Soak in all the summer sun with your pick of outdoor events, including live music, good eats and great company. For many of this week’s events, from Juneteenth celebrations to outdoor concerts to see Maggie Rogers or Brooks & Dunn, one thing to remember is to bring a blanket!

Rainbow Pride Pub Crawl

6 p.m.-10 p.m. Thursday

Start the weekend early with a Rainbow Pride Pub Crawl down Old Ellicott City’s Main Street. The crawl begins at AxGard for free ax throwing from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and then heads over to The Wine Bin for 10% off drinks.

The next five bars and restaurants, including the Phoenix and La Palapas, have drink specials for participants. Then bar crawlers will end the evening at Manor Hill Tavern for an all-night happy hour.

No tickets are necessary.

Brooks & Dunn: REBOOT Tour 2024

7 p.m. Thursday

Formed in the 1990s and inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019, Brooks & Dunn will perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 13. Listen to hits like “Neon Moon,” “My Maria,” and “Red Dirt Road” in lawn seats – that are available for $45 – or single-ticket seats for up to $95.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and country artists David Lee Murphy and ERNEST will join Brooks & Dunn on tour.

LakeFest Weekend

5 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday

Soak up the sun, enjoy lakefront views and listen to national and local musicians at the 37th annual LakeFest, a three-day festival in Columbia. The free weekend of music, arts, crafts and food is put on by a collaboration of the Merriweather Arts and Culture Center and the Columbia Festival of the Arts.

Musicians at LakeFest include hip-hop and urban artist Telmary Y HabanaSana from Havana, Cuba, and funk and pop-rock artist from Washington, D.C., Oh He Dead. Along with music, LakeFest goers can admire and even purchase art ranging from jewelry and textiles to paintings and ceramics at the fine arts and crafts shows.

For people who want to create art, there are numerous interactive art exhibits for people of all ages. If perusing the food options is more your speed, there’s plenty of food trucks to check out.

The weekend is completely free and no tickets are necessary to attend.

“The Merry Wives of Windsor”

8:00 p.m. Friday

Are you in a Shakespeare kind of mood? Then there’s good news – you can bask in the summer heat while enjoying the humorous live performance of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

The ruins of the historic Patapsco Female Institute in Ellicott City make the perfect backdrop for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s rendition. People of all ages are welcome, and you can bring a blanket or use chairs that are provided. Attendees can also bring a picnic and a bottle of wine if they feel so inclined.

Opening night is June 14, and the show runs until July 21. This year is the 20th year of the company performing outdoors in Howard County.

Before every Sunday performance, there will be live music and a pre-show storytelling for children, as well as arts and crafts, costume try-ons and a maypole dance.

Opening night tickets are $50 for adults 26 and older, $25 for people 19-25, and free for anyone 18 and under – but there is a two-ticket limit for adults. If you want to watch the show with a table for two, it is an additional $41 on top of the ticket price, and a picnic table for 6 people is an additional $68. After opening night, tickets are $65 for adults 26 and older, $33 for people 19-25, and people 18 years and under get in free. The table prices remain the same until the last performance.

Father’s Day at Manor Hill Brewing

Noon Sunday

With a forecast of 83 degrees and sun, Sunday is the perfect day to celebrate Father’s Day outside at Manor Hill Brewing. There will be 13 farm-brewed beers, plus seltzers, on draft, and there will also be to-go options available if being outside isn’t your scene.

There will also be crab pizza and crab pretzels, available from the Manor Hill Pizza Trolley, which will be open until 6 p.m. All the dads – and anyone else, of course – who attend can enjoy food and drinks with music from Seneca Bluegrass Band from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Maggie Rogers: The Don’t Forget Me Tour

7:30 p.m. Sunday

If going to a concert is your ideal way to celebrate Father’s Day, head over to Merriweather Post Pavilion to see Maryland native Maggie Rogers perform her newest album, “Don’t Forget Me.”

Rogers, a Grammy-nominated artist from the Eastern Shore, has sold out stadiums nationwide and across Europe performing folk, dance and pop music. This tour is for her third studio album, and The Japanese House will open for Rogers.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m., and there are lawn seats available for $45, and single tickets available up to $96.

Juneteenth on Columbia Lakefront and 2nd Annual Juneteenth Celebration in Savage

1 p.m.-8:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday

If you want more than one Juneteenth celebration, you’re in luck. There are two in the county: one in Columbia and one in Savage.

You can enjoy the downtown Columbia lakefront while watching the Wilde Lake High School Step Team perform or listen to Dupont Brass from Washington, D.C., jam out. There will also be food and shopping vendors.

Online registration for the event is closed, but no tickets are needed, and interested people can still attend.

In Savage, the celebration begins at 5 p.m., and people are encouraged to bring a blanket and enjoy music, education and activities at Carroll Baldwin Hall.

In this year’s Juneteenth celebration, a 2024 Juneteenth Queen will be crowned. She will be the oldest Black or African American female descendant of a formerly enslaved African who lives in Howard County. People submitted nominations up until May 31st.

No tickets are necessary to attend.