#49 - AFRAM 2025

My favorite summer festival returns to Druid Hill

This weekend, Baltimore's Druid Hill Park transformed into a vibrant cultural epicenter for AFRAM 2025, one of the largest African American music festivals on the East Coast. The free two-day celebration drew over 150,000 attendees daily to the historic 745-acre park, where families and music lovers gathered to experience a powerful showcase of African American culture, art, and music that is a cornerstone of Baltimore's summer festival scene.

AFRAM is one of my favorite events to explore and photograph. I'm not much for huge crowds, so I tend to avoid the sea of people pressed against the various stages throughout the park. But I do like to poke around the periphery, where I usually find some very interesting things happening. In years past, I’ve encountered amateur wrestling, horse riding, and impromptu art markets. It’s a blast.

Night One

On the first night, I stationed myself on the northern bank of the Druid Hill reservoir. It was brutally hot—the first night of a heat dome that pushed evening temperatures into the upper 90s—and people had gathered there, seeking shade under the trees and the cool breeze drifting off the water. The sound of headliner Juvenile and 400 Degreez Band drifted over the knoll from the main stage.

A group of dirt bikers descended on the promenade and put on a spectacle of wheelies, burnouts, and other stunts. I managed to capture some portraits of the bikers and onlookers before a police helicopter arrived and chased everyone away.

Of note: usually at events like these, people I photograph ask me to connect on Instagram so I can send them their photos. This year, however, only one person asked for Instagram—the rest wanted them emailed. I'm secretly hoping this signals that more people, especially young people, are moving away from that dreadful app.

Night Two

To say that night two of AFRAM was "hot" would be an understatement. By the time Patti LaBelle took the stage at 8:30 PM, temperatures were still blazing around 95°F—but that didn't stop her, her brass section, or the massive crowd packed into the field from having an incredible time.

I skipped the dirt bike show this time and headed straight for the midway, hoping to capture portraits of individual festival-goers. But the throng of people was so dense I could barely raise my camera at times—bodies pressed together, everyone moving in different directions, a maze of people that was nearly impossible to navigate with equipment. I retreated to my usual strategy, hanging back around the outskirts and photographing people as they entered the park, where I had room to breathe and work.

The heat was clearly on everyone's mind, but people found creative ways to cope and even embrace it with humor.

I did manage to catch the Baltimore Snake Man and his crew of reptiles, who seemed completely unfazed by the sweltering conditions.

As the night wound down and the heat finally began to lift, I came across a scene that perfectly captured a kind of entrepreneurial spirit at the fringes. A woman selling Don Julio cocktails had propped her phone on her chest, using its screen as a makeshift advertisement.

Now, if you’ll excuse me—we have a week under the heat dome ahead, with highs over 100°F.

Stay cool out there.