Lunar New Year Celebration In Baltimore: Road Closure, Events

BALTIMORE, MD — The Walters Art Museum will host what it calls one of its most popular events of the year this weekend. The 11th annual Lunar New Year celebration Sunday will usher in the year of the rat.

A stretch of Charles Street will close Sunday for the Lunar New Year festivities in Baltimore, according to transportation officials. The closure runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26.

The west side of North Charles Street will be closed between Centre Street and Mount Vernon Place from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Drivers will have to use the east part of Charles Street.

The Lunar New Year celebration is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. This is the year of the rat, and participants are invited to make paper flowers that will be included in the museum's giant floral rat sculpture. There will also be fortune telling, a scavenger hunt and performances by the Baltimore Chinese School, Johns Hopkins Lion Dance Troupe and other community organizations. It is free to attend and open to all.

Drivers should be on the lookout for pedestrians and different traffic patterns, according to the Baltimore City Department of Transportation. If possible, use alternate routes such as North Calvert Street.