Between Thursday, Dec. 3, and Sunday, Dec. 6, Towson University's Center for the Arts at 7700 Osler Drive hosts a free history talk about Hampton Mansion's first family, its long-running holiday pottery sale, the last days of a free gallery show, and three end-of-semester concerts. On the Friday of that stretch, Baltimore County lights its Christmas tree in downtown Towson. Almost every one of those events starts after the hours when TU requires visitors to buy a parking permit. The visit that does run into the rules is a weekday afternoon in the gallery.
The four days at a glance
| Day | Event | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Dec. 3 | Talk on the Ridgely household at Hampton Mansion | 6:30 p.m. | Free |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Holiday Art and Pottery Sale opens | 3 to 9 p.m. | Free admission |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | Baltimore County Christmas Tree Lighting, downtown Towson | 6 to 8 p.m. | Free |
| Fri., Dec. 4 | TU Symphony Orchestra | 8 p.m. | $16 regular |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Pottery sale, final day | 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Free admission |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | "Even Our Oddkin" gallery show, final day | 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. | Free |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | TU Choirs Winter Concert | 3 p.m. | |
| Sun., Dec. 6 | Towson University Bands | 3 p.m. | $16 regular |
The Choirs concert is on the university's arts calendar for Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. Check the TU Box Office for the venue and price before you go.
Why the clock matters more than the calendar
Towson University's visitor parking rules require a permit Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. In most campus locations, permits become optional from Friday at 3 p.m. until Monday at 7 a.m. For arts events, TU's event parking page points visitors to Union Garage and Lot 4 and notes that a ParkMobile visitor permit is needed during enforcement hours. According to the Center for the Arts directions page, Union Garage is across the street from the building, you enter it from Cross Campus Drive, and parking there is free on weekends.
Line those hours up against the table above:
- Thursday's 6:30 p.m. talk starts after the 5 p.m. weekday cutoff.
- Friday's pottery sale opens at 3 p.m., the same minute permits become optional for the weekend.
- Saturday and Sunday fall entirely inside the free weekend window at Union Garage.
The visit that needs a permit is a gallery stop before 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, or before 3 p.m. on Friday. The Center for the Arts Gallery stays open until 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, so a weekday evening or any Saturday hour avoids the permit entirely.
Thursday: Hampton's first family, explained by its clothes
The week opens with a free lecture tied to the national semiquincentennial. Here is how Towson University's event listing describes it:
"In honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Professor Susan Picinich, Department of Theatre Arts is preparing a talk about the Ridgelys of Hampton Mansion in Towson."
The talk is titled "Early Baltimore County Elites: Fashion, Taste, and Status in the Household of Captain Charles Ridgely." It draws on portraiture, family records and surviving garments to show how clothing and material taste in the household of Captain Charles Ridgely and Rebecca Dorsey Ridgely signaled elite status and social authority in late eighteenth-century Baltimore County. It takes place in the Art Lecture Hall, it's free, and it's open to the general public.
For anyone who has spent the fall around Hampton National Historic Site, the talk adds the household behind the house you can see from the grounds. It also starts after weekday parking enforcement ends, so a Thursday evening on campus is as easy as a Saturday.
Friday: three events, one evening
Friday, Dec. 4, has the most going on, and it overlaps by design or by luck.
The 54th Annual Holiday Art and Pottery Sale, as TU's arts calendar numbers it, opens at 3 p.m. in the Ceramic Studio, CA 3012. The event listing on Discover Baltimore County describes one-of-a-kind ceramics, prints, paintings, photography, jewelry and glass, all made by TU students and faculty. Admission is free, and proceeds benefit the participating artists and the TU Foundation.
From 6 to 8 p.m., the Baltimore County Christmas Tree Lighting takes place in Olympic Park in downtown Towson. The Towson Chamber of Commerce listing promises live performances, holiday treats, carolers, local entertainment and a visit from Santa Claus.
At 8 p.m., the TU Symphony Orchestra plays its semester-end concert in the Harold J. Kaplan Concert Hall. Regular tickets are $16 through the TU Box Office, and the ticket page notes that discount pricing may be available.
Because the sale stays open until 9 p.m., you can fit all three into one evening if you plan the order:
- Start at the pottery sale when it opens at 3 p.m., while the selection is fullest and campus parking has just gone permit-optional.
- Head downtown for the start of the tree lighting at 6 p.m.
- Return to campus before 8 p.m. for the Symphony, or go back to the sale if you skipped something. It stays open an hour past the concert's start.
Families with young children may want to stop after step two. Anyone who mainly wants the concert can reverse the order and catch the sale's last hour after the program.
Saturday: the gallery's last day
Saturday, Dec. 5, is the cleanest day of the week, and it's the last chance for one of the free events.
"Even Our Oddkin," in the Center for the Arts Gallery, closes that day. TU describes it as a group exhibition of artists interested in the "more-than-human" world of animals, plants, microbes, machines, weather and infrastructure, guest curated by Lynn Tomlinson and Danielle d'Amico of the Department of Electronic Media and Film. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and admission is free. The gallery is closed Nov. 21 through 28, so after Thanksgiving week the show has only one more week, from Dec. 1 to Dec. 5.
That makes Saturday the day the free options stack up. The pottery sale runs its final hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the gallery opens at 11 a.m., the Choirs Winter Concert starts at 3 p.m., and Union Garage costs nothing all day.
On the same floor plan, "Encounter," an exhibition by Myungsook Ryu Kim at the Asian Arts Gallery, is free and stays up through Dec. 12. The gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and closes for part of Thanksgiving week. That later end date makes it a good reason to come back on the following Saturday.
On Sunday, Dec. 6, Towson University Bands close out the stretch at 3 p.m. in Kaplan Concert Hall. Regular tickets are $16. Union Garage is free on weekends.
If December feels far off
Several things happen sooner, and the same parking logic applies.
The US Air Force Singing Sergeants perform at TU on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m., after weekday enforcement has ended. The Asian Arts and Culture Center hosts "Our Thanksgiving Stories," a performance and gathering, on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 6 p.m.
The TU Dance Company presents "Contours in Motion" at Stephens Hall Theatre, with performances Nov. 18 through 21 at 7 p.m. and a Sunday matinee on Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. Regular tickets are listed at $25. The Sunday matinee is the one that falls inside the free weekend parking window.
Off campus, Nov. 19 is also the last Thursday of the 2026 Towson Farmers Market on Allegheny and Washington avenues, open 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. If you'd like dinner downtown before the tree lighting, Towson Torch reported that Lib's Grill opened in June at 210 W. Pennsylvania Ave., across from the courthouse.
Before you go
- Buy concert tickets through the TU Box Office, Center for the Arts Room 3038, 410-704-2787.
- For a weekday daytime gallery visit, set up ParkMobile before you arrive and park in Union Garage or Lot 4.
- Use the Cross Campus Drive entrance for Union Garage.
- Bring a bag for the pottery sale. Everything there is one of a kind, and the best pieces tend to go first.
Holiday weeks like this one bring family to town, and sometimes a gallery afternoon or a Friday concert turns into a conversation about whether the house still fits the people living in it. When that talk comes, The Hofmann Home Group is happy to help you understand where you stand, with no pressure and no rush, starting with a simple look at what your West Towson home is worth today. Get My Home Valuation.