Urban Discoveries Baltimore

There are certain skills I’d never care to master––fire juggling, stamp collecting, dressing in drag––but that doesn’t mean I don’t love watching other people pull them off deftly. This week’s events provide a few such opportunities. So ready your standoffish admiration and read on.

Starting Thursday, September 3, the 29th annual Baltimore Summer Antiques Show claims the Baltimore Convention Center in the Inner Harbor (1 W. Pratt Street}. The Show is largely made up of lots of smaller shows with extremely specific foci: quilts, antiquarian books, decoys, posters, political memorabilia, lamps. The show runs September 3 from noon to 8:00 p.m., September 4 and 5 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and September 6 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Everything’s for sale and $12 will get you in for all four days.

Today, August 28, is the first day of the Maryland State Fair at Timonium Fairgrounds (2200 York Road) which runs now through September 7, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Among the feature competitive animal events are daily pig races, thoroughbred horse racing, and bull riding. Tonight at 7:30 p.m., you can also see Boyz II Men perform, and if you come back later in the week, you’ll get to watch Gary Allan and Gavin DeGraw strum things and look soulful. Daily admission is $8 for adults and $3 for kids. Did I mention the live chainsaw sculptures?

Smallest in scale but perhaps most fun of all, tonight at 8:00 p.m., the burgeoning Baltimore Rock Opera Society is throwing a fundraiser at the Load of Fun Theatre in Station North (120 W. North Avenue). I’ve met these guys, and loony as their debut project, Gründlehämmer, sounds, they pretty much define the transliterated slogan ‘gung-ho.’ Which is to say I’m excited to see what they put together. Tonight’s show-funding celebration will take the form of a dance party of sorts, fueled by music from AK Slaughter, the Gründlehämmer band, and a long list of other local favorites. $10 gets you in the door with two drink tickets. Use them wisely.

Whom will you regard with distant approbation this week?

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