Thursday, June 19
Cambridge Juneteenth parade from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., starting at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Free. The parade ends at Riverside Press Park, 2 Blackstone St., Riverside, with music and other performances, food, games, arts and crafts, a day of events commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
“Contemporary Queer: A Love Letter” from 4 to 7 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport (and continuing through June 29). Free. An art exhibition that serves as a “love letter” to the LGTBQ+ community.
Summer Concert Series: Meghan Downing from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Palmer and John F. Kennedy streets, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The singer-songwriter from California performs country music, inspired by artists Chris Stapleton and Bonnie Raitt. Cosponsored by Club Passim and the Berklee College of Music.
“Secure the Bag” cornhole mixer at 6 p.m. at Club Volo, 301 Assembly Row, Mystic River, Somerville. $10 to $15. Four players toss noncompetitively – no scores are kept – at this singles event focused on men seeking women and women seeking men, with organizers seeking advice on inclusivity for LGBTQIA+ connections and gender nonconforming folks at volopass@volosports.com. A mixer follows the game play.
“From King’s Men to Continentals: War & Slavery in Revolutionary Massachusetts, 1763-1783” from 7 to 8 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square in Ward 2, Somerville. $16. Discover the stories from among the more that 2,000 Black and Native Americans from Massachusetts who fought in the Revolutionary War in this Somerville Museum series called Tavern Talks.
Comedy Studio presents “Laughs on the Lawn” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Great Lawn at Assembly Row, 399 Revolution Drive, Somerville. Free. The first of three events this summer featuring headliners Emily Ruskowski, Al Park, AJ Hapenny and Eli Levy. “Laughs on the Lawn” continues July 24 and Aug. 21.
Gender-free Scottish country dance from 7 to 9 p.m. at the New England Science Fiction Association clubhouse at 504 Medford St., Magoun Square, Somerville. $5 to $20. Learn and practice in gender-neutral language. A warm-up and lesson in the first hour are followed by an hour of social dancing. Kat Dutton emcees and teaches.
Witchcraft Cinema: “Labyrinth” from 7 to 10 p.m. at Side Quest Books & Games, 1 Bow Market Way, Union Square, Somerville. $13. Watch the 1986 musical fantasy film directed by Jim Henson with George Lucas as executive producer while crafting and sipping a themed drink. Popcorn and nonalcoholic drinks are provided, and other outside food from Bow Market vendors is welcome.
“Mrs. Warren’s Profession” play at 7:30 p.m. at Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge (and continuing through June 22). $27 to $103. George Bernard Shaw’s 1893 play centers a former prostitute turned madam and her estranged daughter’s struggle to reconcile what her mother’s wealth afforded her and the source of that wealth.
Sleep Theory performs at 7:30 p.m. at The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $35. Sleep Theory, formed in 2020 in Memphis, is led by U.S. Army veteran Cullen Moore. In a May debut album, “Afterglow,” it blends R&B, metal and pop.
Third Thursdays jazz with Dave Bryant and Friends at 8 p.m. at Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, 1555 Massachusetts Ave., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10. This month, the keyboardist and composer presents a tribute to Miles Davis with members of Listen to This: guitarist J. Johnson, saxophonist Russ Gershon, bassist Rick McLaughlin, bass clarinetist Todd Brunel, percussionist Rick Barry, trumpeter Bryan Murphy, and drummer Jerome Deupree.
Friday, June 20
“Emeralds” exhibit from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., in the Baldwin neighborhood near Harvard Square, Cambridge. $15 (including access to the attached Peabody Museum). A new, intimate collection of stunning crystals, gemstones and jewelry.
Family movie night: “Toy Story” from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Kendall/MIT Open Space at 292 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free. Get another look at the beloved 1995 film that made the reputation of animation company Pixar before next year’s “Toy Story 5.”
Act for Change playwriting workshop on climate action from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Community Growing Center, 22 Vinal Ave., near Union Square, Somerville. Free. Writer Alicia Hyland runs a series vowing to bring experienced playwright or first-timers through the crafting of short plays that explore the urgent realities of climate change and the power of collective action.
Shakespeare in the park: “The Tempest” at 7 p.m. at Nathan Tufts/Powderhouse Park, College Avenue and Broadway, Somerville (ending Sunday). Free, with a suggested donation of $10. Bring blankets or chairs to enjoy the story of Prospero, living on a remote island with his daughter, and the betrayal, revenge and forgiveness he experiences.
Thomas Mallon reads from “The Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The former literary editor of GQ, deputy chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities and author of 11 novels goes into the politics, tragedies, literary culture and parties, art and sex of New York at the worst possible time for a gay coming-of-age. Author Christopher Castellani joins.
Hole Show presents “Bugabook Creek is a Gay Bar” at 9 p.m. at the Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square, Somerville. $33, but masks required and 21-plus. This queer art and dance party boasts of having “self-aware animatronic animals on go-go duty, a full-service spanking booth, moose juice, boot blacking, vendors, mutual aid and more.”
Saturday, June 21
Japanese mahjong from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. Free. Players will be organized into skill-based groups and given all necessary materials to play, so no experience or equipment is necessary – but players can bring extra game sets and snacks to share.
Hoops ’N’ Health basketball tournament and family fair from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Hoyt Field (Gilmore and Montague streets off Western Avenue), Riverside, Cambridge. Free. Games and activities including free lunch, kids activities, live music and community resources around all-day basketball tournament rescheduled from June 14.
Drag story hour from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lamplighter Brewing, 284 Broadway, The Port, Cambridge. Free. Queen Brooke Pool brings the taproom its first such event, which includes the option to make any bought drink a “glitter bomb,” whether it’s purple-hued Pride beer Ms. Frizzle or Butterfly Flower Iced Tea, which goes from indigo to violet as you watch. Sandwiches from Pepita and pastries from Forge Baking Co. are available.
Bookish Ball from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting at the Smith Campus Center, 1350 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Live music, treats and special guest Elizabeth Glover, the first colonial printer, as well as tours at 11 a.m. and 1 and 3 p.m. in which historian Daniel Berger Jones reveals the Revolutionary history of the square. Visit each of the square’s five bookstore – Harvard, The Coop, Grolier for poetry, Lovestruck for romance and Rodney’s used – and get stamps toward competing for a grand prize gift basket.
Cambridge Arts River Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Riverbend Park (Memorial Drive between JFK Street and Western Avenue) along the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge. Free. Six Stages of music, theater, dance and poetry plus a Mermaid Promenade; celebration of 250 years of milestones, innovations and firsts; interactive art making; buskers; international foods; and an arts and crafts market at an event first held in the early 1970s.
Mahjong Tile Club from 1:30 to 5 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square in Ward 2, Somerville. $10. A half-hour tutorial and then game play (with beer available to buy).
Summer kickoff party from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Joan Lorentz Park at 441 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge (in front of the Cambridge Main Library). Free. Crocodile River Music performs and there are arts and crafts and free ice cream – and a chance to pick up a summer reading bingo.
Juneteenth community celebration from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House, 71 Cherry St., The Port, Cambridge. Free. A block party with art and games, a DJ and free lunch honoring seniors (which is why they eat first from 2 to 3 p.m.) and the history of Juneteenth, marking the formal end of U.S. slavery.
Summer solstice poetry reading from 4 to 4:30 p.m. at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn St., West Cambridge. Free, but register. Poet and last year’s artist in residence Carolyn Oliver joins poet and current artist in residence Emily Duggan for a reading of their works in the gorgeous natural space.
Gauri B comedy at 5 p.m. at The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $21. Though she gets plenty of attention on social media, Gauri B is also a bit famous for her crowd work – and be warned that this show will be short on both yet still get be more or less guaranteed laughs in delves into “politics, society and everyday madness.”
Big Gay Dance Party from 5 to 8 p.m. at Union Square Plaza, Somerville (rain date: Sunday). Free. An outdoor dance party with a Halloween in June theme to celebrate Pride month. Why not? Come dressed and dance to tunes by DJ Live, see drag performances by Amanda Playwith and Lily Rose Valore, get photographs from Megan Senturk and check out the LGBTQ+ resources tables and vendors.
Boston League of Wicked Wrestlers presents “Blowwby Dick: Thar They Bloww” from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. $27.50. The theatre of wrestling with a piratical theme (“our rowdy roster of queer buccaneers has been cast adrift into a world of scalawags, sea curses and sapphic swashbucklers … Booty will be plundered! Alliances will be betrayed! Someone will fall dramatically off the crow’s nest”). Not sure pirates have to do with Moby-Dick and whale hunting, but you can just go with it.
Shakespeare in the park: “The Tempest” at 7 p.m. at Nathan Tufts/Powderhouse Park, College Avenue and Broadway, Somerville. Free, with a suggested donation of $10. The penultimate performance.
“My Body My Dance: Reimagining Duncan for the 21st Century” at 8 pm. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge (and continuing Sunday). $28.50. The New Duncan Dance Project reimagines Isadora Duncan’s work for today while preserving the legacy of the “mother of modern dance.” We wrote about it here.
The Folk Collective’s Pride Month Show at 8 p.m. at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $20. This in-house effort to return folk to its diverse roots brings to the stage for an annual event Maddy Simpson with Sweet Petunia, June Isenhart, CJ Redmouth, Almira Ara, Alma Vatya and Jessye DeSilva.
“Filthy Formal & Trash Talent Show” John Waters Tribute at 8 p.m. at the Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square, Somerville. $39. A dance party and variety show promises “prom, drag, music, art and comedy” as well as a poetry, burlesque, taste-free puppetry and an “excuse to wear your most vile, stupid and repulsive formal fashions” as an accompaniment to ongoing screenings of the auteur’s films at the theater downstairs. Enjoy signature cocktails such as “the sickeningly sweet Little Chrissy” and learn The Roach and other demented dance steps.
Cults performs at 8:30 p.m. at The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $38. The duo arrived in 2011 with major-label backing for a kind of theme album on which its cheery, girl-band-inflected sound was interspersed with audio clips of actual cult leaders speaking to their followers. The vibe persists for Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion on their fifth album, “To the Ghosts.” (Be warned: a Pride rave is improbably set to start an hour after this show, so don’t expect too many encores.)
Glow Up Pride rave at 9:30 p.m. at The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10, and register and be 21-plus. Wear neon outfit and fluorescent eyeshadow for dancing under black light with DJs Frazzo and Badbabez from such queer icons as Slayyyter, Kim Petras, Kesha Cobrah and Ayesha Erotica. There’s drag at midnight from MT Hart.
Sunday, June 22
Summer Solstice Plant Market from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. Free to enter. More than 40 artists and small businesses offer plants and related products from terrariums to sustainable fashion.
“Voices in the Wind” history celebration from 1 to 3 p.m. at Blessing of the Bay Boathouse, 32 Shore Drive, Ten Hill, Somerville. Free. Song, dance and storytelling commemorate Blessing of the Bay, a ship built by Massachusetts’ first governor that gives this spot its name and look at the intertwined histories of the Europeans, Africans brought here through slavery at Ten Hills Farm and the Indigenous peoples affected by colonization. Performers including the Morning Star Singers, an Indigenous drum group, Anna-Celestrya Carr, an Indigenous dancer, and storyteller Aimee Ledwell.
Concert (not just for fathers) from 1 to 3 p.m. at Brattle Plaza, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. In the inclusively clunky language of the city, this is a celebration of “Fathers and Our Male Guardians with Jazz, Acknowledgements and Flowers.” (Rain date: June 29.)
Pride Patio Party from 2 to 8 p.m. at Lamplighter CX, 110 N. First St., North Point, Cambridge. Free. Drag performances and DJ L’Duke are the entertainment in a beer garden with yard games, food from The Lexington and ice cream from Honeycomb.
Medicinal plant walk from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Magazine Beach, at the river end of Magazine Street, Cambridgeport. $7, with registration required. Herbalist Mo Katz-Christy walks participants through the park to how its weeds and cultivated plants, trees and shrubs are used in traditional medicine, with time for questions and conversation.
Drag Queen Bingo at 4 to 6 p.m. at The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $34 and 21-plus. The games are free on this local stop of a national tour (and note that a win is worthless) billed as “hilariously inappropriate.”
Barnyard Bumps & Grinds at 6:30 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $30 and 21-plus. A whimsically farm-themed medley of burlesque, draglesque, and pole-lesque “from sultry sheep to seductive swine, and maybe even a pole-dancing goat.”
Ray Harrington comedy at 5 p.m. at The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $20. The smart, delightfully bitchy Harrington also did the Hulu documentary “Be a Man” in 2016 trying to figure out what masculinity looked like as he welcomed a son into the world, bringing thoughtfulness and humor to a well-tread topic.
Shakespeare in the park: “The Tempest” at 7 p.m. at Nathan Tufts/Powderhouse Park, College Avenue and Broadway, Somerville. Free, with a suggested donation of $10. The final performance.
Anne Heaton performs at 8 p.m. at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $28. Folk fave and Passim standby singer-songwriter Heaton brings honest lyricism, dexterous piano skills and pretty vocals to can’t-miss shows, we said in 2017. calling her vocals “comparable to Jenny Lewis and Dar Williams, and her often carefree, easygoing songwriting is akin to pop singers Colbie Caillat and Sara Bareilles.”
“My Body My Dance: Reimagining Duncan for the 21st Century” (continued) at 7 pm. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge (and continuing Sunday). $28.50. We wrote about it here.
Monday, June 23
J. Courtney Sullivan reads from “The Cliffs: A Novel” at 6 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free, or $20 with book. Now in paperback is this book about a Victorian house on a bluff overlooking the Maine ocean, once discovered by a girl as a hideaway that’s mysteriously vacant, considering none of the occupants’ belongings seem to have been packed up – and as a Harvard archivist, she returns to find a woman from Beacon Hill has gutted it and now worries it’s haunted. Author Joanna Rakoff joins in this Harvard Book Store event.
Monday’s Pages at 7 p.m. at The Comedy Studio in the basement at 5 John F. Kennedy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge (and every second and last Monday of each month). Free. At this cold reading series, actors and writers get together to work on their crafts via 10-page submissions, with casting at 6:15 p.m. and reading 45 minutes later.
FutureDrama at 7 p.m. at The Comedy Studio in the basement at 5 John F. Kennedy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $12. The Nova Comedy Collective explores misgivings and existential dread about the future in a tongue-in-cheek way and using interviews, improv and sketch to tackle issues related to technology, society, and what lies ahead. Each show centers around a theme such as data privacy, AI in the workplace or the future of marketing and uses comedy to speculate about their impact.
Kevin Sack reads from “Mother Emanuel” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. In a book subtitled “Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church,” the journalist looks at the racist murder of a South Carolina church leader and eight congregants in 2015 that was somehow forgiven by the victims’ families. Boston Globe editorial page editor Jim Dao joins.
Paper flowers craft workshop from 6 to 8 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. Free. Learn how to create paper tulips from DaniFolds and Spanish flamenco dancer Laura Sánchez (who plays to use paper flowers in June 28-29 performances).
“Warp Dive Bar Night” at 7 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom (enter through the side door on Dover Street), 55 Davis Square. No cover. The ballroom transforms into a dive bar for a night, this time with a “Star Trek” theme as Quark’s Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade with “intergalactic beverages, snacks, games, trivia and screenings “featuring your favorite episodes of Star Trek (on VHS).”
Tuesday, June 24
Outdoor concert with Albino Mbie from 6 to 7 p.m. at Cambridge Library Valente Branch, 826 Cambridge St., Wellington-Harrington, Cambridge. Free. The Mozambique-born singer, composer, guitarist and sound engineer combines the sounds of his heritage with elements of jazz and Afro-pop. Co-sponsored with Club Passim. Information is here.
The Moth story slam from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Spring Hill, Somerville. $17.50. This monthly open-mic storytelling competition is open to anyone who can share a five-minute tale on the night’s theme – this time, “Go Your Own Way,” about taking the road less traveled, marching to the beat of your own drum, forging your own path, daring decisions, bold outfits, that sort of thing.
Madeleine Thien and Jonas Hassen Khemiri read from the novels “The Book of Records” and “The Sisters ” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. In Thien’s work, time collides at a strange meeting place of Bento, a Jewish scholar in 17th-century Amsterdam, Blucher, a philosopher in 1930s Germany fleeing Nazi persecution and Jupiter, a poet of Tang Dynasty China. Khemiri, meanwhile, has a saga following three sisters – one of whom disappears, leading to a shocking revelation and the end of a curse looming over their family for decades.Poet Lewis Hyde joins.
Wednesday, June 25
Science in the Park from 4 to 7 p.m. at Jill Brown-Rhone Park, near Central Square, Cambridge. A workshop for learners of all ages explores how ideas are brought to reality, led by the Central Square nonprofit Mbadika Laboratory.
Seventh annual “Reading Frederick Douglass Together” from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Trum Field, 541 Broadway, Magoun Square, Somerville (at the Cedar Street corner). Free. A reading of Douglass’ famous address, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” with scholar and musician John Hughes; reader signups are welcome, and a conversation follows. We wrote about a reading here, but this one take places during a July Fourth fireworks celebration.
Somerville Fourth of July Celebration from 5:30 to 10 p.m. at Trum Field, 541 Broadway, Magoun Square, Somerville (rain date: Friday). Free. DJ Desy spins followed by live music and food vendors from Italian Wizard, Dos Manos Kitchen, Premiere on Broadway, Public Tavern and fried dough and lemonade and at around 9 p.m. … fireworks.
Poets Tessa Bolsover, Spencer Lee-Lenfield and James Shea at 7 p.m. at Grolier Poetry Book Shop, 6 Plympton St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $5 to $10, but register.
John Sanbonmatsu reads from “The Omnivore’s Deception” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. In a book subtitled “What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves,” the philosopher takes on Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and works by Temple Grandin, Barbara Kingsolver to say no, there’s no such thing as humane meat or an argument for eating animals. Frances Moore Lappé, author of “Diet for a Small Planet,” joins.
Hot Garbage end-of-school-year celebration from 8 to 10 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. Free, but register. The Somerville jam band offers an hour of live-band karaoke and a set of original funk music in honor of teachers, who should “come dance off the school year and start the summer on the right foot.”
Deerhoof performs at 8 p.m. at at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom (enter through the side door on Dover Street), 55 Davis Square. $31. The indie band is in its “31 Flavours” tour to celebrate 31 years of staying together while remaining a “furiously inventive quartet [that] releases new albums on the schedule of a young band still hungry for its first break,” each with “some previously unknown combination of candy-coated hard-rock riffs and free-jazz percussive freakouts, sideways J-pop hooks and fearsome dissonance, trenchant social commentary and surrealist humor.” Asher White opens.
Cambridge Sings! Barbershop from 6 to 7 p.m. at Brattle Plaza, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Greater Boston’s chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society shows off the historic barbershop style of song with its distinct four-part harmony – teaching about the art and offering a chance to visitors to sing with the performers.
Talk on “Fighting for Freedom: Black Cambridge from the Revolution to the early 19th Century” at 6:30 p.m. at First Church in Cambridge, 11 Garden St., Harvard Square. Free. Hear about the Black patriots of the Revolution and the lives of free Black community in Cambridge in the early part of the 19th Century from Leslie Brunetta of the Cambridge Black History Project.
The Lilypad Variety Show from 10 p.m. to midnight at Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge. $5. Enjoy new talent performing music, art, poetry, comedy and dance.
Thursday, June 26
Minion meet and greet from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Learning Express, 670 Assembly Row, Assembly Square, Somerville. Free. The small, yellow and funny stars of the “Despicable Me” series are up for some photo ops.
Farmer Visits: Green City Growers from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. at the Urban Park Roof Garden at Kendall Center, 325 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free. A farmer stops by to tend to raised vegetable beds, inviting all to learn more about the beds and growing processes and help with the harvest.
“Historic Change: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Dr. Vera Rubin” at 3 p.m. at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. The American Women Quarters Program honors astronomer Rubin for her work on galaxy rotation rates, which has been used as evidence of dark matter.
“Contemporary Queer: A Love Letter” (continuing through 29) from 4 to 7 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport. Free.
Beer Garden pop-up with Lamplighter Brewing from 4:30 to 9 p.m. at Urban Park Roof Garden at Kendall Center, 325 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. $5 and 21-plus. This monthly event through October donates the proceeds of each $5 token to a local charity. Participants get one beer token per $5 donation, which can only be made online.
Navigation games from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Greene-Rose Heritage Park, 155 Harvard St., The Port, Cambridge. Free. Orienteering, like a treasure hunt in which you use a map to find checkpoints, is a fun way to get exercise and use the brain – and this version lets participants of all ages and skill levels choose their own route to be competitive or just enjoy being outdoors.
Harvard Art Museums at Night from 5 to 9 p.m. at Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge (and the last Thursday of every month). Free. During this recurring event, wander exhibits, make art, catch spotlight tours, browse the shop, enjoy sounds from DJ C-Zone and buy refreshments from Jack’s Abby. Wander down to see the “Edvard Munch: Technically Speaking” exhibition, which closes Friday, celebrate the launch of the Harvard Art Museums: In Your Hands publication and the return of Vincent van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gauguin,” which had been on loan to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
Innovation Trail Tour from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Boston Marriott Cambridge, 50 Broadway, Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. Learn about the local figures who were at the cutting edge of innovations such as the microwave oven and woven fire hose. Authors of “Born in Cambridge: 400 Years of Ideas and Innovators” Michael Kuchta and Karen Weintraub lead. Organized by the City of Cambridge and MA250.
Ramona Khaledi performs at 5:30 p.m. on Palmer Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Khaledi is a powerhouse vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from Toronto in her final year at the Berklee College of Music.
CX Summer Nights: Jill McCracken and Copilot perform from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at The Common at CX, 320 Morgan Ave., North Point, Cambridge. Free. Part of the summer concert series in June, July and August, this event features live music, food trucks, lawn games and opportunities to support the Cambridge nonprofit community.
Mizuhiki bookmark-making workshop at 6 p.m. at Bow Market, 1 Bow Market Way, Union Square, Somerville. $30. Learn to make a plum-knot Mizuhiki bookmark, a charming flower-shaped design, from staff at the Japanese design shop Ko-Kyoto. You’ll create one during the session and get materials for two more.
Rainbow Black & White Cookie Class at 6 p.m. at Mamaleh’s Delicatessen, 15 Hampshire St., Cambridge. $36. Learn how to make and decorate rainbow Black & White cookies from pastry chefs in this hands-on baking workshop.
Pride Month chocolate tasting from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 42 Brattle St., Harvard Square. $40. Learn some new things about chocolate and meet someone new!
Paddle for Pride from 6 to 8 p.m. at Mass Audubon Nature Center at Magazine Beach, 668 Memorial Drive, Cambridgeport. Free and ages 12-plus. Members of the LGBTQIA+ community, friends and family connect with nature from the cockpit of a kayak! Kayaks, paddles, safety gear and beginning paddler instruction are provided.
The Long Poem, a reading and discussion at 7 p.m. at Grolier Poetry Book Shop, 6 Plympton St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $5 to $10, but register. Elizabeth T. Gray and Daniel Tobin are featured.
Heather Clark reads from “The Scrapbook” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. In Heather Clark’s debut novel that begins at Harvard in 1996, Anna falls in love with a visiting German student, Christoph, but finds the relationship challenged by the roles their grandfathers played in World War II.
Divergent series classical music performances at 7 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square, Cambridge (through June 27). Free, but register. The third and final concert of premieres by composers in Longy’s 13-day Divergent Studio program, performed by Loadbang.
Jonathan Gluck reads from “An Exercise in Uncertainty” at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square, Cambridge. Free. Journalist Gluck writes about how he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare, incurable blood cancer, and given 18 months to live … now 20 years ago.
U.S. Girls performs at 7 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $34. The Toronto art rocker brings her mix of, as Pitchfork describes it, ’60s soul, ’70s funk, gauzy psychedelia, post-punk and synth-rock and wide-ranging topics from political paranoia to the value of FaceTime as a communications medium.
The Iara Magalhães Quintet performs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at The Mad Monkfish, 524 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. $10 to $30. Jazz from a group led by Portuguese vocalist and composer Iara Magalhães, a student at the Berklee College of Music.
Mardi Gras in June from 7 to 9 p.m. at Jill Brown-Rhone Park, near Central Square, Cambridge. Free. The band Legless Lizard bring the New Orleans-style tunes to an outdoor dance concert.
A Kiln Theatre presents “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)” at 7:30 p.m. at the Loeb Mainstage, 64 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge (and continuing through July 13). $65 to $158. The musical romantic comedy centers Dougal, in town from England for his father’s second wedding, and Robin, New York native and sister of the bride. Dougal and Robin’s unlikely relationship develops over 36 hours. Jim Barne and Kit Buchan composed the musical.
“Queer (Re)public Festival” performances at 7:30 p.m. (and continuing through June 29 with different performances) at Arrow Street Arts, 2 Arrow St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10 to $25. This festival showcases queer creators of color in dance, theater and collaborative art making, including Theater of Union’s jazz performance “Remembrance.”
Pecos & The Rooftops perform at 8 p.m. at The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $25. This country rock band has garnered more than 350 million global streams and more than 101 million views from its 2021 debut album, “Pecos & The Rooftops.”
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