7 Things to Do in RI This Weekend include Surf, Kite, Music and Art Fests

From family hikes, a lawn fete to a surfing festival, there's a lot to do in Rhode Island this weekend. Here's a few can't miss and notable events we picked to highlight. If you want your event featured next week, be sure to add it to the Patch calendar and email editor mark.schieldrop@patch.com to make sure it gets noticed.

Family Evening Hike & Campfire

Friday, July 11th; 7:30 – 9:00 p.m., Norman Bird Sanctuary, Middletown.

Join us for a special opportunity to explore NBS after dark with your family. We’ll start with a short sunset hike on one for our 7 miles of hiking trails. After our hike we will relax by the fire, roast marshmallows and tell campfire stories. We’ll even try out some exciting night hike activities! The cost is $8 Members, $10 Non-members.

More information can be found here.

Emmanuel Church Lawn Fete

Saturday July 12; 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Emmanuel Church, 42 Dearborn Street, Newport. 

Emmanuel Church, under the leadership of Jackie Breen, is reviving one of the church's first fundraisers. The Lawn Fete on July 12, 2014 will include a great raffle, local craft vendors, a plant table, lunch of burgers, hot dogs, chips, clam chowder, & lemonade, children's games, a dunk tank, old fashioned tea room, Potter League Animal Shelter booth, face painting & much more! Proceeds from this event will benefit outreach programs and provide funding for a wide range of assistance programs within our Aquidneck Island Community. Non-perishable food items will be collected & donated to Salvation Army, Newport, RI. Free parking is available in the church's parking lot on Dearborn Street. You can find more information here. 

The 52nd Wickford Art Festival

Saturday July 12; 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday July 13; 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Wickford Village.

The 52nd Wickford Art Festival returns to coastal Wickford Village on Saturday July 12, and Sunday July 13. Join 200 artists from all over the country and world as they display their art amongst historic homes, eclectic shops and quaint street. Handicap accessible and family friendly, this fine are festival draws art lovers from throughout New England with crowds up to 75,000 attending yearly. Admission is free. More information can be found here. 

Surf Fest IV

Saturday July 12; 2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., 90 Fort Adams Drive, Newport.  

Surf legend Sid Abbruzzi of Water Brothers plans to tip the scale this year with the staging of his highly anticipated Water Brothers Fest IV at Fort Adams State Park! With spectacular panoramas of the Newport Harbor and Narragansett Bay, this rugged coastal location also hosted the First X Games in 1995. 

The guest of honor will be legendary 1st IPS/ASP World Surfing Champion “PT” Peter Townend. Five-hundred + vintage surfboard exhibit, skate ramp inside the fort, skate demos and best trick awards all at Surf Fest IV! More information can be found here, and tickets can be purchased here. 

The Newport Kite Festival

Saturday July 12; 12:00 p.m., Brenton Point State Park.

The spray of colors across the sky along Ocean Drive in July at the annual kite festival is a sight to behold. The air is filled with the sounds of snapping nylon and kite strings as the kites whip their tails in the sky and the ocean breeze washes your face. There is nothing more or less to this jubilee other than the pure joy of flying a kite. Admission is free. Read more here. 

Eco-Depot

Saturday July 12; appointments begin at 8:00 a.m., Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, 65 Shun Pike, Johnston. 

Eco-Depot is a free service for Rhode Island residents who wish to dispose of their household hazardous waste safely and properly. We all have hazardous waste lurking in our homes - oven cleaner, cleaning products, flea collars, pool chemicals, nail polish remover, oil based paint in rusty old paint cans and so much more. This free service is available by appointment only. You can find more information here, or make an appointment here. 

Antique Auto Show at SC Museum, Narragansett

Sunday July 13; 10:00 a.m., South County Museum, 115 Strathmore Road, Narragansett. 

More than 100 antique cars will be hosted by the South County Museum at it's summer Antique Auto Show.  Master of ceremonies is Narragansett's favorite cartoonist, Don Bousquet. All Museum exhibits will be open, including the blacksmith forge, the carpenter and print shops, the Living History Farm, the one room schoolhouse and the vintage clothing exhibition. Food and traditional music will be offered. Parking is free. Admission is by donation. Find more information here. 

Registration for autos starts at 10:00 am. All pre-1989 autos are welcome. 

Newport Music Festival

The 46th season of the Newport Musical Festival kicks off July 11 and runs through July 27 with unique chamber music performances in Newport's historic Mansions. 

This year, a whopping 60 concerts will be held with artists from around the world. It's one of the top music festivals in the world and more than 25,000 people are expected to attend. For tickets and more information, visit the festival's official Web site.