Mark your calendar! The 69th BHCA Festival on the Hill will take place on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 10 am to 5 pm, in the 1300 block of Bolton Street and on Lanvale Street between Park Avenue and Mason Streets. Of course, many volunteers are needed and donor-sponsors are appreciated. Contact Festival@boltonhillmd.org to participate.
As usual, it will feature the Kidz Zone hosted by the Bolton Hill Nursery, along with an expansive Juniquities flea market, a popup book store, art from the Baltimore Painting Society, chess playing, screen painting, live music, and much more. Food once again will include Corpus Christi Chili, Danute’s Soup, oysters, Cookhouse offerings, Bolton Hill Swim Club Barracudas’ Tacos in a Bag, School 66 hot dogs, Brown Memorial Church sweets, lemon sticks and Boone/Miller snow cones — plus beer, wine and soft drinks.
Bolton Hill Garden Club will have its annual pansy sale. Baltimore City Department of Recreation, MICA, and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources will have interactive booths for children. The city fire department will have engines on display. Additional booths for Maryland Child Network, No Boundaries Coalition, Charm; Voices of Baltimore Youth, Greenmount School, Ukrainian Committee, Abba Haven Community, Midtown Community Benefits District, Historic Marble Hill Community Association and Bikemore will again be part of the festival. Intersection of Change (Strength To Love) will offer fresh vegetables in their booth. New participants this year will include Baltimore Furniture Bank, Kappa Alpha Psi, Master Gardeners, Global Refuge, and Reservoir Hill Community Association.
At least 15 local craftspeople will have booths. Street activities will include Abu the Flute Maker, Kerry Johnson’s caricatures, balloons, and hula hoops.
Midtown Academy singers will again open the festival music stage, followed by performances by Clair Noonan, Mambo Combo, the Craig Alston Syndicate, and the Catonsville Steel Band. A free photo booth will provide participants with memorable photos.
The 7th Annual First Edition Book Sale party takes place on Festival Eve, Oct. 2, from 6 to 9 pm at 1308 Bolton Street. Attendees get refreshments and early access to a broad array of books to be sold the next day: current and historic fiction, mysteries, cook books, art books and lots of old and contemporary non-fiction. The $25 admission fee supports the Festival.
Festival on the Hill was preceded by a church bazaar organized by the Church Woman of Memorial Church and was held inside the Church. In the mid-fifties Rector Arthur Kelsey, Assistant Rector Sam Hale, and Lottie Shivers moved the bazaar outside to the 1300 block of Bolton Street as the first Festival on the Hill.
–Lee Tawney
