Smithsonian Museum Day
Saturday, 9/24, 9:30am - 5:00pm

Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country - including over 60 in Massachusetts alone - offer free admission to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket…for free.

To receive your free Museum Day Ticket (for two people), visit the Museum Day website. You will receive your ticket via email; print it out and then check which of your favorite museums are participating - or visit a new one! Free

Rockin’ with Raptors
Saturday, 9/24, 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Boston Nature Center

The Boston Nature Center celebrates its ninth anniversary with live raptors, Animal Adventures Petting Zoo, and the New England Aquarium Touch Tank. A live band, a cookout, raffles, and kids’ crafts round out the afternoon. Rain or shine. Free

Berklee BeanTown Outdoor Jazz Festival
Saturday, 9/24, 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Columbus Avenue between Burke Street and Massachusetts Avenue, Boston

The festival features three stages with performances from more than 15 artists, vendor booths offering food from all over the world and a Family Park that transforms Carter Playground on Columbus Avenue into a hub of activity including inflatables, face painting, and an instrument petting zoo staffed by Berklee professionals. See the website for the full concert schedule. Free

Life is good Festival 2011
Saturday 9/24 & Sunday 9/25
Prowse Farm, Canton, MA

The two-day celebration features three stages of nationally known musical talent, hands-on games, interactive arts activities, and the “Good Kids” zone, where families can listen to favorites like Ben Rudnick and Friends (11:45AM), Keller Williams (1:00PM), Laurie Berkner Band (2:15PM), and Imagination Movers (3:45PM).

100% of Life is good Festival profits go towards The Life is good Playmakers, helping kids overcome life-threatening challenges such as violence, illness and extreme poverty.

Alastair Moock “These Are My Friends” Concert
Saturday, 9/24, 11:00am
Center for the Arts Natick 14 Summer St., Natick MA

Boston indie acoustic performer Alastair Moock celebrates the release of his second family music CD These Are My Friends with this MetroWest concert.

Like Pete Seeger and others from an earlier generation of folk music, Moock makes little distinction between his own songs and cover material. For him, it’s all part of a continuum — a collaboration between the old and the new. Interspersed with the eight originals (and two short parodies) on These Are My Friends are songs like “Mail Myself to You” (by Woody Guthrie), “Green Green Rocky Road” (traditional, associated with Dave Van Ronk), “Yes Indeed” (by Sy Oliver, made famous by Ray Charles), and “Ladybug’s Picnic” (from Sesame Street).

If you weren’t one of the lucky readers who had a chance to win free tickets to the concert, we’re offering another Family FourPack Giveaway to the October 15 concert with Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. Email me to enter!

Hub on Wheels
Sunday, 9/25, 9:00am - 2:00pm
City Hall Plaza, Boston

Hub On Wheels is a citywide bike ride on a car-free Storrow Drive, through hidden pathways and historic neighborhoods. The ride starts and finishes on City Hall Plaza in downtown Boston, with three different routes to choose from: 10, 30 and 50 miles.

There is also an all-day festival with food, music, and an expo. Also be sure to catch the second annual mascot race and the kids’ race, open to any and all cyclists age 3-9.