For many Baltimore Orioles fans, for an extended period of time, FanFest was the highlight of the offseason.
However, we have been stripped of that fan-adored event since 2020, and it is long been time for FanFest to make a return.
All the way up until 2019, FanFest was the best possible way for the Birdland community to connect and interact with the team and its players. Usually held at the convention center in downtown Baltimore, right across the street from Camden Yards, fans could sign up to get autographs from players, take pictures with them, partake in Q&As with the players, coaches and front office personnel and even play games to win cool prizes.
Ever since this fun occasion was taken away from us, we have had to settle for the idea of the Birdland Caravan events. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a “Birdland Caravan sucks” article, although that may still be true. This is a “the caravan was a good idea and replacement. However, it has been proven to not be as good as the original” article.
One of my biggest qualms with the lack of a FanFest event is the fact that there is one single player currently staffed in our organization that was there when the last FanFest took place – Cedric Mullins. Bringing this event back when you have a whole team full of young, new and exciting players for the fans to truly meet seems like a no-brainer.
Also, having a new owner who is Baltimore born and raised certainly created buzz to bring FanFest back. It was a Baltimore tradition, and David Rubenstein knows that as well as we do. This would give Rubenstein and his ownership group another great chance to sit down with fans and really let them get to know him and the rest of the group.
After what we all dealt with by having the Angelos family as our owners, I think we deserve that at least.
The main reason FanFest was canceled after the 2019 event took place was because of attendance. Understandably, not many fans were willing to spend the money on the event to go see a squad who finished up a near historically poor season that saw a 47-115 record.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down of any chance of bringing the event back in the years that immediately followed.
The Orioles are coming off a 91-win season, which followed a 101-division-winning season. The fans would attend. The new generation of fans who have never had this event will mesmerized.
This is a tradition all Oriole fans deserve to have back, especially the younger ones who would be new to the event. For the players, especially the young core we all love so much, they deserve the chance to have an event that can actually run smoothly and not have so much going on that it’s more of a chores than a special occasion.
In an article written by Forbes Magazine in 2019, they quoted The Baltimore Sun to say that at least four FanFest events from 2013-2017 netted at least 15,000 participants. If you look at the exponential rise in game attendance from 2023 and 2024, there is absolutely no doubt a new FanFest event wouldn’t be close or more than that 15,000 number we were used to seeing in the early 2010s.
With all that being said, bringing back FanFest is absolutely a tab on Rubenstein’s to-do list.
Here is a picture of this author at FanFest in 2013 with former Oriole starter Miguel González, a.k.a. Mr. Underrated.
The 2025 Birdland Caravan will run from January 30 to February 1, and all ticketed events are sold out.
What are your thoughts on FanFest, and what are some of your favorite memories from the event?
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