Cancelled last year because of road work, the Mount Washington Village Wine, Art and Jazz Festival is set to make its return in September.
But it's not returning to Mount Washington Village, the commercial district where the popular festival made its reputation.
Instead, the festival is planned at Quarry Lake at Greenspring, a residential, retail and office development in Baltimore County, a drive of more than 3 miles from Mount Washington Village.
Not only is Quarry Lake not in Mount Washington Village, it isn't even in Mount Washington proper, contend angry local merchants, who say they want to start their own fall festival in Mount Washington Village.
Promoter Jay Harris, who is no longer on retainer with the Mount Washington Village Merchants Association to organize the festival on Sulgrave Avenue and Newbury Street, said he is now organizing a new one, called "Mount Washington Wine, Art and Jazz Festival at Quarry Lake," with the support of the developers, Beazer Homes and Obrecht Properties. Sponsors include Beazer Homes, Walgreens, M&T Bank, and the financial services company Morgan Stanley. Beazer co-sponsored the 2009 festival in the Village.
"He puts on a nice event and it seems to be well-attended," said Laurie Johnson, marketing coordinator for Blue & Obrecht, the brokerage firm for the Shops at Quarry Lake, a 95,000-square-foot retail center, whose tenants include BB&T Bank, Walgreens and The Fresh Market.
Harris said he deleted the word "Village" and added the words "Quarry Lake," but kept "Mount Washington" in the name because the festival has long been identified with that community and because Quarry Lake is in the 21209 ZIP code, as is Mount Washington.
"I figured, why lose the title?" Harris said.
Merchants might complain
But some merchants and community leaders in Mount Washington wish he would.
"21209 is not a neighborhood," said Mac Nachlas, former president of the Mount Washington Improvement Association. "Mount Washington has its own brand and its own neighborhood."
And he said 21209 also includes such disparate neighborhoods as Glen, Cheswolde andPimlico.
Google Maps actually lists Quarry Lake as being in Pikesville, 3.2 miles from Mount Washington Village.
Koula Savvakis, president of the Mount Washington Village Merchants Association, questioned Harris' logic.
"Quite frankly, I think that's wrong. The quarry is not in Mount Washington," said Savvakis, who co-owns DK Salon with her sister, Denise Klicos. "They should call it the Quarry Festival."
And Savvakis said her group might complain to Quarry Lake developers.
"We might have a little talk with the owners," she said, adding that she doesn't understand why Harris and Obrecht would identify a festival at Quarry Lake with Mount Washington.
"I don't know why they would want to," she said. "They need to identify their brand."
Nachlas, a 20-year resident of Mount Washington, thinks Harris is trying to piggyback on the community's popularity.
"Mount Washington has become a premier neighborhood. Everybody wants to live in Mount Washington," he said.
Closer to home
Meanwhile, the merchants' association planned to meet June 21 to discuss putting on its own festival and is meeting with a Baltimore marketing and communications consultant, Brooke Hall Creative, Savvakis said.
And she said there's sentiment among the merchants to do a different kind of festival than one with wine, art and jazz as its themes.
"We want to try to attract a young, hip crowd," Savvakis said. "We're not sure if a wine and cheese crowd is the way we want to go."
The festival was popular for almost a decade. The last was the ninth annual one in 2009. Business leaders decided not to have one in 2010, partly because of nearby bridge reconstruction planned by the city, which potentially would have interfered with the festival.
Harris said he thinks Mount Washingtonians will still claim the one at Quarry Lake as their own and that it will also attract residents in the Quarry Lake area, as well as the Jewish population in Glen and Cheswolde.
Harris said he has 35 vendors lined up so far, including a microbrewery for men who would rather have a beer, and three vendors who will serve kosher wines and baked items, but that he is looking for as many as 70 vendors.
"I have the whole Quarry Lake Drive if I need it, plus side streets," he said, compared to the two streets that the festival was limited to in Mount Washington Village, Sulgrave and Newbury.
Nachlas wished Harris well, saying, "He does nice work. I'm sure it'll be a great event and I hope he calls it the Quarry Lake Festival."