There are often festivals of one sort or another among the many shops, bars, and restaurants around…read moreMain Street in downtown Ellicott City. This is the first time we've made it to SpringFest (Apr 2025). It was amazing!
SpringFest took over the entirety of Parking Lot D, south of Main Street behind the old Post Office building, plus several other locations around town, with walkable nearby satellite parking and a free shuttle all day.
We skipped the kids'-activities towards the west end of downtown, but we did see the cute results of face-painting :-). Onstage by The Wine Bin, we enjoyed a 45-min set by a favorite local rock band, Gary and the Groove, always laying down great dancing music and well-crafted vocals. Their stage had live performances noon to 8pm!
We heard an excellent Red Hot Chili Peppers rendition as we took a free shuttle to the east end of Main Street. We saw art and a dj in a small park, and, across the river, found a cute little courtyard we hadn't noticed before at Old Mill Cafe!
It was a short uphill walk back up to Lot D, full-to-bursting with artisans and food vendors and shops. Amid throngs of people, we tasted Asian, Mexican, juice, and some snacks among eight or ten food vendors, and a few tables around the edges. We checked out cool merch from around 15 artists, flower sellers, ceramics, soft crafts, herbs, candles, and more.
We heard live music from two more stages, with a wide range of tribute-bands and some cool musicians from Columbia's Soundcheck Academy. We loved the true-to-life Grateful Dead. The Band was a fun groove. Classics by Cure, Black Sabbath, Van Halen. Every song you ever heard, which means Billy Idol :-). We had to leave as The Talking Heads started up. Darn. We missed Bowie and Santana, too. Music here was also noon to 8pm, with slightly shorter hours on the student stage.
A long lovely day, which reminds us to watch for more events in downtown Ellicott City!