Downtown : Buzz

Pennsylvania has its groundhog Punxsutawney Phil to predict whether spring will come early. 

Now Baltimore has its own critter that can forsee future weather. Spice maker McCormick & Co. Inc. will rely on a crab to determine if we'll get an early winter, writes the News Journal of Wilmington, Del. On Sept. 26, the makers of Old Bay seasoning and other spices will make a crab walk the plank into the Inner Harbor, the paper writes.

"If he goes off the right side it will be an early winter. And if he goes off the left side it will be a warm fall," writes the News Journal. 

McCormick recently opened a Harborplace retail location, near which the event will take place. 

Last month, local food blogger Dara Bunjon wrote an extremely popular story that highlighted dining destinations on the Charm City Circulator Banner Route.

Mary Beth Marsden of 1090 AM WBAL Radio asked Bunjon how she got the idea for the story and to name some of the highlights of her culinary tour on wheels. The journey took her from Locust Point to the Inner Harbor. You can listen to the interview here. 

Bunjon authors the Dining Dish blog and is the Baltimore Dining Examiner for Examiner.com 

Fans of the hit TV show Seinfeld might remember that certain foods got special attention on the comedy. 

There was the soup from the "Soup Nazi," black-and-white cookies and muffin tops. 

Actor Larry Thomas, aka the "Soup Nazi," has featured all of these foods and more on a food truck that visited different cities, including Baltimore Aug. 6. The Seinfeld "No Food For You" food truck gave away the food for free at the Maryland Science Center.

It already stopped in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Read more in the Baltimore Sun and USA Today. 

It has gotten off to a rocky start, to say the least. 

But now there's some good news for the Baltimore Grand Prix. Organizers of the Baltimore Grand Prix announced that they have landed several new sponsors for this year’s race, including Sunoco, Dr. Pepper and Giant Food, CBS News reports. 

The city terminated its contract with Baltimore Racing Development, the group that put on last year’s event, and dissolved its contract with Downtown Racing. Now, could it be that the third time is the charm with Race On LLC?

We'll find out Aug. 31 to Sept. 2, when the second Baltimore Grand Prix is slated to run. 
 

The Green Party nominated its candidate for the 2012 presidential campaign in Baltimore this weekend.

Dr. Jill Stein, a physician from Massachusetts, was formally nominated at the 2012 Green Party convention, which took place at the University of Baltimore and the Holiday Inn on West Lombard Street.
 
While the Green Party's convention was held in Maryland, there is a chance that Stein won’t be on the ballot here this fall. The Greens have until August 6 to present 3,000 valid signatures to the State Board of Elections to put Stein’s name on the ballot.

In any case, the convention's locale got press from a number of national outlets, including the New York Times and Time.
 
Jill Stein picked homeless activist Cheri Honkala as her running mate over actress and comedian Roseanne Barr, who had also been seeking the nomination.
 
The Republicans and Democrats will host their conventions in Tampa Bay and Charlotte, respectively, in August.

The Washington Post has given a shout out to the fast-growing Howard County theater troupe Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. 

The theater made headlines recently when it announced that it is moving from the county to downtown Baltimore's Mercantile Trust Building in 2014. The move will make it the city's third largest theater company, after Center Stage and Everyman Theatre.

The Mercantile building is currently a nightclub, featuring liquor, a disco ball and a basement bar called the Bedroom.  The renovation to turn this nightclub into a theater fit for Shakespeare will take $4 million.
 
"The expansion into Baltimore is a major development for a $540,000-budget troupe that has grown steadily since it opened a decade ago with a Twelfth Night" that drew 100 people, the Post writes. 

You can read the entire story here. 

Baltimore's Sailabration brought the Today Show's Al Roker to the Inner Harbor, 1 million tourists, the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels and dozens of tall ships.

Joining the festivities to commemorate the 200-year-anniversary of the War of 1812 was the U.S. Coast Guard sailing vessel Eagle. 

"The war was one of the last major conflicts fought during the Age of Sail, but 200 years after it was declared, the Coast Guard uses the three-masted square-rigger to train future officers," writes the Washington Post.  "The very anachronism of sailing a square-rigger using sextants and celestial navigation at a time when armed drones and Global Positioning Systems dominate is part of Eagle’s appeal."

You can read the rest of the story here. 

Broadway World describes the latest Everyman Theatre play a "hit in every way."

The last play of the season, "You Can't Take It With You," is a Pulitzer-Prize winning play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It tells the story of a "bohemian household where fireworks are made in the basement, one daughter (Essie) dances in her tutu all over the house taught by her Russian ballet teacher Kohlenkov (the magnificent Nelson)," Broadway World writes.

The play runs through June 17 and is the last show Vincent Lancisi is directing at the theaters spot in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. It moves to downtown Baltimore's west side spring of 2013.

Broadway World praises the detailed period set and the all-star cast. You can read the entire review here. 

 A number of cities, including Baltimore, are planning events commemorating the 200-year anniversary of the War of 1812.

The celebrations are featured in an AP story that the Wall Street Journal ran this month.

"The War of 1812 inspired Francis Scott Key to write The Star-Spangled Banner after soldiers at Fort McHenry in Baltimore raised an American flag to mark a victory over the British on Sept. 14, 1814," the Journal writes.

It goes on to note that the original manuscript for the song will be part of a War of 1812 exhibit at the Maryland Historical Society. You can read the rest of the story here.

Meanwhile, the New York Times wrote its own piece on the festivities.

"In Baltimore, as part of a festival from June 13 through June 19 known as the Star-Spangled Sailabration, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will debut a new composition inspired by the conflict," the Times writes. "And 20 tall ships and schooners, many modeled on period vessels, will drop anchor in the harbor for tours."

You can read the rest of the story here.

Charm City residents know that Baltimore gets a bad rap on the small and silver screens. 

But someone who writes for a national newspaper and doesn't ?live in Baltimore has come to the city's defense. 

Joe Queenan cites numerous examples of Baltimore's harsh treatment, starting with the most recent, The Raven. Starring John Cusack Edgar Allen Poe, the movie depicts innocent Baltimoreans getting murdered in the most gruesome manner. 

"Can the entertainment industry please stop picking on Baltimore?" Joe Queenan writes. 

Shows like the Wire and Homicide didn't do the city any favors either. In fact, the only time the city ever gets a break is when John Waters shows off the city's quirky characters, Queenan writes. 

The writer takes a yearly day trip Baltimore to visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the National Museum of Dentistry (hey, wait, we've never even been there) and other sites. You can read Queenan's entire ode to Baltimore here. 

Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group Inc. has nabbed a spot on a list of 100 socially responsible US companies. 

Corporate Responsibility Magazine placed in the No. 51 on its ranking. The magazine says it chose companies that take steps to address the environment, human rights, philanthropy and diversity. Read more about its methodology. 

Starbucks Corp., 3M Co., Walt Disney Co. and Darden Restaurants Inc. also made the cut. 

Chicago's Exelon Corp. recently acquired Constellation in a $7.9 billion deal. 

Baltimore doesn't always score points for offering low taxes to city dwellers. 

But a report from KPMG says the city's low commercial property taxes and relatively cheap office space makes it the sixth best city for business. The report was featured in 24/7 Wall St. Wire. 

Median income increased 1.7 percent in Baltimore between 2007 and 2010, making it the ninth-wealthiest major city in the U.S., 24/7 Wall St. writes. 

Cincinnati, Atlanta and Orlando, Fla., were the top three business-friendly cities. You can read the rest of the report here. 

It was a good month for Baltimore baseball. The Baltimore Orioles defeated the Minnesota Twins on Opening Day. Camden Yards celebrated 20 years of operation. 

Things couldn't get any better. 

But wait -- they can!

USAToday.com featured Camden Yards as an example of an urban baseball stadium that has boosted business for area shops, bars and restaurants. The article was originally featured on CNBC.com.

"The Orioles' success with Camden Yards spawned downtown stadiums in Cleveland, San Francisco, Denver and elsewhere," the article says. You can read the rest of the story here. 

Baltimore money manager T. Rowe Price released a study this month asking parents -- and their kids -- about how to save and make money. 

While three-quarters of parents say they talk to kids about money, a majority say they are not always honest with kids about money, writes Forbes.com. 

"Parents just aren’t comfortable talking finances," writes Forbes. "In fact, the survey revealed that they are more comfortable talking about bullying, drugs, and smoking than family finances or investing, and find talking about investing just as difficult as 'the talk' about puberty and coming of age."

You can read the rest of the Forbes write-up here. 

Children's museums are increasingly focusing on social outreach, and not just playful activities, writes the New York Times. 

The newspaper cites several children's museums that are using exhibits to target everything from childhood obesity to homeless students. Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore has adapted exhibits to accommodate kids with special needs, the Times writes. 

You can read the story here.