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THE WEEK AHEAD

Folk festival returns to Lowell this weekend

Dori Freeman is one of the performers scheduled to appear at the Lowell Folk Festival./Handout

Where can you listen to zydeco and Tibetan opera, watch craftsmen make Khmer ceramics and Western saddles, and taste traditional foods from around the world?

You’ll find it all at the 31st Lowell Folk Festival, taking place Friday through Sunday. The downtown festival features traditional music, crafts demonstrations, food, art, and children’s activities. “The lineup will be a mix of new performers and returning favorites from the festival’s 31-year history,” said executive director Craig Gates. For more information, go to lowellfolkfestival.org.

Salem’s growing transient homeless population will be the focus of a public forum Thursday night. A coalition of city officials, police, and community organizations is exploring ways to connect homeless people with services while also increasing police visibility and enforcement. Residents and business owners are invited to join the discussion at 7 p.m. in St. Joseph’s Hall, 160 Derby St., Salem.

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Wrentham is holding an open house Tuesday on the future of the Route 1 corridor. Town officials and consultants are studying transportation, zoning, and land use as they develop a new vision for the roadway. The effort is funded through Massachusetts Gaming Commission community mitigation fund. The meeting takes place at 3 p.m. at Town Hall.

Meanwhile, Bridgewater is seeking suggestions as it develops a new five-year housing plan to submit to the state. Less than 7 percent of the town’s housing units are affordable, and the town is looking at ways to get to 10 percent. The plan will be discussed Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Bridgewater municipal offices, 66 Central Square.

Have you met the red pandas at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston? On Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., you can visit the new Children’s Zoo and watch as Megan Amaral from LEGOLAND Discovery Center Boston creates a life-size red panda out of LEGO bricks. The real kind live there too. For ticket information, visit www.franklinparkzoo.org.

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Leslie Anderson can be reached at leslie.anderson@globe.com.