As thousands of folks milled around on Mount Royal Avenue for Artscape's opening night, a few dozen gathered above them atop the Meyerhoff garage to kick off the arts festival at the annual Mayor's VIP Party.
VIP could refer to the guests, but it also could have stood for Very Important Potable. First thing on the agenda was to get a drink, alcoholic or not, hydration being the order of the evening. In fact, the bar proved to be one of the most popular spots to mingle for such people as Jordan Wertlieb, WBAL-TV president/general manager; Ellen Stifler, development director at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, and her husband, Bill Stifler, Baltimore city chief solicitor; Marshall Snively, vice president of the James Street Improvement District in Lancaster, Pa.; Paul Gibbs, hairstylist/owner Paul Gibbs Studio; Michele Noel, retired federal executive; and Fred Lazarus, Maryland Institute College of Art president and his wife, Jonna Lazarus, landscape architect.
There was an additional advantage for those who arrived promptly at the 7 p.m. starting time. Richard Dellheim, acting deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division; Curt Decker, National Disability Rights Network executive director; and Hannah Byron, assistant secretary of tourism, film and the arts for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, were able to nab small tables along the edge of the parking lot. There, they not only had a view of the festival below but caught a few of the evening's breezes.
"This is always a great time. And it's always the hottest weekend of the summer. But it wouldn't be Artscape without the heat and humidity," noted Mark Lauer, Canton Railroad Co. general manager, who was there with his wife, Colleen Martin-Lauer, a political consultant.
However, one guest, a newcomer to Artscape, scoffed at the complaints about the 95-degree temperatures. Margaret Daniel, Key Brand Entertainment financial analyst, moved to Baltimore last summer with husband Jeff Daniel, Broadway Across America Baltimore president. She explained that this city's summer weather was mild compared with her hometown of Houston. She had her mind on some Artscape attractions.
"I want to go downstairs and eat funnel cake and corn dogs," she said with a smile.