Sjockea Burke and her daughter, Azuré, were enjoying an afternoon at Canton Waterfront Park last week when they were challenged with a trivia question.

How long do you think this path is?

Sjockea, smoking a cigarette, guessed the boardwalk she sat on only extended until the building to her right.

Azuré guessed about four miles.

The two were shocked to find out that underneath their feet, the Baltimore Waterfront Promenade wraps seven miles around the city’s harbor.

“What? I can walk this all the way around?” Sjockea marveled.

Read More

Is Baltimore’s harbor really clean enough for swimming? Environmentalists disagree.

Jun 20, 2025

Yes, you can.

The Baltimore Waterfront Promenade, which touches many of the city’s parks, museums and businesses, goes a lot farther than Canton — and even past the Inner Harbor. It was initially envisioned in a 1967 master plan, becoming one of the pioneers of the U.S. urban walkway concept, built on a mixture of private and public land.

Soon it might get a glow up.

The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore and the city’s planning department have put forward a new plan to bring people back to the waterfront, they say, hoping to turn a path often seen as a route into a destination.

The proposition considers rebranding the promenade — including a potential new name and yearly festival — and designs to promote climate resilience and strengthened access for Baltimore neighborhoods.

The proposition was inspired by Baltimore missing out on USA Today’s list of top riverwalks multiple times throughout the years while cities like Detroit and Chicago were lauded. That didn’t sit right with Dan Taylor, the new president of Waterfront Partnership.

“It’s become very much part of our identity as a city in many ways,” Taylor said of the waterfront, reminiscing of years when development was booming on the harbor in the ’70s. “It was a shock to some degree. How could that possibly be? We have to fix that.”

The plan put forward is still in early stages, including figuring out who’s going to make it happen. It remains to be seen if the city will pioneer the effort, the Waterfront Partnership or another organization. The proposal slates the budget at $814,000.

Luckily, there’s not much to build — sure, some segments need love, but they’re not starting from scratch in any sense.

“Now it’s just a matter of showing the world, and showing Baltimoreans, what it is that we have,” Taylor said.

Baltimore residents are priority number one, said Andy Frank, director at Cap Ex Advisory, which put the plan together. Connecting trails like Gwynns Falls and Jones Falls to the harbor aims to increase waterfront access for West and North Baltimore families, he said.

It’ll take little things that make a big difference, like better signage and a website, Taylor said. The goal is to create a consistent experience across the seven miles, including consistent cleaning.

The plan coincides with broader discussions about reimagining the Inner Harbor, including the $900 million overhaul of Harborplace and efforts to revitalize the recreational water trail around the harbor, headed by Baltimore Blueway.

Though changes might bring more people to the waterfront, people like Brent Hooper already walk it everyday. Hooper has lived in Baltimore for 60 years and walks up to six miles along the promenade to enjoy the wildlife each day.

“Look at it!” he said of the harbor, standing beneath the Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse. “The breeze blows off of it — it’s refreshing.”

But even Hooper, who carried a bag full of crackers for the geese in his O’s cinch bag, said the waterfront could use more attractions.

“Since Harborplace is pretty much shut down, there’s nothing to come down here for,” he said.

Hooper said the promenade doesn’t need new name — he likes it how it is. But the Burkes submitted their votes:

“The Eyes of the Promenade,” said Sjockea, “because you come out here to look at all of this beauty.”

“The Seven Outlook,” said Azuré. “I don’t know!”