Niche hobbyists of Baltimore, take note: The city hosts several events for those with very particular interests this weekend, including numismatics, experimental electronic music, Sherlock Holmes and puppets.
If you’d rather fill your spare time with eating, drinking and listening to music, check out the annual Dam Jam festival, the Baltimore Soul Food Festival or the Baltimore Diwali Ball. See below for more options for every persuasion.
Thursday
Inner Harbor ice rink party
Help usher in the chilly season at the grand opening celebration for the Inner Harbor ice rink. A DJ will provide music, and hot cocoa and other treats will be available. Stick around for music and dancing at the Frozen Frequency evening party.
Time: Grand opening is 3-5 p.m.; dance party is 6-8 p.m.
Price: $12-$15; free admission for the first 50 people
Location: Inner Harbor ice rink (201 E. Pratt St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes
The Stars (NOWISWHENWEARE)
Think of this as a planetarium you walk through. Artist Andrew Schneider works with interactive electronics, in this case an installation of light and sound involving 5,000 LED lights. The piece has toured extensively, including in London and Wales, and now you can see it too. The experience is a 30-minute loop, but you can stay as long as you like.
Time: 4-9 p.m. Thursday, 6:30-9 p.m. Friday, 2-10 p.m. Saturday, and 2-8 p.m. Sunday; continues through Nov. 29
Price: $30; students and artists pay $20; kids pay $15
Location: The Voxel (9 W. 25th St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes
The Crankies with the Lantern Sisters
Crankies originated in the 18th century, when they were called moving panoramas. We are deep in a crankie revival, led in part by local artists Katherine Fahey and Dan Van Allen, known as the Lantern Sisters. The stories they bring to life through music and sound effects, shadow puppetry and storytelling are based on tales from as far as Inuit Quebec and as close as the streets of Baltimore City.
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Price: $30
Location: Manor Mill (2029 Monkton Road, Monkton)
Family friendly? Best for older kids.
‘Spirit Tasting’ world premiere
Baltimore indie horror film guru Chris LaMartina has a new film coming out, “Spirit Tasting,” and you could be one of the first to see it. LaMartina is best known for the campy H.P. Lovecraft send-up “Call Girl of Cthulhu” and the VHS pastiche film “WNUF Halloween Special.” This new movie was shot in four days for $40,000. It involves a creepy sommelier and a distillery in which, as Variety puts it, “every pour comes at a deadly price.”
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Price: $22
Location: The Senator Theatre (5904 York Road, Baltimore)
Family friendly? No
Friday
FaeryCon
This fairie — faery? fairy? — extravaganza features performances, panels, an art market and workshops in everything from historical swordsmanship to “fae whimsy maxing.” The highlights are the two evening balls, Friday’s BridgerTroll Ball and Saturday’s Faery Scary Ball. Don’t skimp on your costume. People take this very seriously.
Time: 1 p.m. to midnight Friday, 9 a.m. to midnight Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
Price: $29-$278; children 12 and under free with a ticketed adult
Location: Lord Baltimore Hotel (20 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Daytime events only.
Maryland Irish Festival
Over 10,000 people typically come out to celebrate Ireland and its culture at this annual fest. Dozens of performers are on the docket this year, ranging from Irish dancers to traditional accordion and fiddle players to Celtic rockers. Expect lots of wool items and Celtic designs from the many vendors, and keep an eye out for demos from the likes of the Irish Wolfhound Club. Add-ons include whiskey tastings and a traditional Irish breakfast, featuring an ungodly variety of meats.
Time: 6-11 p.m. Friday, noon-11 p.m. Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Sunday (plus a Catholic Mass at 10:30 a.m. Sunday)
Price: $10-$20; children 17 and under are free
Location: Maryland State Fairgrounds (2200 York Road, Lutherville-Timonium)
Family friendly? Yes
FLAUNT: Werk of Art
Some of the area’s most talented drag queens reveal their secrets as part of a benefit for the American Visionary Art Museum. In conjunction with the current outsider fashion exhibition, this AVAM benefit includes a live head-to-toe drag demo, living drag museum exhibits, fashion commentary (careful what you wear!), an auction, drag performances and a dance party. The always charming Downtown Kevin Brown emcees.
More opportunities to spend big for a cause this weekend:
- Hoodstock on Friday, benefiting people with disabilities ($50; 7-11 p.m.; Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Highway, Baltimore)
- The Baltimore Museum of Art Ball After Party on Saturday, benefiting the BMA ($175; 9-midnight; 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore)
Time: 7 p.m.-midnight
Price: $100-$150
Location: American Visionary Art Museum (800 Key Highway, Baltimore)
Family friendly? No
Peabody Heights 15th anniversary party
Peabody Heights Brewery celebrates 15 years with a two-day bash and four new brews. On Friday, Brandon Woody’s Upendo plays two jazz sets, and on Saturday the brewery hosts a “Fall Beach Party” with thematically appropriate performers, including the Trinidad and Tobago Baltimore Steel Orchestra and Disco Tropico, with DJs James Nasty and Emily Rabbit.
Time: 4-10 p.m. Friday, 1-10 p.m. Saturday
Price: $12-$23
Location: Peabody Heights Brewery (401 E. 30th St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes, but you’re not keeping them out until 10 p.m., are you?
Saturday
Maryland Alpaca and Fleece Festival
Did you know that alpacas hum? That they can be house-trained? That they can interbreed with a llama to create a llalpaca? Learn more about these ridiculously cute creatures and pet some at this annual festival. You can also buy super-soft holiday gifts, enter a raffle for alpaca products and take in interactive demos.
Time: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday
Price: Free
Location: Howard County Fairgrounds (2210 Fairground Road, West Friendship)
Family friendly? Yes
‘Culture on Wheels’ dirt bike exhibition opening reception
Dirt biking is a contentious topic in Baltimore, but it’s not often you hear from the dirt bikers themselves. This exhibition, which includes photography, painting, sculpture, videography and immersive installations, reimagines bikers as artists and celebrates dirt bike culture. Walk through the gallery and meet the artists.
Time: 6-8:30 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center (847 N. Howard St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes
The Erotic Market
Tell your family you’re gonna stop by the market on the way home, and, well, they won’t picture this. Over 50 vendors will be selling erotic art, kink gear and leather goods. There are an erotic crankie show, panels on sexual wellness, educational demos — past examples have involved rope and hot wax — and kinky drag performances.
If this market has you clutching your pearls, it’s possible you won’t enjoy Ottobar’s Punk Rock Flea Market either (Sunday, noon-4 p.m.; 2549 N. Howard St., Baltimore). Maybe try the Fall Market instead (Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; R. House Garage, 301 W. 29th St., Baltimore)?
Time: Noon-5 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: YNOT Lot (101 W. North Ave., Baltimore) and Mobtown Ballroom (30 W. North Ave., Baltimore)
Family friendly? 18 and up only.
Paul Mecurio
Comedian Paul Mecurio is best known for his work as a writer, correspondent and a performer on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and as a comedian on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” He has had a one-man show off-Broadway, hosts his own podcast and is a frequent co-host on the science podcast StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Mecurio brings his witty, fast-paced comedy and penchant for crowd work to Annapolis this weekend.
Time: 8 p.m.
Price: $104-$121
Location: Rams Head On Stage (33 West St., Annapolis)
Family friendly? No
Ohlsson Plays Brahms
The average adult male hand can span roughly nine white keys on a piano. Garrick Ohlsson can stretch his hands across 11 or 12, an exceptionally rare reach, even among professional pianists. Ohlsson is one of the most respected pianists in the world for other reasons, however, including his vast repertoire, his commanding technique and his emotional restraint. On Saturday, he performs Johannes Brahms’ monumental Piano Concerto No. 2. Also on the program with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Antonín Dvořák’s “The Golden Spinning Wheel” and Emilie Mayer’s “Faust” overture.
Time: 6 p.m.
Price: $56-$156
Location: Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? You know your kids best.
Moosefest
This all-day hardcore/punk/metal benefit is brought to you by Remington recording studio The Moose House. Food donations get you cheaper entry and will be donated to people in need. Soji, Scorpion, BADWAVE410 and 12 other bands from the region will perform. Warning to those with an instinct for self-preservation: expect stage diving and moshing.
Time: 1-11:30 p.m.
Price: $20 with food donation; $25 at the door
Location: Le Mondo (406 N. Howard St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Nope
Sunday
The Bad Plus: The Farewell Tour
After 26 years, the avant-garde jazz group The Bad Plus has announced they will disband. Best known for reinterpreting songs by artists like Nirvana, Radiohead and Johnny Cash, members of the group often improvise simultaneously rather than taking turns, as is traditional in jazz. Here’s your chance to catch the unconventional, pop-inflected greats one last time.
Time: 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Price: $40-$50
Location: Keystone Korner (1350 Lancaster St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? If your kids can stay quiet.
Indigenous Peoples Celebration
Celebrate Maryland’s indigenous history by trying your hand at corn grinding, atlatl throwing, making cordage and more. Demos on things like how to build a fire with friction, plus tours of Irvine Nature Center’s longhouse and wigwams, round out the day. Note: The Center’s Native American Educational Site is a 15-minute walk from the parking lot.
Time: 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: Irvine Nature Center (11201 Garrison Forest Road, Owings Mills)
Family friendly? Yes
The big names
Here are a few of the national acts in local venues this week:
Priya Parker at ThirdSpace on Thursday; Theresa Caputo at the Lyric on Friday; Disney Descendants and Zombies: Worlds Collide at CFG Bank Arena on Saturday.
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