Fresh eats, Jazz Fest, and Star Wars: Your Plans 7/19 – 7/25

Make A Reservation

Faemily Table, Aug. 4, 7:03-9:03 p.m., Southwest Philadelphia; $13-39 sliding scale donation, make a reservation here
For a home-cooked meal that comes with a lesson in food history and ethnobotany, reserve your spot at Faemily Table, a dinner series hosted by community cooks Acorn Swiggum and Francis Rose Subbiando. It’s a culinary world tour in their own home. All are welcome, but the table only seats 13, so make sure to sign up quickly. The menu includes homemade cheesesteaks with grass-fed beef.

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Eat Up

Parkside Fresh Food Fest, July 19 and every Thursday until Sept. 27, 6-7 p.m., 4233 Viola St., Philadelphia; free
Head to Parkside Fresh Food Fest in West Fairmount Park for more healthy, thoughtfully sourced cuisine. This series of free, public events features cooking demonstrations and samples — and you can sign up for a very affordably priced CSA share from Reading Terminal Market. You’ll receive a bag of produce and dried goods at a cost of about $9 a week. Compare that to the CSAs on this list — most are at least $25 a share.

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Help Out

Delaware River Cleanup, July 24, 5-7:30 p.m., Frankford Boat Launch, 5646 Tacony St., Philadelphia; free
For every shirt they sell, Old-City-based clothing and outdoor gear retailer United By Blue tries to remove a pound of trash from waterways. At its public cleanup events, you can help pull. This week’s is set for the Frankford Boat Launch, one of just three public boat launches in Philly. And the cleanups aren’t all drudgery: There will be games, prizes, and free Little Baby’s Ice Cream for volunteers.

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At The Movies

“Star Wars: A New Hope” with live score by the Philadelphia Orchestra, July 20, 7:30 p.m., The Mann Center; $25-102
The “Star Wars” dramatic, operatic score gets the full orchestral treatment at a Mann Center screening, The sound effects and dialogue will be intact, but with the score will be replaced with a live performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra. On July 26, they’re doing the same with “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”

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Musical Guests

Smilin’ Ambassador Fest with This is Not This Heat and Faust, Underground Arts, July 19, 7 p.m., and July 20, 8 p.m.; $30-40 per night
Some of the founding members of super-influential rock bands This Heat and Faust are headlining the first Smilin’ Ambassador Fest. Both bands have been playing since the 1970s. Though their abrasive, experimental sound was novel then, they’ve been cited as the inspiration for countless post-punk, post-rock bands ever since.

12th Annual Lancaster Avenue Jazz Festival, July 21, noon, Saunders Park Greene at 39th and Powelton Avenue; free
This year’s jazz fest, thrown annually by the People’s Emergency Center, celebrates the “Different Shades of Jazz.” Tim Warfield and his Organ Band are headlining, with Terell Stafford in a tribute to Shirley Scott. There will also be art for viewing and sale, food trucks, and a children’s village.

Balkan at Bartram’s, July 22, 6-10 p.m., Bartram’s Garden, 5400 Lindbergh Blvd., Philadelphia; $10 general admission, $20 with buffet dinner
West Philly favorites the Philadelphia Women’s Slavic Ensemble and West Philadelphia Orchestra are teaming up once again for a riverside performance at Bartram’s Garden. A folk dance workshop, Balkan buffet, and flower crown making are also planned.

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For the Fam

Kidchella, with guests Shine and the Moonbeams and the Alphabet Rockers, July 20, 6-7:30 p.m., Smith Memorial Playground, North 33rd and Oxford streets, Philadelphia; $10 for one child and adult, $5 for members
This is a music festival for kids that the whole family can enjoy. Friday’s bands are the surprisingly rocking Shine and the Moonbeams — billed as R&B for kids — and the Alphabet Rockers — who perform “positive hip-hop.” An Aug. 17 show features headliners Red Yarn and Vered and the Babies.

Public Archaeology Day, July 21, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Newlin Grist Mill in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania; free
Several times a year, the Newlin Grist Mill invites the public to help with its ongoing exploration of artifacts from this 1700s flour mill and homestead. Recently uncovered items include food containers, bottles, bones, and a number of other articles believed to have been part of a store on site. Amateur archaeologists of all ages can help survey, clean, and excavate artifacts.

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Curtains, Please

Shakespeare in the Cemetery: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” July 20 and 21, 7 p.m., Laurel Hill Cemetery, 3822 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia; $20, $17 for members
Shakespeare in Clark Park: “Twelfth Night,” July 25 through 29, 7 p.m., Clark Park in West Philadelphia; free

Open-air Shakespeare is a summer favorite. This week you can see “Twelfth Night” in West Philly’s Clark Park, and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the Laurel Hill Cemetery. Find more outdoor Shakespeare here, with shows in Manayunk, Doylestown and elsewhere.

PlayPenn’s New Play Development Conference, Through July 29, The Drake Theater, 302 S. Hicks St., Philadelphia; free, but reservation needed

Get a behind-the-scenes look at theater works in progress at the PlayPenn new play development conference. All week, you can hear free, public readings of scripts being workshopped. They’re bold, challenging, timely works — including one about garbage collectors, and another about a group of frustrated youths who join a terrorist organization.

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This article is part of a new effort recommending things to do in the Philly region. Tell us what you think.