What to do this Labor Day weekend, including Charm City Live and the Towson Fall Festival

Labor Day is arriving. This weekend, as you enjoy the picnics, outdoor festivals and other offerings described below, pay tribute to the generations of workers who agitated for fair wages, safer conditions and the very existence of a weekend.

Thursday, Sept. 3

‘Smelling Stories’ Workshop

Artist Laure Drogoul, who frequently incorporates the sense of smell in her work, calls herself “an olfactory spelunker.” Go deep with her as part of an exhibit evoking Maryland history through scent. As you move through the exhibit, breathe in the scent of tobacco and compare the smell of a healthy beehive with that of an unhealthy one (which apparently smells like wet dog). Drogoul will guide participants, sometimes in blindfolds, and lead a conversation about how smells can connect us with the past.

Time: 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: Maryland Center for History and Culture (610 Park Ave., Baltimore)

Family friendly? This tour is for adults, but scents are part of a permanent exhibition open to children.

Chamber Music in the Stacks

Join local chamber music ensemble the Ann Street Trio as they perform music by Louise Farrenc, Ferdinand Ries and Carl Frühling in the gorgeous Peabody Library. Recently unearthed archival treasures will be on display, and the conversation with the audience will turn on how composers are remembered, overlooked and rediscovered through archival materials.

For another free classical music concert this weekend, check out MacArthur Fellow and visionary violinist Vijay Gupta on Sunday at 3 p.m., playing a program spanning three centuries (Second Presbyterian Church, 4200 Saint Paul St., Baltimore).

Time: 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: George Peabody Library (17 E. Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore)

Family friendly? Let’s just say no one will thank you for bringing a toddler.

A Gay Little History of Maryland

Public librarian and historian Ben Egerman recently wrote a series of zines on the state’s queer history and released them at a bar, the Club Car. Now he has compiled them into a book: “A Gay Little History of Maryland.” Come hear Egerman discuss characters like George Wilson, an 1838 Baltimore horse thief who wore men’s clothes but was found in the jailhouse to be trans. (Unsure where to house him, authorities eventually let him go with money to buy a new dress. He bought a suit instead.) Learn about local lesbian heiresses of the 1870s, the 1920s “Pansy Ball” craze in West Baltimore and a 1960s drag bar in Southern Maryland, not to mention the birth of the gay rights movement in the state and much more.

Time: 6-7:30 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: The Ivy Bookshop (5928 Falls Road, Baltimore)

Family friendly? Unclear

Friday, Sept. 4

Baltimore Comedy Festival

The 10th annual Baltimore Comedy Festival will bring nearly 100 comedians to town for a dizzying number of events. Here are a few: On Thursday at 8:30 p.m., the SNF Parkway hosts a showcase for visiting comics and several local comedians ($5 or $12 with drink included; 5 W. North Ave., Baltimore). On Friday at 7 p.m., Darren Fleet and Woo Woo perform at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. A Saturday showcase — same time, same place — features headliners Amber Singletary, Kiki Anderson and Ben Smith (both events are free; 610 Park Ave., Baltimore).

Or catch a hot comedian who is somehow not in the festival: Robin Tran appears on Friday and Saturday, 7:30-10 p.m., at Le Mondo ($20; 406 N. Howard St., Baltimore).

Time: Various; runs through Monday

Price: Various

Location: Various

Family friendly? Probably not.

Ecstatic Dance

I have it on good authority from a certified non-hippy that ecstatic dance can be an amazing experience. The idea is that you and your shoeless feet move where the music takes you. You’re not trying to do it “right” or follow any specific steps; you’re trying to put yourself in a sort of trance without any chemical input, a state of ecstasy. Shamans the world over have been doing it for centuries. Why not us? Also on offer: AfroEcstatic Dance, a Black, Indigenous and people of color-only ecstatic dance at Baltimore Unity Hall on Saturday, 6-9 p.m., ($20; 1505 Eutaw Place, Baltimore).

Time: 7-10 p.m.

Price: $18

Location: St. Luke’s Church on the Avenue (800 W. 36th St., Baltimore)

Family friendly? Yes, but talking is frowned upon.

Towson Fall Festival

Fall already? Say it ain’t so. Well, it ain’t so actually, but the fall festivals have already begun. This one, which draws some 7,000 people a year, will include live performances by local bands, food trucks, moon bounces and a variety of craft vendors.

If that’s not big enough for you, head a few miles north to the Maryland State Fair any day this weekend. Over 500,000 people attend every year (children 5 and under are free, children 6-11 years old are $10 and adults are $15; 2200 York Road, Lutherville-Timonium). The Maryland Renaissance Festival is also afoot, but you’ll have to keep an eye out and likely join the waitlist for tickets. And if you’re just in it for the food, try this season’s last installment of the Asia in a Bite Food Festival on Saturday and Sunday, noon-8 p.m. (free; 201 E. Cromwell St., Baltimore).

Time: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: Towson Courthouse Gardens (400 Washington Ave., Towson)

Family friendly? Yes.

‘The Lost Ship’

‘The Lost Ship’ is an immersive theater experience in which participants move through five different spaces and interact with performers along the way. The theme is poetry, and the piece is inspired by poems from the modern era all the way back to the dawn of literature. A video of a past performance is evocative: candles, humming, attendees writing in notebooks. And reviews from previous stagings of the show by this D.C. collaborative, Sol Lab, are enticing. One described the piece as “an amazing trip through space and time.”

Time: 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday; 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday; 2 p.m on Sunday.

Price: $15-$25

Location: Theatre Project (45 W. Preston St., Baltimore)

Family friendly? For ages 13 and up.

Saturday, Sept. 5

Pops in the Park with a Poet Laureate

The Annapolis Symphony presents a program inspired by the nation’s 250th anniversary, with pieces by American composers ranging from the “Star Spangled Banner” to a John Williams tune from one of the Harry Potter movies. Maryland Poet Laureate Lady Brion will perform “Lincoln Portrait” by Aaron Copeland, narrating excerpts from Lincoln’s documents — including the Gettysburg Address — as the orchestra plays. She will also perform some of her own pieces.

Time: 11:30 a.m.

Price: Free

Location: Downs Park (8311 John Downs Loop, Pasadena)

Family friendly? Yes

Charm City Live

The city hosts its fifth annual Charm City Live festival downtown, featuring food, local vendors, community organizations, a kid zone, a “speakeasy” for adults and a city government hiring fair. Case will perform, as will Boyz II Men (who, let’s face it, have not been boyz for quite some time). DJ Porkchop of 92Q fame and DJs Tanz, Keebee and Uncle E will bring the rest of the party.

Time: Noon-9 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: War Memorial Plaza (100 Holliday St., Baltimore)

Family friendly? Yes

Labor Daze Metal Festival

Prepare to have your face blown off (if that’s something you enjoy). The lineup at this Labor Day weekend two-night metal festival includes Khemmis, a Denver doom metal band; Monolord, a Swedish metal band with an international following; Dopethrone, a Canadian group; and Ecstatic Vision, playing psychedelic rock on the heavy side. Expect lots of guitar riffs and distortion and a fair amount of growling and screaming.

Time: Saturday and Sunday at 6 p.m.

Price: $35 for one day, $65 for both

Location: Metro Baltimore (1700 N. Charles St., Baltimore)

Family friendly? Technically all ages, but we suggest leaving your lil’ metalhead at home.

Latin jazz on the lakefront

Led by Colombian pianist Leonard Garcia, Son Horizonte is a large group of musicians dedicated to Latin music, including salsa and Latin jazz. They perform in both Spanish and English, playing original compositions as well as classic tunes. Come out and show off your footwork on the lakefront.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: Downtown Columbia Lakefront (10275 Wincopin Circle, Columbia)

Family friendly? Yes

History of railroad workers tour

This weekend, the museum formerly known as the B&O Railroad Museum presents the history of railroad workers in America and the evolution of worker rights from the 19th to the 20th centuries. The museum changed its name this summer to the National Museum of Railroad History and Innovation, in an effort to describe an expanded mission. Take a 20-minute train ride on the nation’s first mile of commercial railroad and then stay for the labor history tour. Or hold off until Monday, when, in recognition of Labor Day, admission is only $5 and the train ride includes free ice cream.

Time: Train ride at 11:30 a.m.; tour at 1 p.m.

Price: Tour included with museum admission. Admission is $12 for children 2-12 and $20 for adults; train rides are $4 for children and $5 for adults

Location: National Museum of Railroad History and Innovation (901 W. Pratt St., Baltimore)

Family friendly? Yes

Sunday, Sept. 6

A Musical Portrait of Iran

Persian musician Sarah Shodja was one of the first women in Iran to play the recorder in concert halls. A graduate of the Peabody Institute, Shodja specialized in historical performance. Now she has curated an evening of Iranian music for a Baltimore audience, with period and traditional instruments including the daf, a frame drum; the oud, a pear-shaped, fretless lute; and the santoor, a type of hammered dulcimer.

Time: 4-6 p.m.

Price: Free; $10-$20 suggested donation

Location: St. David’s Episcopal Church (4700 Roland Ave., Baltimore)

Family friendly? Yes

Baltimore Blues Society Picnic

The annual Alonzo’s Memorial Picnic is named for Alonzo Bennett III, a jazz and blues enthusiast who used to host gatherings in his yard. This year, four area bands will take the stage: Shawn Holt and the Teardrops, the Monster Mike Welch Band, Robert Girke and the Wandering Souls and Nella B and the Noise. Food and merchandise will be available, and proceeds go to the Blues Society.

Time: Noon-8 p.m.

Price: $45

Location: Picnic Grounds VFW (6521 North Point Road, Sparrows Point)

Family friendly? Yes

Cigar Box Guitar Festival

In hard times, musicians build instruments from whatever’s at hand. During the Civil War, that was often a cigar box. Thus was born the cigar box guitar, an instrument that’s had a resurgence of late. Check out the great variety of cigar box guitars modern folks are making and watch nearly a dozen bands play on them at the city’s very first cigar box fest. Custom guitars will be raffled off, and a diddley bow workshop will take place from noon to 2 p.m. Eat, drink and plink.

Time: 2-11 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: Union Craft Brewing (Union Collective, 1700 W. 41st St., Baltimore)

Family friendly? Yes

Monday, Sept. 7

Opening night at the Columbia Film Festival

This festival opens with a screening of the best of The 48 Hour Film Project. Area filmmaker Mark Ruppert dreamed up the project, in which teams create a polished film in 48 hours, in 2001. It has since become an international phenomenon. See a selection of the films followed by a live conversation with Ruppert and a Q&A with local filmmakers who’ve participated. Afterward, check out the festival schedule of more than 55 independent films, workshops and special events running through Sept. 13.

Time: 6 p.m.

Price: $30

Location: The Collective Encore (10221 Wincopin Circle, Columbia)

Family friendly? Unclear.

Andrea Appleton is a Baltimore-based writer and journalist.