32nd annual Reisterstown Festival

From 32nd annual Reisterstown Festival Website:

The Reisterstown Festival is a program of the Reisterstown Recreation Council (RRC), a non-profit volunteer organization, which, with the help of the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks, runs a variety of recreational and entertainment programs in the Reisterstown area. These activities range from a huge number of very popular sports leagues to summer camps for children........even a community dog park.

The RRC actually runs two local annual festivals - the Bloomin' Arts Festival (which is run in conjunction with the Reisterstown Improvement Association) held in the spring at Franklin Middle School and the Reisterstown Festival held the weekend after Labor Day at Hannah More Park. These two festivals complement each other with their variety and provide unique fun experiences for area residents.

The Reisterstown Festival began in 1985 and moved from its' original Franklin Middle School location to Hannah More Park location over 15 years ago in response to changes in Baltimore County Public School regulations about allowable functions and activities on school grounds and other reasons. After careful consideration of all the facts, the Festival Committee decided that the best path forward was to relocate to Hannah More Park in Reisterstown (1.2 miles south), because it allowed our traditional International Beer Garden and Fireworks shows to remain central Festival features, and Hannah More gave the festival much more parking, a large permanent bandshell, and use of the largest public park in town where it can continue to grow and prosper. The Reisterstown Festival has been held every year since 1985 with the exception of one year when it was cancelled due to a major Jewish holiday among other reasons.

Over the years, the Reisterstown Festival has staged a wide variety of local, regional and national entertainment including America, Kenny Chesney (1999), Three Dog Night, and Donna the Buffalo among many others. The big-name performers which helped establish the festival during the early years were made possible by very generous donations from Reisterstown Federal Savings and Loan whose legacy operations have been acquired repeatedly over the years (Reisterstown Federal S&L no longer exists as a separate institution, and any of its' legacy assets and operations are part of BB&T as of this writing). The Reisterstown Festival is proud to build a sense of community in the I-795 corridor by being the largest annual event where area businesses, residents, and visitors can get together to meet, interact and have a great time! The Festival also proudly puts on one of the finest traditional Main Street parades and one of the most spectacular fireworks shows in the region.