HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS:
Upcoming holiday events for the harbor area continue in the next few days with the city's seventh annual Lighted Boat Parade and a stop by the Mayor's "Holly Trolley," plus continuing activities at Harborplace and in Fells Point. Specifics:
* The seventh annual Parade of Lighted Boats will have approximately 50 sail and power craft decorated for the holidays running twice around the Inner Harbor and Fells Point beginning at 6 p.m. tomorrow. Watch from your favorite water's-edge vantage point. For a different perspective, try the Top of the World Observation Deck in the World Trade Center from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission: $3 for adults, and $2 for children and senior citizens. Children 4 and under free.
* The mayor's Holly Trolley, bedecked for the holidays, will visit the Inner Harbor Ice Rink, Rash Field at Key Highway at 7:40 p.m. Wednesday. What you get is Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and some Baltimore students with perfect attendance records greeting the public, lighting a tree, caroling, and sharing refreshments. The ice-rink stop will be the last on an evening of trolley visits to city neighborhoods.
THINGS A BUCK WILL BUY:
Seeing sharks, for one thing, but only from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow, when the National Aquarium conducts its annual Dollar Day. Which means admission will be $1, and you get to see the "official reopening" of the renovated open-ocean exhibit (shark tank), the Marine Mammal pavilion, and the ImaginOcean exhibit. On Sunday, the sharks still will be in their refurbished tanks, but admission returns to normal. Information: 727-FISH.
* And then . . . for $1 you can skate for two hours at lunchtime at the Inner Harbor Ice Rink on Rash Field. Downtown workers are reminded that this cheap skating is now an option. The price applies from noon to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Skate rentals extra.
The Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Highway, will display the National YWCA's pictorial exhibit, "Women First For 135 Years," beginning tomorrow and continuing through January. The seven-part exhibit will cover housing, health, the workplace, diversity, the world, leadership and the YWCA as an organization. Information: 727-4808, Ext. 105.
WELCOME HOME:
Grab your camera and head for the Inner Harbor at lunchtime today. The Pride of Baltimore II is scheduled to arrive home at 12:30 p.m., with cannon salutes, fireboat water displays, and flags flying. The vessel will dock at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater. An open house will be held on the Pride from noon to 4 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday. Free.
During its eight-month tour of the West Coast, Pride II has made 62 port visits in 17 states and eight nations, accommodating more than 120,000 visitors. The ship also was host for 150 receptions, representing Maryland businesses and agencies.
PLAN AHEAD:
If you're one of those folks who can't resist a crafts show at, say, Timonium or Gaithersburg, here's a new show and venue -- the first National Crafts' Christmas Fair, with more than 200 craftsmen and artists, runs at the Baltimore Convention Center next weekend, Dec. 9 to 11, just in time for holiday shopping. Organizers predict the show will attract nearly 10,000 people. Details in next week's column.