Music – Page 3 – Salem Happenings

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

Last week, I talked about some of the ways that you could embrace the ice and snow in New England, as frozen water, in one form or another, is really all we’ve had lately. In fact, I have to admit that I was just about to write the words “New England has finally received a reprieve from the winter weather” only to look outside and realize that the very act of me thinking it apparently jinxed it (although, let’s face it, the very idea of the snow stopping before May was probably pretty absurd to begin with.) However, if you’re sitting there thinking to yourself that this year has gotten off to a pretty rough start with all the snow and the amount of time you’ve spent dealing with it, there is a simple way to find the fresh start that you may be looking for – the Chinese New Year. Now, of course, the Chinese New Year (A.K.A. the Lunar New Year) won’t help you reverse time and control the weather (because, trust me, if it could, everyone in New England would be celebrating it), but it may be able to help you reframe the way that you perceive your year.

If you think recognizing the Year of the Ram as the beginning of your year is a better idea than accepting the snow-filled months that have preceded it and you would like to know more about the traditional festivities that mark the occasion, the Peabody Essex Museum may be able to help. The Peabody Essex Museum, which is located in downtown Salem, Massachusetts, is holding its annual Lunar New Year Festival from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. tomorrow, February 28, 2015. This celebration will give you, your friends, family, and anyone else who might be interested the opportunity to design your own lanterns, listen to traditional Chinese music, see traditional Chinese dances, and more. For more information on the Lunar New Year Festival, which is open to all museum visitors at the standard admission price, please visit the Calendar page on the Peabody Essex Museum Website.

If, on the other hand, you’re looking for something that feels more like a celebration and less like a learning opportunity (even though there is still plenty to learn), you may want to check out the Quincy Lunar New Year Festival. The Quincy Lunar New Year Festival, which is sponsored by the South Cove Community Health Center and organized by Quincy Asian Resources, Inc., is scheduled to take place on Sunday from 10:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. at North Quincy High School. This festival will feature a kid’s area, calligraphy, cultural exhibits, dancing, music, painting, papermaking, vendors with a wide variety of goods, and more. For more information on the Quincy Lunar New Year Festival, which is open to the public and free to attend, please visit the Events page on the Quincy Asian Resources, Inc. website.

Photo credit: IQRemix / Foter / CC BY-SA

Getting into the Holiday Spirit

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the day that every business loves and every underpaid retail employee dreads is once again upon us – Black Friday. Black Friday, of course, is both loved and loathed for the fact that it marks the beginning of the holiday season with early morning sales, crowded stores, and crazy shoppers (including some people who enjoy their craziness just a little too much.) Yet, just because the stores say that the holiday season has officially begun doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve found your Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice/[Insert Holiday Here] spirit just yet. As a result, you may be looking for a better way to get yourself into the appropriate holiday spirit than buying a bunch of stuff or shoveling the year’s first snow.

If this is indeed the case, and you’re looking for a holiday activity to get yourself into the right mindset for the season, the City of Lowell may have exactly what you’re looking for. This is because Lowell, Massachusetts is hosting their annual City of Lights Parade from 4:30 to 6:30 PM tomorrow (Saturday, November 29, 2014.) This parade will feature marching bands, lighted floats, and a series of events throughout the day that all lead up to the official holiday lighting of the city. In fact, you can expect arts and crafts for the kids, children’s book readings, children’s shopping, holiday shopping tours, a “Holly Jolly Trolley” complete with music and park rangers dressed as elves, hot chocolate, jugglers, magicians, music, and a whole lot more all day long. For more information on the City of Lights Parade and all of the events occurring in Lowell this weekend, please visit the City of Lowell’s website.

If, on the other hand, you’re not a big fan of outdoor events in 30 degrees or you’re a hockey fan who’s looking for something to do while you hide from all the aforementioned crazy people lurking in the malls, you may be happy to know that you can find the spirit of the season without even leaving your home. This is because the NHL has taken a cue from the NFL’s Thanksgiving Day games and made Black Friday a great day to watch hockey. In fact, there are over 20 NHL games scheduled this weekend with 11 of those games, including the NHL’s Thanksgiving Showdown, taking place today. As a result, you should have no problem finding a way to watch your favorite team on the ice whether they’re the Bruins, Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Blues, Canadiens, Canucks, Capitals, Devils, Ducks, Flyers, Islanders, Jets, Hurricanes, Panthers, Oilers, Penguins, Rangers, Red Wings, Sabres, Senators, Stars, or one of the other 9 teams playing this weekend. For more information on the NHL games this weekend, please take a look at the NHL’s schedule page.

Photo credit: CopperCatStudios / Foter / CC BY-SA

Halloween in Salem

Today marks the end of the Halloween countdown, as All Hallows Eve is finally upon us. In fact, if you’re a resident of Salem, today is the day when you have to decide whether you will batten down the hatches and hide in your house to avoid being overrun by tourists or accept the fact that if you can’t beat them, join them. However, if you’re not a resident or you’re a resident who has already accepted his or her fate, you may be trying to figure out exactly what you’re going to do while you’re in the city and/or how you’re going to get into the celebration in the first place. Fortunately, if this is indeed the case, it is important to remember that Halloween in Salem is only as scary as you want it to be, and there are a few things that you can do to make the day more enjoyable:

1. Prepare Yourself for the Mob Scene

Halloween is the biggest celebration of the year in Salem, and with All Hallows Eve on a Friday this year, you should expect there to be in excess of 100,000 people in the downtown area of the city (weather permitting.) To put this into perspective, the population of the city of Salem is approximately 42,500, which means that there will be over twice as many people in the city (if not three times as many people) as there are actually living here. In fact, that figure of 100,000 people doesn’t necessarily include all the people that have chosen to hide in their homes, so if you don’t like crowds, you may want to stay home or find somewhere else to go tonight. However, if you are still brave enough to make your way into the madness, you should expect a significant wait for anything that you want to do. This is because the big, slightly unruly mob that I keep mentioning will want to get into the same attractions, restaurants, and other things that you’re trying to get into as well.

2. Avoid the Traffic and Parking Nightmare

Getting over 100,000 people into a city that typically has 42,500, as you might guess, creates a lot of traffic. In fact, if you’re driving into the city after 4:00 P.M., you should expect to sit in traffic for 1 – 2 hours from the time you reach the highway exit for Salem. This means that you’re going to have a lot of trouble getting into the city, finding a parking space, and getting out of the city again. However, there are a couple of ways that you can avoid these problems.

First, come in early. The traffic in Salem usually escalates around the time that the city closes the roads downtown, which is at 4:00 P.M. this year. As a result, you may be able to avoid a significant amount of traffic, find a parking spot that’s a little further away but cheaper (which is a big deal when a parking spot could cost you $20 to $30), and get out of the city a little faster (from your parking spot closer to the city’s edge) if you’re in the city before 4:00 P.M. Secondly, you could avoid driving into the city altogether. The Newburyport/Rockport Commuter Rail train or the Salem Ferry will take you right into downtown Salem from Boston and the neighboring communities.

3. Enjoy the Frighteningly Free Activities

In addition to all of the vendors, carnival attractions, haunted houses, museums, and restaurants that Salem typically has to offer during this time of year, there are also a number of events on Halloween that are absolutely free. As a result, you may be able to have a great night without completely emptying your wallet by seeing Samhain rituals performed by actual witches, watching live bands performing in the streets, and topping it all off with some fireworks before you go. For more information on all of the events going on in Salem, please visit the Salem Haunted Happenings website.

Photo Credits

Angry Mob Photo Credit: hans s / Foter / CC BY-ND
Traffic Jam Now Fully Operational Photo Credit: psd / Foter / CC BY
Music by the TOKYO TRAMPS Photo Credit: }{enry / Foter / CC BY

Haunted Happenings Has Begun!

Now that the parade has come and gone,
the Halloween season in Salem has officially begun.
And, even though the bands and floats are done,
there’s certainly no shortage of fun.
In fact, with an entire booklet of events to choose from,
there’s really no way that you could be glum.
As a result, if you’re looking for a way to enjoy the season from the start,
here are some events this weekend that will surely play the part.

First, if you’re a Salem resident, you may want to check out the Mayor’s Night Out in Salem. The Mayor’s Night Out is the city’s way of thanking all of the residents of the city for resisting the urge to revolt against the oncoming tide of tourists. This event allows Salem Residents with an appropriate ID to enjoy a number of the city’s attractions and museums at no cost or at a significantly reduced rate. Some of the attractions that are free this year include the Gallows Hill Museum & Theatre, the New England Pirate Museum, the Salem Wax Museum, the Witch Dungeon Museum, the Witch History Museum, and the Witch House. The Peabody Essex Museum, the Salem Museum, and the Salem Witch Museum are also free to Salem Residents, but these museums are actually free to residents year-round. For more information on the Mayor’ Night in Salem, which runs from 3:00 P.M. to 10 P.M. today (October 3, 2014), please visit the Official Salem website.

Secondly, if you’re not a Salem resident or you’re more interested in shopping than museums, the Bizarre Bazaar may be more what you’re looking for. The Bizarre Bazaar, which is also known as the Haunted Biz Baz Street Fair, will feature over 90 vendors selling everything from apparel to zombie-themed accessories. The Haunted Biz Baz Street Fair will also feature a number of street performers and musicians that will be sure to keep you and your family entertained while you shop. For more information on the Haunted Biz Baz Street Fair, which runs from 10:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. on Saturday and 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. on Sunday, please visit the Salem Chamber of Commerce website.

Finally, if you don’t have a great deal of interest in driving into Salem or you would just prefer to play with some LEGOs, the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston may have the perfect Halloween event for you. This is because the LEGOLAND Discover Center is hosting a Brick-O-Treat Event from now until Halloween. This event will allow you and/or your kids to build spooky creations out of LEGOs, search for Monster Minifigures in their Monster Mash Scavenger Hunt, search for LEGO pumpkins, and take part in a custome contest for some awesome prizes. For more information on Brick-O-Treat, please visit the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston website.

Photo credit: kennymatic / Foter / CC BY

The History of Labor Day

As you probably already know, this weekend is Labor Day Weekend. A time for people to relax, to say goodbye to the summer, and to light up their grills for one last hurrah before it’s time to put all of the outdoor stuff away again. In fact, as long as you’re not working this weekend, you’re probably already getting ready to do exactly that. However, even though you may be in the process of setting up your grill and getting ready to kick back (or at least wishing that you were), you may not really know the history behind why we celebrate the holiday in the first place. If this is indeed the case and you are interested in learning a little more about the history of the holiday, here’s some information about Labor Day and a few other events this weekend that will help you explore the history of the world.

Labor Day was declared a national holiday by President Grover Cleveland in 1894. However, the story of Labor Day actually begins 12 years earlier when a high-ranking member of a labor union began wondering why other countries, such as Canada, had holidays recognizing the working people that kept the country running, but the United States did not. Now, of course, there is some dispute as to which high-ranking member started the Labor Day movement and, therefore, which labor union helped establish it, but it was probably Peter J. Maguire of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and the American Federation of Labor or Matthew Maguire of the International Association of Machinists and the Central Labor Union.

Yet, regardless of who established the holiday, the first Labor Day parade and picnic was held by the Central Labor Union in New York City on September 5, 1882. This led a number of unions in other cities to hold similar celebrations in the following years, and many states began to recognize the day as a state holiday shortly thereafter. Then, only mere days after the end of a particularly tragic strike involving the railway workers of the Pullman Company , Congress decided to recognize Labor Day as an official holiday throughout the country to honor the working man (and placate the unions.) As a result, you can no longer say that you never got anything out of a union because they did actually get you another holiday (unless you work in retail in which case they probably only got you extra hours making sure that all the people off this weekend can go out and shop.)

Now, if you couldn’t possibly care less about the history of Labor Day or you’re simply more interested in the events that occurred 30 years before the creation of the national holiday, you may want to head over to Georges Island this weekend. This is because Georges Island is hosting two Civil War events this weekend that are specifically designed for kids. The first event, which is entitled the Civil War Dress-Up, will allow your kids to dress up in costumes that are very similar to the uniforms and clothing worn by soldiers during the Civil War. The second event, which is called the Civil War Lawn Games, will allow you and your children to try some of the games that people actually played during the Civil War. For more information on the Civil War Dress-Up, which will take place on Georges Island at 12:00 P.M. on Saturday (August 30, 2014), or the Civil War Lawn Games, which will take place on Georges Island at 12:00 P.M. on Sunday (August 31, 2014), please visit the Boston Harbor Islands website.

If, on the other hand, you like your history to be a little more removed from the present day, or as Weird Al Yankovic might say, you really “want to go medieval on their heiney”, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston or King Richard’s Faire may be more suited for your court. This is because the Museum of Fine Arts actually has a copy, one of only four in the world, of the original Magna Carta on display. This document, whose Latin name literally translates to “Great Charter”, was written in 1215 to establish a number of rights for the people of England that are very similar to the rights that the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Bill of Rights protects. As a result, if you want to see a document that is almost 800 years old and may have played a pivotal role in the creation of our government, you should definitely check out the Museum of Fine Arts Exhibitions page and head over to the museum this weekend.

However, if you would prefer your medieval/renaissance experience to be a little more whimsical with some modern-day flair thrown in or your just can’t resist a renaissance faire, you’ll be happy to know that King Richard’s Faire begins this weekend. King Richard’s Faire is, of course, a renaissance faire that features armor, acrobats, comedy acts, costuming, fire-breathers and fire eaters, games, giant turkey legs, jewelry, jugglers, jousting, magicians, minstrels, swords, tigers, rides, and a whole lot more. And, if you’re a AAA member, you can save $4 on your admission by printing a coupon on the AAA website. For more information on the Faire, which runs every weekend from now until October 19th, please visit the King Richard’s Faire website.

Photo credit: karen horton / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

The Back to School Blues (or the Back to School Jamboree?)

If you had any doubt that the end of the summer was rapidly approaching, you could probably remove that doubt with a single look at the events for this weekend. In fact, with children heading back to school in the very near future, most places realize that it’s virtually impossible to get a large number of people at any event. As a result, a lot of event coordinators just seem to give up around this time of year, and there’s not a whole lot going on. However, regardless of whether you’re sad to see the summer go or you’re doing the childless cha-cha in honor of the new school year, there’s still time to have some fun this weekend.

First, if you’ve always wanted to go to Carnival, but you’ve never had the time, money, and/or the inclination to leave the country, you may want to check out the Boston Carnival Parade this weekend. The Boston Carnival Parade is a parade and street festival that is designed to give you the experience of what Carnival would be like in Trinidad without leaving the state of Massachusetts. The parade, which starts on Blue Hill Avenue in Boston, MA at 1:00 P.M. tomorrow (Saturday, August 23, 2014) and ends near the Franklin Park Zoo, features a number of Caribbean musicians, dancers, and masqueraders in costumes that are sure to get your attention. The street festival and food court, which is located right in front of the Franklin Park Zoo, will feature arts and crafts, food (including both Caribbean and traditional American cuisines), music, and more. For more information on the Boston Carnival Parade, which is also known as the Caribbean Festival Parade, please visit the Boston Carnival Village website.

Secondly, if you’re longing for a time not so long ago and not so far away when people took wooden ships onto the open sea, the Antique & Classic Boat Festival in Salem, MA may have exactly what you’re looking for. The Antique & Classic Boat Festival, which runs from 11:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. on Saturday (August 23, 2014) and 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. on Sunday (August 24, 2014), will feature artists, a crafts fair, music, a touch tank, a variety of antique and classic ships ranging anywhere from 50 to approximately 200 years old, and more. For more information on the Antique & Classic Boat Festival in Salem, MA, please visit the Antique & Classic Boat Festival website.

Finally, if you’re looking for something to do with your kids and they’re just suckers for a good Disney movie, especially one with a particularly well-known ice queen, the Hatch Shell in Boston will definitely put a smile on their faces tonight. This is because the last movie in this summer’s Free Friday Flicks series, presented by WBZ, is a sing-a-long version of the popular Disney film, Frozen. For more information on this completely free showing of Frozen at the Hatch Shell, which begins at sundown tonight (August 22, 2014), please visit the CBS Boston website.

Photo credit: Jlhopgood / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Massachusetts Tax-Free Weekend

It may have been Benjamin Franklin that once said that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”, but he certainly wasn’t alone in the sentiment. In fact, Christopher Bullock, Daniel Defoe, Edward Ward, Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, Margaret Mitchell, and a slew of other famous authors have expressed the same rather depressing idea that life may be uncertain, but you’re pretty much stuck paying taxes until you die (and many of them said it before Franklin.) However, if you’re in Massachusetts this weekend, where Franklin’s quote could be the state motto, you may be in luck because this weekend is actually Massachusetts’ Tax Free Weekend. As a result, you can now go out and enjoy all of the big box stores and all of the little shops that Massachusetts has to offer without giving 6.25% to the tax man. Even better still, there are a number of local festivals this weekend that will allow you to enjoy food, music, and more as you take full advantage of the lack of sales tax.

First, if you’ve been dying to spend some time by the water, Gloucester has a festival this weekend that you won’t want to miss. This is because the 33rd Annual Gloucester Waterfront Festival is this Saturday (August 16, 2014) and Sunday (August 17, 2014) from 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. The Waterfront Festival, which is located at Stage Fort Park in Gloucester, will feature a pancake breakfast, over 175 artists and craftsmen, food, music, an antique car show, and more. Best of all, the event is completely free (until you buy stuff from the vendors.) For more information on the 33rd Annual Gloucester Waterfront Festival, please visit the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce website or the Waterfront Festivals website.

Secondly, if you’ve always been a big fan of jazz, soul, and rock and roll, Salem, MA is definitely the place to be this weekend. This is because the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival is this Saturday (August 16, 2014) and Sunday (August 17, 2014) from 11:00 A.M. to 7:15 P.M. This festival, which is scheduled to take place at the Salem Willows, will feature artists; a beer garden; a tent with activities and games for kids; music education classes; and, of course, live music from over 10 bands that are extremely skilled in jazz, soul, rock, funk, swing, and more. For more information on the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival, which is completely free (again, until you buy stuff from the vendors), please visit the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival website.

Finally, if you have a young girl between the ages of 8 and 17 who loves music or you really just like seeing little girls rock out, you may want to check out the Girls Rock Campaign Boston performance at the Brighton Music Hall tomorrow (Saturday, August 16, 2014.) The Girls Rock Campaign Boston is a volunteer summer program that gives girls between the ages of 8 and 17 a chance to form their own band, write their own music, learn to rock their favorite instrument, and more. In fact, the girls not only form their own band and learn everything they need to strut their stuff, but also get the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience at the end of the program. The show tomorrow, as you might have guessed, is that opportunity and it can be a lot of fun to see what these kids and teens can really do. For more information on the Girls Rock Campaign Boston program, please visit the Girls Rock Boston website, and if you would like to order tickets to the performance, please visit Ticketmaster.

Photo credit: DonkeyHotey / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

Exploring Your Heritage

When someone mentions the word “heritage,” you probably think of a list of long-gone relatives and all of the places that they were originally from. In fact, you may even know a little bit about the history of some of your more famous or infamous ancestors (depending on how interested you are in your own family’s history.) However, when you stop and think about it, you may know a lot about your own family’s history, but how much do you really know about the history of the city that you’re living in? I mean if someone asked, would you know if your city had once been a major trading port? A breeding ground for smugglers and pirates? The site of a literal witch hunt? Or anything else about the major events that had an impact on the place that you live today?

Well, if you would like to learn more about a city that has been all of these things and more, there’s no better time than now to visit Salem. This is because Salem, MA is hosting its 53rd Annual Heritage Days Celebration, which is a 10-day festival that demonstrates just how much fun Salem can be. This festival, which runs from now until Sunday, August 10th, will feature an antique car show, a bike race, concerts, clowns, dance performances, ice cream samples as part of the Ice Scream Bowl, a kid’s night filled with rides and games, a pizza competition, a street fair, writing and book binding workshops, and a whole lot more. Best of all, most of the events during Heritage Days are completely free, and the events that do include a fee (usually $3 to $5 a person) will typically include food or rides. For more information on Salem’s Heritage Days, including a full schedule, please visit the Official Salem, MA Guide website.

Photo credit: Mr.TinDC / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Adding Some Art to Your Summer

As the end of July approaches, the list of summer events often begins to dwindle. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I’m really not sure if the lack of scheduled events is a result of the fact that everyone is on vacation, that all of the kids seem to be going back to school earlier and earlier each year, or if it’s just that all of the event coordinators feel that if you can smell something cooking every time your bare feet hit the pavement, it is just too hot to do much of anything. However, regardless of the reasons behind the sudden decrease in the amount of things to do, there are still a couple of events that are sure to entertain you this weekend.

First, if you’ve always been a big fan of Shakespeare or it’s been your lifelong goal to figure out what the lines in a Shakespearean play actually mean, there are a series of performances on Boston Common from now until August 10th that may interest you. This is because the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company is performing Twelfth Night every day for the next two weeks (except for Monday the 28th of July and Monday the 4th of August.) These performances, which are typically at 8:00 P.M. (7:00 P.M. on Sundays with a special 3:00 P.M. Matinee on this Saturday, July 26, 2014), will allow you and your friends and/or family to witness an extremely unusual love story told in a way that only a Shakespearean Comedy could pull off. Best of all, the entire performance won’t cost you a dime (unless you decide to go out and eat in which case it will probably cost you significantly more than a dime.) For more information on Twelfth Night and the Free Shakespeare on the Common series, please visit the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s website.

Secondly, if you would prefer to see a group of artists and performers that are a little more modern than a bunch of people who look like they just left the 17th century, you may want to check out the Rose Kennedy Greenway this weekend. This is because the Rose Kennedy Greenway is hosting Figment Boston from 11:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. on Saturday (July 26, 2014) and 11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. on Sunday (July 27, 2014.) This event will allow you and anyone else you decide to bring along to see a variety of artwork while you enjoy street performances and dance to the music of a number of different musicians. For more information on Figment Boston, which is completely free (although donations are greatly appreciated), please visit the Boston Figment Project website.

Photo credit: garryknight / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Wait! What Are the Dog Days of Summer?

Do any of these stars look like a dog to you?

Last week, I talked about the fact that the dog days of summer were officially upon us. However, after I wrote that post, I realized that most people are probably familiar with the expression and what it means, but there probably aren’t too many people that actually know where the expression comes from. As a result, I figured that if you were wondering why we refer to this particular section of the season as the dog days of summer, it would be a good time to let you know that you can blame the Romans (and no, it has nothing to do with the fact that the average dog looks like it would rather starve four inches from its food dish than move in this kind of weather.)

In fact, the reason that this particular section of the summer is known as the “Dog Days of Summer” is because the Romans believed that the extremely hot weather that we have during July and August was actually a result of the star, Sirius. Sirius, which is also known as the Dog Star, rose at approximately the same time each day as the sun during this part of the summer in Roman times. This led the Romans to refer to this period as the Dog Days because they were the days in which the Dog Star brought the sweltering heat and the evil that they typically associated with the heat to the lands. We, of course, still use the term today to describe the sweltering heat of this part of summer, but we have a number of ways to escape the evil heat and enjoy ourselves anyway.

First, if you’ve always been a fan of sand sculptures or you just like the feeling of the burning hot sand on your feet, Revere Beach is definitely the place to be this weekend. This is because Revere Beach is hosting the 2014 Revere Beach National Sand Sculpting Festival from 10:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. on Friday and Saturday and 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. on Sunday. This festival will feature 15 of the world’s best sand sculptors, music, food, sand sculpting lessons for children, fireworks, and a whole lot more. Best of all, it won’t cost you a dime to get into the event. For more information on the 2014 Revere Beach National Sand Sculpting Festival, please visit the Revere Beach website or call 781-902-9742.

If, on the other hand, you’re one of those people that firmly believes the only place sand can end up is everywhere you don’t want it, you may want to consider heading to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, MA on Sunday (July 20, 2014.) This is because the Larz Anderson Auto Museum is hosting an American Car and Truck Day this Sunday from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. This car show will allow you and your family to see a variety of patriotic vehicles while you enjoy something to eat. For more information on the American Car and Truck Day at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum, please visit the Larz Anderson Auto Museum Events page.

Photo credit: j-dub1980(THANK YOU FOR 100k+ Views) / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)