Pigeon Fanciers Social Club and The Hamilton Homing Pigeon Club. But there’s also a parallel tradition of inner city kids who adopt raising pigeons as their hobby of choice (remember Marlo from The Wire, cooing tenderly at his coops?).
If you’d like to get an inside look, this weekend just might be your perfect chance. Aliza of the Boone Street Garden is facilitating a homing pigeon demonstration/workshop in the Greenmount West neighborhood; it’ll be led by Allen, a neighbor of the garden and a longtime pigeon fancier. Did we mention that there will be baby pigeons to coo over? Suggested donation $10; RSVP on Facebook, if you’re interested.
