D-Nice is bringing his “Club Quarantine” to Baltimore.

The rapper and DJ, who grew in popularity in 2020 by hosting virtual dance parties, will headline a new festival held the week before the Preakness Stakes. D-Nice & Friends will play at Pier Six Pavilion on Wednesday, May 14.

“I called him, asked him if he would come perform at Pier Six, and he was so excited to come to Baltimore,” first lady Dawn Moore said in an interview. “He said, ‘I have not come to Baltimore to do Club Quarantine yet,’ and he is so excited, so he’s bringing a bunch of his friends with him to perform.”

A week of events promoting the Preakness will begin with the fourth annual George “Spider” Anderson Music and Arts Festival, held in Park Heights, on the Saturday before the Preakness.

On Sunday, there will be a tour of Maryland horse farms, on Monday, a “ticketed premier golf event,” and on Thursday, a fundraiser at Government House, Gov. Wes Moore’s residence in Annapolis, to generate revenue for future versions of the Preakness festival.

D-Nice’s show would be separate from any events at Pimlico Race Course during Preakness weekend. The Stronach Group, the Canadian company that runs the Preakness, has held concerts at Pimlico in the past, but it has not announced any performances this year.

The festival, headed by Dawn Moore, leading to the race is part of a $3 million effort (paid equally by the state, the Baltimore City and private companies) to energize the Preakness Stakes. Attendance at the race, which will mark its 150th running on May 17, has fallen in recent years, and the spectacle has not captivated the area as it once did.

Over the last three years, the announced Friday and Saturday attendance over Preakness weekend has been between 60,000 and 65,000 spectators. That’s about one-third of the total, compared to 2019.

In previous decades, events, like a hot-air balloon festival, surrounded the second jewel of racing’s Triple Crown. Organizers hope the scheduled events this year will create renewed buzz and begin to reverse that attendance trend.

Dawn Moore first attended the Preakness in the late 1990s and recently went to the Kentucky Derby, an event that features weeks of large-scale festivities, for the first time. That trip prompted her to push for what she’s calling a “Preakness takeover.”

“We want this to grow to be a big part of our tourism effort in Maryland,” she said.

In addition to city and state funding, the events are also being sponsored by Brown Advisory, a Baltimore investment firm; Exelon Corporation, a public utility and the parent company of Baltimore Gas & Electric; and the Carlyle Group, a private equity giant co-founded by Orioles owner David Rubenstein.

Asked if the state and city would fund the Preakness festival beyond this year, Moore said the goal is to “build a sustainable operation with the funds that we have now.”

“Of course, we’ll see what next year looks like,” she added.

A lengthy team of Baltimore power players are attached to the festival. Mayor Brandon Scott and his wife, Hana, in addition to the Moores, are event chairs, as are Rubenstein, Brown Advisory President Michael Hankin and Exelon CEO Calvin Butler. Christian Johansson of Stella May Contracting and Belinda Stronach, CEO and president of the Stronach Group, are chairs, too.

Representatives from the Atlas Restaurant Group, the Baltimore Ravens, M&T Bank, and the Cordish Companies are among those on the event’s steering and host committees.

The festival coincides with a pivotal moment for racing in the state. On Jan. 1, a state-created nonprofit, dubbed the Maryland Jockey Club and led by president Bill Knauf, took over racing operations in Maryland.

The new entity first operated a race in the state on Jan. 17.

Additionally, Pimlico itself is set to be rebuilt.

Despite hesitance by some, state lawmakers approved $400 million in bonds last year to be spent on the renovation of Pimlico Race Course, as well as a training track in Carroll County.

After years of failed attempts, the legislature hopes it has, once and for all, taken the necessary steps to replace aging Pimlico.

Demolition of Old Hilltop is scheduled to begin a month after the Preakness, with construction set to start in the fall, Maryland Thoroughbred Racing Authority Chair Greg Cross said at a board meeting last month.

Over the course of roughly 23 months, Pimlico will be knocked down and entirely reconstructed.

During the tight reconstruction timeline, the current plan calls for the Preakness to run at Laurel Park — the Anne Arundel County track that will ultimately shutter — in 2026 and return to a new Pimlico in 2027.

The Stronach Group will continue to operate, and receive revenues from, the Preakness this year and next, before the Maryland Jockey Club nonprofit takes over. The nonprofit will then pay The Stronach Group roughly $5 million a year for rights to the Preakness.