Now that the weather’s nicer and traffic is just lousy around downtown already, commuting to work by bicycle is looking like a better option these days.

Waterfront Partnership and Bike Maryland are teaming up to host a workshop June 30 on the basics of bicycle commuting. Interested bicyclists will learn on how to get started on biking, staying safe on those dangerous roads, choosing the right equipment, routes and what to do in inclement weather.

All attendees will be entered to win a TREK 700 hybrid bike. The event, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., will be free, but attendees must register.

Check out Waterfront Partnership‘s site for more details and registration.

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Great Grapes! is back again at Oregon Ridge Park this summer. The art, food and wine festival will be at the Cockeysville park Saturday and Sunday. Fun for the entire family can be had with arts and crafts for the kids, culinary samples, live music, cooking demonstrations, wine samples and seminars. More than 200 Maryland wines from 20 wineries will be represented. Tickets are $14 to $35, from noon until 6 p.m.

And what’s sure to be a slightly controversial Honfest this year will still be bringing the beehive ‘dos and cat-eye glasses for a weekend of decadent and colorful fun. The free event will be held both Saturday and Sunday between Falls and Keswick roads.

And if you’re headed out to Ocean City this weekend, be sure to catch the free air show. The U.S Air Force Raptor Demo team will headline the show with demonstrations, stunts and other high-in-the-sky entertainment. The F-18 Super Hornet and A-10 Warthog demos have been added to the lineup this year too.

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With all sorts of online news sources coming to Baltimoreans locally, Baltimore Fishbowl is the newest fish in the sea.

Baltimore Fishbowl is a website that combines a commentary and editorial approach into a publication targeted at Fells Point, Federal Hill, North Baltimore City and Baltimore County residents.

The site covers content areas that affect schools, businesses, culture, residential real estate, family and other general interest ideas to these communities. Baltimore Fishbowl includes both fun and serious content, and will be spiced up with video and photography, as well as aggregated stories from local media outlets.

Baltimore design firm Fastspot created the site, employing bright design and easy navigation to draw in readers. The site is powered by Fastspot’s content mangement system, BigTree. It is the first time Fastspot is using BigTree as a customized platform for blog-based content with advertising.

After just four weeks of going live, the site already gained 20,000 page views, and is seeing returning visitors.

The idea was created by Susan G. Dunn, who also founded PaperDoll magazine. Baltimore writer and former PaperDoll editor Betsy Boyd is the senior editor.

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This weekend, it’s going to be a little hard not to get your Preak on. Or hail Kegasus. Or whatever you really want to call it. Maryland’s Christmas of horse racing is in town this Saturday, and all eyes will be on Animal Kingdom to win the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico Race Course.

If you’d rather just watch the Preakness Stakes festivities from home, there are other events to enjoy too:

As part of the Preakness Celebration, hot air balloons start Thursday at Turf Valley and go until Saturday at 6 p.m. Admission is free, while tethered ballon rides cost a small fee.

And the Children’s Hospital at Johns Hopkins will hold its 80th annual turtle derby Friday. For a small fee, spectators can name a turtle and enter it to win a cash prize. Races begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Preclinical Teaching Building courtyard on the Johns Hopkins medical campus.

And if you’re looking for something more refined than the infield, there’s the annual Wine in the Woods event at Symphony Woods in Columbia. Going on both Saturday and Sunday, wine tasters can enter for $25 to $30, designated drivers can join for $10 to $15, and children older than 3 years get in for $5. (The super underage set gets in for free.)

The Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival is also going on this weekend at Sandy Point State Park Saturday and Sunday. Tickets cost $55 to $120 and all the action starts at 11 a.m. The lineup includes The Lee Boys, John Mayall, Chris Isaak, Dana Fuchs, Little Feat and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

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Baltimore’s taxi drivers were all smiles during lunch hour Wednesday.

Phillips Seafood, of Phillips Foods Inc., along with Visit Baltimore staffers and volunteers parked out by Light Street in front of the Baltimore Visitor Center to dole out free lunch to drivers.

Phillips does this same promotion with several cities across the U.S., and did this last year in Baltimore as well. Last year, the event gave away 475 lunches. From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Phillips staffers had prepared 425 lunches already — with crab sandwiches, chips and water.

And the rain wasn’t deterring cabbies from pulling right into the spot where Phillips mascot Captain Phil was braving the elements and handing out food.

By the time I arrived at the spot around 11:30, the volunteers had already given out nearly 100 lunches, according to Michelle Torres, corporate director of marketing for Phillips.

Eric Masterton-Mott was also on hand, taking a break from being director of group tour sales and hospitality service training and representing Visit Baltimore on the streets. Visit Baltimore got involved to inform cab drivers of some of the big conventions coming into town this summer and to show a little thanks for shuttling around the ever-busy tourist part of Baltimore.

See Mom, there is such a thing as a free lunch, I just should’ve been a taxi driver.

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Coordinating with this Saturday’s royal Baltimore wedding of National Bohemian Beer’s Natty Boh and Utz Snacks’ Miss Salie Utz, is a 30-second animated TV spot made for Smyth Jewelers that tells the story of how the two met. For a sneak peak of the commercial, it’s already posted on the MGH YouTube page.

The MGH created spot might even make you ditch watching “The Notebook” for the 100,000th time this weekend.

Watch the video below:

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Embrace your inner 4-year-old and climb up into the padded seat of a big truck cab. Or a police car.

This Saturday, the Baltimore Museum of Industry has its big truck day event, which should draw in kids from all ages like the Pied Piper.

The event lasts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with lots more outdoor entertainment and half-price admission to the museum itself.

And while you’re around town, catch some lunch or an early dinner on Charles Street during its “Let’s Eat Charles Street” promotion Saturday.  The 300 block of  N. Charles Street will be closed to traffic for an event that features local restaurants, retailers, kids’ activities and live music. Food and drink prices will vary, but admission to the event itself is free. Participating vendors are listed on the event’s website.

And draw on your pencil mustache! John Waters will be visiting Atomic Books on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Baltimore-native film director will be there to sign copies of “Role Models,” available in softcover.

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This Saturday, Natty Boh and Miss Salie Utz are getting hitched. Or chipped. Or whatever chips and beer do together.

You may have seen the billboard on the JFX. Natty Boh, mascot of National Bohemian Beer, proposed to Miss Salie Utz, of Utz Snacks fame, in 2007. Four years later the two are finally getting married.

I asked a spokeswoman for the couple what took them so long, but she said the couple has no comment at this point.

And of course, in classic celebrity style the two will make it a public wedding. The publicity stunt will be held at Power Plant Live! at noon Saturday to kickoff Smyth Jeweler’s new TV ad featuring the pair of Baltimore icons.

The whole shebang is put together by MGH, which created the original pairing of the two icons when it posted the billboard for Smyth four years ago.

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Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom came back to his… err… kingdom, at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton Tuesday.

The horse is expected to jog on the main track at the complex at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Animal Kingdom’s trailer left Barn 22 at Churchill Downs at 5:15 this morning, according to the Maryland Jockey Club.

Trainer Graham Motion said he hasn’t decided whether Animal Kingdom will work before the Preakness. So far, the list of Preakness contenders remains at 20, consisting of seven that ran in the Derby and 13 newcomers.

Baltimore’s 136th Preakness Stakes will be held May 21.

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Today, I’m on the hunt for Woody Harrelson.

“Game Change” is filming at the Tremont Grand, right around the corner from TDR’s offices, and security and set people have told us that Harrelson’s supposed to make an appearance Monday to shoot a scene.

The made-for-TV movie about the 2008 presidential election is filming around the state, and has made its way to downtown Baltimore. Harrelson plays Steve Schmidt, a senior campaign adviser to Sen. John McCain. Also set to star in the movie is Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, and a bunch of other people.

In case you’ve been walking around Charles Street lately and noticed the orange and black “Denali” signs, it’s for Denali Productions Inc., a commercial production company. If you’re curious, president Bob Carmichael’s site is here, showing the array of other work they’ve done.

While a few of us TDR staff walked right through a scene shortly before 11 a.m., none of the actors were him. One set man quipped that  Harrelson hadn’t woken up yet, while a security guard told us that we may not get to see him on account of his entourage.

The day is still early, Mr. Harrelson.

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