[music]
» Hi everyone. Good afternoon. How's it going?
My name's Briana Ross. I'm a reporter with WBAL-TV 11 News. Welcome and thank
you so much for joining us for the official announcement of the fifth
annual Charm City Live Music Festival.
This year's festival will take place on Saturday, September 5th from noon until
9:00 p.m. at War Memorial Plaza. And WBAL-TV, we are the proud media partner
for this annual event which will celebrate the very best of Baltimore's
music, arts, culture, and community while drawing thousands of people right
to the heart of our city. So, we're so excited to have you here today as we
talk about the specific details of this year's event. It's now my pleasure to
welcome the visionary leader of Baltimore and a proud champion of the
arts, the 52nd mayor of the city of Baltimore, the honorable Bri- honorable,
excuse me, Brandon M. Scott. >> [cheering]
[applause]
» Thank you. Thank you, Briana, and good afternoon everyone. Thank you all for
being here. In addition to Briana and our our media sponsor from WBAL, I'm
also so so happy to have here with us today Dr. Director Moore from Recreation
and Parks, uh Lindsey Jackson, the director of my office of arts, culture,
and entertainment, the fabulous Shelonda Stokes, the president and CEO of
Downtown of Baltimore as well as we celebrate five years of Charm City Live.
Uh Charm City is also known as the the celebrations of the fifth-year
anniversary of the festival that the mayor did not want to have that he is so
glad that he actually had. Uh cuz this is where I went and met my
wife 5 years ago. Uh It is a reminder that when we create spaces for people to
come together, you never know what connections or memories may come about.
This festival is about celebrating Baltimore and bringing our city together
as we close out festival season for the city. It's also about our incredible
vendors and artists. This year we're really excited to showcase businesses
participating in BDC's Baltimore May program. Vice President Kevin C. Rector
will be talking about that. Local entrepreneurs and small businesses that
are bringing new energy into downtown. We will again also have a job fair for
anyone interested in working for the city of Baltimore. So, for everyone that
is direct messaging the mayor on threads, Instagram, and Twitter, and
Facebook about city jobs, come to Charm City Live and go to the job fair.
Families can also enjoy our expanded kids zones with activities and
experiences all day thanks to Director Moore and the great team at Rec and
Parks. And we have a few surprises in store for you that you don't want to
miss. So, we want to see everyone there Labor Day Saturday from noon to 9:00
p.m. right here at City Hall on the War Memorial Plaza. We have an incredible
group of DJs performing Portishead from 92Q.
I hope that we put in his contract that he has to keep his shirt on this time.
Can't wait for him to see this later on. DJ Tonnes, DJ Keevy, and Uncle E. And if
that is not all that you need to convince you to come, here are the
featured artists that we are welcoming to downtown Baltimore for Charm City
Live. So,
as we know this is the end of the road for festival season for the year. Boys
to Men will be gracing the stage >> [applause]
» for Charm City Live, and we hope that no one takes pictures in they fade. As Case
will also be gracing the stage at Charm City Live 5 this year, and we know there
may be some more surprises later to come. So, we want to thank everybody. We
can't wait to see you at Charm City Live, and with that, I will turn it back
over to Briana.
» Thank you so much, Mayor Scott. And next, please welcome the director of the
Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, Dr. Reginald Moore.
» Baltimore, I'm so excited to be here today with the mayor and the
distinguished guests. What an exciting way to continue the
close out our summers. I cannot believe it was only 5 years ago that me, Lenny,
and the mayor sitting on the Gator. Can you imagine sometime when we just sit on
the Gator and we're talking about what we can do to close out our summer.
Remember those, Mr. Mayor? Those conversations? Yeah, we have some of the
best conversations, but it's so exciting to be here that we're announcing our 5th
year celebration of of our Charm City Live. Cannot say enough about how it's
extremely important for us to continue to find ways to activate our green
spaces throughout Baltimore, and what better way at War Memorial Plaza Plaza
than to close it out with an amazing lineup as the mayor stated, Boys II Men,
Case, and others to come. But, more importantly, we're so excited about
bringing back for the second year our Speak Easy event was an opportunity for
some of our adults to go and and really just enjoy themselves and and just talk
and have fun. Um as the mayor stated, our kids zone will be extremely
important and exciting. And all of this is not possible without just the the
collaboration of all of our city agencies. And I think that's the piece
that I'm so always excited about is the collaboration as we go into AFRAM, as as
Lindsay kicks it off with Artscape, and then we close out with Charm City Live.
So, as the mayor said that we want everybody
to come out Labor Day weekend, come out, celebrate, enjoy downtown Baltimore.
Please support our vendors, and we are hiring. We are always looking for good
talent in Baltimore. So, when people say, "I need a job." There's no reason.
You can come, you can enjoy, you can get entertained, and also you may even come
away with a job. So, look forward to you Labor Day weekend, and so excited to see
Charm City Live this year. Thank you. >> [applause]
» Thank you, Dr. Moore. Our next speaker is the Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial and Operating Officer of the Baltimore Development Corporation,
Mr. Kevin Seawright.
» Good afternoon. Thanks so much to Mayor Scott and Director Jackson for having us
here at the table. I think I want to kind of touch on what Dr. Moore just
said, which is is about partnership. BDC appreciates truly being at the table and
being a part of this event and being one of the sponsors of it. We continue to
want to do these events. Our Made in Baltimore brand which supports local
entrepreneurs are at all the events that the city sponsors at this point or the
city has, and we're extremely excited to just be at the table with them. Events
like this impact small businesses, impact restaurants,
and it's just great. I guess it's really great to be a part of it and see the
entertainment. And it's about the entertainment, but us being BDC and our
president is actually here also, and being able to support these small
businesses is amazing. So, we are extremely grateful partners and just
happy to be at the table. Thank you. >> [applause]
» Thank you. And our final speaker is the President of the Downtown Partnership of
Baltimore, Miss Shelonda Stokes.
» Thank you so much. I thank to everybody for coming out. Mr. Mayor,
Director Moore, and Police Director Jackson, when when we
talk about Charm City Live, we're talking about the heart of our city. And
the fact that you're making Baltimore a destination city is important. From
Memorial Day to Labor Day weekend, Baltimore is where you want to be. And I
profess that is in downtown Baltimore. You're talking about a festival that for
the last 5 years draws 8 to 12,000 people just outside enjoying the
weather, meeting their spouses, and all of that other good stuff that happens at
Charm City Live. As Kevin talked about, this is about the music and the
excitement, but it's also about the economics of our downtown, and that
happens through partnership. It's not only in our name, and as Director Moore
said, you see the city agencies step up in a way that that is amazing. And what
layers on top of that is public private partnerships. We're at a place now where
downtown is rising. Our city is rising, and it's happening
because of all of us. And so, we're just excited to be a part of this. We welcome
additional partnerships and sponsorships on this. We can always do more and get
more engaged. So, please come out, enjoy, bring your wallets, your pockets,
your money, all of this stuff. But, if you want to continue invest in a city
that is thriving, Baltimore is it. Thank you so much.
» [applause]
» All right. And to conclude today's program, we'd like to invite Mayor Scott
back up to the podium to take questions from members of the media, if anyone has
any. Thank you all for joining us, and we look forward to seeing everybody at
Charm City Live. >> Beautiful.
» [applause] >> Questions? Sir?
All right. There we go. Thank you very much. We'll see everybody at Charm City
Live.
I I did forget something. We Shalonda, thank you for reminding me. I have to
remind everybody of two things. That Charm City Live is open to lolly-dolly
and everybody. And most importantly, that it's for the price of free 99.
There you go. >> [music]
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