Two South Fork institutions — the Children’s Museum of the East End and the Watermill Center — have big events planned for families on Saturday, and both are free.
For those with younger children between ages 2 and 8, CMEE in Bridgehampton will be the place to be from 10 a.m. to noon for a Block Party that is both literal — with real blocks and building activities — and figurative in the community-building sense. In addition to block activities, families can make and launch stomp rockets, do chalk art, and meet representatives from the museum’s summer partners in fun, including iCamp, Fashion Camp, and Little Barn. Registration is at cmee.org.
Families can make a day of it by heading over to the Watermill Center next, where its Open Space happening from noon to 2 p.m. will feature performances, workshops, and gardening activities for all ages. Andrea Cote, Scott Bluedorn, Jamie Diamond, and Paige Laino, artists, Beah Batakou, a poet, and Ruth Childs, a dancer and choreographer, will lead workshops, and visitors can watch performances and explore installations by Shane Weeks, Truth Colon, Alex Bard, Ross Wightman, and Damien Davis.
There will be food, drinks, and treats from Balo’s Food Truck, Wildflower Eats, Springs Brewery, the Montauk General Store, Mister Softee, and BjornQorn. Open Space is hosted in partnership with the Hamptons Black Arts Council, the Hayground School, Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island, and the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center. Registration is at bit.ly/43l1Lio. It is free to attend, but a donation of $25 has been suggested.
On June 7, the Watermill Center will host the first of a series of arts workshops for families from 11 a.m. to noon. Advance registration is suggested through the center’s website. The workshop next week will focus on Clementine Hunter, a Black folk artist who lived from 1886 to 1988 and did paintings she called “memory markings,” which will be the inspiration for the art produced in the workshop.