American Visionary Art Museum restaurant

AVAM's Kinetic Sculpture Race named Best Event For Out-Of-Towners by Baltimore Magazine

We are simply euphoric at the news that our beloved Kinetic Sculpture Race has been awarded a Best of Baltimore WIN for Best Event for Out-of-Towners! Our ecstatic jubilation cannot even be contained in a simple website post, but we'll certainly try. Here goes:

We'd like to thank Baltimore Magazine and its dedicated staff and readers. And say a special THANK YOU to every single soul involved in our annual race: all the intrepid Kinetinauts and their persevering Pit Crew, who create and pilot magnificent works of kinetic art that deliver joy to the many. To the numerous departments and officials of Baltimore City, who fearlessly filed paperwork, boldly blocked traffic, emailed and called on our behalf, and worked so hard to help us re-schedule this dear race. To our valorous Volunteers, who freely don a chicken or cop costume without the slightest scorn. To our jovial Judges, for sweating it out the whole day in black robes, and not being too judgy of our own wardrobe malfunctions. To our stouthearted Staff, we who would not let a phrase like "State of Emergency" deter us from our massive task at hand. To KineticBaltimore.com's Tom Jones and his team of plucky Photographers, who snap and sort thousands of race day photos, just so we can see how ridiculous this whole thing actually looks. And lastly but certainly not leastly, the entire City of Baltimore, who courageously cheers us on, supports us, and who's chin-up attitude in the face of certain setback inspires us to keep building and pedaling year after year!

Thank you, and while we bask in the glory of this Kinetic win for the moment, we quickly realize it's almost time to get started on next year's entry! Join us for the 18th Annual, Official, East Coast National Championship, Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race!

Julian Bond and wife Pam Horowitz with Rebecca Hoffberger at AVAM in 2010

With very heavy hearts, we remember the great Julian Bond, former NAACP Chairman and brave civil rights activist, who passed away Saturday at the age of 75.