Honfest

I've been watching the ruckus surrounding Denise Whiting, the owner of the Café Hon, with a certain degree of perplexity. I am new to Baltimore, having moved here with my family this past August, so I feel like a person who has stepped into a movie theater halfway into the movie. I know I've missed important parts of the story and am trying to make sense of it all. What I can't understand is why Ms. Whiting is trying to control the use of the word "hon" through her trademarks and restrictions, including the one prohibiting merchants from selling cat's-eye sunglasses during Honfest 2011.

The Food Market opens Friday on the Avenue in Hampden. The new restaurant is the project of Chad Gauss, former executive chef at City Cafe, and Elan Kotz, a veteran of Aldo's in Little Italy. The 3,000 square-foot restaurant has seating for 90 in the dining room, a 12-seat bar and an open kitchen whose focus, Gauss has said, will be "basically blue-collar food in a white-collar execution. " The Food Market will be open for dinner seven days a week, serving a full menu until 1 a.m. An a la carte Brunch will be served on Saturday and Sunday -- and Friday.

Among the teased and towering hair, the fluttering boas and the crowd sticky with snowballs Saturday at Hampden's Honfest wound a joyful party who were celebrating more than the neighborhood's quirky character. "Make way, make way, here come the bride and groom," called Dot Tucker-Houk, leading a procession of several dozens revelers cheering and rattling noisemakers. Behind her, niece Angie Gentile twirled a parasol, beaming at her newly-wed husband, Andy Snair, and paused for a photo with a crowd of women wearing towering pink wigs.

Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting stepped up after Sheila Dixon's fall to assume the role of top Charm City villainess. Now, with Honfest protests looming, a city stripped of its favorite term of endearment watches to see if Whiting will lose her hold on "hon" just as Dixon lost her fur coats and Jimmy Choos. Will rebel vendors defy Whiting's orders and sell cat's-eye glasses? Will aspiring mayors and other pols ignore her no-politics-in-a-public-street decree and work the crowd? One hopeful sign that, given enough pressure, Whiting's greedy grip can be loosed: She got so busy defending her "hon" copyright last winter that she let her Twitter account lapse.  "Cafe Hon abandoned this account, so we could swoop in and parody them," writes whoever is tweeting as @cafehon.

Just when I thought Baltimore couldn't become less charming, it manages to do so. I've never seen a place that works so hard to ruin what's attractive and fun. To me, Honfest and all associated with it represent quintessential camp. Now the word "Hon" and vaguely associated merchandise have become restricted items ("'Hon' flap flares again as festival time nears," June 4). And we let this happen! Citizens of Baltimore — you should be ashamed! When someone goes to such length to destroy a cute happening that makes Baltimore a fun place to visit, I'm disgusted.

Where are you dining this weekend? Keep your eye on the Twitter box on the right of Baltimore Diner. I'll be retweeting specials throughout the weekend. Here's what caught my eye. Chazz opens, softly, tonight. Ocean City Restaurant Week continues through next Sunday. On Saturday and Sunday atOregon Ridge, it's Great Grapes, a family-friendly wine, arts and food festival, featuring 20 Maryland Wineries. Sounds like fun. The Greek Folk Festival is runing all weekend at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.

There was no shortage Saturday of feather boas, rhinestone-bedazzled cat's eye glasses, leopard prints and bouffant hairstyles at the annual Honfest. Despite threats of protesters and those opting to stay home and boycott, crowds filled Hampden's 36th Street for the yearly weekend festival celebrating the Baltimore hon. "This is my favorite festival. It feels like a big costume party," said Sue O'Neil, who was selling her "O'Crabby Creations" — hand-painted crab shells with logos for the Ravens, the Orioles and the Utz girl, among others.

Sporting a towering black wig and sparkling red eyeglasses, Dominic Motto surveyed the scene in Hampden yesterday and proved he knows a Hon when he sees one. "The original ladies are in polyester, leopard print and their own beehives -- unlike mine," said the 34-year-old Mount Vernon resident, who joined thousands of Baltimore residents and tourists for the opening day of the 14th annual HonFest -- a celebration of Baltimore's idiosyncratic cultural heritage....

Anyone who believes the Baltimore "hon" is merely a throwback to an era of beehive hairdos, cat glasses and leopard print spandex hasn't met Noelle Mack and Jennifer Blom. The 20-somethings, both finalists in Saturday's first round of Baltimore's Best Hon Contest in Hampden, are determined to do their part to carry on the hon tradition. "The young 'hons' are bringing it back," said Mack. "Once everything fades away with the older hons, we want to keep the tradition going." The two friends strutted on stage with other women decked out in feather boas and pink eye shadow for the contest, a highlight of the annual Honfest that runs through Sunday and celebrates Baltimore for its melting pot heritage and unique term of endearment, "hon," short for honey.

Suddenly, it's hard out there to be a Hon. Honfest, this weekend's kitschy celebration of beehive hairdos, cat's-eye glasses and pearls, may be the city's biggest neighborhood festival. But as Honfest grows, so does the backlash against it. Some Hampden dwellers, local fashionistas and even John Waters - who helped perpetuate the image of the Hon as a Baltimore icon - are fed up with the 50,000-strong festival that began as a simple beauty pageant. Waters frowns on all the Hon hype. He said he won't use the word or the image in any of his scripts these days, and he doesn't think the city should get behind it either.