About Town: Weekend Events In and Around Rye

From a family-oriented bike “rodeo” to spirit guides, a nearby moveable feast dine-around sampler, an arts fair, a history society gala and a “Sing for the World” benefit featuring a former local singing bartender, there’s lots going on this weekend in and around Rye including the Westchester Children’s Museum’s annual Explore-A-Thon and a Sustainable Symposium.

Friday 

The Village Singers of Westchester will present their Spring Concert –“From Bruckner to Barbershop” –at the , 122 N. Ridge St. 7:30 p.m. Information:  937-5212; www. the villagesingers.com.

Saturday 

• The Rye Historical Society Annual Gala Benefit will run from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. under the direction of co-chairs Jeanine Scott, Joan Steere and Luana Murno. There will be silent and live auctions, live music, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and more, including  a chance to make donations on a Giving Tree that includes period costumes and archival storage boxes. Information: 967-7588; visitryehistory.org.
• Michael Hoare, an ordained minister, certified angel practicioner and spiritual counselor, will lead a Wainwright House workshop on imprinting– a practice that fosters healing at the spiritual level in ways designed to bring about greater trust, forgiveness and acceptance. Session runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Information: 967-6080; www.wainwright.org.
• Six nationally known experts in  landscape architecture and environmental design will be featured during an 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sustainable Symposium at Rye’s national historic landmark . The goal: to show how design can respect both history and ecology while sparking discourse and inspiring sustainability and preservation. Information: 698-9275
• “We Sing for the World” will stage its first benefit concert at 8 p.m. at the with proceeds going to the AmeriCares Pacific Earthquake and Tsunami Fund. Group of professional musicians will perform everything from opera to popular music to raise funds for disasters. The group was formed by Daniele Hager, Rye Country Day School grad, perhaps best known locally as a former singing bartender at Town & Dock who has also performed at Wainwright House, taught at RAC and will be singing opera this summer in Costa Rica.  Her dad still conducts the RCDS band. Information: 967-0700

Sunday 

Sunday’s Family Bike Festival in Rye gets off and spinning with events ranging from the Greenway ride through the Sound Shore area for adults and a bike rodeo for kids in the Osborn School parking lot.

Scores of Easy –and not so Easy –Riders will ride the Greenway route –the local 16-mile segment of the 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway that connects cities and towns along the Eastern Seaboard. While the adults are spinning their wheels, kids aged 6–12 will learn bike safety and biking skills at a Bike Rodeo at the Osborn.

The event is sponsored by the Bike-Walk Alliance of Westchester & Putnam and the Westchester Cycle Club. Further information: www.westchestercycleclub.org,  click on WCC events.

Arts 10573 at Rye Ridge’s Crawford Park highlights the 30th  anniversary celebration of the Port Chester Council for the Arts, 12 to 5 p.m. Program includes a musical revue, a performance by the Rye Town Community Band and an art show displaying the work of 12 area artists in watercolor, acrylics, sculpture, mixed media, photography and faux painting.

Westchester Children’s Museum’s annual Explore-A-Thon will take place from 9 a.m. to noon at Rye Town Park on Forest Ave. to raise funds to help build the region’s first children’s museum at Rye Playland. Festive event will include balloon boats, rockets, color wheels, bubbles, art and music and lots more interactive and educational fun things to do. Information: 241-5050; www.discover WCM.org.

Nearby Taste of Port Chester Restaurant Tour includes chance to sample a moveable feast or around 30 local restaurants –from Acuario to Willett House -- at your own pace, 11 a.m.– 3 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Tamarack Tower Foundation. Participants sample the restaurants and chef specialties in any order they wish.

Bus transportation will be provided.  Sign-in restaurants include T&J Villagio, 223-225 Westchester Ave., and Rosie’s on the River, 23 N. Main St. Packets at sign-in restaurants will include a map and key code of participating restaurants along with info about bus pick-up and drop-off points. Information: 937-0367; www.TanarackTower.org and www.tasteofportchester.com

For soul food, there is the Jessie Shippy, a third-generation, clairvoyant-intuitive noted for her reportedly visionary ability to bring forth the highest truths and spiritual principles from spirit guides, according to the description of the 1–5 p.m. program.

See–or not see– Shippy do her thing with the expertise that comes from her being a Reiki Master, ordained minister, and hospice-trained graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature. Further information: www.spiritguidelady.net; 967-6080