Moonrise Festival is Not Returning to Baltimore in 2024

Local officials have been notified that Insomniac Events and Club Glow’s Moonrise Festival will not return to Baltimore this year.

Moonrise Festival has been a fixture for the dance music scene in Baltimore for nearly a decade, but according to the Baltimore Business Journal, it seems its time in the city has expired. According to their report, the festival, which drew thousands to the region annually, will not be returning to Pimlico Race Course this year, nor do its organizers have plans to host it elsewhere in Baltimore.

While other city officials have remained quiet regarding Moonrise Festival, Marly Cardona-Moz, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Department of Transportation, said that the agency has been notified that the festival will not occur in 2024. Baltimore’s Department of Transportation oversees the special event permit office. “We were told the festival was sold and no longer operating in Baltimore City,” Cardona-Moz told the Baltimore Business Journal.

Moonrise Festival began in 2013 but failed to start that year after its original owner, Steez Promo, was unable to obtain the proper permits. The following year marked the first for the festival, which would eventually become one of the biggest events in Baltimore and the second biggest at Pimlico Race Course next to the Preakness. After its editions from 2019 to 2021 were canceled, Moonrise was acquired by Insomniac and Club Glow, who brought it back in 2022 and operated the festival’s two most recent editions.

A glance at Moonrise’s official social media accounts shows a lack of activity since October 2023, with hopeful attendees of this year’s edition leaving comments asking for it to return. Over the past two years, the festival has announced its dates and started to sell tickets as early as January, with last year’s lineup arriving in February. Moonrise is still listed on Insomniac’s website as a festival under their umbrella but does not appear on the list of upcoming events.

EDM Identity has contacted Insomniac regarding the future of Moonrise Festival but has not received a response as of publishing. Stay tuned as more information surfaces.