Artscape

Artscape, started in the early 1980s, is one Baltimore summer festival which just keeps getting bigger and better -- even though the festival usually coincides with some of the hottest weather of the summer.It's so big now -- with an estimated 1.2 million people attending last year -- that many Bolton Hill neighbors complain of noise and the impact of the huge crowds on grass and landscaping.When Artscape opens at 6 o'clock tonight for its three-day run, record crowds can again be expected.

With about 60 gallons of lemonade sold in six hours and more people jumping in line, Kent Harvin's stand at Artscape this year kept busy as attendees tried to stay cool. "It's really hot," said Harvin, a six-year Artscape veteran vendor, selling blue raspberry, pink lemonade and pina colada flavors of water ice at "Big Daddy's Water Ice" stand. "A lot of folks wait until the afternoon when it cools off." By 4 p.m., people packed Charles Street in between booths at the annual art festival, but it wasn't much cooler.

Rising from the ashes of City Fair, the festival of neighborhood enthusiasm that made Baltimoreans feel better about their hometown, Artscape has been a summer tradition since the early 1980s.Each year, hundreds of thousands of people -- last year's crowd was estimated at more than a million -- trek to the vicinity of the Maryland Institute and Lyric Theater on Mount Royal Avenue. For three days they fairly overdose on art, crafts, literature, music and food.This year promises to be bigger than ever: Friday's free 8:15 p.m. kick-off concert brings to Baltimore none other than Aretha xTC Franklin, the Queen of Soul.

Few events held in Baltimore can top last week's All-Star baseball festivities. Yet the city is preparing for another big festival weekend. Unlike the All-Star glitz, it may not garner much outside attention but it is equally important.We are talking about Artscape, of course. It will be held today through Sunday around the Maryland Institute's Mount Royal campus.In the past 12 years, Artscape has developed from a crowded outdoor orgy of gluttony and music into a serious art event. Much of Baltimore's current interest in crafts, in particular, can be explained by their exposure and success at Artscape.

Artists are known for their piques, temper tantrums and jealousies. Sometimes even their mentors are infected with these characteristics. Nothing else explains the petty attempts of two of William Donald Schaefer's former City Hall aides to prevent the Schmoke administration from inheriting some $666,000 they had raised for the annual Artscape happening.Legal wrangling about this money continued for four years. And it probably would still continue, except that the city subpoenaed Governor Schaefer to testify about the collection and purpose of that money.

Do it now! That's our advice to Jody Albright, who has been ordered to return more than $700,000 in Artscape funds to the city government. She has 30 days to appeal Circuit Court Judge Mabel Houze Hubbard's ruling, but Mrs. Albright will look mighty silly if she does.The whole dispute over Artscape funds defies logic. It has dragged this long because its roots lie in childish pique and political bitterness. The sooner this squabble is over, the better.Artscape started as a feel-good festival a decade ago, when William Donald Schaefer was mayor of Baltimore.

The jam scene is full of long shows, special guests and perpetually touring bands. But few players have been in as many bands and stayed on the road as much as Warren Haynes. Often seen as the hardest-working man in one of the most musically and physically demanding genres, Haynes always seems to be on the road with one group or the next. "The past 10 years have been really busy," Haynes said. That's one way to put it. Haynes is everywhere — a member of the Southern rock staples the Allman Brothers Band and legendary jammers the Dead, and the front man of blues rock group Gov't Mule, which headlines Artscape Saturday.

The city's three-day Artscape festival came to a close Sunday as the rain held off and the biggest crowds of the weekend jammed streets transformed into galleries, performance space and picnic areas. After a slower-than-usual, rainy Saturday, "All of our fair-weather friends came out today," said Bill Gilmore, executive director of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, which produces the event. "We're at capacity. " Artscape, which bills itself as America's largest free arts festival, featured roughly 145 artists and vendors and was expected to have attracted about 350,000 people.

Call it a preconcert warm-up. Not that fans of R&B singer Patti LaBelle needed any revving. But a little food and drink at La Tesso Tana restaurant didn't hurt at a reception for opening night of Artscape. Event co-chairs, AT&T public policy and public relations director Candi Humphrey and TCI Communications of Baltimore general manager Michael Hewitt, greeted 65 guests who had battled arts festival traffic jams to get there. Partyers gratefully grazed on a buffet of antipasto and pasta, catching up with old friends and making new ones.

Gary Kachadourian is making a career move as bold as some of the exhibits he's championed in his 22 years overseeing the visual installations at Artscape. The 52-year-old has quit his job at the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts - his last day was Tuesday - to enroll in a master's degree program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Kachadourian will study digital imaging, teach part time and devote more time to his own artwork. "Gary has been a terrific asset," says his former boss, Bill Gilmore, executive director of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts.