City, organizers still trying to make Hampden Christmas parade happen

Baltimore City and organizers of the annual Christmas parade in Hampden are still trying to obtain enough security for the event so that it can go on as planned Sunday.

“We have commitment from the Mayor the parade will go on as scheduled,” City Councilwoman Odette Ramos, whose District 14 includes Hampden, said in an email late Friday night. “We are still working on logistics but this commitment is huge.”

As of Monday, those logistics were still up in the air. “I don’t know who they are reaching out to for resources, but we are doing this,” Ramos said.

Talks between the city and organizers started last week after Baltimore City’s Department of Transportation told organizers to reschedule the Dec. 4 parade because there aren’t enough police officers to cover it alongside a Ravens game.

The short notice frustrated parade organizers, who said picking a new date was not an option and canceling would be costly since everything was already in place, parade chairman Tom Kerr said Monday.

“Here we’re getting something good in Baltimore, for Pete’s sake, and they hit us with this,” Kerr said. “We were trying to do something nice and they kick us in the back.”

Kerr contacted Ramos to help work out a solution with the city. City officials then promised they would work on finding enough security for the parade.

The event costs $47,000 to $50,000 to execute, a budget that includes a few thousand dollars set aside to pay the city for a police detail of about 20 officers, Kerr said.

A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Scott did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

The Christmas parade, which organizers said is the biggest in Maryland, has been put on through the streets of Hampden on the first Sunday in December since 1973.

Past parades have brought tens of thousands of spectators, including residents from other parts of Baltimore and the surrounding counties, Kerr said.

The parade is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Falls Road and West Cold Spring Lane. The parade route continues south on Falls Road to West 36th Street, before heading east to Chestnut Avenue and then north to end at West 37th Street. Santa is supposed to make an appearance, along with the winning Ms. Yuletide and the three Jr. Ms. Yuletide awardees.

The Ravens-Denver Broncos game that day at M&T Bank Stadium also is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.

Organizers are hopeful it will happen but said the situation is cutting it close with less than a week left to go until the parade.

“We’re in a crunch here now,” Sharen Kerr said Saturday afternoon.

Ramos, however, is certain it will happen. “I had no doubt the parade would go on as it has for the past 49 years,” she said Friday night. “We look forward to seeing everyone there!”