Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby, Phoenixville Beer and Wine Festival, Love Your Park Week: Philly events, May 10 to 16

This weekend’s forecast isn’t spectacular, but that won’t stop the many street festivals and markets from rolling out, including the opening of Spruce Street Harbor Park and Blue Cross RiverRink Summerfest.

Nor will it stop Mother’s Day. Plan ahead: Grace Dickinson offers 10 suggestions for spending time with mom that aren’t brunch. And if you need to buy a gift, consider an affordable go-to — a candle. Cassie Owens and Brandon Harden have a comprehensive guide to buying candles, from boutiques to botánicas, in Philly.

Also starting this Friday is PAFA’s Student Exhibition, which is a proving ground for young artists that often go on to international renown. It’s a prime chance to score fine art on the cheap — but it’s far from the only one. Tomorrow, look out for our guide to buying art on a budget in Philadelphia, complete with negotiating tips, annual art sales, and collectors’ best-kept secret.

— Jenn Ladd (@jrladd, jladd@philly.com)

Find a fleet of human-powered floats at one of Philly’s quirkiest annual events. Costumed riders will compete for awards (Best Engineered Sculpture, Best/Worst Pun, among others) after navigating a 3-mile obstacle course. The route, which weaves through Kensington, starts off with speed bumps made from empty Arctic Splash Iced Tea cartons and ends in a massive mud pit in front of the judging panel. The festival also features over 200 local arts and food vendors. — Grace Dickinson

Noon to 6 p.m., Saturday, 2136 E. Dauphin St., free, kensingtonkineticarts.org

This annual South Philly street festival, hosted by the boisterous 11th Street bottle shop, returns for a 10th year. It started with IPAs and has swelled to include cider, champagne, sparkling wine, sangria, and rosé — all at $5 a pop (cash only). Kids (and dogs!) are welcome to the event, which will also feature live music, activities, and food-truck eats. — Jenn Ladd

11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, 11th and Fitzwater Streets to 11th and Catharine Streets, free admission, 215-627-3012, hawthornecafe.com

In recent years, this Chester County town has become a bustling hub of breweries, bars, restaurants, and more. And at the Phoenixville Beer & Wine Festival, you can have it all — beer, wine, whiskey, gin — over four hours of unlimited sampling at the Kimberton Fairgrounds. To keep you fueled, vendors like Pizza Forno and Grappling Crab Shack will serve up eats. — G.D.

Noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, 762 Pike Springs Rd., $45, $10 for designated drivers, phoenixvillebeerwinefestival.com

Snag a last-minute Mother’s Day gift at the sprawling spring edition of this recurring bazaar, which comes to Penn’s Landing this weekend. Find over 100 local vendors selling pottery, jewelry, housewares, and more, along with a handful of make-and-take stations for the DIY-ers. Food vendors will be scattered throughout, too. — G.D.

11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing, 101 N. Columbus Blvd., pay as you go, artstarcraftbazaar.com

Learn how to shake up colorful and spirited drinks from a mixologist suited up in Fancy Brigade regalia. A live string band is scheduled to serenade participants of this Mummers-inspired cocktail class. — G.D.

6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Art in the Age, 116 N. Third St, $40, artintheage.com

An audience favorite, Parsons is dancing a program of new work as well as its signature Caught, a solo performed in a strobe light, made to look like a series of photographs. The piece has been danced by both men and women over the years, including Pennsylvania Ballet artistic director Ángel Corella. — Ellen Dunkel

8 p.m., Friday, also 2 and 8 p.m., Saturday, Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St., $29 to $58, annenbergcenter.org

Head to Cherry Hill’s Croft Farm to partake in worldwide Migratory Bird Day, a celebration designed to raise awareness of migratory birds and related conservation efforts. Visitors can learn about bird identification and techniques to attract colorful species to your backyard for prime bird-watching. — G.D.

2 to 4 p.m., Saturday, 100 Bortons Mill Rd., Cherry Hill, free, cherryhill-nj.com

The annual celebration of Philadelphia’s parks kicks off with a mega service day, with nearly 100 volunteer opportunities at green spaces citywide over its nine-day span. Make one of your own local parks a cleaner and better place by partaking in a scheduled trash pickup or gardening activity. To complement the cleanups, organizers have also planned dozens of free outdoor events, including rowing clinics, guided hikes, and bike tours. Take note: Registration is required for many of the events. — G.D.

May 11-19, Various times and locations, free, loveyourpark.org

It’s been seven years since then 20-year-old Hunter Hayes had his chart-topping country hit with the rowdy but respectfully romantic ballad “Wanted.” Along with a handful of similar-sounding, shaggy puppy-loving smashes, “Wanted” defined the thoughtful young songwriter for better (cash) and worse (being stuck in a rut). That’s probably why a less lovesick and more ruminative 27-year-old Hayes’ wrote his forthcoming new album (untitled as yet) and is presenting the fresh songs of his Closer to You tour at the top of his live set. The baritone-voiced multi-instrumentalist once dubbed by Billboard as the Leader of Country Music’s Youth Revolution has grown up and wants his fans to know that up-front. — A.D. Amorosi

7:30 p.m., Friday, the Fillmore, 23 E. Allen St., $30, 215-309-0150, thefillmorephilly.com

Tim Showalter of Philadelphia’s Strand of Oaks recorded his new album, Eraserland, in Louisville, Ky., last fall with a bunch of backing musicians. They included the members of My Morning Jacket (sans Jim James), Jason Isbell chipping in on guitar, and Emma Ruth Rundle on vocals. The songs put Showalter’s ideas about music’s ability to mend broken hearts and damaged psyches to the test, which Eraserland passes with flying colors. — Dan DeLuca

8 p.m., Friday, Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., $18, 215-232-2100, utphilly.com

Meat Puppets started out as a punk-rock band way back in 1980, and the Kirkwood brothers-led group soon thereafter transformed into the psychedelic-folk band that gained fame when appearing with Nirvana on MTV Unplugged in New York a few months before Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994. The Puppets are in fine form on their new sun-blistered 12th album, Dusty Notes, released on Megaforce Records in March. — D.D.

8 p.m., Friday, Underground Arts, 1200 Callowhill St., $20-$22, 215-627-1332, undergroundarts.org

Del McCoury and David Grisman have been pals since the early ’60s, when McCoury was playing in Bill Monroe’s band and mandolinist Grisman was part of the NYC folk revival. That was before Grisman got the nickname “Dawg” from his friend and frequent collaborator Jerry Garcia, and before McCoury became a bluegrass star himself as a singer and guitarist. Eighty-year-old McCoury tours with his band — his sons — less frequently than he used to, but Del and Dawg, who’s 74, come to Wilmington’s Grand Opera House on Friday to sing old songs and tell stories together. They’re living legends. — Steve Klinge

8 p.m., Friday, the Grand Opera House, 818 N. Market St., Wilmington, $35 to $42, 302-652-5577, thegrandwilmington.org

When it comes to making dramatic, dynamic post-hardcore with more smarts than emotion and a fast-slow Nirvana-like boiling point, Doylestown’s Balance & Composure has it all sewn up. B&C albums such as The Things We Think We’re Missing (2013) and Light We Made (2016) rage passionately, with a complexity worth their weight in prog gold. So, what’s all this about them having announced a farewell tour, with these shows being perhaps the last we’ll see of B&C? Remember, these guys love their drama. Stay tuned. — A.D.A.

8 p.m., Saturday, the Fillmore, 23 E. Allen St., $34.29, 215-309-0150, thefillmorephilly.com

It’s a rare visit to these parts for Michael Martin Murphey, but the 74-year-old singer-songwriter remains as active as ever. His latest album, Austinology: Alleys of Austin, is a reminder of the key role the Dallas native played with such peers as Willie Nelson and Jerry Jeff Walker in creating the progressive country-rock-folk hybrid that made the Texas capital such an influential music scene in the early ’70s. As Murphey offers new takes on some of his best-known songs (“Wildfire,” “Geronimo’s Cadillac”) as well as numbers by contemporaries like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, he’s joined on the album not only by Nelson and Walker, but by younger Lone Star singer-songwriters they have influenced, including Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Bruce Robison, and Randy Rogers. — Nick Cristiano

8 p.m., Wednesday, the Sellersville Theater, 24. W. Temple Ave., Sellersville, $29.50 to $45, 215-257-5808, theater.st94.com