Community Calendar

Back for its second year, Abbott and the Big Ten Conference are hosting the We Give Blood Drive competition to entice students, alumni, fans, and community members to rally around their Big Ten school to donate blood, save lives, and address the country's ongoing critical blood shortage.

From August 27 to December 5, anyone eligible to donate blood can do so anywhere, anytime in the U.S. to count for their school. The school with the most donations at the end of the competition will receive $1 million to advance student or community health.

New this year, everyone who donates or attempts to donate blood throughout the competition will receive an exclusive, limited-edition, Homefield-designed T-shirt specific to their school. To receive the shirt:

1. Show up to donate
2. Submit your donation (or attempt to donate) at BigTen.Org/Abbott or by texting DONATE to 222688 (ABBOTT).
3. Click the link sent to your email
4. Use your redemption code
5. Your shirt will be shipped to the address of your choice. 

Last year, the University of Nebraska won, and is using the funds to advance student health on campus. The University of Maryland is competing this year and will host several blood drives on campus and in the surrounding area throughout the competition. To find a blood drive near you, please visit: https://bigten.org/abbott/maryland

Throughout the weekend, Festival-goers can expect to see more than 800 decorated trees, wreaths and gingerbread houses designed by area businesses, community groups, schools and individuals. They are truly a forest of creative expression, often referencing trends from the current year, like popular songs, movies or personalities. Attendees can expect to see lots of lights, handcrafted ornaments, and elaborate tree skirts as well.

Santa will be on hand throughout the weekend to discuss holiday wish lists and pose for photos. Amusement rides, games and crafts promise to keep young elves engaged, and there is live entertainment throughout the three-day event.

Advance Discounted Admission
Available through 11:59 p.m. EST on November 27
Adults: $18
Seniors (65+): $13
Children (ages 5–12): $8
Children (4 and under): Free

General Admission
Applies starting 12:00 a.m. EST on November 28
Adults: $20
Seniors (65+): $15
Children (ages 5–12): $10
Children (4 and under): Free

More information here: https://www.kennedykrieger.org/festivaloftrees

Whether you’re starting a family tradition, planning a festive date night, or celebrating with friends, THE POLAR EXPRESS™ Train Ride brings the spirit of Christmas to life—for all who believe. Your adventure includes live performances, hot chocolate and a sugar cookie, a special moment with Santa presenting the First Gift of Christmas, and continued magic at the North Pole with holiday crafts, cozy s’mores, and festive shopping.

This focus exhibition of 10 works explores the relationship between burning fossil fuels—namely, coal—and the emergence of European modernism. Drawing on research conducted by climate scientists and art historians, the exhibition presents a range of paintings and works on paper by Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, James McNeill Whistler, and others to explore the ways that their artistic practices and style emerged, in part, in response to widespread pollution in London and Paris.
Presented as part of the Turn Again to the Earth environmental initiative.

More than 50 works on paper investigate how artists working in Europe and French-occupied northern Africa watched and participated as nature became a resource for people to hoard or share.

Drawn from the BMA’s George A. Lucas Collection, this exhibition of 19th-century art foregrounds the many ways that human relationships, including imperialism and capitalism, affect the environment. Deconstructing Nature is organized thematically, focusing on five environments and the ways artists explored them in their work: The Desert, The Forest, The Field, The City, and The Studio.

Born and raised in Baltimore, George A. Lucas (1824–1909) spent most of his adult life immersed in the Parisian art world and amassed a personal collection of nearly 20,000 works of art. In 1996, the BMA, with funds from the State of Maryland and the generosity of numerous individuals in the community, purchased the George A. Lucas Collection, which had been on extended loan to the Museum for more than 60 years.

In this focus exhibition of approximately 20 photographs, prints, drawings, and textiles, the natural environment is a source of creative inspiration worth celebrating and protecting.

Works by artists such as Winslow Homer, Richard Misrach, Charles Sheeler, and Kiki Smith, among many others, depict the elements of air, water, earth, and fire and address broader themes of ecological awareness and preservation. These themes range from how artists have used visual language to convey the act of locating oneself in nature; works that depict natural forms through the physical integration of environmental components; and artists’ commentary on sites of environmental disaster, the sociopolitical ramifications of human impact, and the potential of symbiotic healing for this planet and its occupants.

For thousands of years, East Asia’s cultures have viewed human life as part of a much larger system that encompasses the natural world. Drawn from the BMA’s collection, this exhibition boasts more than 40 objects—from magnificent ink drawings to beautifully crafted stoneware and poignant contemporary photographs and prints. They bring into the galleries the mountains and seas, wild and supernatural animals, and plant life that are extensive across East Asian imagery and often carry symbolic meaning.

Works on view include robust 13th-century ceramic vessels, delicate porcelain, carved jade, intricately sewn textiles, and large-scale photography; collectively, these artworks represent the impulse to fully understand the natural world as foundational to our existence, as shaped by human life, and as an enduring metaphor of survival.

Celebrate the holiday season with the gift of art for your loved ones! Our annual utilitarian ceramics holiday invitational, Winterfest 2025, features 13 established and emerging ceramic artists. This exhibition is perfectly paired with our Annual Holiday Sale where resident and associated artists join together to fill the galleries and the Shop with hand-crafted gifts.

The items in Winterfest become available through our Online Shop on Friday, November 14, 2025 at 10:00 am.  

All items are available for immediate purchase and can be taken home the same day.

Winterfest 2025 Invited Artists
Andrew Boswell (NY), Katie Fee (IL), Casey Hanrahan (AZ), Margaret Kinkeade (MO), Colleen McCall (NY), Reiko Miyagi (NC), Sean O’Connell (NC), Shawn O’Connor (VA), Ian Petrie (PA), Justin Paik Reese (OH), Taylor Sijan (NJ), Olivia Tani (MN), Caleb Zouhary (OH)

Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells
by Alison Gregory
Directed by Julie Herber

Run time: Around one (1) hour with no intermission
This show is appropriate for audiences of all ages.
ASL Interpreted performance: please reach out to the Box Office (301-694-4744 / [email protected]) to schedule an interpreter.

About: Junie B. Jones, first-grader, is super-excited about the upcoming Holiday Sing-Along and Secret Santa gift exchange at ehr school. Too bad tattletale May keeps ruining all of Junie B.'s fun. SO, when Junie B. draws May's name for Secret Santa, she comes up with the perfect plan to teach her nemesis a lesson!

Harford County Public Library presents Japanese Temari November 29 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Havre de Grace Library, 120 North Union Avenue. Learn about the ancient craft of Japanese temari (embroidered thread balls). Fiber Artist Jen Weber will share information about the history and development of this unusual art, right up to its present-day prevalence both in Japan and around the world. The secrets of what is actually inside these lovely creations will be revealed as well as what they are used for and how they are made. The program is supported by the Havre de Grace Friends of HCPL. For more information, visit https://programs.hcplonline.org/event/14055563.