Even though it was a short week with the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, it doesn’t make this weekend’s arrival any less sweet. While I am a planner and often have my weekends scheduled out well ahead of time, sometimes it’s fun to just be spontaneous.

For the kickoff of my Friday Favorites series, I’ve listed five free activities happening in and around the Portland area this weekend.

1. Hamilton Sing-Along. Congress Square Park. Friday, June 2, 2017.  6 PM – 8:30 PM. I have only been on the periphery of the Hamilton craze. I’ve never seen the show which is not surprising given I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t be able to get tickets even if I tried. I’ve never even heard the soundtrack so would utterly fail at a sing-along for the show. But, I still think it would be fun to see a group of passionate fans hanging out together and participating in a large scale sing-along. It’s also First Friday Art Walk in Portland so there will be lots happening in and around the Congress Square Park area already. It looks Cast Aside Productions will be hosting a Wicked sing-along at the end of the month too. I really need to brush up on my Broadway show tunes.
2. Alaina Marie. Keds Kickoff. 332 Fore St, Portland, Maine 04101. Friday, June 2, 2017. 6:30 PM – 9 PM. Alaina Marie is a local business that makes a line of wonderful clutches and bags using fun materials including marine grade netting which is the same material used for lobster bags. She was chosen to be part of Ked’s Ladies for Ladies program which highlights sneakers made by women for women. She designed two limited edition sneakers with the same style and flair of her clutch collection. Many of the sizes are already sold out online and once they’re gone there’s no getting more. I know. I waited too long and now the size I need is sold out. But, they’re holding a kickoff party tonight at their Fore Street store and will have one of each size available so maybe I will still have a chance to score some cool kicks.
3. Spring Run: Fish Migration Walk. Mill Brook Preserve in Westbrook. Saturday, June 3rd. 10 AM – 12:00 PM. Hosted by the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust. Until a month ago, if you had said the word alewife, I would have been at a loss as to what you meant. However, my daughter starting doing community service a few weeks ago where she has been counting alewives as they cross over the dam on their swim from the ocean to Highland Lake to spawn. At least now I know it’s a type of fish. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has a great fact sheet on them. She has been counting them with my Dad and they have been having a lot of fun. On her first day there were no fish, but since then their activity has skyrocketed and she has counted between 700-900 fish each time. That’s a lot of fish. If you want to learn more about alewives and their spawning practices, this free walk with local experts will provide background on this annual event.
4. Westbrook Together Days. Riverbank Park, Westbrook. Friday, June 2, 2017. 4 PM – 10 PM and Saturday, June 3, 2017. 7 AM – 10:00 PM. There are a lot of family friendly activities at this annual event which is celebrating their 38th year including live music, a parade and fireworks. While the event itself is free, there will be some activities and vendors that have a cost. This event draws a large crowd in the 15,000-20,000 range according to their website so be prepared to mingle.

5. Camp Pondicherry Open House.  85 Camp Pondicherry Road, Bridgton. Sunday, June 4, 2017. 1 PM – 4 PM. The Girl Scouts of Maine are hosting an open house for their camps on Sunday. You can stop by to learn about the camps as well as meet with their camp directors. This event is about an hour outside of Portland so not really a Portland “area” activity but since I was a Girl Scout leader for five years when I lived in Massachusetts I have a soft spot for Girl Scout events. I’ve never been to Camp Pondicherry but I’ve been camping with the Girl Scouts in the past. It’s always a lot of fun.

This is just a quick list of a few of the free activities I discovered that are happening this weekend in the Portland Maine area. There are many, many other events and activities going on all over the state. There’s always something fun to do!

What are you up to this weekend? Do you have anything planned our or are you going to be spontaneous?