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The Library celebrates Juneteenth with the Dave Macklin Band as they pay tribute to the musical contributions of Black artists. PARK SOUNDS 2025 brings free outdoor musical performances featuring local artists to the front lawn of the Cambridge Public Library Main Branch. These events are all-ages. Bring a chair, food, and loved ones to celebrate the summer! Funding is provided by the CPL Foundation.

Join master musician Shaw Pong Liu in an interactive, educational and bilingual (English and Mandarin) music program welcoming the Year of the Horse. Shaw Pong will play her Western violin and her Chinese erhu, play music about horses, and invite a group sing-along. This program is recommended for children ages 5 and up and their caregivers.

Meet a cast of larger-than-life, hand-crafted puppet characters in this funny and interactive variety show. Sing, dance and participate in a fast-paced series of stories that explore feelings, kindness and bravery. Recommended for children ages 3-8 and their caregivers. Funding for Vacation Week Programming: Live at the Library has been generously provided by the Cambridge Public Library Foundation.

To mark the 250th anniversaries of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States, a coalition of local non-profits and government agencies will present Washington in American Memory, a seven-part speaker series. Explore how Americans have remembered, reinterpreted, and reshaped the meaning of the American Revolution from 1776 to today, featuring: Michael Hattem, author of Past and Prologue: Politics and Memory in the American Revolution and Associate Director of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute Nikki Stewart, Executive Director of Old North Illuminated

Internationally renowned photographer Barry Schneier captures Boston's unique and impacting folk music scene in his new book The Song is Still Being Written, released in September 2024. The book is a collection of photos and narratives capturing stories of singer-songwriters, past, present, and future who have made the Boston/Cambridge area their home for artistic development and specifically from those who have graced one of the most heralded performance spaces in folk history, Harvard Square's Passim (originally Club 47). The program includes a performance by Kemp Harris, one of the artists profiled in the book. Schneier will be in conversation with James Sullivan, arts and culture correspondent for the Boston Globe. Barry Schneier is an internationally recognized photographer who has been immersed in the music scene since the mid-1970s. His work has been exhibited in multiple shows and is in the permanent collection of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, the Folk Americana-Roots Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Join José Mateo Ballet Nutcracker cast members in the Lecture Hall for a fun story time reading of The Nutcracker coupled with live ballet dancing. Learn some ballet moves and meet the dancers as well! All ages.

Join us for a relaxed Saturday morning concert with Radius Ensemble! The concert, geared toward preschool children but appropriate for all ages, features a delightful abridged version of Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf (at the end of which the wolf, instead of meeting his demise, is taken to the zoo), plus also other silly songs about animals, as well as a show-and-tell of the instruments of the woodwind family. For the final piece of this 45-minute program, children are invited to play along on hand percussion instruments such as tambourines and claves, and each child receives a free colorful shaker to take home. Recommended for children ages 3 to 5 years with caregiver. This program can accommodate 130 people. Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis on the day of the program. The entire party must be present to receive a ticket. This program starts promptly, and any unclaimed seats will be offered to someone waiting. We appreciate your patience and understanding. Please call 617-349-4038 for more information.

Join Revolution 250, Boston Celebrations, Hobby Knolls Stables & the Henry Knox Artillery as wells as citizens of the towns of Weston, Waltham, Watertown, and Cambridge for a commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of the epic 1776 adventure of Henry Knox and his "Noble Train of Artillery" trekking across Massachusetts on their way to Boston. The commemoration at 2:00 p.m. follows a procession from the Cambridge Common at 1:00 p.m. that will travel to Joan Lorentz park led by the Sudbury Ancient Fyfe & Drum Corps and finishing with teams of Clydesdales pulling replica sleds and cannons which began their journey in upstate New York.

Join us at Donnelly Field (behind the Valente Library) for a joyful celebration with musician and educator Otha Day! A Drum Circle is a highly interactive group of people who play drums and percussion instruments together to create in-the-moment music. Through the experience of rhythm and sound we experience what it means to beat as one heart: we become a vibrant community. This drum circle will include playful and accessible rhythm activities, games, traditional ensemble pieces, songs and most importantly, improvisation. No experience necessary; all ages can participate. No registration is required. In the event of rain, this program will move indoors to the Community Room of the Valente Branch. Funding for Vacation Week Programming: Live at the Library has been generously provided by the Cambridge Public Library Foundation.

What is an endangered species? Why are many animals and their habitats disappearing? Learn about endangered species in the wild here in New England, and around the world, and some things we can all do to help them. Recommended for children ages 4 and up and their caregivers. Funding for Summer Reading has been generously provided by the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Cambridge Public Library and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.