Weekend Planner: Pinkster Celebration, Mother's Day Events and Bicycle Sundays

Pinkster—A Celebration of Spring

When/Where:  Sunday, May 13, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at 

Why Go:  This African-American celebration of spring has been held in the Hudson Valley since the 17th century. Filled with music, dance, food, and revelry, this cross-cultural festival re-creates the spring holiday with a rousing colonial-style celebration. Festivities include lively presentations of drumming and traditional dance, African folktales, and demonstrations of traditional African instruments and utilitarian wares.

Price:  $14, $12 seniors, $8 children.

Buchanan-Verplanck PTA Spring Carnival

When/Where:  Saturday, May 12, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at Buchanan-Verplanck Elementary School, 160 Westchester Avenue Buchanan,

Why Go: It is fun for the whole family including games, prize tables, sand art, clowns, nail painting, hair-coloring, photo buttons, vendor booths, cotton candy and more.

Price:  $10 admission to all inflatables games and includes one children’s tattoo and a one children’s raffle ticket.

Mother’s Day Doll Tea Party at Pottery Barn Kids

When/Where: Saturday, May 12, at 3 and 4 p.m., at  in White Plains

Why Go: Mothers and grandmothers are invited for a special tea time with their child. Put on your finest and bring a favorite doll or teddy bear in for an afternoon of refreshments, stories and more.

Price:  Free, RSVP required. Call store at 914-949-4947 to reserve your spot today.

Bicycle Sundays 2012

When/Where:  Bicycle Sundays 2012: May 6, 13, 20, June 3, 10, 17, and 24 and September 9, 16, 23 and 30, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. with parking at the 

Why Go: During Bicycle Sundays, a portion of the Bronx River Parkway is closed to cars for the exclusive use of bicyclists, joggers, walkers, scooters and strollers. The course runs from the Westchester County Center in White Plains, south to Scarsdale Road in Yonkers, a round-trip of 13.1 miles. There are many points of entry and exit along the way. Parking is available at the County Center lot in White Plains for a fee of $5. In case of rain, the program will be cancelled.

Price:  Free

FitQuest

When/Where: Saturday, May 12 from 1-4 p.m. at Northern Westchester Hospital at Chappaqua Crossing, 480 Bedford Road.

Why Go:  Northern Westchester Hospital will host the first annual NWH FitQuest, a day of friends, fun and fitness challenges for families with children in elementary school, and a fundraiser for Northern Westchester Hospital, a not for profit organization. Click here to register.

Price: $10

Sheep Shearing

When/Where:  Sunday, May 13, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at  in Somers

Why Go:  Bring your favorite mom to watch the sheep get their spring haircuts.

Price:  Free

The Secret Garden

When/Where: May 11, 8 p.m. and May 20 at 2 p.m. at 

Why Go: White Plains Performing Arts Center presents the musical, "The Secret Garden" based on the 1911 classic children's novel of Frances Hodgson Burnett, a show that opened on Broadway in 1991. Its story centers on an orphan, 11 year old Mary Lennox, who discovers inspiring magic on the estate of her embittered uncle with whom she lives. Marsha Norman wrote the book and lyrics and Lucy Simon created the music.

Price: Tickets are $30 and $40

Pulitzer-Prize Winning Poet Kay Ryan Reads in Katonah

When/Where:  Sunday, May 13, 4 p.m. at the 

Why Go: One of America's foremost poets, Kay Ryan has been compared to Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost. About her work, J.D. McClatchy said: “Her poems are compact, exhilarating, strange affairs, like Erik Satie miniatures or Joseph Cornell boxes.” In 2011 Ryan won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and is the recipient of several other major awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation. She has received the Union League Poetry Prize and the Maurice English Poetry Award, as well as the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.

The Fab Faux at The Paramount

When/Where:  Saturday, May 12, 8 p.m. at  in Peekskill

Why Go:  In their only Hudson Valley appearance, The Fab Faux, a Beatles tribute band performs a show that  reproduces the Beatles' studio albums note for note. Boasting the high visibility of TV star/musicians Jimmy Vivino from Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Will Lee from The Late Show with David Letterman, this is the band to see if you want to know what it might have been like if The Beatles toured behind their later albums.

Price:  Tickets $45 - $125

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