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Week Ahead

Freebies: Who doesn’t like them?

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (above) will hold the third of its “Neighborhood Nights” summer series on Thursday.david l. ryan/globe staff/file/Globe Staff

We like being in the loop when there’s free stuff to be had. Perhaps it’s something we’d enjoy watching or doing? Or eating? In the spirit of sharing, here are some freebies around the region this week. We hope you’ll get to at least one.

In Boston on Thursday, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way, is holding the third of its “Neighborhood Nights” summer series, offering free admission between 5 and 9 p.m. for visitors to enjoy its entire collection, including special exhibitions such as the new “Big Plans: Picturing Social Reform.” The museum’s invitation says each of the series features performances, hands-on art-making, food trucks, a cash bar, and gallery games. Thursday’s event, “Map This Block Party,” is coproduced with Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez’s Street Theory Gallery and celebrates the culmination of the museum’s “Map This” community engagement project. Various community groups will be involved in the festivities, and there will be a dance processional led by Brazilian batucada band Grooversity. For more information, visit gardnermuseum.org.

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Also in Boston, the Navy’s country-bluegrass ensemble Country Current is scheduled to play on the Boston Common bandstand Tuesday at 7 p.m. as part of the Navy Band’s nine-city 2019 tour. The Navy’s media outreach department says Country Current “is renowned for its versatility and phenomenal musicianship, performing a blend of modern country music and cutting-edge bluegrass.” The ensemble regularly performs “for veterans, elementary schools, and in support of our active-duty sailors,” it says. Visit navyband.navy.mil.

On the Natick Common, 12 S. Main St., the Natick Cultural Center District will hold its annual “Multicultural Day” on Saturday from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, featuring ethnic foods, music, costumes, and dances. Expect performances from Bollywood fusion and flamenco to traditional Chinese dance and African drums, as well as crafts and exhibits. From 2 to 4 p.m., the Arlington International Film Festival will present short documentary films about immigration, followed by a panel discussion with their directors, at the Common Street Spiritual Center, 13 Common St. The center is next to the common, where, if you’d like to start the day earlier, you could show up at 9 a.m. for the start of the weekly Natick Farmers Market. Visit natickcenter.org.

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Free speech: In Newton, author and Boston by Foot docent Dina Vargo will give a talk on “Hidden History of Boston” at the Newton Free Library, 330 Homer St., on Wednesday at 7 p.m. She will tell some of Beantown’s lesser-known stories, including that of William Monroe Trotter, publisher of the Boston Guardian, an independent African-American newspaper, and a champion of civil rights activism. Visit newtonfreelibrary.net.

In Sharon on Thursday, historian/author Anthony Sammarco will talk about a much better-known part of Boston when he presents “Along Blue Hill Avenue,” a discussion of the three neighborhoods — Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan — connected by the thoroughfare. The 6:45 p.m. talk at the Sharon Community Center, 219 Massapoag Ave., will focus on history, places of worship, movie houses, and architecture. RSVP by calling the Sharon Adult Center at 781-784-8000.

In Marshfield on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., the Ventress Memorial Library, 15 Library Plaza, adds another celebration to the hundreds, if not thousands, across the country marking the 50th anniversary of Woodstock. Like many others, the Marshfield fete will combine memories of those who were there with an introduction for a younger generation to the music and culture of the 1960s. There will be music, a short film, karaoke, dancing, and themed refreshments. Visit ventresslibrary.org.

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And here are the attractions to which the Highland Street Foundation is sponsoring free admission on Friday for its “Free Fun Fridays” program: The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Boston Athenaeum, Freedom Trail Foundation, and The Mary Baker Eddy Library & Mapparium, all in Boston; Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield; Buttonwood Park Zoo, New Bedford; Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst; Fort Devens Museum, Devens; Heritage Museums & Gardens, Sandwich; and Museum of African American History, Boston and Nantucket. Visit highlandstreet.org.


L. Kim Tan can be reached at tan@globe.com.