We all deserve a little sunshine after a soggy Memorial Day weekend, and it looks like we might get a bit this last weekend in May. Fortunately, we have a good mix of indoor and outdoor options below so you can always pivot if the forecast proves unreliable.
And don’t forget to check out The Banner’s calendar of area festivals to help you further plan.
Thursday, May 28
Future Islands, Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader’s Music Beat
The new owners of Pier Six get off on the right foot with a high-energy, all-Baltimore show featuring Future Islands, Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. Future Islands is wrapping up its “Fountain of Youth” tour, celebrating 20 years as a band. Wear your dancing shoes, or no shoes at all, and join what is sure to be an ecstatic crowd.
Time: 7 p.m.
Price: $52, both lawn and pavilion seats
Location: Pier Six Pavilion (731 Eastern Ave., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes
Friday, May 29
Greek Festival
The Greek Orthodox Cathedral’s annual festival is here for the 54th year in a row. Yes, there will be a wine tasting and a silent auction and traditional Greek dance. Yes, there will be music and shopping. But the biggest draw is the food. Chow down on baklava, karydopita and spanakopita, prefaced, if you have restraint, by non-pastry items like lamb and gyros. Pair with the Feast of St. Anthony Italian Festival (227 S. Exeter St., Baltimore) from 6-9 p.m. Friday or 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Or hit the Annapolis Irish Festival (Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds, 1450 Generals Highway, Crownsville) from 5-9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday.
Time: 5-9 p.m. Thursday; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday
Price: Free
Location: Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation (24 W. Preston St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes.
Baltimore Bike Party
You need some gumption to ride for hours on potholed city streets in a crowd of other bikers, but the payback is pure joy. This volunteer-run event has a different theme every month — Friday’s is “May Flowers” — and can draw thousands. Someone always has a boombox, and if you get a flat, eager helpers will swarm you. Spontaneous chants erupt, people wave and take pictures from their stoops, there’s a convivial break partway through, and somehow someone will pass you on a unicycle. You will love your city.
Time: 6:30- 9 p.m. or so
Price: Free
Location: Begins at St. Mary’s Park (606 N. Paca St., Baltimore); after-party at Wico Street Beer Co. (1100 Wicomico St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? The ride is geared toward adults, but kids are welcome with supervision. (Stay close if your kids are less than confident bike riders. It can get crowded and teenagers doing wheelies are a hazard.)
Baltimore Film Summit
Over 50 Baltimore filmmakers will share their stuff — mostly shorts — alongside visiting artists at this grassroots film fest. The lineup includes Sundance award winners and a wide range of genres: documentary, animation, horror, narrative, experimental and beyond. The opening feature, shot entirely on an iPhone, is a campy horror movie about a killer beekeeper. Feature-length screenings include the classics “Night of the Living Dead” and “Diner,” and industry panels cater to new and emerging filmmakers.
Time: Friday-Sunday, various times
Price: $50 for an all-access pass; screenings individually priced
Location: SNF Parkway Theatre (5 W. North Ave.)
Family friendly? Some screenings might be. Some definitely are not.
‘American Vamp’
The Baltimore Rock Opera Society, powered by a small staff and an army of volunteers, has birthed exuberant, over-the-top rock extravaganzas since 2007. This year’s production, “American Vamp,” is about corporate vampires, and not in a metaphorical sense. This homegrown takedown of capitalism and the ways it bleeds us dry introduces us to PlasmaCorp, where cutthroat vampires work in upper management. Set in the 1980s, the opera features a 10-piece band belting out synth ballads, rock and a bit of Gregorian chant. Opening Friday, the show runs through June 20.
Time: 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Saturday (sold out but there’s a waitlist); 6 p.m. Sunday
Price: $32
Location: Zion Church of the City of Baltimore (400 E. Lexington St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? The show is, at the least, PG-13. Expect occasional swearing, mild sex talk and a lot of blood.
‘The View Upstairs’
In 1973, a working-class gay bar in New Orleans, the UpStairs Lounge, was set ablaze. Thirty-two people died, some while trying to squeeze their way through the window bars of the spot located on the second floor and accessed only by a narrow staircase. It was the deadliest crime against LGBTQ+ people in American history until the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016. Yet the arson case was never solved and the news received little attention in the mainstream media. Friday is opening night for the Iron Crow Theatre’s rendition of “The View Upstairs,” a musical about that night, set entirely in the UpStairs Lounge. Runs through June 14.
Time: 7:30 p.m. Friday; 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday
Price: $35-64
Location: The Baltimore Theatre Project (45 W. Preston St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? No.
Heyward conducts ‘Enigma Variations’
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Jonathon Heyward will conduct Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” with a Q&A after each performance. Each of the 14 variations on a theme in Elgar’s orchestral work are impressionistic portraits, meant to capture a particular individual or a memory he shared with them. He parodies one friend’s stutter with woodwinds and imitates the deep bark of another friend’s bulldog. It has been said that “enigma” in the title refers to a well-known melody which is never heard in the variations, to which the theme serves as a counterpoint. Musicologists have argued for centuries over what that tune might be. Also on the program: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Violin Concerto” and the overture to Ethel Smyth’s 1904 opera “The Wreckers.”
Time: 8 p.m. Friday; 6 p.m. Saturday (Saturday’s performance also includes complimentary tapas and a drink before the show.)
Price: $35-$109
Location: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes.
Saturday, May 30
Birds, Bourbon and Bacon
Brought to you by some mad genius at Baltimore City Rec and Parks, this event is now in its fourth year. Start with a guided birdwatching tour through Gwynn Falls/Leakin Park, followed by curated bourbon tastings and a presumably bacon-heavy brunch. Too rich for your blood? Check out this event’s polar opposite in all but name: Beef & Beer & Beatdowns, a heavy-metal wrestling festival where you can eat pit beef and drink beer from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday (Peabody Heights Brewery, 401 E. 30th St., Baltimore).
Time: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Price: $106.60
Location: 1920 Eagle Drive, Gwynn Oak
Family friendly? Not unless you want to spend a C-note on your wee teetotaler.
Hot Wheels Monster Trucks
If your children are also inexplicably into things that go vroom, they are no doubt already clamoring to go to this event. Monster trucks with dinosaur skulls! Part tiger/part shark monster trucks! Fire engine monster trucks! They will perform stunts, they will crush cars, they will… breathe fire? You’re already in the neighborhood so might as well follow up with the Best of Both Worlds Car Show — which is free for kids — at the Convention Center, with over 300 cars and bikes (1-7 p.m. Saturday at 1 W. Pratt St., Baltimore).
Time: 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday
Price: $33-90
Location: CFG Bank Arena (201 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes.
Asian American and Pacific Islander Festival
As Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month draws to a close, everyone’s marking the occasion. Howard County’s AAPI Festival will include music, dance, martial arts performances, food, art and interactive activities like origami. Anne Arundel County’s fest promises much of the same, including the Golden Phoenix Lion and Dragon Dance Team and Filipino Kali Stick Fighting (11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds, 1450 Generals Highway, Crownsville).
Time: 12-4 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: The Chrysalis, Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods (10431 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia)
Family friendly? Yes
Gypsy Jazz Fest
Breathe in the scent of Star Bright Farm’s lavender fields, listen to the band swing and you might forget you’re just a few miles from the I-83 corridor. The Hot Club of Baltimore plays Paris-inspired swing, gypsy jazz, musette waltzes and even reworked Broadway show tunes. The event begins with a jam session and guitar and violin workshop, so channel your inner Django Reinhardt and bring your instrument. Wagon rides and food vendors will be on hand but bring your own picnic blanket.
Time: 3-8 p.m.
Price: $50-60
Location: Star Bright Farm (2950 Garrett Road, White Hall)
Family friendly? Yes. Children under 12 are free.
Blue Moon Paddle
Take to the water to experience a celestial event that only happens every two or three years. A calendar-month blue moon is the term for the second full moon in the same month. It will not, sadly, actually be blue. But even your average moon is no doubt beautiful reflecting off the surface of the Chesapeake Bay. Rent a stand-up paddleboard or a kayak or bring your own. Bring a headlamp or glow sticks — preferably red lights to preserve night vision and avoid upstaging the headliner.
Time: 7:30-9 p.m.
Price: $25-70
Location: Capital SUP (680 American Drive, Annapolis)
Family friendly? Yes.
Lakefront Live Summer Kickoff Block Party
To kick off the summer, Columbia debuts its fancy new bandshell, complete with pro audio and theatrical LED lighting, on the shores of Lake Kittamaqundi. The fusion R&B group Tap Band will break in the bandshell at 7 p.m. Food trucks, including Taco Joint and Tasty Treats, will be on site. Adults can partake in the community beer garden, and children can partake in free ice cream (while supplies last) plus as-yet-to-be-disclosed kids’ activities, if they register ahead of time.
Time: 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: Columbia Lakefront Stage (10275 Wincopin Circle, Columbia)
Family friendly? Yes.
Sunday, May 31
‘Velvet Rage’ (Act I)
Since at least the Napoleonic Wars, soldiers have used the tools of war — shell casings, shrapnel, uniform buttons — to make art. This “trench art” especially flourished during the World Wars but continues to this day. Artist Stephanie Mercedes references this practice in her experimental opera, “Velvet Rage.” She and a group of queer metalworkers will anneal and hammer one bullet into a bell, live on stage. The forges, anvils and power hammers used in this pursuit will form a musical score for opera singers and other performers to respond to. Includes a discussion and Q&A.
Time: 7-10 p.m. (Act 2 takes place June 27 at the Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St.)
Price: $10; registration required
Location: Power Plant Live! (34 Market Place, Baltimore)
Family friendly? Possibly too highbrow for kids, but not inappropriate.
Jewish Community Center Block Party
As many as 3,000 attendees are expected at this annual party held by the JCC of Greater Baltimore. The event features classic cars, pony rides, a roller-skating rink, a climbing wall, live entertainment, guided nature walks, strolling bubble artists and jumbo games, as well as vendors selling crafts, jewelry and kosher foods. If you overdo the snow cones, visit the section of the event devoted to health care, with access to medical experts and 30 tables offering free health screenings.
Time: 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: JCC of Greater Baltimore (3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., Owings Mills)
Family friendly? Yes.
Andrea Appleton is a Baltimore-based writer and journalist.
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