tourism and leisure
- Anne Arundel County native Vince Vaise — best known by his fans as the ever-enthusiastic "Ranger Vince" — may no longer officially work in Baltimore after 27 years, but he can't stay away.
- Howard Marion Gamse, a former vice president of Gamse Lithographing Company, died Aug. 11 of cancer in his Guilford home. He was 89.
- Dottie Freeman has served as the face of the Farm Museum since 1994 when she was promoted to administrator, but her tenure will soon be over.
- We are in the midst of Howard County Restaurant Weeks right now. They end on Aug. 4.
- Baltimore's tourism industry continues to grow, according to Visit Baltimore's annual report, with 23.9 million visitors to the city spending a record $5.15 billion last year.
- This month, Baltimore confirmed its desire to replace its waterfront volleyball courts with a park-topped parking lot. How many cities want to turn their highly-popular waterfront area into a parking lot, removing a key discriminator between themselves and other cities trying to recruit young professionals and spending $32 million to do it?
- With its four terraces of thriving plants sloping down toward a babbling lily pond, Jim Duke's garden could certainly be considered a healing place.
- Starting Sunday, the 51-year-old from Norfolk, Va., will try to sail the Chesapeake Bay, from Norfolk to Annapolis, alone in a Laser dinghy, a one-man sailboat.
- Public and private leaders of the Jordanian city of Aqaba visited Baltimore on Wednesday to learn about creating a tourist destination from an industrial port.
- The Pearl Mist, a 335-foot cruise ship that was readied at a Salisbury shipyard for the last year after a protracted legal dispute between its owner and builder, will embark from Baltimore on its maiden voyage on Wednesday.
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- Harford County's fifth annual Restaurant Week started Monday and will run through June 14, offering all kinds of valuable dining experiences around the county at a fraction of the normal cost.
- The National Aquarium must balance the moral case for releasing its marine mammals with its status as a prime driver of Baltimore's tourism economy.
- Visitors trying to shake off a particularly snowy winter and rainy spring could give a boost to Maryland's tourist destinations this summer compared to last year.
- Dressed in skinny jeans, flats, a white shirt and still wearing her stage makeup, the petite Ashley Blair Fitzgerald sits cross-legged in a small conference room after her matinee performance in "Smokey Joe's Cafe" at Arena Stage in Washington.
- Authors tell stories of reading to an empty room, sick kids and sleeping in their truck while on tour
- The Maryland Seafood Marketing Program has started up its fourth season of chef education tours
- Guilford centennial celebration to end with benefit gala for Sherwood Gardens
- Under Armour opens its largest specialty store to date today in SoHo, hoping to attract tourists from around the globe
- Preservationists and city hope to restore, draw visitors to structure built in 1828
- The eighth annual Come Home to Howard County fair on Saturday, April 12 attracted 900 people who spent half of a sunny, 70-degree day at Long Reach High School, sitting in information sessions, taking community tours and hoping to win a housing lottery.
- Passengers on the Grandeur of the Seas left Baltimore for the Bahamas after ship was scrubbed after second wave of stomach illnesses
- For the second time in two weeks, a Baltimore-based cruise ship is dealing with an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness.
- Monster trucks, wild animals and figure skaters draw millions to Feld Entertainment's live shows each year. But some of that magic comes from an unlikely arena — an industrial complex in Jessup.
- Baltimore's hotel market is at a crossroads as investments pour into properties new and old amid a nationwide pickup in business and leisure travel. As new hotels open, older properties scramble to remain competitive in a market in which demand for rooms remains healthy but has yet to rebound to pre-recession levels.
- If you work in Maryland, you have good reason to be concerned about climate change and to be in favor of more clean energy like land-based wind power. Unfortunately, a bill moving in Annapolis right now would severely handicap Maryland's ability to pursue onshore wind development within our borders.
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- Harford County is close to receiving elusive state authority to levy a tax on hotel and motel room rentals, thanks to a backdoor legislative tactic deployed by the leader of the Maryland Senate, with the blessing of a leading candidate for county executive.
- Rehoboth Beach recently joined the growing ranks of coastal resort towns that ban smoking on the beach so why not Ocean City?
- This year marks the first time since its opening in 1966 that the Carroll County Farm Museum has kept its doors open in the dead of winter.
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- While most of us are looking forward to maybe getting out to Sunday brunch soon, one lucky person will be winning an entire year of dates in a contest sponsored by Howard County Tourism.