8 October 2023
The gridlock that some feared Saturday amid twin events held at Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium came to fruition, stranding drivers on streets surrounding the stadium long after Stevie Nicks took the stage to perform.
Tickets to see Nicks along with singer Billy Joel at M&T Bank went on sale months before the Baltimore Orioles clinched the American League East, ensuring that the team would host a home game at Camden Yards on the same date.
Organizers pushed up the start of the Orioles game to 1 p.m. in hopes of clearing the stadiums’ shared 85-acre tract in time for the concert’s 7 p.m. start. That gap proved to be too little time for many who chose to drive to the stadium, especially with a rain delay pushing the first pitch to 2:15 p.m.
Forty-five minutes into Nicks’ set, cars continued to clog nearly all neighboring streets on the Federal Hill and Pigtown sides of the stadium complex. A line of forlorn drivers on Leadenhall Street rolled down their windows to listen as Nicks’ “Gypsy” floated overhead.
“Shame on you, Baltimore,” yelled one woman who left her husband with their car in the gridlock and hustled toward the concert on foot.
“Where can we park,” cried Shael Welton from the window of her car as officials directing traffic waved her away from the stadium entrance at Hamburg Street.
Welton bought tickets to the concert as a surprise for her husband for their 27th wedding anniversary. The Charlottesville, Va. couple stayed at a disappointing area Airbnb Friday night in preparation for the show. They were stuck in traffic with no prepaid parking passes in hand for the sold out lots.
“I’m just so devastated,” Welton said. “Because I did all that stuff for him.”
Concertgoers who heeded warnings from city and stadium officials to leave well in advance and seek alternative methods of transportation fared far better.
Carolyn Benz of Anne Arundel County attended the Orioles game before meeting up with her sister and friends in the parking lot between the two stadiums. The group shared a picnic dinner over a biodegradable cooler as cars waited in long lines to exit the complex. Benz hired a driver service to drop her at the stadium well before the game. The rest of the group took Uber rides, arriving before the Orioles game emptied.
The plan was a lot to coordinate, but it worked, Benz said. “I was texting you guys the whole game,” she said laughing. “It was really stressful the whole week.”
Zach and Jenn Scheuerman of Harford County were able to keep their truck in the same spot as they attended both events, but it proved pricey. The couple bought tickets to the concert months ago along with a parking pass for the stadium lots. When they later snapped up Orioles playoff tickets, they assumed they could leave their truck in the lot for both events. Last week, they found out they would have to buy parking for both. It cost an additional $395.
“We’ve been to hundreds, between Orioles and Ravens games, and we’ve never had this much of a conflict,” Zach Scheuerman said.
The traffic bottlenecks spilled over into the stadium, where some concertgoers inched toward their seats an hour after the show began, standing in aisles as Nicks belted out “Gold Dust Woman” to a packed audience.
Some weathered the experience with more positivity than others. Around 7:30, long after Nicks’ voice began to echo from the stadium, a car loaded with concertgoers burst into cheers and thrust their hands into the air as they cleared the threshold of the parking lot.
“Bal-ti-more, Bal-ti-more, Bal-ti-more!” they exclaimed. “We’re in!”
Some libations helped others. Wayne and Angie Young paused in the parking lot with Amy and Chris Petty to crack open a round of beers and seltzers after making the trek from Harford County. The drive went smoothly until they hit Key Highway. Then they sat on Ostend Street for 45 minutes waiting for the lots to clear.
“It wasn’t very good communication on the time the lots opened,” Wayne Young said.
“But it wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be,” Amy Petty interjected.
“It’s worth it to have the Os and the Ravens and the concert,” he added.
Where some saw disorder, the members of Leadenhall Baptist Church saw opportunity. Ernest Jones, a member of the church, waved an orange flag along a packed Leadenhall street, beckoning cars to forego official stadium parking and nab a church spot. The price: $50.
“I’ve never seen it this bad since Beyonce,” he said, shaking his head. The star performed at the stadium in 2016.
Danielle Booz of Owings Mills took a ride share to the concert with a few friends. But she was still waiting outside of the stadium 20 minutes before the show was scheduled to begin, waiting on a fiancé who was stuck in traffic with a parking pass.
She decided to check out the merchandise tent — and still had time to spare after that.
“The idea was the guys were going to park,” Booz said. “We got here half an hour, 45 minutes ago. They haven’t gotten into the parking lot yet.”
“Uber would have been a better choice.”
()