Sunday, Oct. 2

Bow Tie Community Bicycle Ride from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., beginning and ending at Joan Lorentz Park at 457 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge (in front of the Cambridge Main Library). Free. A relaxed, scenic ride tracing the bow-tie-shaped boundaries of the city. (Actual bow ties not required.) Information is here.

Tufts Community Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tufts University’s Academic Quad, 419 Boston Ave., Medford. Free. This Somerville-Medford school offers live performances, children’s activities, a raffle and free refreshments, as well as a peek at research projects by faculty. Information is here.

The “Smoke This” Rib Fest from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 2 on Cambridge Street between Fulkerson and Fifth streets, East Cambridge. Free, but 10-rib Taste Tickets are $27.50 (ribs are also available individually). For its 13th annual rib culinary showdown of pit master vs. pit master for the title of best ribs around, the East Cambridge Business Association goes back to a one-day gathering with live music. We wrote about this in-depth here; basic information is here.

Celebrasians Benefit Fashion Show from 3 to 6 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square. Free. Celebrate Asian Women for Health’s 10th anniversary and hear inspiring stories from Asian cancer and trauma survivors, cheering those walking the runway in outfits that “best represent their authentic selves.” Information is here.

Learn how to make a New York Times crossword from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Lamplighter Brewing, 284 Broadway, The Port. Free, but participants must be 21-plus. Times crossword constructor (and Lamplighter regular) Ross Trudeau shows how to generate a crossword theme, build and fill a grid and write clues. Information is here.

“Traka” dance performance at 7:30 p.m. at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge. Free, with limited seating on a first-come, first-served basis; a recording will be available starting Oct. 13. Cambridge-based Haitian choreographer Jean Appolon unveils a dance in collaboration with composer, turntablist and Afro-futurist Val Jeanty about healing from traumatic events – inspired by Appolon’s healing process after his father was murdered in Haiti’s 1991 coup. (The dance’s name means “troubles” in Haitian Creole.) Information is here.

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Monday, Oct. 3

Cambridge Science Festival, running all day through Sunday mainly in the festival zone of the Kendall/MIT Open Space – next to the Kendall Square red line T stop and MIT’s Building E38 (292 Main St.) – and in museums and other select locations around town. All festival zone activities are free. The workshops, performances, presentations, panel discussions, immersive experiences, art installations, guided tours, wearable-tech runway shows, molecular tastings and keynote lectures are curated into themed days later in the week for the first time, each highlighting the influence of science in related fields. There are hundreds of events overall at this festival, including a replica of Claude Shannon’s Theseus maze – the likely first example of machine learning – that took 14 years to build; light-painting photo booth; exploration of how the sound of eating affects how we experience and feel about food; clothing-upcycling project with Boston Fashion Week; all-ages fruit DNA extraction; immersive 360-degree artwork called the “One Sphere”; and much more. Information is here.

“The Moderate” science theater at 6 p.m. at The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square. Free, but reservations are suggested. MIT playwriting teacher Ken Urban has a tale of Frank, unemployed and estranged from his wife and son, who accepts a job moderating content for one of the world’s largest social media companies. It takes a toll on him, until he realizes he might have the power to save someone and himself in the process. Jared Mezzocchi directs Marianna Bassham, Luz Lopez, Nael Nacer, Alison Qu and Eddie Shields. Information is here.

“Humanity Across Time and Space” faculty recital by Renana Gutman at 8 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square. Free, with donations welcome. Dance-inspired works by Bach, Schulhof, Chopin and Debussy performed by Gutman, a pianist. Information is here.

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Tuesday, Oct. 4

Cambridge Science Festival (continued) all day through Sunday, mainly in the festival zone around 292 Main St. and at various locations around town. All festival zone activities are free. Information is here.

Kylie Lee Baker reads from “Empress of Time” at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Porter Square. Free. The Japanese-Chinese-Irish Baker breaks genre fiction out of its rut with her tales of the Goddess of Death ruling Japan’s underworld, continuing the story in this sequel to “The Keeper of Night.” Baker will be in conversation with Amanda Foody, author of YA novels such as “All of Our Demise.” Masks are required. Information is here.

Smut Slam from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. There’s a $10 suggested donation at the door for this 18-plus show. Real-life, first-person sex stories from eight to 10 tellers drawn at random, competing for the best five-minute tale of debauchery before a panel of local celebrities. They can’t use notes, props or hate speech – but pretty much anything else goes. “Stories are often funny and/or epic wins, but we want to encourage people to consider sharing their sad, disturbing, poignant, serious, simple and/or ‘fail’ experiences too,” organizers say. Lucas Brooks hosts. Information is here.

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Wednesday, Oct. 5

Cambridge Science Festival (continued) all day through Sunday, mainly in the festival zone around 292 Main St. and at various locations around town. All festival zone activities are free. Information is here.

Cody Keenan reads from “Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. Free. A former speechwriter for Barack Obama looks back at June 2015, when a white supremacist shooting, the fate of marriage equality and the Affordable Care Act tested the president and his staff. Keenan will be in conversation with a name who might be familiar to some: former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Well-fitting masks are required. Information is here.

Witchcrafting at West from 7 to 8:45 p.m. at the Somerville Public Library West Branch, 40 College Ave., near Davis Square. Free. Each Wednesday this month the library offers crafts, snacks and the watching of witchy favorites, starting with moon salts and a screening of “Practical Magic,” the 1998 film of spell-casting sisters played by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman looking for love in defiance of a curse. Information is here.

The Dessert First Tour from 7 to 10 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. Tickets are $15. Fresh indie music talents presented by Once Somerville, including poet and songwriter Alex Dupree of Austin, Texas; producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist S. Raekwon of New York; and singer-songwriter Annie Blackman of Brooklyn, New York. Masks and proof of vaccination are required. Information is here.

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Thursday, Oct. 6

Cambridge Science Festival (continued) all day through Sunday, mainly in the festival zone around 292 Main St. and at various locations around town. Today’s events share a climate theme. All festival zone activities are free. Information is here.

Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands special presentation from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free, but registration is suggested. As the year’s Honk! festival begins and bands arrive, some from far away, Banda Rim Bam Bum of Santiago, Chile, performs and discusses the recent constitutional process and the political evolution of the country since the revolt of October 2019. Information is here.

Shit-Faced Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville (and continuing Friday and Saturday). Tickets are $30. It’s the immortal tale of star-crossed lovers but with one actor selected at random every night to drink for the four hours before showtime, leaving the remaining sober cast to fight their way through the show while incorporating, rectifying, justifying and generally improvising around the drunkenness. Versions of this show have been running since 2010 using various Shakespearean works. Masks are required. Information is here.

Friend Club: Boston’s 2nd Best Sketch Group from 7 to 9 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square. Free. A Boston comedy troupe takes to the stage after a pandemic’s worth of animated videos looking at modern rewrites of classic films and other online japery. Information is here.

Poetry reading at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Porter Square. Free. Kate Colby of Providence, Rhode Island, reads from her collection “Reverse Engineer”; Elisa Gabbert, the New York Times poetry columnist, from “Normal Distance”; and Denver’s Sommer Browning from “Good Actors.” Masks are required. Information is here.

“Siren” variety show from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Boynton Yards, Zero Windsor Place, Somerville. Tickets are $10. Comedian Kelly MacFarland presents female artists from comedy, music, movement and more for a “carefully curated event.” Information is here.

Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands Brass Band Blowout from 7 to 10 p.m. in Union Square, Somerville. Free. The annual festival is back to its pre-pandemic schedule, including this taste of the weekend’s fun. Information is here.

Tongue & Cheek: Original sex storytelling and history from 7 to 11 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free, with donations welcome. Discussion of taboos, queer history and sex culture in an event described as “a one-night stand with The Moth, Ted Talks and our neighbors the Smut Slam.” Information is here.

“Borealis” installation from 8 to 11 p.m. by The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square (and continuing through Sunday). Free. Swiss artist Dan Acher renders the northern-sky phenomena overhead, a U.S. premiere that is part of the Cambridge Science Festival. Information is here.

Singer-Songwriter Night XLII from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. at ZuZu, 474 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Admission is $7 for this 21-plus show. Expect tidy sets from Don’t Be Denied, Kramer Gibson and host Ben Parinello, performing as leisure. Information is here.

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Friday, Oct. 7

Cambridge Science Festival (continued) all day through Sunday, mainly in the festival zone around 292 Main St. and at various locations around town. Today’s events share a food theme. All festival zone activities are free. Information is here.

Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands lantern-making and lantern parade from 4 to 6 p.m. at Hodgkins-Curtin Park, Holland Street, between Davis and Teele squares, Somerville; and from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., with a parade stepping off from and returning to the park. Free. Take part in small-scale processions around nearby neighborhoods with custom lanterns or anything that lights or glows. Information is here. (In addition, a free Poor People’s Campaign Justice Jam takes place as part of Honk! from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Seven Hills Park, Davis Square, Somerville.)

Poet Chen Chen reads at 7 p.m. at the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, 6 Plympton St., Harvard Square. Admission is $10, and registration is required. The author of “When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities” and “Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency” and editor of the journal Underblong travels from Rochester, New York. He will be introduced by Eben Bein. Information is here.

Shit-Faced Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” (continued) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville (and continuing Saturday). Tickets are $30. Masks are required. Information is here.

Live music and comedy from the Center for Arabic Culture from 7 to 9 p.m. at The Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Tickets are $25. Classical Arabic music from Souq El-Jumba, stand-up comedy from Diala Taneeb and hip-hop from El Ärkitekt. Proof of vaccination is required at the door. Information is here.

Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands showcase from 7 to 11 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free. Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, The Party Band, Banda Rim Bam Bum and Young Fellaz Brass Band play as part of this annual festival’s traditional schedule. Information is here.

“Unplayed/Unheard” featuring the New England Jazz Collaborative at 8 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square. Free, with donations welcome. Jazz and contemporary music with an opening by Longy students. Information is here.

“Borealis” installation (continued) from 8 to 11 p.m. by The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square (and continuing through Sunday). Free. Information is here.

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Saturday, Oct. 8

Cambridge Science Festival (continued) all day through Sunday, mainly in the festival zone around 292 Main St. and at various locations around town. All festival zone activities are free. Today’s events share a fashion theme. Information is here.

Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands from noon to 8 p.m. around Davis Square, Somerville. Opening ceremonies are at Seven Hills Park, and the more than 20 event bands can be found playing all afternoon, with Elm Street closed to car traffic from 1 to 5 p.m. to facilitate interactive art-making and activism. Information is here.

Dancing on the Charles season finale from 3 to 11 p.m. in the parking lot by the American Legion Marsh Post, 5 Greenough Blvd., West Cambridge. Admission is $30 to $35 (not including online fees), by reservation only for this 21-plus dance party. Expect five sets by DJs, including kzeus, Lou DiFunk, Jayms Joyce, cakewalk and Sun:Sets. Information is here.

“Shit-Faced Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” (continued) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. Tickets are $30. Masks are required. Information is here.

Krush Factory: A Night of Live Reggae, Hip Hop & Soul from 7 to 9 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square. Free. A collective of soulful musicians produce a night of music and dance. Information is here.

“Borealis” installation (continued) from 8 to 11 p.m. by The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square (and continuing through Sunday). Free. Information is here.

“Moonlight Abolitionists, a Play for the Full Moon” from 8:30 to 10 p.m. at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn St., West Cambridge. Tickets are $25. (Continuing Sunday.) A one-act play by Patrick Gabridge designed to be performed at the cemetery under the light of the full moon features a swirling conversation between six abolitionists buried at Mount Auburn: Samuel Gridley Howe, Harriet Jacobs, Joshua Bowen Smith, George and Mary Stearns and Charles Turner Torrey. Tickets have been going fast for these shows. Information is here.

The Kerfuffle! variety show from 9:30 to 11 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. Tickets are $20. Union Comedy and hosts Jackie Arko and Tess Varney bring back a blind-booked vaudeville variety show (billed pre-pandemic as being “for all things absurd, hilarious, poignant, perilous, stupid, unpredictable, filthy and brilliant”) with a mix of sketch, interactive and completely undefinable comedy. Information is here.

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Sunday, Oct. 9

Forty-third Annual Oktoberfest from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Harvard Square. Free. Food from all over the world, arts, crafts, vintage goods, free samples, sidewalk sales and one-of-a-kind gifts are packed in with beer gardens, the “Chalk on the Walk” art installation, music and dancing in the street. New this year is a wine garden hosted by the Commonwealth Wine School and complementary events: The Filipino American Festival and Grolier Poetry Book Shop’s 95th Anniversary Festival. The event has been known to draw as many as 200,000 people. Information is here.

Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands parade from noon to 2 p.m. from Davis Square, Somerville, to Harvard Square. The Honk! bands march, followed by performances on the main stage and other venues at Oktoberfest until 6 p.m. Information is here.

Cambridge Science Festival Carnival from noon to 4 p.m. adds to the festival’s all-day events, free in the festival zone around 292 Main St. There are more than 75 individual activities with hundreds of presenting partners, shows and events at a family-friendly extravaganza celebrating curiosity, diversity, ingenuity and innovation. Events include robot demonstrations, liquid nitrogen ice cream freeze-off competition, science improv with Harvard’s Hasty Pudding troupe, physics-themed circus shows, slime-making, solar-powered vehicles, giveaways, book readings, food trucks and more. Carnival information is here; overall festival information is here.

“Yellow Bird Chase” from 1 to 3 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square. Free. The Liars & Believers troupe brings back the tale of a clownish maintenance crew finding a magical bird. The discovery leads to a mad chase over land and sea and through the air in battles with pirates and monsters in this imaginative, family-friendly theater piece. Information is here.

“Moonlight Abolitionists, a Play for the Full Moon” (continued) from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and 8:30 to 10 p.m. at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn St., West Cambridge. Tickets are $25. Information for the early show is here; for the late show, here.

“Borealis” installation (continued) from 8 to 11 p.m. by The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square. Free. Information is here.

The Runway Witch Fashion Show at 8 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. Tickets are $40. A drag fashion show with looks made and designed by Binx, who will also offer 13 ways to camp up Halloween wardrobes, then offer tunes to dance the night away under the blood moon. Information is here.

Grolier 95th Anniversary Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in front of Toscano, 52 Brattle St., Harvard Square. Free. Taking place as part of the square’s 43rd Annual Oktoberfest, this Poetry Book Shop event features readings from Peter Balakian; Jennifer Barber; Stephanie Burt; Chen Chen; Martha Collins; Steven Cramer; Christina Davis; Richard Fein; Danielle Legros Georges; George Kalogeris; Joan Naviyuk Kane; Sandra Lim; Los Lorcas; Fred Marchant; Gail Mazur; Gloria Mindock; Porsha Olayiwola; Robert Pinsky; Anna Ross and Lloyd Schwartz. Information is here.