Weekend event picks: Italian Market Festival, Craft Phila & more

Before you subject yourself to the madness of Memorial Day weekend Shore traffic, keep it cityside for some mid-May leisure.

A festival that crosses state borders, the MidAtlantic Wine and Food Festival, sees events in Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware. Fom now until Sunday, May 17, those looking to please their palates can attend events like a five course pan-Asian dinner and wine pairing at Nectar (1091 E. Lancaster Ave., Berwyn) at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 14, a beer and cheese tasting at The Arsenal (30 Market St., New Castle, Del.) on Saturday, May 15, and more.

Make your way through creepy corridors of an abandoned prison for the Party at the Pen Masquerade at Eastern State Penitentiary (2027 Fairmount Ave.) starting at 9 p.m. on Friday, May 15 and Saturday, May 16. Don your most alluring mask and cocktail attire for a night of dancing, drinks and mysterious adventures.

A day of outdoor activity is set for Saturday, May 16, in Manayunk. Venice Island Performing Arts Center (7 Lock St.) has a stacked day of fitness-focused programming starting at 10 a.m. including yoga, free bike rentals, and group runs, and more relaxed offerings, like pole and aerial performances, live music, and food trucks.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania is hosting an empowering and educational day for girls in grades K-12 on Saturday, May 16, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center (1101 Arch St.). #GirlPOP2015 will feature speeches from Jenna Bush Hager, Mo'ne Davis, Tracy Davidson, Loraine Ballard Morrill and many other inspiring ladies. Sessions vary in topic, ranging from fashion to science to the college admissions process. The meetup runs from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Handmade crafts, art and fashions made in the USA will be shown off and made available for purchase on colonial America's front porch. Craft Phila, a two-day market featuring goods from independent artists, will be held at 6th and Market Streets on Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, vendors like BirdQueen Designs, Gilbert & Leona, and food trucks like Gigi & Big R Caribbean Soul Food and Sugar Philly Truck will fill the streets. Aside from shopping, live music, circus artists, sidewalk chalk-drawing, and other activities will be on-site to keep everyone entertained.

If cannoli, cheese, and other indulgent Italian delicacies get your mouth watering, this weekend's Italian Market Festival is a can't-miss on Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17. Vendors and eateries from 9th Street from Fitzwater Street to Federal Street will dole out the best the neighborhood has to offer. Digest with local musicians, family activities, a dance party, and the Procession of the Saints. The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days, rain or shine.

To celebrate the opening of the new Point Breeze Pop-Up (Point Breeze Ave. and Tasker St.), the Wheat Beer Fest will bring over 30 wheat beer selections to the new outdoor hang on Saturday, May 16. Food trucks like Dos Hermanos Tacos, Eat-a-Pita, Philly Fry and Kami will be there to satiate your hunger and live bands like Volta Band and St. James and the Apostles will provide sweet sounds. Food and beer are pay as you go from noon to 8 p.m.

Innovative minds in two-wheeled transportation show off their creations in the streets of Kensington and Fishtown for the Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby, a parade of quirky DIY proportions, starting at 12:30 p.m. at Trenton Avenue and Norris Street on Saturday, May 16. Along with the parade, an arts festival also on Trenton Avenue (from Norris Street to Dauphin Street) will showcase the neighborhood's arts and culture.

For the first time, Moore College of Art and Design's Spring Fashion Show will be held in the Annenberg Court at The Barnes Foundation (2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway), featuring pieces of childrenswear, resortwear and eveningwear inspired by the museum's collection. Showcasing work by sophomore, junior and senior design students, the show, sponsored by Century 21, will hit the runway at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 16.

Picks from the Inquirer's Michael Harrington

Conductor Valentin Radu leads the Ama Deus Ensemble Orchestra in works for the keyboard by Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, with soloist Peter Donohoe, piano, at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater (Broad and Spruce Streets) on Friday, May 15 at 8 p.m.

If you remember carbon paper, know what a platen is, always hit the return bar when you heard that ding!, or ever used Wite-Out, this is the event for you. (For the rest of you, it could be an interesting time-travel experiment back to the time when people created letters, term papers, resumes, and even newspapers without the aid of CPUs or monitors.) Yes, we're talking typewriters, and just like vinyl records and rotary phones (look it up), they're still around to be discovered and, more importantly, collected. The TYPE-IN, billed as "a jam session for manual typewriters and the people who love them" features a speed-typing competition, a typewriter haiku contest, a swap meet, and consultations with an experienced typewriter technician. If you've never had the pleasure of pounding away at a Remington, Underwood, or Olivetti, there will be a row of classic machines to try out. The event is at Manayunk's Pretzel Park (Cotton and Cresson Streets) on Saturday, May 16 from noon to 4 p.m.

Like most of us (well, those who considered Saturday-morning cartoons and B-movie Westerns to be a reference manual), John Mulaney thought quicksand would be a bigger concern when he became an adult than it turned out to be. The Emmy-winning writer and comedian brings his self-deprecating observations on life to the Merriam Theater (250 S. Broad St.) on Saturday, May 16 at 8 p.m.

The "crown prince of zydeco," C.J. Chenier, lets the good times roll with his Red Hot Louisiana Band at the Ardmore Music Hall (23 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore) at 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 17.

For more Things to Do, check out our calendar for the most up-to-date happenings.