Can you feel the weather changing? Does it make you want to open the doors? Well, that’s what Baltimore is doing this weekend. With Doors Open Baltimore, the city’s overlooked architectural wonders and creative spaces invite the public inside for tours.
Plus, check out brand new festivals on the calendar: Night Brunch Festival comes to Harbor Point for three days of brunch, and Sweaty Eyeballs celebrates animation at the Parkway. Over at Poe House, the beloved Baltimore author gets his own weekend celebration. Here’s the full schedule:
Friday, Oct. 4
Oktoberfest Mount Vernon: Oct. 4-5 on Read Street, between Charles and Cathedral streets. The German festival arrives in the historic neighborhood with food, beverages and entertainment.
The Night Brunch Festival: Oct. 4-6 at Harbor Point. The three-day celebration brings together restaurants, artists and musicians, with art from Pablo Machioli, DJ booths, food trucks and more.
Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival: Oct. 4-6 at SNF Parkway. The inaugural festival arrives in Station North to celebrate boundary-pushing animated filmmaking. The juried festival features animated shorts, live music accompaniments, a master class from Joanna Priestley and more.
Baltimore Japan Art Festival: through Oct. 6 in Station North. The event series includes art exhibitions, talks and film screenings. Featured artist Utomaru will showcase her illustrations and music throughout.
PinBaltimore Pinball Festival 2019: Oct. 4-6 at Holy Frijoles. The Hampden spot is already a pinball destination. This weekend, it’ll have 50-plus machines, live music, film screenings and plenty of competition.
Symphonic Fairy Tales: Oct. 4-5 at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs works from Ravel and Bartok, featuring pianist Conrad Tao playing Scriabin’s piano concerto.
Cordially Invited II: 5-8 p.m. at Make Studio. The Hampden gallery celebrates progressive art studios serving people with disabilities. An opening reception includes artist remarks and a panel discussion.
Artist Talk: True Laurels and Kyle Yearwood. 6 p.m. at Eubie Blake Culture Center. Lawrence Burney and Yearwood discuss Burney’s exhibition “The Journey Continues,” which includes video pieces, written works and selected photos paired with audio clips.
First Friday Art Walk: 5-9 p.m. in Highlandtown Arts District. Galleries in the Southeast Baltimore neighborhood open up with music, drinks, art demos and more.
Dream Theater: 8 p.m. at The Hippodrome. The prog metal band comes to Baltimore on its Distance Over Time Tour, celebrating 20 years of the concept album “Metropolis Part 2.”
“Dracula”: 8 p.m. at Shakespeare Theatre Company. The play based on Bram Stoker’s novel debuts a spooky season run in Baltimore.
“Evil Dead: The Musical”: 8 p.m. at Motor House. A two-weekend run of the much-loved ’80s movie-turned-stage production starts in Station North.
White Fence: 8 p.m. at Metro Gallery. Tim Presley’s touring, punky psych project headlines, with Baltimore’s own Strawberry Sleepover opening.
White Denim: 9 p.m. at Ottobar. The Austin rock band comes to Baltimore as part of its fall tour.
Electric Feels: 9 p.m. at Baltimore Soundstage. An “experiential” indie rock and dance party with DJs playing aughts hits.
Save Your Soul: 9 p.m.-2 a.m. at Lithuanian Hall. DJ Ty Jesso, a legend at Boston’s Soulelujah, is this month’s guest star at the soul and rare groove shakedown.
Saturday, Oct. 5
Doors Open Baltimore: Oct. 5-6. The citywide open house invites all into more than 50 of Baltimore’s hidden, creative and historic spaces.
2019 International Edgar Allan Poe Festival & Awards: Oct. 5-6 at Edgar Allan Poe House. Honor the macabre master’s lasting influence with an outdoor festival full of performances, art, food and more.
Baltimore Taco Festival: Oct. 5-6 at Power Plant LIVE! Celebrate the much-loved handheld food with more than 25 taco vendors, lucha libre wrestling, a tequila expo and more.
Charm City Books Grand Opening: Oct. 5-6 at Charm City Books. The new Pigtown bookstore will have singalongs, a ribbon-cutting, live music and readings all weekend.
“The Secret Life of Earth”: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at the American Visionary Art Museum. A new exhibition opens at the museum that’s, as AVAM puts it, “one part visual earth love-fest, and two parts environmental crash course on the wonders and interdependent fragility of life on our one, blue, homegirl planet.”
Parktoberfest: All day at Mt. Vernon Marketplace. The food hall hosts musical performances all day to go with drinks and food from its stalls.
Sue Crawford Artist Talk: noon at ICA Baltimore. The artist discusses “Lines are Feelings Too,” a new exhibition at the North Avenue gallery featuring her meditative paintings and minimalist drawings.
Mobtoberfest: noon-6 p.m. at Mobtown Brewing Company. The Southeast Baltimore brewery has German-style food and beer, live music and vendors.
Stein Day/Lagerfest 2019: noon-8 p.m. at Diamondback Beer. The celebration of lagerbiers brings a biergarten to the South Baltimore brewery.
Mushroom City Art Festival: 1-9 p.m. at Carrie Murray Nature Center. The Leakin Park festival offers live music, trail walks, a theater hour and a chance to learn how mushrooms are being used for food, science and beyond.
The Margaret: The Story of an 18th Century Slave Ship’s Journey: 2-5 p.m. at Reginald F. Lewis Museum. Dr. Herbert Brewer discusses his research on the ship and its journey across the Atlantic.
Erin McKeown: 6 p.m. at Baltimore Center Stage. The singer-songwriter plays a free concert in the theater lobby between back-to-back performances of “Miss You Like Hell.”
S.O.S. (Science of Speech): 7 p.m. at Baltimore Soundstage. The Inner Harbor venue features emcees Talib Kweli, Jay Electronica, Styles P, Dead Prez and Raff Alpha.
G ∆ Y / B ∆ S H B ∆ L T I M O R E: 9:30 p.m. at Rituals. Performances from Donna Slash, Ana Latour, Pariah Sinclair and others at the new Station North venue.
Sunday, Oct. 6:
Harbor Harvest Fall Children’s Festival: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Rash Field. All the country fun of fall comes downtown, with a pumpkin patch, petting zoo, hay maze and more.
“Cool Hand Luke“: 10 a.m. at The Senator Theatre. Paul Newman’s prison film from 1967 screens on Sunday morning.
“Designing the New”: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Walters Art Museum. The opening celebration at the Mount Vernon museum features a first look at the work of Charles Rennie Mackitosh and the Glasgow style, plus art activities, performances and tours.
Italian Heritage Festival: 1-5 p.m. at Little Italy. Sample Italian food and drink from the neighborhood’s restaurants, and enjoy live music.
Labor of Art 2019: 2-5 p.m. at MaXGallery. The opening reception pays tribute to the hard work of five artists, Elizabeth Burin, Pat Dennis, Tim Scofield, Arin Mitchell and Anne-Steuart Vaughan.
Jazz Futures: 7 p.m. at Creative Alliance. Drummer Makaya McCraven performs with Joel Ross, Jeff Parker, Dezron Douglass.
Young Thug and Machine Gun Kelly: 7:30 p.m. at MECU Pavilion. The rappers headline the harbor-side stage, with special guests Killy, Polo G and YBN Nahmir.
Upcoming:
- The Canton Fall Festival arrives in Patterson Park on Oct. 12.
- Fells Point Fun Fest lands in the harborside neighborhood on Oct. 13.
- Baltimore Comic Con descends on the Convention Center Oct. 18-20.
