august 20-23

if you do not have weekend plans, you're in luck. maryland is bursting with stuff to do this weekend. among others, check out:
-the "golden westival": music festival at the golden west cafe in hampden. many of the staffers are musicians, and despite the $8 charge per night and high probability that pretentious attitudes will run amok, it could be cool. i am a fan of jana hunter, who is playing tonight at 10!
-the inaugural inner harbor arts festival. although the inner harbor is not known for its authentic arts scene, this is an interesting collaboration between the city and a nonprofit called maryland art place. definitely worth checking out considering it is free and conveniently located...
-augustoberfest in hagerstown. the bad news is that hagerstown is 1.5 hours away. the good news is that it is a pretty drive, and they are throwing their 14th annual festival and fundraiser to send students to their sister city in germany. sounds like a riot!
-there's also latinofest going on in a park in dundalk. may be a bit of a drive for some of us but sounds exciting as well!

antiques and fall festival preview

last saturday i went swing dancing at the odd but cool dickeyville mill. dickeyville is a quiet, historic enclave within gwynns falls park, in west baltimore. to get there you turn off forest park ave into a densely wooded village, then follow the one main road to an old mill-- all quite out-of-the-ordinary for baltimore! once inside, however, it is awesome. the building looks like it was recently renovated and makes a gorgeous hall for dancing. at first i thought $12 might be a bit steep for the evening, but for an class and social dance, accompanied by live music, it was definitely worth it. i'd recommend checking out chileswing (link above) for classes or social dancing if you're interested or experienced!

i also made it to the fells point antique market last weekend, a monthly venture that occurs on the second sunday in each of the warm months. put on by the fells point preservation society, the entire plaza just south of broadway market was bustling with vendors and their wares. the next (and last, for 2009) markets are september 14 and october 12-- hopefully those won't be as stiflingly hot as last sunday! the heat did lead me to a fabulous coffee shop, however, called latte da. their iced coffee is made with coffee ice cubes (ingenious!) and their cupcakes might be the best i've ever had.

speaking of antiques, the baltimore summer antiques show is coming up september 3-6 at the downtown convention center. i haven't been, but i sounds fascinating! it is an international spectacle in its 29th year-- clearly, a big deal for some folks.

this fall will be greeting us with a variety of interesting events and spectacles, as per usual. it seems like september will be especially busy, with the korean festival, hampdenfest, and the ukrainian festival all taking place on september 12. the book festival hit mount vernon on september 25&26. in october we've got the poe funeral on october 10 (not quite sure what this yet) and the russian festival on october 16-18. although it's still a ways in the future, don't forget about free fall baltimore! the month-long program through the baltimore office of promotion and the arts promotes area institutions and events with free or discounted passes. definitely worth checking out!

in the mean time, catch an orioles game (fireworks coming up on august 14!), have a snoball, and try to find some place with air conditioning!