Baltimore Says Goodbye To Fleet Week
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Fleet Week 2018 is wrapping up in Baltimore.
The seven-day event brought big crowds to Baltimore, including the Inner Harbor, Fells Point, Canton and Federal Hill, although no numbers are available yet, organizers said record crowds turned out.
"We had some amazing crowds, record attendance on the ships themselves for visitation, so the Navy couldn't be happier and I think everybody who came down really enjoyed themselves," said Christopher Rowsom, executive director of Historic Ships Baltimore.
Seven schools performed as part of the Fleet Week farewell at Fort McHenry, the Connexions Arts School in Baltimore City performed the Star Spangled Banner.
"We were able to tour a lot of ships last week, so that was a first-time experience for many of our students, exposing our students to a lot of things the country has is the reason why we're educators," said Brandon booth, vocal instructor at the Connexions Art School.
Some of the biggest crowds of Fleet Week turned out at Fort McHenry, the home of the Star Spangled Banner.
"We had several thousand people here. We had more people Sunday since the weather was a little nicer, our lawns were covered with folks. We had food out here, it was just a great family time," said Abby Wicklein-Bayne, chief of interpretation at Fort McHenry.
The Fort McHenry Guard saluted the departing ships with cannon fire, while Maryland Fleet Week 2018 ended Tuesday, the planning for Fleet Week 2020 has already begun.
"We are already thinking about what we can do for 2020, that actually happens to be the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II so that might be our theme," Rowsom said.
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