FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 5:00–9:00 PM
Celebrate the longest day of the year with live music, ice cream, hands-on activities, and free admission to all four of the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (HMSC): the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments (CHSI), the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and the Harvard Semitic Museum.
Join outdoor festivities on the new Plaza located between the Harvard Science Center and Sanders Theatre/Memorial Hall at One Oxford Street in Cambridge:
• Watch and dance with the Red Herring Morris as they perform seasonal English ritual dances and erect a Solstice May pole (performances at 5:00 pm & 7:00 pm)
• See traditional Aztec dances performed by La Piñata youth, who will celebrate the Solstice with indigenous, folkloric, Latin American music and dance (6:00 pm)
• Hear the the Yarina trio (which means “remembrance” in the native Quichua language of the Incas) evoke the hauntingly beautiful music of the Ecuadorian Andes while incorporating jazz, blues, Latin, and Western classical music (7:45 pm)
• Kids can learn all about the stars inside the Starlab Portable planetarium (20-minute shows,
every half hour throughout the evening)
• Be part of a human sundial and tell time by your own shadow
• Test a Viking sunstone—learn how the Vikings navigated, even on a cloudy day, using polarizing crystals
• Enjoy rare public access to the roof deck observatory of the Harvard Science Center for solar–telescope viewing of the fading sun on its longest day—and a unique vista of the Cambridge and Boston skyline
All HMSC museums will offer free admission and extended hours until 9 pm. See the new exhibition Time and Time Again at the CHSI; the newly renovated Earth & Planetary Sciences exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History; Stephen Dupont photographs of Papua New Guinea at the Peabody Museum, or a recreated ancient Israelite house at the Semitic Museum.
Free and open to the public. Drop by before or after dinner in Harvard Square, or bring a picnic and stay until sunset.
Download a PDF of the event poster to share with others.
Free event parking in the 52 Oxford Street Garage.
In case of rain, the event will move inside the Harvard Science Center.
The Plaza (located next to Sanders Theatre) is a six-minute walk through Harvard Yard from the Harvard Square Red Line T stop.
