Is there an unwritten rule that all festivals occur the first weekend in May? Beyond those highlighted below, the Towsontown Spring Festival, the Immersion Cities Unity Walk and Festival, the May Day Faerie Festival in Middle River, Feastival at Harbor Point, the Ladew Topiary Gardens Festival and the Irvine Nature Center Springfest are on, to name a few. If that’s not your scene, numerous non-festival events are also afoot.
Thursday, April 30
Pecha Kucha
The Tokyo-based architect who started the Pecha Kucha craze a couple of decades ago described the hilarity and intimacy that results as “the internet in reverse.” In this rapid-fire visual storytelling format, each presenter shares exactly 20 slides and each slide automatically advances every 20 seconds. Local artists and innovators of all stripes will present on their passions.
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: Current Space Garden Bar (421 Tyson St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Maybe? But, you know, it’s a bar.
Friday, May 1
Bird banding
Once you’ve been up close and personal with a wild bird, you’ll never see them the same way again. Join the Natural History Society of Maryland and the knowledgeable researchers from Birds of Urban Baltimore as they gather spring migrants from mist nets, then weigh, measure and band them before release. Likely captures include Swainson’s thrush, orchard oriole and numerous warblers. (You can also register to visit the station another day.)
Time: 8 a.m.-10 a.m. Friday
Price: $10 for members, $12 for nonmembers; $5 for kids 2-15
Location: Masonville Cove (1000 Frankhurst Ave., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes.
Flower Mart
The Flower Mart folks have been doling out lemon sticks and gardening advice for more than a century. This year’s festival features over 75 vendors and greenery-minded nonprofits. Free gardening and craft workshops, fancy hat contests, a maypole dance, and over 20 musical performers ranging from the Maryland Opera to the Honey Dewdrops round out the weekend. Visitors can also climb the 227 steps of the Washington Monument, which will be adorned with flowers inside.
Time: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Price: Free
Location: Mount Vernon Place (699 Washington Place, Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes.
May Day Festival of Resistance
The artist-run nonprofit The Compound and the activists Baltimore 2 Palestine host a gathering to raise funds for the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC), a Palestinian nongovernmental organization. Events include poetry, art, community quilting, a “rage pinata,” folk dancing and a screening of “Palestine 36,” a film about the 1930s Arab revolt against colonial rule.
Time: 6-10 p.m. Friday, 12 p.m.-3 a.m. Sunday
Price: $20 suggested donation
Location: The Compound (2239 Kirk Ave., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes, though the film is best for 12 and up.
Asia North 2026
The Station North area was once home to Baltimore’s unofficial Koreatown. Friday kicks off a month of events celebrating the neighborhood’s past and present. Start with the opening of “Shoes at the Door,” featuring 16 visual artists on the theme of hospitality. Performances afterwards will include Indian classical dance, Korean folk music, Japanese drumming and indie pop. (Pair with the Asia in a Bite Food Fest taking place 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 201 E. Cromwell St.)
Time: 5-9 p.m
Price: Free
Location: SNF Parkway Theatre (5 W. North Ave., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes.
Save Your Soul dance party
Descend to the basement of Lith Hall, grab a shot of viryta — Lithuanian honey liqueur — and prepare to have a blast. This monthly dance party has drawn people of all ages and persuasions for decades. The DJs spin vintage vinyl, unearthing obscure soul, rhythm and blues, boogaloo and beyond. If your tastes run more Gothic, try Metroschock, a dark dance party on Saturday at Metro Gallery (1700 N. Charles St.)
Time: 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday
Price: $10 (plus an annual $5 membership)
Location: Lithuanian Hall (851 Hollins St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? No.
Saturday, May 2
The Kinetic Sculpture Race
The rules of this glorious annual event are simple: All vehicles must be human-powered and must travel on both land — including mud and sand — and water. Local artists and tinkerers spend months building their bizarre crafts and part of the joy for spectators comes from not knowing what strange beast will appear next. But here’s a teaser: a 13-foot-tall mobile windmill, a firefly with flapping wings and, of course, the American Visionary Art Museum’s iconic giant pink poodle, Fifi.
Time: 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: The race traverses 15 miles of the city. Choose a spot to spectate.
Family friendly? The friendliest.
Planet Walk
If the Artemis II mission ignited your passion for astronomy, check out the annual Planet Walk. Participants walk (or bike) 4.7 miles along the B&A Trail, stopping at stations representing each planet in proportional distance from the Sun. At each station, experts from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and area universities lead activities. In the evening, aerospace engineer Melissa Dahya gives a talk about the sun (Anne Arundel Community College’s Arnold Campus, 101 College Parkway, Arnold). Cap the day at the AACC Observatory with a stargazing party.
Time: 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; “Sun-sational Science: Facts About the Sun and How We Observe It,” 7 p.m.; stargazing 8:30 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: Begins on the B&A Trail at the Sun Sculpture (just south of 800 Aquahart Road, Glen Burnie)
Family friendly? Yes.
‘Charm Pass’
The theatrical production ‘Charm Pass’ was a year in the making and involved more than 700 participants, 33 partner organizations and 47 public events. A national nonprofit that uses theater to bring communities together led the process, gathering stories from residents across the city of Baltimore. Artists, including actress Rain Pryor, blended what emerged into … a mosaic? A chorus? A tapestry? See the final performance and emerge with a metaphor of your own.
Time and location: 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Center Stage (700 N. Calvert St.); 3 p.m. Sunday at Third Space at Shaarei Tfiloh (2001 Liberty Heights Ave.)
Price: Pay what you can
Family friendly? Yes.
‘Ghost in the Shell’ with live scoring
The 1995 cult classic film “Ghost in the Shell” feels more topical than ever: The action takes place in 2029, and characters include a cyborg and a sentient AI program. House band Xylenes will improvise a drum and bass score for the film in real time. Costumes welcome.
Time: Doors 7 p.m., film 8 p.m.
Price: $10-$20
Location: Bogus Gallery (1511 Guilford Ave., Baltimore)
Family friendly? No.
The Marquee Ball
Break out your capes and ill-fitting suits! This year’s theme for Creative Alliance’s biggest fundraiser is Heroes and Villains. Attendees are invited to dress as their favorite hero or villain — cinematic, modern, metaphorical, you decide. The evening will include cocktails, heavy hors d’oeuvres, live music, performances and a silent auction of over 80 works of art. (Tickets for the dinner and awards ceremony preceding the ball have sold out.)
Time: 8-11 p.m.
Price: $110 nonmembers; $100 members
Location: Creative Alliance (3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore)
Family friendly? No.
Sunday, May 3
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
It’s baaaaack and bigger than ever. Explore everything sheep with spinning competitions, fiber arts workshops, fashion shows and sheepdog demos. Watch competitors give sheep the topiary treatment in the creative shearing competition. Stop in at the sheep to shawl competition, in which team members compete in under three hours to shear a sheep, spin the fleece and weave it into a shawl. And if you have the heart to eat a lamburger after petting all those wooly muzzles, they’ll be on offer.
Time: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday
Price: $15.11 per day; kids under 18 free; workshops individually priced
Location: Howard County Fairgrounds (2210 Howard County Fair Road, West Friendship)
Family friendly? Yes.
‘The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged’
The Jane Austen Fest, with its whist workshops and period dances, is sold out but you can still get tickets to “The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged.” The comedic play involves three actors barreling through all of Austen’s novels and characters in two hours. (Should you choose to wear a bonnet and puffy sleeves to the production, you may not be alone.)
Time: 7:30-9:30 p.m. Friday, 2-4 p.m. Sunday (also playing the weekend of May 8)
Price: $27.50; $20 for students
Location: Manor Mill (2029 Monkton Road, Monkton)
Family friendly? Yes.
Joey Alexander
Indonesian-born jazz pianist and composer Joey Alexander released his first album when he was 11 years old. He has been performing professionally for even longer, beginning with a Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala by invitation from Wynton Marsalis. His albums have been nominated for three Grammys and he’s performed at the White House, Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theatre. Catch him at Keystone, a far more intimate experience.
Time: 5-6:30 p.m.
Price: $35-$45
Location: Keystone Korner (1350 Lancaster St., Baltimore)
Family friendly? Yes.
The Psychology of Serial Killers
If you’ve ever seen a convincing portrayal of a serial killer, it’s likely that clinical psychologist and criminal expert Dr. Rachel Toles had a hand in it. Toles specializes in extreme violence and serial homicide, and she frequently consults with TV studios and film networks. On Sunday, she presents on the psychology of the world’s most infamous serial killers, answering questions like: Is there a pattern to the type of person who becomes a serial killer? Why are they so often white men? And why are we so fascinated by them?
Time: 8 p.m.
Price: $71-$131
Location: Rams Head On Stage (33 West St., Annapolis)
Family friendly? Most definitely not.
Andrea Appleton is a Baltimore-based writer and journalist.
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