The City Sand sculpture competition, a family-friendly event that celebrates Baltimore and the Inner Harbor, will not be held this year. The event was a collaboration between the Baltimore Architecture Foundation (BAF) and MCB Real Estate, the owner of the Harborplace pavilions.
Background
City Sand was a revival of an earlier sand sculpture tradition that began in 1989 and ended in 2012. The BAF is a non-profit affiliate of the Baltimore chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The foundation celebrates design and the built environment through programs and events such as the Doors Open Baltimore weekend.
MCB agreed to work with the BAF to bring the event back after it reached an agreement to buy the Harborplace pavilions out of receivership in 2022. The sale was finalized on June 21, 2023, and the first City Sand revival was on June 24, 2023. For MCB, it was a way to bring back memories of good times at Harborplace, get people excited about coming to the waterfront, and promote plans for the future.
Reason for Cancellation
According to one local architect, the MCB employee who was heavily involved in organizing the event has left the company and no one replaced him to coordinate logistics such as bringing in sand for the event. A complicating factor is that organizers are preparing Baltimore’s downtown waterfront for SAIL250 Maryland & Airshow Baltimore, a weeklong event that will bring 14 international tall ships and a projected crowd of 250,000 visitors to Baltimore’s harbor from June 24 to 30.
Original reporting: Baltimore Fishbowl — read the source article.
