Stem & Vine: Meeting More New People

On August 27, 2026, we took over Stem & Vine in downtown Baltimore for our third main event. Sixty-one people on the list, our biggest yet, and a courtyard full of faces we had never met before.

That last part is the one we keep thinking about.

The quick recap:

• Third main event, fourth gathering overall
• Hosted at Stem & Vine, 326 N Charles St, plants and wine under one roof
• 61 registered, the longest list we have had
• Empanadas by The Empanada Lady, drinks by the house bar
• Guests came in from Baltimore, DC, Silver Spring, Laurel, Lanham, and across the river in Virginia

Most of that room had never been to a Colado

We have regulars now. People who came to Bodega and Vino in March, came back for The Empanada Lady in May, and text us between events. We love them.

This night was not mostly them.

Walking the courtyard we kept meeting people for the first time. New names, new businesses, folks who had been watching from Instagram for months and finally picked a Thursday. Somebody drove up from Alexandria. Somebody else came over from Lanham. Ashburn, Virginia showed up. For a free community event on a rainy weeknight, gente traveled.

The room keeps getting wider, and it is not just Baltimore anymore.

A whole building, and for two hours it was ours

Stem & Vine is a plant shop, a wine bar, and an event space stacked into one building on Charles Street, and it is the kind of place that slows you down when you walk in. Plants on every surface. Art on the walls. A skylit courtyard in the middle with lights strung across it.

We set up in that courtyard. Nothing else was booked during our window, so guests wandered the whole place: the bar, the greenhouse, the Stem Room. People found corners we did not point them to and stayed there talking.

Two Latino businesses on the same night

The Empanada Lady vended for us. She hosted our May event, and being back on the other side of the table this time meant a lot to us.

Here is the part we like even better. She and Stem & Vine already work together. She vends there regularly, they collaborate, that relationship existed before we called anybody. And she was booked for the event coming in right behind ours, which meant her night did not live or die on our crowd. She was going to eat either way.

We ask a lot of the Latino-owned spots that say yes to us. It felt good to bring one into a night where the pressure was already off.

The best version of this is when everybody is already eating.

Quincy took the mic at the end

Quincy Goldsmith runs Stem & Vine. Near the close of the night he got up, talked about the space, what they are building on Charles Street, and thanked everybody for filling it.

Then we did the part we care about most: handed the mic to the room. Several guests stood up and introduced their businesses to everyone at once. Watching somebody who has never done that before decide to do it anyway, in front of a warm room, never gets old.

The rain, and what we are not going to pretend

It rained that evening, and some of the 61 stayed home. Twenty-seven people walked through the door.

We could bury that. We would rather tell you what it actually meant. That is more people in the room than our last main event drew, and it happened in a bigger space, so nobody spent the night shouting over a crowd. Conversations went long. People sat down. Empanada in one hand, something from the bar in the other, and the same faces still talking forty minutes later.

Our first event sold out at 60 and felt like a party. This one felt like a living room.

Fewer people, longer conversations. We will take that trade.

About the venue numbers

If you read our other recaps you know we publish what a Colado night does for the business hosting it. Bodega and Vino saw a 51% lift. The Empanada Lady saw 40.3%. Stem & Vine came in at 471% for the two hours we were there, against the average Thursday of that season.

That number is bigger than the other two because it is measuring something different. Bodega and Vino and The Empanada Lady are restaurants with a normal Thursday dinner service to beat. Stem & Vine is a plant shop with a bar, and a normal Thursday between 6 and 8pm is quiet. So the honest way to read it is this: 38 orders came through the bar in two hours, and a typical Thursday in that window sees one or two. Quincy signed off on us publishing it.

Our team debrief is still ahead too. Whatever else comes out of it, one thing is already clear: the list is growing, and it is pulling from further away every time.

What people told us after

Two messages landed the next day. We are not putting names on them, but we are keeping them.

"I had such a good time meeting you all. I felt very much at home. Looking forward to collabing."

"I had a great time at the Colado event. I'm so glad I was able to make it. I look forward to more Colados."

Both from people who had never been to one of these before.

Where this goes next

We do not have the next date yet. When we do, the people on the list below get it first, then it lands on the events page and on Instagram.

Between now and then there is still plenty here. The Latino business directory is how the community finds each other when nobody is hosting, and Colado Connects turns one introduction from one night into something that keeps going.

Acércate. Stay close, and you will hear it first.

Every frame from this night sits with the rest in the photo gallery. Follow us at @colado.network on Instagram and @colado.network on TikTok, and follow our Eventbrite so the next ticket link finds you on its own.

Questions people ask about this event

Where is Stem & Vine? Stem & Vine is a plant shop, wine bar, and event venue at 326 N Charles Street in downtown Baltimore, run by Quincy Goldsmith and team. It hosted Colado Latino Network’s third main event on August 27, 2026. Hours and the rest live on their site.

Was this event free? Yes. Tickets were free to reserve on Eventbrite, with an optional donation ticket for anyone who wanted to put in any amount toward future gatherings. Nobody pays to be part of this community.

How many people came? Sixty-one people registered and 27 came through the door on a rainy Thursday. That is more than our last main event drew, in a bigger space.

Who catered the Stem & Vine event? The Empanada Lady, the Puerto Rican-owned restaurant that hosted our May 2026 event, vended her empanadas while Stem & Vine’s own bar handled drinks. Two Latino-owned businesses working the same night.

What happens at a Colado main event? Doors open at a host venue, somebody from our team greets you at the entrance, food and drinks come from the venue and a Latino-owned vendor, and partway through the mic goes around so guests can introduce their businesses to the whole room. The rest is conversation. At Stem & Vine that ran 6 to 8pm.

How do I find out about the next one? The next gathering goes up on the events page with a free Eventbrite RSVP. We announce first on Instagram and TikTok at @colado.network, and following our Eventbrite organizer page gets you notified automatically.

Can my business host or sponsor a Colado event? Yes, and three venues can tell you what one of our nights does for a business. If you run a space in the Baltimore area and want a warm, connected room on a weeknight, start at our sponsorship page or reach out on the contact page.