Urban Discoveries Baltimore

We’ve already mentioned the City From Below conference on progressive urbanism, but it bears repeating.

Last week Mayor Sheila Dixon announced that Baltimore would be participating in Earth Hour, an international movement that’s attempting to get a billion people (!) to demonstrate their eco-allegiance by turning off their lights for one hour. The website puts it a bit more starkly: “Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming.” City Hall has decided not to cast their lot with global warming, apparently; municipal buildings will shut their lights off from 8:30 – 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 28. Want to join in? We recommend candles, charades, and a bottle of wine — all blessedly electricity-free. It just might be the best hour you spend this week, and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home.

We love the Greater Homewood Community Corporation, but we love Scrabble even more — so this event kinda sounds like we dreamed it up, only it’s actually happening in real life:  the eighth-annual Scrabble Fundraiser for Literacy is scheduled for Saturday from 5:30 – 9:30 p.m. at the Calvert School in North Baltimore (4300 N. Charles Street). There are divisions for both the cutthroats and the amateurs among us, as well as refreshments to keep your energy up. Registration is $30 ($20 for students and seniors), and — needless to say — goes to a worthy cause.

Throughout the spring, Parks and People will host guided walking tours of three of Baltimore’s best green spaces — Druid Hill Park, Carroll Park, and the Mt. Clare Mansion/Herring Run Park. All three were designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead (you may know him from a little park he built in New York, I believe they call it Central Park?) This week, it’s Druid Hill’s turn; interested parties should gather at the Conservatory near Gwynns Falls Parkway. The tour runs from 1:45 – 4:00 p.m., and will cost you $18.

Or you could forget all about this springtime altruism and greenery.  May we suggest a little Poe to help you capture the perfect essence of gloom? The spookster’s bicentennial celebration continues with an event they’re calling Cask of Amontillado Wine Tasting Among the Bones. For $25, you get a catacomb tour, a talk from a wine expert, a sampling of wines “with a Poe flavor.” Buyer beware: the website claims that “The Red Death will make  a rare public appearance to spread his good will and cheer.” It all goes down at noon in West Baltimore’s Westminster Hall (500 W. Baltimore Street) on Saturday, March 28.

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