Sporting Events

Free seeds, seedlings Free seeds and seedlings will be distributed at Waverly Market on Saturday. The seedlings will eventually become pine trees with the requisite time and care. Green bean and sunflower seeds also will be handed out. The giveaway is part of Urban Earth Day. Call 410-243- 8882. Seed distribution will take place from 7 a.m. to noon Saturday. The Waverly Farmers' Market is at the 400 block of E. 32nd St. Pork in the Park The aroma of grilled meat will permeate the air in Salisbury on Friday and Saturday when the Pork in the Park Festival gears up at Winterplace Park.

The Baltimore Kickers, one of the many German heritage clubs in town, say they're bringing a piece of their dear old Vaterland to Towson this weekend. The second annual German-American Springfest will feature oompah bands, frothy German beer and plates full of sausages and schnitzel. German enthusiasts will don lederhosen and dance the polka. Festivities run 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday at Towson Courthouse Square. Admission is $3. "It is like getting a piece of Germany without airfare," said Cecilia League, who is helping to organize the festival.

To historians, firsts and anniversaries hold great significance. And this weekend holds a bit of both. On Saturday, the Baltimore Civil War Museum will commemorate the 144th anniversary of the Pratt Street riots. The first combat fatalities of the Civil War happened during these riots, as Union soldiers marched through Baltimore from one train station to another. The commemoration events are meant "to remind people of the Civil War history of Baltimore," said museum director Paul O'Neil.

When Debra Evans gazed at the grounds around Memorial Stadium in 1999, she didn't see a landscape hospitable to children - or anybody, really. "There was just an empty field with a big stadium," she said. "Grass was growing between cracks in the parking lot." After a long campaign to set aside some of this land for public use, workers will begin construction today on a yet-to-be named playground. But, help is needed to build it. When completed, the playground will include swings, a castle, a volcano, picnic tables, an oversized crab, multiple slides and a pavilion where Evans hopes seniors and children will mix and chat.

Dogs that dream of jumping through hoops, eating garlic meatballs, crossing a finish line to the Rocky theme or even wearing a tutu are in luck. On Sunday, the Maryland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is throwing its 10th March for the Animals, which transforms the parking lot on the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus into a show for dogs. The afternoon event offers pet lovers some exercise for a good cause, games, a costume and pet trick contest, an agility course, shopping and the chance to win prizes, all alongside their canine friends.

Every Easter when the Bay Lady begins its three-hour tour down the Patapsco, the captain and crew sing the Gilligan's Island theme song. Despite the suggestion of foreboding, it is unlikely that the cruise will end with passengers marooned on a deserted desert isle. "It is a quiet, smooth ride," said Larry Forbes, the ship's captain. "We don't want people on board to feel the elements or anything like that." The Easter Brunch Cruise is Sunday and will sail past Fort McHenry and out to the Key Bridge.