BALTIMORE, MD (October 11, 2016) – In addition to the Fleet and the Flights, Maryland Fleet Week and Air Show Baltimore organizers have gathered together a great line-up of performers, food vendors and environmental, military, maritime and cultural heritage-related exhibitors for the Fleet Week Festival and the Chesapeake Galley and Beer Garden at the Inner Harbor and the Open House and Free Festival at Martin State Airport. Baltimore is one of seven elite cities to host the U.S. Navy Fleet Week in 2016, and additionally, is honored to be the chosen location for the October 15th commissioning ceremony for the U.S. Navy’s newest vessel, the USS Zumwalt.

Maryland Fleet Week and Air Show Baltimore celebrates the rich maritime traditions of the Chesapeake Bay and is the legacy of the 2012 Star-Spangled Sailabration and 2014 Star-Spangled Spectacular events held in Baltimore. The weeklong event is planned by the Maryland Department of Commerce, Office of Tourism, and Historic Ships in Baltimore in conjunction with the U.S. Navy. Fleet Week Festival partners include Waterfront Partnership, Union 3 and Select Events; Open House and Free Festival partners include Martin State Airport staff, volunteers of the Glenn L Martin Aviation Museum, and various Baltimore County agency staff.  Northrop Grumman Corporation, whose Mission Systems sector is headquartered in Linthicum, is the event’s title sponsor.

The Fleet Week Festival runs Thursday, October 13 through Sunday, October 16 from 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. daily. Exhibitors, which will vary daily, will provide free interactive activities such as a pull-up bar challenge, a matching game for commodities that come through the Port of Baltimore, and a STEM trailer with three areas (Briefing, Mission and Debriefing). The U.S. Navy Band performs daily at 1:00 p.m. at the Harborplace Amphitheater while street performers entertain throughout each afternoon. AT&T, the festival’s sponsor, will provide four charging stations.

The Chesapeake Galley and Beer Garden offers food, drink and musical performances at West Shore Park, Inner Harbor Saturday, October 15 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, October 16 noon to 6 p.m.

The Martin State Airport Open House and Free Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, October 15 and 16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. As with the Inner Harbor festival, the open house will feature food vendors, military and aviation exhibitors, and fun activities such as face painting and picture making from the cockpit of an F-4 parked on the ramp. The added attraction for the Martin State Airport Open House and Free Festival will be static displays of various military and heritage airplanes and helicopters.

Visitors to Martin State Airport may watch the air show participants take off and land; the air show itself will not be able to be seen from this location. The Blue Angels and other pilots will mingle with visitors after their flights have concluded. This is a great opportunity to get autographs from the pilots.

Participants in the festivals to include:

Inner Harbor Food Vendors (Saturday and Sunday)
Booths –

• Cunningham’s Café
• Dooby’s
• Mothers Grille
• Ryleigh’s Oyster

Food Trucks –

• Brick n’ Fire Pizza
• Greek on the Street
• Pasta La Vista
• Taharka Brothers

Inner Harbor Entertainment (West Shore Park)
Saturday, October 15
     11:00 a.m.      DJ Kopec (spins during each subsequent band break)    (http://djkopec.com)
     12:00 p.m.      Firekite (www.firekitemusic.com)
     1:30 p.m.        Ricky Wise & The Dirty Unit (www.facebook.com/thedirtyunit)
     3:00 p.m.        Rachel Ann Morgan Band        (www.facebook.com/RachelAnnMorganMusic)
     5:00 p.m.        Gypsy Soup Revival (www.facebook.com/GypsySoulRevival)
     7:00 p.m.        Junkfood (www.facebook.com/junkfoodmusic)
     8:30 p.m.        DJ Kopec
 
Sunday, October 16
     Noon             DJ Kopec (spins during each subsequent band break)
     12:30 p.m.      Charm City Junction (www.charmcityjunction.com)
     2:15 p.m.        Jah Works (www.jahworks.com)
     4:15 p.m.        Sam Grow (www.samgrowmusic.com)
     5:45 p.m.        DJ Kopec

Inner Harbor Entertainment (Harborplace Amphitheater)
Thursday, October 13
     11:00 a.m.      U.S. Navy Cruisers (as part of student Meet the Fleet event)
Friday, October 14
     1:00 p.m.        U.S. Navy Country Current
Saturday, October 15
     1:00 p.m.        U.S. Navy Commodores
Sunday, October 16
     1:00 p.m.        U.S. Navy Cruisers

Inner Harbor Exhibitors (Thursday-Sunday unless otherwise noted)

• AT&T
• Baltimore National Heritage Area
• Carroll County Tourism Office (Friday-Sunday)
• Chesapeake Conservancy (Friday-Sunday)
• Chesapeake Bay Program
• Chesapeake Bay Trust (Friday and Saturday)
• Community College of Baltimore
• Geico Skytypers
• Living Classrooms Foundation (Friday-Sunday)
• Mr. Trash Wheel/Healthy Harbor (Friday-Sunday)
• Marine Corps Recruiting Station Baltimore
• Maryland Museum of Military History (Friday-Sunday)
• National Electronics Museum
• National Great Blacks in Wax Museum (Sunday only)
• Naval History and Heritage Command
• Navy Federal Credit Union
• Universal Sailing Club (TBD)
• USAA
• U.S. Army Reserves
• U.S. Coast Guard Recruiting Office Baltimore
• U.S. Naval Sea Cadets Corps & US Naval League Cadet Corps (Saturday and Sunday)
• U.S. Navy
• U.S. Navy Energy & Environmental Readiness Division
• Veteran Center, Department of Veteran Affairs (Thursday and Friday)
• Wood Art USA

Additionally, the Historic Ships in Baltimore will be open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Located within easy walking distance of each other, US Sloop-of-War CONSTELLATION, US Submarine TORSK, US Coast Guard Cutter TANEY, and Lightship 116 CHESAPEAKE exhibit life at sea from the mid-19th century to the mid-1980s.

Martin State Airport Food Vendors
Booths –

• Chick-Fil-A
• Funtastic Foods
• Jad's Caddy Shack
• Tim's Treats

Food Trucks –

• Kona Ice
• Polley's Duck-in-Foods

Martin State Airport Entertainment
Saturday, October 15
     11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. US Navy Band Country Current
Sunday, October 16
     11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. US Navy Band Commodores

Martin State Airport Exhibitors

• Armed Forces Store
• Aviation and Military Collectibles
• Brett Aviation
• Community College of Baltimore County Aviation Program
• Creative Occasions (face painting)
• Dream Photo (pictures taken in an F4 cockpit on the ramp)
• Middle River Aviation
• Plane Things
• Strayer University Race Car
• U.S. Air Force
• U.S. Coast Guard
• U.S. Marines
• U.S. Navy Sea Cadets
• U.S. Navy STEM

Additionally, the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum will be open October 12-16 (Wednesday thru Friday 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.).

Aircraft on Display at Martin State Airport

• Brett Aviation DA-2
• Canadian CF/A-18
• Geico Skytypers SNJ-2
• Glenn L. Martin Museum A-4
• Glenn L. Martin Museum A-7
• Glenn L. Martin Museum F-4
• Glenn L. Martin Museum H-1
• Maryland Air National Guard A-10
• Middle River Aviation R-22
• Scott Francis MXS
• U.S. Air Force F-16 (TENTATIVE)
• U.S.  Marine Corps AH-1W (TENTATIVE)
• U.S.  Navy’s Blue Angels F/A-18
• U.S. Navy F/A-18 F
• U.S. Navy T-45
• U.S.  Navy H-60

The aircraft below will not be on display, but you may watch them take off and land:

• U.S Air Force F-22
• U.S. Air Force F-35

Logistical Information:
Visitors are asked to plan ahead, arrive early, and pay careful attention to all posted parking signs, road closures, and ongoing transportation announcements. Residents and visitors alike should be aware that Saturday, October 15 is also the Baltimore Running Festival (aka Baltimore Marathon), and will require multiple road closures and cause traffic delays within Baltimore City. (All downtown road closures should be complete by 1 p.m.) Taking the Light Rail or Metro is strongly recommended for Saturday to ease any traffic congestion due to the running festival.

Within the downtown Baltimore area, visitors are encouraged to “Use Your Feet to See the Fleet.”  A Fleet Week Shuttle to the U.S. Navy ships in North Locust Point leaves from the Inner Harbor Visitor Center on Light Street during ship visiting hours Thursday, Friday and Sunday (no shuttle on Saturday). Other public transportation options include the Charm City Circulator Banner Route or the MTA Bus Route 1 from the Inner Harbor. The Charm City Circulator and the MTA Bus will run on modified schedules and routes on Saturday, October 15 until 5 p.m. due to the Baltimore Running Festival. The Baltimore Water Taxi will also be operating to Fort McHenry.

Throughout the week-long celebration, visitors can tag photos and share videos on social media platforms using the hashtag #MDfleetweek and #SelfieWithaSailor or @MartinState while at Martin State Airport for their open house and festival.

For the latest updates, more information and a complete list of activities taking place during Maryland Fleet Week and Air Show Baltimore,visit www.mdfleetweek.com.

About Maryland Fleet Week and Air Show Baltimore (October 10-17, 2016)
Maryland Fleet Week and Air Show Baltimore celebrates the rich naval traditions of the Chesapeake Bay and the contributions of Marylanders to the defense of the nation. The Blue Angels' Boeing F/A 18 Hornet jets and other aircraft will be on display on the Martin State Airport tarmac and in the skies over Fort McHenry and Middle Branch while schooners and U.S. and allied navy vessels will be ready for boarding visitors in the Inner Harbor, Fells Point and Locust Point. For more information, visit www.mdfleetweek.com.

About Historic Ships in Baltimore
Historic Ships in Baltimore represents one of the most impressive collections of military vessels in the world. Located within easy walking distance of each other, US Sloop-of-War CONSTELLATION, US Submarine TORSK, US Coast Guard Cutter TANEY, and Lightship 116 CHESAPEAKE exhibit life at sea from the mid-19th century to the mid-1980's. Also included in the collection is the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse which marked the entrance to the Patapsco River and Baltimore Harbor for over 130 years. Historic Ships in Baltimore is a program of the Living Classrooms Foundation, which has its roots in the maritime heritage of the Chesapeake Bay. For more than 30 years, Living Classrooms has been providing hands-on maritime and environmental education programming for Baltimore area youth and adults. For more information, visit www.historicships.org and www.livingclassrooms.org.

About Maryland Tourism
The Maryland Office of Tourism is an agency of the Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts within the Maryland Department of Commerce. Visitors to the state spent $16.4 billion on travel-related expenses in 2014. The Maryland tourism industry also generated $2.2 billion in state and local taxes, and provided 140,288 jobs. For more information, visit www.visitmaryland.org.

About Martin State Airport
Martin State Airport is owned by the Maryland Department of Transportation and operated by the Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA). The airport is located in Middle River, just a 13-mile drive east of the heart of downtown Baltimore. The airport has over 250 based aircraft and has over 90,000 annual aircraft operations. The airfield consists of a single asphalt/grooved runway 6,996 feet long by 180 feet wide. Other businesses at the airport provide flight instruction, maintenance and avionics, aircraft charter, and corporate aviation. The Baltimore City Police Aviation Unit, Baltimore County Police Department–Aviation and Marine Units, the Civil Air Patrol, and the Maryland Air National Guard and the Maryland State Police Aviation Command Headquarters also operate at the airport. The airport is an economic engine to the region generating over $280 million in business revenues, over $152 million in personal income and $16 million in state and local taxes. www.martinstateairport.com

About Northrop Grumman Corporation
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

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