The Anne Arundel County Fair hits its final three days in Crownsville, with pig races, livestock barns, and kids 9 and under free at the gate. Back in the city, the 28th Baltimore Book Festival fills Waverly's Main Street with nine stages of authors, readings, and kids' events, free both days.
Underneath those: the Orioles are home all weekend against the Brewers, with kids running the bases after Sunday's game, Saturday is Talk Like a Pirate Day and three libraries are in on it, the BSO plays Taylor Swift with a full orchestra, Masonville Cove throws a free wildlife day with free lunch and ice cream, Robinson Nature Center turns 15 with an open house, there's fossil hunting at Dinosaur Park, and pumpkin patch and corn maze season opens on the farms north and west of town.
Top Pick
Anne Arundel County Fair — Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds, 1450 Generals Hwy, Crownsville (Anne Arundel County) Friday through Sunday (runs Wed Sep 16 – Sun Sep 20) | All ages | Ages 9 and under free; ages 10+ $5 Friday morning (Kids' Day), $15 Friday evening and Saturday, $10 Sunday
A real county fair: pig racing, livestock barns, new interactive shows, and a carnival midway. Gate admission covers parking, shows, and concerts. Rides and games cost extra. Friday morning is Kids' Day, the cheapest gate of the week.
Quick Weekend Wins
Free, and you can just show up
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Baltimore Book Festival on Waverly Main Street, 3100 Greenmount Ave, Baltimore City Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM ET. Free. The city's big literary weekend moves to Waverly this year: booksellers, author readings, workshops, a kids' events lineup, and food vendors across nine stages. Saturday morning, the Waverly farmers market runs right alongside it.
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Urban Wildlife Conservation Day at Masonville Cove, 1000 Frankfurst Ave, Baltimore City Saturday, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET. Free. Hands-on wildlife activities on the restored harbor shoreline, and lunch and ice cream are on the house.
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Butchers Hill Flea Market in Patterson Park, 106 S Patterson Park Ave, Baltimore City Saturday, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET. Free to browse. The twice-a-year neighborhood flea brings more than 150 tables of toys, kids' clothes, furniture, and art.
Ticketed This Weekend
Orioles vs. Brewers — Oriole Park at Camden Yards, 333 W Camden St, Baltimore City Friday 7:05 PM ET, Saturday 4:05 PM ET, Sunday 7:20 PM ET | All ages | Tickets via the Orioles The last homestand of September, and it's Fan Appreciation Weekend. Friday is Hispanic Heritage Night with a Los Orioles jersey giveaway. Sunday is a Family Sunday: a team photo poster giveaway, and kids run the bases after the game.
Steve Hackman Conducts Taylor Swift: The Symphony Era — Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Baltimore City Saturday, 7:30 PM ET (also Friday, 8:00 PM ET at Strathmore) | All ages | Tickets via the BSO The Baltimore Symphony plays Swift's catalog as full orchestral arrangements, about two hours with an intermission. For a Swiftie, this is the concert hall at its least intimidating.
Sazón Latin Food Festival — 1900 E Lombard St, Baltimore City Sunday, 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET | All ages | Tickets on Eventbrite An outdoor afternoon of food from across Latin America, with live music, in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month. Treat it as Sunday lunch with a soundtrack.
BFA Family Fest — Memorial Episcopal Church, 1407 Bolton St, Baltimore City Saturday, 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM ET | All ages | $10 Baltimore Family Alliance's fundraiser: science shows, a drum circle, music, and LEGO play under one roof. The ticket helps pay for the group's free family events the rest of the year.
Budget-Friendly Finds
Robinson Nature Center's 15th Anniversary Open House — 6692 Cedar Ln, Columbia (Howard County) Sunday, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET | All ages | Free Robinson throws itself a birthday party: live animals, puppet shows, planetarium shows, native plants, and a community art project, all in one building and its trails.
Dinosaur Park Open House — 13100 Mid Atlantic Blvd, Laurel Saturday, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET | All ages | Free Laurel's Dinosaur Park sits on real Cretaceous-era ground, and on open-house days families can search the surface for fossils themselves.
Saturday Is Talk Like a Pirate Day
Three libraries, three different crews
Talk Like a Pirate Playdate — Pratt Library Hampden, 3641 Falls Rd, Baltimore City Saturday, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET | Little ones | Free Pirate stories, sea shanties, and crafts for the youngest crew.
Pirate Day Treasure Hunt — Pratt Library Herring Run, 3801 Erdman Ave, Baltimore City Saturday, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM ET | All ages | Free A treasure hunt through the branch, for elementary-age kids who want a map and an X.
Pirate Parrrty! (ages 9-12) — Howard County Library Central Branch, 10375 Little Patuxent Pkwy, Columbia Saturday, 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM ET | Ages 9–12 | Free, registration required Pirate crafts plus an engineering challenge. This one's built for older kids.
For Toddler Families
Baby Art Date — Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr, Baltimore City Friday | Babies and toddlers with a grown-up | Free The BMA's program for the littlest museumgoers: caregivers and babies explore art and make things together. Check the listing for the start time.
The Hampden pirate playdate (above) and Robinson's open house (Budget-Friendly Finds) are the other easy calls this weekend. The playdate is short and built for small kids, and Robinson puts live animals and puppets under one roof.
Tween-Approved
Who Stole My Sweater? An Intro to DNA Fingerprinting — BUGSS, 101 N Haven St, Baltimore City Saturday, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET | Ages 9–14 | Paid, registration required Kids get a crime scene and a suspect list, then run the DNA analysis themselves at Baltimore's community biology lab. A real forensic lab exercise, with no lecture.
Hadestown: Teen Edition — Stage & Screen Studios, 215 Najoles Rd, Millersville (Anne Arundel County) Friday through Sunday, 7:00 PM ET | All ages | Reserve seats online Teen performers take on the full Tony-winning folk-opera. A good one for a theater kid who wants to see what people their age can pull off.
Mark Your Calendar
- Pumpkin Patch at Clark's Elioak Farm — Ellicott City. Opens Saturday, Sep 19 and runs weekends through Nov 8, with the petting farm and food stands.
- Corn Maze at Maple Border Farm — White Hall (northern Baltimore County). A 6-plus-acre maze, pumpkin patch, and farm animals; the season opens this weekend with a patriotic America-250 theme.
- Barks & Boos! Fall Festival — Baltimore Humane Society, Reisterstown. Saturday, Oct 17, 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET. Trail walks, costume contests for kids and dogs, pumpkin painting, and food trucks.
Local Intel
- Book Festival plus flea: Waverly and Patterson Park are both Saturday-morning things. Pick one for the morning; the Book Festival runs until 6:00 PM, so the other still fits.
- Pirate afternoon, two ways: Herring Run's treasure hunt and the Howard County Pirate Parrrty both start at 3:00 PM. One is for all ages, the other is built for 9-to-12s.
- Rainy-day backup: Robinson's planetarium, the BMA, and the Symphony are all indoors.
Also This Weekend
- 45th Annual St. Margaret School Fall Festival — Bel Air. Friday 4:00 – 10:00 PM ET and Saturday 12:00 – 10:00 PM ET. Food trucks, games, a beer garden, and a silent auction.
- Prized Pumpkin Release at Manor Hill — Ellicott City. Friday, 4:00 – 9:00 PM ET. A farm brewery's fall release with live music and local pumpkins for sale.