This weekend, enjoy the kickoff of Wade Oval Wednesday’s free summer concert series, view 30 bands performing on 30 porches at Larchmere PorchFest and dust of your dancing shoes because Beachland and B Side are both hosting free vinyl dance parties this Saturday night.

Wade Oval Wednesday
Wednesday, June 17th (to August 26th), 6-9 pm
Wade Oval in University Circle
Free

Grab a lawn chair or blanket and join thousands of friends, families, and neighbors for the kickoff of Wade Oval Wednesday’s eighth year of eclectic outdoor summer concerts.

Now through the end of August, view 11 diverse performances on the Kulas Stage. First up is the motown, jazz and blues band, Councilman Kevin Conwell & The Footprints. The band features Cleveland’s own councilman Conwell of Ward 9 (which includes the Glenville, Little Italy and University Circle areas).

This year’s music lineup includes old favorites like classic Cleveland reggae, Carlos Jones and the P.L.U.S. Band; the Cleveland Bluegrass Orchestra (featuring members of the Cleveland Orchestra); the Latin beat sound of Son Gitano infused with salsa, pop, rumba, cumbia, merengue and bachata; new acts like bluesy rock and roll quartet Welshly Arms; country-folk pop infused band Brent Kirby & His Luck; and Motown, R&B and jazz band Karizma.

Don’t forget, the museums are open late on Wednesdays. Cleveland Museum of Art and Cleveland Botanical Gardens are open until 9 pm and Cleveland Museum of Natural History is open until 10 pm. It’s a popular event, so ditch the car and ride RTA or view this map of parking in the area.

Larchmere PorchFest
Saturday, June 20th 1 - 10 pm
12800 Larchmere Blvd.
Free

The idea is simple: 30 bands perform on 30 porches. Larchmere PorchFest is a free grassroots music festival featuring a musically diverse lineup of homegrown talent that showcases the neighborhood using residential spaces as stages. 

Porch festivals have been popping up all over the country including Akron’s successful Highland Square Porch Rokr Festival. Larchmere PorchFest began in 2008 and has been gaining steady momentum ever since. PorchFest founder Katharyne Starinsky modeled the event off of a similar festival in Ithaca, New York.

In a similar vein as Brite Winter and Heights Music Hop, PorchFest aims to add color to Cleveland’s growing roster of unique music festivals, not to compete.

“As music festival organizers, we have come to realize the importance of collaboration instead of competition, realizing that we are all pointing in the same direction,” says Michael Kinsella, Larchmere PorchFest board member and organizer of the Heights Music Hop. “By approaching these festivals as collaborative efforts, we like to believe that competition will fall away both at the festival and at the individual band level and this is a win-win for everyone. We are experiencing a period of local pride unlike anything we have felt in decades and we believe that our festival is very much aligned with this spirit.”

Expect to hear a wide variety of different sounds. Indie rock headliners Cities & Coasts take the stage at 6 pm and funk soul headliners The Admirables go on at 7 pm. The diverse roster of music begins at 1 pm. Guests are also invited to stick around for the after party beginning at 8. Schedule your day here.

Creative Mornings with R.A. Washington
Friday, June 19th, 8:30 am
The Fairmont Creamery 2306 West 17th St.
Free — Registration Required

For the first time, Creative Mornings will be outdoors on top of The Twist Creative offices at the Fairmont Creamery building (weather permitting). You’ll get a view of downtown Cleveland and as always, complimentary coffee and breakfast.

This month’s CreativeMornings theme is REVOLUTION. Hosted by RA Washington a writer, community activist and co-founder and director of Guide to Kulchur: Text, Art & News in the Detroit Shoreway.

His Talk: "The Question of Revolution: Personal Politics, Identity and Grassroots Organizing in Post Riot Cities” will explore critical questions such as “how does the question of identity inform our understanding of community, and how does the historical landscape effect how we organize?” If you’re unable to make it, each speaker is recorded and streamed here.

Purple Rain - Free Movie Night
Friday, June 19th. 9 pm
Coventry PEACE Park @ the intersection Coventry Rd. & Euclid Heights Blvd.
Free 18+

Lucky you, you have another chance to see Prince’s Purple Rain under the stars this Friday. The kickoff weekend of drive-in-movie style free movie nights in Coventry’s PEACE Park has been rescheduled from 6/12. The weekend cult classic series lineup will continue with Back to the Future Part II (7/10), American Splendor (7/25) and This Is Spinal Tap (8/7). Click here for more details.

Solstice at the Cleveland Museum of Art
Saturday, June 20th. 8 pm - 1 am
Cleveland Museum of Art 11150 East Blvd.
Sold out

This weekend is CMA’s most fabulous highly anticipated (and incredibly quick to sellout) event. This year’s Solstice Party features two stages packed with artists from around the globe including the Colombian tropical-psychedelia of Meridian Brothers, state-of-the art modern disco of Escort, the legendary pioneers of Afrobeat, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, the consistently creative DJ King Britt, Peruvian electro-tropicalia of Dengue Dengue Dengue and electronic innovation by Afrikan Sciences.

CLE Loves Vinyl :: Rare, Real & Strictly Wax
Saturday, June 20th. 9 pm - 2 am
B Side Liquor Lounge & Arcade 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd.
Free 21+

An open invitation to vinyl lovers, movers, shakers and party people to celebrate the Summer Solstice into the early hours of the morning. Enjoy rare cuts from Neil Chastain (Latin, Funk and World cuts + Edits and Remixes + LIVE Percussion), Daniel Gray-Kontar (Special Deep Deep House set) plus special guest Efrain 'Frankie' Flores (Salsa, Boogaloo and all things Latin).

Garage-Mod DJ Dance Party
Saturday, June 20th. 9 pm - 2 am
Beachland Ballroom & Tavern 15711 Waterloo Rd.
Free

For more raw, rare and free Solstice fun, come dance along with Detroit's Britemores (ex Detroit Cobras) and some of Cleveland hippest dj's — DJs Alr!ght (Secret Soul Club) and Mr Fishtruck & Kristin-Garageland, spinning deep vinyl cuts all night!