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The weather isn't looking great, at least for Saturday, which is why it's so great that tomorrow is Free Museum Day! The annual occasion, organized by the Smithsonian magazine, encourages people to become museum goers by getting hundreds of institutions around the country to offer free admission for you and a guest.
In order to get free admission for two, you must register here and the printable tickets will be emailed to you. Here is a list of all the Maryland museums that are participating, including several of our favorite family-friendly ones like American Visionary Art Museum, which is usually $10 for adults, the B&O Railroad Museum, usually $14 for adults, and the Fire Museum of Maryland in Lutherville, usually $12 for adults. Check one out!
Also taking place this weekend—it started today actually—is one of our favorite festivals of the year: Baltimore Book Festival. It's a really great, diverse festival consisting mostly of tents—weather-proof!—appealing to a wide range of people. There's a huge kids' tent with authors reading their books all day, lots of kids' activity centers and art projects, and lots of stimulation for grown-ups, from mainstream authors like Tavis Smiley, Laura Lippman, and rapper Common to more esoteric options at the Radical Book Fair Pavilion, run by Red Emma's. As a side note, I just looked at the BBF festival and saw this photo (above) on the home page—it includes my wife, in the green shirt on the right, our Benny in the stroller, and his buddy Will in the blue shirt, front right.
Saturday is also the Worldwide Day of Play, sponsored by Nickelodeon. The network will actually go off the air for three hours on Saturday, encouraging kids and parents to get out and play, either at one big event on the D.C. mall, or at one of the many events they're sponsoring around the country, including one at Port Discovery, where there will be dancing by Mexican folk dance troupe Bailes de Mi Tierra, science demonstrations, balloon sculpting, and live animals from Wildlife Adventures.
