[0:00] [music]
[0:06] [music]
[0:09] » Hi everyone. Good afternoon. How's it
going?
[0:15] My name's Briana Ross. I'm a reporter
with WBAL-TV 11 News. Welcome and thank
[0:20] you so much for joining us for the
official announcement of the fifth
[0:24] annual Charm City Live Music Festival.
[0:32] This year's festival will take place on
Saturday, September 5th from noon until
[0:36] 9:00 p.m. at War Memorial Plaza. And
WBAL-TV, we are the proud media partner
[0:43] for this annual event which will
celebrate the very best of Baltimore's
[0:47] music, arts, culture, and community
while drawing thousands of people right
[0:51] to the heart of our city. So, we're so
excited to have you here today as we
[0:55] talk about the specific details of this
year's event. It's now my pleasure to
[0:59] welcome the visionary leader of
Baltimore and a proud champion of the
[1:03] arts, the 52nd mayor of the city of
Baltimore, the honorable Bri- honorable,
[1:08] excuse me, Brandon M. Scott.
>> [cheering]
[1:12] [applause]
[1:14] » Thank you. Thank you, Briana, and good
afternoon everyone. Thank you all for
[1:18] being here. In addition to Briana and
our our media sponsor from WBAL, I'm
[1:23] also so so happy to have here with us
today Dr. Director Moore from Recreation
[1:29] and Parks, uh Lindsey Jackson, the
director of my office of arts, culture,
[1:34] and entertainment, the fabulous Shelonda
Stokes, the president and CEO of
[1:38] Downtown of Baltimore as well as we
celebrate five years of Charm City Live.
[1:46] Uh Charm City is also known as the the
celebrations of the fifth-year
[1:51] anniversary of the festival that the
mayor did not want to have that he is so
[1:54] glad that he actually had.
Uh cuz this is where I went and met my
[1:58] wife 5 years ago. Uh It is a reminder
that when we create spaces for people to
[2:04] come together, you never know what
connections or memories may come about.
[2:09] This festival is about celebrating
Baltimore and bringing our city together
[2:14] as we close out festival season for the
city. It's also about our incredible
[2:20] vendors and artists. This year we're
really excited to showcase businesses
[2:24] participating in BDC's Baltimore May
program. Vice President Kevin C. Rector
[2:30] will be talking about that. Local
entrepreneurs and small businesses that
[2:34] are bringing new energy into downtown.
We will again also have a job fair for
[2:41] anyone interested in working for the
city of Baltimore. So, for everyone that
[2:46] is direct messaging the mayor on
threads, Instagram, and Twitter, and
[2:50] Facebook about city jobs, come to Charm
City Live and go to the job fair.
[2:56] Families can also enjoy our expanded
kids zones with activities and
[3:00] experiences all day thanks to Director
Moore and the great team at Rec and
[3:04] Parks. And we have a few surprises in
store for you that you don't want to
[3:09] miss. So, we want to see everyone there
Labor Day Saturday from noon to 9:00
[3:15] p.m. right here at City Hall on the War
Memorial Plaza. We have an incredible
[3:21] group of DJs performing Portishead from
92Q.
[3:25] I hope that we put in his contract that
he has to keep his shirt on this time.
[3:30] Can't wait for him to see this later on.
DJ Tonnes, DJ Keevy, and Uncle E. And if
[3:36] that is not all that you need to
convince you to come, here are the
[3:41] featured artists that we are welcoming
to downtown Baltimore for Charm City
[3:45] Live.
So,
[3:48] as we know this is the end of the road
for festival season for the year. Boys
[3:52] to Men will be gracing the stage
>> [applause]
[3:59] » for Charm City Live, and we hope that no
one takes pictures in they fade. As Case
[4:04] will also be gracing the stage at Charm
City Live 5 this year, and we know there
[4:12] may be some more surprises later to
come. So, we want to thank everybody. We
[4:16] can't wait to see you at Charm City
Live, and with that, I will turn it back
[4:20] over to Briana.
[4:27] » Thank you so much, Mayor Scott. And
next, please welcome the director of the
[4:31] Baltimore City Department of Recreation
and Parks, Dr. Reginald Moore.
[4:37] » Baltimore, I'm so excited to be here
today with the mayor and the
[4:40] distinguished guests.
What an exciting way to continue the
[4:44] close out our summers. I cannot believe
it was only 5 years ago that me, Lenny,
[4:48] and the mayor sitting on the Gator. Can
you imagine sometime when we just sit on
[4:51] the Gator and we're talking about what
we can do to close out our summer.
[4:56] Remember those, Mr. Mayor? Those
conversations? Yeah, we have some of the
[5:00] best conversations, but it's so exciting
to be here that we're announcing our 5th
[5:05] year celebration of of our Charm City
Live. Cannot say enough about how it's
[5:11] extremely important for us to continue
to find ways to activate our green
[5:14] spaces throughout Baltimore, and what
better way at War Memorial Plaza Plaza
[5:18] than to close it out with an amazing
lineup as the mayor stated, Boys II Men,
[5:23] Case, and others to come. But, more
importantly, we're so excited about
[5:27] bringing back for the second year our
Speak Easy event was an opportunity for
[5:30] some of our adults to go and and really
just enjoy themselves and and just talk
[5:35] and have fun. Um as the mayor stated,
our kids zone will be extremely
[5:39] important and exciting. And all of this
is not possible without just the the
[5:43] collaboration of all of our city
agencies. And I think that's the piece
[5:47] that I'm so always excited about is the
collaboration as we go into AFRAM, as as
[5:52] Lindsay kicks it off with Artscape, and
then we close out with Charm City Live.
[5:56] So,
as the mayor said that we want everybody
[5:58] to come out Labor Day weekend, come out,
celebrate, enjoy downtown Baltimore.
[6:03] Please support our vendors, and we are
hiring. We are always looking for good
[6:08] talent in Baltimore. So, when people
say, "I need a job." There's no reason.
[6:12] You can come, you can enjoy, you can get
entertained, and also you may even come
[6:16] away with a job. So, look forward to you
Labor Day weekend, and so excited to see
[6:20] Charm City Live this year. Thank you.
>> [applause]
[6:29] » Thank you, Dr. Moore. Our next speaker
is the Executive Vice President and
[6:33] Chief Financial and Operating Officer of
the Baltimore Development Corporation,
[6:37] Mr. Kevin Seawright.
[6:44] » Good afternoon. Thanks so much to Mayor
Scott and Director Jackson for having us
[6:48] here at the table. I think I want to
kind of touch on what Dr. Moore just
[6:51] said, which is is about partnership. BDC
appreciates truly being at the table and
[6:56] being a part of this event and being one
of the sponsors of it. We continue to
[7:00] want to do these events. Our Made in
Baltimore brand which supports local
[7:04] entrepreneurs are at all the events that
the city sponsors at this point or the
[7:08] city has, and we're extremely excited to
just be at the table with them. Events
[7:13] like this impact small businesses,
impact restaurants,
[7:16] and it's just great. I guess it's really
great to be a part of it and see the
[7:19] entertainment. And it's about the
entertainment, but us being BDC and our
[7:24] president is actually here also,
and being able to support these small
[7:27] businesses is amazing. So, we are
extremely grateful partners and just
[7:31] happy to be at the table. Thank you.
>> [applause]
[7:39] » Thank you. And our final speaker is the
President of the Downtown Partnership of
[7:43] Baltimore, Miss Shelonda Stokes.
[7:48] » Thank you so much. I thank to everybody
for coming out. Mr. Mayor,
[7:53] Director Moore, and
Police Director Jackson, when when we
[7:57] talk about Charm City Live, we're
talking about the heart of our city. And
[8:01] the fact that you're making Baltimore a
destination city is important. From
[8:05] Memorial Day to Labor Day weekend,
Baltimore is where you want to be. And I
[8:09] profess that is in downtown Baltimore.
You're talking about a festival that for
[8:13] the last 5 years draws 8 to 12,000
people just outside enjoying the
[8:19] weather, meeting their spouses, and all
of that other good stuff that happens at
[8:23] Charm City Live. As Kevin talked about,
this is about the music and the
[8:27] excitement, but it's also about the
economics of our downtown, and that
[8:31] happens through partnership. It's not
only in our name, and as Director Moore
[8:35] said, you see the city agencies step up
in a way that that is amazing. And what
[8:41] layers on top of that is public private
partnerships. We're at a place now where
[8:46] downtown is rising.
Our city is rising, and it's happening
[8:50] because of all of us. And so, we're just
excited to be a part of this. We welcome
[8:55] additional partnerships and sponsorships
on this. We can always do more and get
[9:00] more engaged. So, please come out,
enjoy, bring your wallets, your pockets,
[9:04] your money, all of this stuff. But, if
you want to continue invest in a city
[9:08] that is thriving, Baltimore is it. Thank
you so much.
[9:12] » [applause]
[9:16] » All right. And to conclude today's
program, we'd like to invite Mayor Scott
[9:20] back up to the podium to take questions
from members of the media, if anyone has
[9:24] any. Thank you all for joining us, and
we look forward to seeing everybody at
[9:27] Charm City Live.
>> Beautiful.
[9:31] » [applause]
>> Questions? Sir?
[9:36] All right. There we go. Thank you very
much. We'll see everybody at Charm City
[9:40] Live.
[9:46] I I did forget something. We Shalonda,
thank you for reminding me. I have to
[9:50] remind everybody of two things. That
Charm City Live is open to lolly-dolly
[9:54] and everybody. And most importantly,
that it's for the price of free 99.
[9:59] There you go.
>> [music]
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