Uptown Roar to kickoff Towson Fall Festival this weekend
By Sarah Sternhagen, Editor-in-Chief
The annual Towson Fall Festival returns this Saturday with local vendors, food trucks and live music. Towson University’s Uptown Roar will kickoff the weekend festivities the night before.
Uptown Roar will go from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday Sept. 5. Pennsylvania Avenue will turn into a special pep-rally area for the event. Cheerleaders and Doc the Tiger are expected to attend and vintage market Rosebud Flea will hold a pop-up.
That’ll lead into the Towson Fall Festival on Saturday. It will go from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and take place on Pennsylvania Avenue and Washington Avenue. Vendors will line the streets while live bands play in front of the Circuit Court building.
“We want the students that come here to realize that we’re really part of their family,” Nancy Hafford, the executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce, said.
Roughly 75 vendors will line the blocked-off streets for the day. A variety of food vendors will also set up shop. Lemonade business Say Squeeze, ice cream truck Mister Softee, Conrad’s Food Truck which specializes in seafood and Dirty Pop Soda Bar are some of the food and drink options that’ll be attending the festival.
Live music will start at noon in front of the Circuit Courthouse. The band FireKite will be the first of two bands, and it plays what lead singer Pamela King likes to call ‘party-rock.’ The five-piece band will play until 3 p.m.
“The sort of stuff you’d wanna hear if you were out having a good time,” King said.
The band Lithium and Candy will play from 4 p.m. to the festival’s end at 7 p.m. The band has played at Towson’s Fleet on the Street before and singer Ric Ward said the band will be playing a mix of 90’s, 2000’s and dance music for the crowd.
The festival draws around 7,000 people each year, according to Hafford. It used to be called Roctoberfest and take place in October, but the chamber decided to do the festival in September so there’s better weather.
Visitors can park in nearby garages for a discounted rate of $5 during the festival. The Baltimore Avenue Garage at 110 W. Susquehanna Ave, the Towson Commons Garage at 1 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Tolbert Garage at 108 Ware Ave. and the Penthouse Garage at 28 Allegheny Ave are all running the discount.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the Towson University Pom Squad would be attending Uptown Roar. This article has been updated to reflect that the Pom Squad will not be attending Uptown Roar. The Towerlight regrets this error.