The initial plans for Light City 2017 are out

A legal battle with the creators is still in court, but the second edition of Light City Baltimore is still on.
There’s not a radically different new feature this year, but Baltimore Office for the Promotion of the Arts is expanding what it started in 2016. BGE is returning as the big sponsor, the focal point is a light/art walk along Inner Harbor and there’s music planned from Biz Markie, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Papadosio and Ozomatli.
This year’s festival will last nine days from March 31-April 8, spanning two weekends.
The lights will also extend out into more communities, with a total of eight “Neighborhood Lights” installations.
Mayor Catherine Pugh also said Monday that she is hoping more downtown business will light up their facades for the festival.
The daytime illumination during the week is under a new name. The innovation conferences are now dubbed Labs@LightCity, and will all be held at Columbus Center. Each day has a different track, including health, green, food, education, social and design.
The speakers list has Baltimore entrepreneurs like Personal Genome Diagnostics CEO Lucas Diaz, UrbanPastoral founder JJ Reidy, Mingrub CEO Todd Marks, entreQuest founder Joe Mechlinski, Tammira Lucas and the Foundery’s Jason Hardebeck. Plenty of other innovators are also involved, including Innovation Village Chairman Richard May, Michelle Geiss of Impact Hub, Rodney Foxworth of Invested Impact and Darius Graham of Social Innovation Lab.