Five Reasons to Leave the House This Weekend

The Chinatown Main Street Festival, the Northern Alliance Dinner, "Fabergé Revealed," and more.

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PHOTO VIA SHOOTHEAD/FLICKR

Festival
Chinatown Main Street Festival

This Sunday, enjoy the best of what Boston’s Chinatown community has to offer. Enjoy martial arts demonstrations, performances (Chinese opera, lion dances, and folk dancing), games, Asian arts and crafts, and food from local vendors, all at the annual Chinatown Main Street Festival. If you have any vocal talent, don’t be shy. Maybe you could win the CVS Pharmacy-sponsored amateur karaoke contest—a new attraction this year.

Free, Sunday, June 23, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Chinatown, on Tyler, Harrison, Beach, and Hudson Streets, chinatownmainstreet.org

Food
Northern Alliance Dinner

In a kitchen, there is a chef and a sous-chef who answers to him. That’s the way it goes, right? Wrong. Well, at least not this Sunday at JM Curley, where 10 chefs will take over the kitchen for the Northern Alliance Dinner. The event, which benefits the American Farmland Trust, pairs 10 of the best chefs in the U.S.—including Boston favorites Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette—with 10 of the best chefs in Canada to create five collaborative courses. After the border-defying evening is over, perhaps your taste buds will be so delighted—and we think they will be—that you’ll be inspired to book a train or bus to Montreal, where the chefs will host a second dinner in August. More info at Chowder.

$250, Sunday, June 23, 6-10 p.m., JM Curley, 21 Temple Place, 617-338-5333, farmsteadinc.com

Art
“Fabergé Revealed” at the Peabody Essex Museum

Women these days fawn over Tiffany rings and Harry Winston chokers, but for the emperors and empresses of Russia, it was all about Fabergé. Starting this Saturday, the Peabody Essex Museum will display more than 230 treasures intricately crafted by the House of Fabergé—ruby-encrusted brooches, enameled clocks and parasol handles, gold cigarette cases, carved stone animals. But undoubtedly, four of Fabergé’s signature imperial eggs—elaborate trinkets specially designed for the Romanov family (if you’re not familiar with Russian history, you must at least be familiar with the plot of Fox’s animated movie Anastasia from 2001)—are the main attraction. Only 42 of these eggs are still known to exist and photographs surely don’t do them justice, so don’t miss this rare opportunity to see them in person.

$5 surcharge on regular museum admission, Saturday, June 22, to September 29, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem, 978-745-9500, pem.org

Parade
Day of Portugal Parade

Regardless of your nationality, come to Somerville this Sunday to celebrate Portuguese culture. Colorful floats, bands, and marching bands will provide entertainment as you sample Portuguese delicacies. Make sure to follow the parade all the way to the end at St. Anthony’s Church, where a block party will break out in the yard, including a performance by famous Portuguese-American singer Nélia.

Free, Sunday, June 23, 2-6:30 p.m., starts at Concord Square and ends at St. Anthony’s Church, 400 Cardinal Medeiros Ave., Somerville, bostonportuguesefestival.org

Outdoors
Photography Walk at Spectacle Island

Lace up some hiking boots, strap a camera around your neck, and follow Boston-based filmmaker and photographer Elliot Higger on a guided walk around Spectacle Island. She’ll provide photography instruction and, after spending a summer living there as a park ranger, she’ll also be able to familiarize you with the island’s unique landscape. The best part? This island getaway is only a 15-minute ride away from downtown Boston.

Free, Saturday, June 22, 1 p.m., Spectacle Island, bostonharborislands.org