Harbor Splash is likely the first public swimming event in Baltimore Harbor in decades, and tickets for Wednesday sold out in 10 minutes.
The event, organized by the nonprofit Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, will see 125 people ages 18 and older dive into Baltimore Harbor over five sessions. A waiting list has been started.
A group of partners and elected officials, including Mayor Brandon Scott and Comptroller Brooke Lierman, will kick off the event at 9:20 a.m. June 23 from the floating dock at Bond Street Pier in Fells Point.
“The commitment and collaboration from everyone who has come together to support the Healthy Harbor Initiative has been incredible, and we can't wait to celebrate as a group with the public on June 23,” Waterfront Partnership Chair Laurie Schwartz said in a news release.
In 2014, the Waterfront Partnership installed the iconic “Mister Trash Wheel” to remove trash from the river, and three years later, the city of Baltimore invested more than $1 billion in repairs and upgrades to its sewer infrastructure, according to a news release.
Over the past five years, sewer flooding has been reduced by 76 percent, 5 million pounds of trash has been removed from the water and many single-use plastics have been banned, according to the release.
In November, about 20 harbour conservationists and researchers took to Bond Street Pier with pool noodles and swim rings and dove into the sea.
Regular monitoring of the harbour's waters means it's mostly safe to swim on dry days, but it's recommended you only swim during scheduled events such as Harbour Splash.
Next month, ultramarathon swimmer Katie Pumphrey will swim from the Chesapeake Bay up the Patapsco River to the Inner Harbor to celebrate clean water quality.
“We know our work isn't done, but we need to start swimming,” Michael Hankin, president and CEO of Brown Advisory and chair of the Waterfront Partnership's Healthy Harbor Initiative, said in a news release. “It is our mission to continue working to ensure our ecosystem thrives and that swimming in the harbor becomes a normal part of life.”
