From April to November, there is a casual celebration of a maritime heritage in the state's tidewater, but when the Whitbread fleet arrives Wednesday or Thursday, a 12-day festival of sail will be kicked off in Baltimore and Annapolis.
"More than anything, the Whitbread festival here will be a people event," said Lee Tawney, Baltimore's director of international economic development. "There will be the exhibits of race sponsors, of course. But there also will be, for example, a program in which kids will be building boats along the harbor - and later will race them.
"There also are Baltimore businesses that want to come in and take part, as well as coordinated programs at the Maryland Science Center and open-air concerts at Rash Field on the southern edge of the Inner Harbor."
Organizers expect more than 500,000 people to pass through the Baltimore Waterfront Festival '98 and the Volvo Race Village from April 22 to 30. After nearly a decade of lobbying to get the Whitbread to come to town, festival organizers have pulled out all the stops.
Whitbread race officials call the race stopovers festivals of sailing, where sailors and non-sailors alike can learn about racing a 60-foot sailboat around the world and the technology that makes 400-mile days possible.
Satellite communications, oceanography, geography, mathematics, weather forecasting and other sciences are involved in completing the race - along with expert seamanship - and Tawney said Baltimore hopes to be able to explain it thoroughly to anyone and everyone who visits the waterfront festival and the Volvo village.
Admission to the race villages and festivals in Baltimore and Annapolis is free.
The hub of activity will be the West Wall of the Inner Harbor. In pavilions along the brick promenade at the Inner Harbor, the cultures of Whitbread ports around the world will be showcased through food, music, dancing and song.
Other pavilions will feature interactive areas where sailing, oceanography, environment, weather, history and Chesapeake Bay heritage can be learned and experienced by adults and children alike.
"These Whitbread boats ride the trade winds," Tawney said, "and if you think back, this country was created from ships that rode the trade winds here from Europe. So definitely there is a maritime heritage to celebrate."
On April 30, the festivities and the Whitbread fleet will leave Baltimore for Annapolis, where - until the May 3 restart - celebrations continue at City Dock and Sandy Point State Park.
