Here’s some exciting news for our little neighbors. Crossroads Music, located at Calvary Center (48th and Baltimore), is now offering free monthly music programs for kids under 12 and their parents/caregivers. The first program is on Saturday, Sept. 15 (see more info below). All programs begin at 6 p.m. and last 30-40 minutes. Seating is first come, first served.

Saturday, September 15
Duende Musical (pictured)
Music from Spain and Latin America

Sunday, October 14
AquaAria
Folk music from Italy

Sunday, December 2
Kaïssa
West African music

Sunday, December 16
Shtreiml
Klezmer

Sunday, January 27
Peter Tang Ensemble
Music from China

NOTE: Funding for children’s programs comes from the Union Benevolent association – please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to help keep these events accessible to all children in the community.

Bartram’s Garden and The Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild are inviting everyone to celebrate bees and honey with them on Sunday (Sept. 9). Bartram’s Garden is one of the venues hosting the 3rd Annual Honey Festival that will span three days in three locations this weekend. Check out the program below. For more information, visit http://phillyhoneyfest.com or contact: honeyfest@phillybeekeepers.org. For more upcoming events at Bartram’s Garden, click here.

10 am – 4 pm  – Annual Fall Plant Sale – all day long!
10 am – 2 pm  – Bee Discovery Day — Visit science stations, make a costume & march in the Be-a-Bee Parade!
10 am – Open Hive Talk — take a peek inside a real bee hive
10:30 am – How to Brew Honey Beer at Home: Part 1, with J. McMillan
11 am – PA Honey Queen Jessica Long demonstrates Cooking with Honey
11:30  – Mead-tasting
Noon – Honey Extraction
12:30 – Open Hive Talk
1 pm – Philadelphia Bees’ Stake in Pollination with Stephanie Wilson
1:30 pm – How to Brew Honey Beer at Home: Part 2 , J. McMillan
2 pm  – PA Honey Queen, Jessica Long demonstrates Cooking with Honey
2:30 pm  – Open Hive Talk
3 pm – Taste mead, braggot and honey-based homebrews; try Little Baby’s honey ice cream

Bartram’s Garden is located at 5400 Lindbergh Boulevard and is accessible by public transportation. Take No. 36 Trolley to 54th Street.

The Philly Fringe festival is back this month with its usual wide array of performances and venues. Many of the programs will take place in West Philadelphia. For the full list of festival events and to purchase tickets, see the Live Arts/Fringe Festival website. Highlights of local neighborhood events, in no particular order, include:

• Monsters: A Workshop and Happening on Sept 16, 3 pm at the Penn Museum. Participants will work with artist Douglas Repetto to make a herd of moving tables that will be set free among the artifacts.

• Le Mirage/Dead City Philly by DysFUNctional Theater. Sept 10 and 11, 8 pm at the Rotunda. A 1892 novella reimagined as a rock opera and set in modern day Philadelphia. Debuted at the Fringe festival in 2011 and back by popular demand.

• The Legend of Nahia by Duende Musical. Sept 7, 8, 12, and 15, 7 pm at the Calvary Center, 801 South 48th St. A story set in an imaginary town in Spain about a a female survivor of sexual assault healing through music, art, story telling, and dance.

• You Don’t Say by Tangle Arts Movement, Sept 13, 14, and 15 at 8 pm with a special show at 3 pm. Although the venue, Philadelphia Soundstages (1600 N. 5th St), is not in West Philly, neighbors are probably familiar with the group’s outdoor show in Clark Park, Tiny Circus. Their Fringe show purports to include a rope, trapeze, and a dinner table as the performers explore relationships and miscommunication all while defying gravity.

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Reed’s Coffee and Tea House at 38th and Lancaster is hosting a Democratic Convention Watch Party tomorrow, from 6 to 9 p.m. and all neighbors are invited. President Barack Obama is expected to accept the party’s nomination tomorrow evening. For more information and to RSVP, click here.

Thanks to our reader Tony D. for this info: The 32nd Annual Hamilton Street Porch Sale, a four-block long sidewalk sale, will be held in Powelton Village this Saturday (Sept. 8). The sale began as a small yard sale and has grown over the years to a four-block long sale with over 100 vendors, a mix of long time residents and local vendors.

There will be a wide variety of items for sale, including: housewares, bookcases, furniture, pottery, clothes, family treasures, books, antiques, plants, food, jewelry, musical instruments, electronics, and more.

The sale will take place all along Hamilton Street from 34th Street to 38th Street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (rain date: Sunday, Sept. 9).

Update: The event has been rescheduled for Saturday, Sept. 8 due to rain.

Chester Avenue Community Garden (4715 Chester Ave) is hosting a plant/seed swap, bake sale, and an overwintering workshop from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Community members are invited to participate. This is a fundraising event for a new front gate and kiwi tree supports. Here’s what you can bring to trade at the plant swap:

-Winter hardy vegetable starts
-Fast-growing cold season seeds
-Heirloom garlic
-Berry bushes
-Perennials including flowers and bulbs

You can also purchase plants available for sale at the garden. Suggested entry donation for this event is $5. For more information visit the event’s Facebook page.