What to do this Juneteenth weekend, including AFRAM and a Father’s Day barbecue

Local events celebrating Juneteenth, the day marking the end of slavery in the Unites States, are so numerous we couldn’t possibly list them all.

But for some options beyond the biggies like AFRAM, which you can read more about below, you might hit up numerous festivities in Baltimore, including at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Eager Park, the American Visionary Art Museum, the SNF Parkway Theatre or the Baltimore Museum of Industry, which is hosting Rhythm Liberation Fest, put on by BLK ASS FLEA MKT. Howard County hosts both Juneteenth at the Lakefront and a celebration at the Harriet Tubman Cultural Center. Baltimore County will hold festivities at Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum. And Annapolis brings us both a festival and parade.

Read on for more Juneteenth ideas, as well as guidance on other goings-on. And as always, check out The Banner’s festival calendar to help you plan your weekend.

Thursday, June 18

Baltimore County outdoor movies

Hunt Valley Towne Centre hosts free family movies every third Thursday of the month at sundown. This time around, grab your lawn chairs and catch the 1993 baseball classic, “The Sandlot.” The series begins Thursday and runs through Oct. 15. For more big screen options in the area this summer, check out our guide to free outdoor films.

Time: The sun sets around 8:30 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: Hunt Valley Towne Centre (118 Shawan Rd., Cockeysville). Movies are shown in The Valley, the green space between J. Jill and DSW.

Family friendly? Yes.

Baltimore Honky Tonk

We’re a long way from Texas but Baltimore is a better place to dance the two-step than you might think. The Baltimore Honky Tonk, a monthly country-western dance party hosted in various locations, provides live music, dance lessons and a regular opportunity to wear your snakeskin boots. On Thursday, vocalist and songwriter Sweet Megg and her band will provide the tunes. Don’t worry if you don’t know the steps: a lesson is included.

Time: 6:30-10 p.m.

Price: $15-$25 sliding scale; $10 students

Location: Mobtown Ballroom (30 W. North Ave., Baltimore)

Family friendly? Yes.

Friday, June 19

AFRAM 2026

AFRAM, one of the largest celebrations of African American culture on the East Coast, is expected to draw as many as 300,000 people this year. The three-day event, now in its 50th year, features live music and other entertainment, African drumming, carnival mask-making, art showcases, tons of local vendors and a space dedicated to health and wellness. Watch live podcast tapings at the Podcast Patio and come out for one of the many big-name headliners performing on the main stage. This year’s performers include Charlie Wilson, SWV, Baltimore’s own Mario and hip-hop legends The Lox.

Time: 3-9 p.m. Friday; 12-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Price: Free

Location: Druid Hill Park (900 Druid Park Lake Drive)

Family friendly? Yes. This year’s event has an expanded kids’ area with interactive games, arts activities and other youth programming.

‘The Song of Sakuntala’

Indian classical music performances tend toward the long and hypnotic, with the anchor of a single continuous drone. This new opera draws from that tradition, inspired by a fifth century Indian romance about a forest maiden and a powerful king as well as classical poetry and the “Mahabharata.” Three singers will perform, and Rajib Karmakar, one of the world’s leading sitarists, will lead an ensemble that also includes oboe, viola da gamba, violin and tabla. A reception will take place after Friday’s performance and Saturday’s will include a moderated Q&A.

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

Price: $35; $25 for students

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

Family friendly? Only if your kids are keen on the long and hypnotic.

Taste of the DMV

Taste of the DMV, now in its fifth year, draws thousands of people. Food offerings include seafood, soul food, Caribbean, Latin and African cuisine, vegan options, desserts, and more. Six DJs and roughly a gazillion other performers will take the stage over the course of the three-day festival, and the beer, wine and spirits garden will sell the obvious. A local artist and maker’s market will also be on site.

Time: 7-11 p.m. Friday; 12-8 p.m. Saturday; 12-6 p.m. Sunday

Price: $23 Friday; $12.50-$21 Saturday and Sunday

Location: Camden Yards Sports Complex (Lots F and G, 1101 Russell St., Baltimore)

Family friendly? Friday night is adults only. On Saturday and Sunday, kids 10 and under are free, and games and other family-friendly activities will be on offer.

Saturday, June 20

Rock collecting at Texas Quarry

Martin Marietta’s Texas Quarry is the source of the marble for some of the region’s most prestigious structures, including Baltimore’s Washington Monument, a section of the Washington Monument in D.C. and the portico for St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City. On Saturday, visitors will have the rare opportunity to go down into the mile-long quarry and search for their own mineral treasures. Participants will don a full complement of safety equipment — including helmet and steel-toed shoes — and descend into the storied pit with their chisels and hammers to dislodge bits of calcite, pyrite, chalcopyrite and other less common minerals. The trip is BYOB: Bring Your Own Bucket.

Time: 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Price: $10 for non-members

Location: Martin Marietta’s Texas Quarry, Cockeysville. Exact meeting location shared after registration.

Family friendly? Children 14 and over are welcome.

‘5x5 Baltimore: The Art of Black Men’

This cross-regional exhibition brings together 10 Black male visual artists, half of whom are from Baltimore and the other half from Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. Ainsley Burrows’ wild acrylics will hang alongside paintings from the celebrated Larry Poncho Brown and Jerry Prettyman’s jazz-inspired fine art. Many viewers will recognize Ernest Shaw Jr.’s style from his monumental public murals throughout Baltimore, and artist Jeffrey Kent is perhaps best known for his role in mentoring numerous local artists who’ve made it big, including Amy Sherald. Opening Saturday, the exhibition runs through Aug. 22.

Time: 6-8 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: Eubie Blake Cultural Center (847 N. Howard St., Baltimore)

Family friendly? Yes.

Savage Bluegrass Festival

If you’re a fan of bluegrass, pack up your chairs, picnic blanket, family and even the dog — canines welcome — and head down to Savage for the day. Knoxville-based Redd and the Paper Flowers will perform what they like to call “living room folk”; Moose Jaw Bluegrass hearkens back to the high lonesome sound of the 1940s; the Black Eyed Suzies are an all-female traditional bluegrass group; and The Plate Scrapers will bring it home with high-energy progressive bluegrass. Food trucks onsite will dish out pizza, Greek food, lemonade and ice cream.

Time: 12-5 p.m.

Price: $20 for adults; $10 for kids 6-12; free for kids 5 and under

Location: Savage Mill (8600 Foundry St., Savage)

Family friendly? Yes.

Paint Annapolis closing reception

Celebrate the conclusion of the 25th year of Paint Annapolis, an annual event bringing over 110 artists to the streets of Annapolis for a week of plein air painting. This will be the last chance to view the dazzling variety of paintings they created, capturing everything from classical oil paintings of iconic town buildings to abstract beach and harbor scenes. At 6 p.m., Annapolis Mayor Jared Littmann will announce his selections for the Public Artist Awards.

Time: 5-7 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: Paint Annapolis Pop Up Gallery (13 School St., Annapolis)

Family friendly? Yes.

‘Fiddler on the Roof’

The story of a poor Jewish milkman and his family in Czarist Russia was the first Broadway production to cap 3,000 performances. It has since been staged innumerable times on stages large and small, and now comes to the Howard County Summer Theatre, a nonprofit community theater for all ages that puts on one production a summer. “Fiddler on the Roof,” its 50th production, opens Thursday and runs through June 28.

Time: 7 p.m. Thursday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday

Price: $22 for adults; $18 for seniors and children under 12

Location: Howard County Summer Theatre (Marriotts Ridge High School, 12100 Woodford Drive, Marriottsville)

Family friendly? Yes.

Sunday, June 21

Father’s Day Beer-B-Q

If you happen to know a father figure who enjoys beer and barbecue — a cliché perhaps, but several in my own life qualify — take him to the Guinness Open Gate Brewery. Tickets provide access to lawn games, live music and an extensive barbecue buffet, including pulled pork marinated in Guinness, pit beef, fried okra and collard greens as well as, duh, a beer. (Dads get two.) If the dad in question isn’t a drinker, you might send him to Manor Mill’s barbecue kit-making class with one of the kids instead (various times, $75, 2029 Monkton Road, Monkton).

Time: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (2-hour seatings)

Price: $90 for adults; $35 for kids

Location: Guinness Open Gate Brewery & Barrel House (5001 Washington Blvd., Halethorpe)

Family friendly? Yes.

Motown and More

If the papa you’re pampering on Father’s Day is the nostalgic sort, surprise him with this annual event. An 11-member band will belt out tunes by The Temptations, Marvin Gaye and The Jackson Five, among others. Fathers and fathers-to-be are eligible for door prizes.

Time: 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Price: $61

Location: Gordon Center for the Performing Arts (3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., Owings Mills)

Family friendly? Yes.

August Wilson celebration

In honor of Juneteenth, celebrate the life and legacy of playwright August Wilson, author of the American Century Cycle, a 10-play series documenting the African American experience during every decade of the 20th century. The event will consist of scenes, readings and panel discussions about the plays and their impact on American culture. Stop by campus early to catch the exhibition “People Get Ready,” a collection of posters by Baltimore’s famous Globe Poster company. The authors of a book by the same name will discuss how these posters advertising Black American music connect to the Civil Rights Movement (5:30 p.m., Asian Arts Gallery, Center for the Arts, Towson University, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Towson).

Time: 7 p.m.

Price: Free

Location: Ruth Marder Studio Theatre (Center for the Arts, Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson)

Family friendly? The poster exhibition might appeal but the panel discussions will probably be a hard sell.