Attack the block

“Art Attack is where people actually participate in the art,” said Paul Holland, event coordinator and board member of the REO Town Commercial Association. “And if they’re not participating, they’re watching the artist move through the creative process.”

Art Attack is an outdoor art festival filled with artists creating amidst the historic streets of Lansing’s REO Town district. The day is supplemented with activities, local food, a beer tent and an eclectic musical lineup.

Special to this year’s festival is the involvement of REACH Studio Art Center, which is hosting kids activities as well as overseeing the Showdown in REO Town contest, a staple of the festival. At the showdown, artists compete in creating a work within six hours, working in the confines of whatever the year’s theme is — think “Iron Chef,” but for creatives. This year’s theme is “REOuse, REOduce, REOcycle,” and artists will use the allotted time to construct a trash receptacle. This year’s exhibition of the impromptu works won’t end with the festival. Winning entries are going to be placed in parks all throughout Lansing.

If the pressure of the competition gets to be too much, you can calm your nerves with a wide variety of local musical acts. Performances by Donny Brown, Squirrel Shaped Fish, Gifts or Creatures will keep the m omentum flowing. The evening’s musical festivities will be capped off with last year’s Art Attack! headliners and local stylistic throwbacks, the Lansing Unionized Vaudeville Spectacle.

Two of Lansing’s food trucks will be on hand to feed the masses as well: Detroit Frankie’s Wood Fired Pizza as well as recent “Food Court Wars” contestant Mark’s Gourmet Hot Dogs, serving its eponymous creations. The Christman Co. Entertainment tent will also be stocked to the brim with plenty of Michigan beers.

And of course, there will be lots of art. Several art vendors will be there offering a variety of works in all the mediums you can imagine.

It’s the end of the summer, we’ve all probably been to a festival or two, but Holland is confident nobody is going to be feeling deja vu.

“The other communities may be where art is exhibited, but REO town is where art is created,” Holland said. “This is the kind of event where we infuse creativity into every aspect.”

REO Town Art Attack!

Noon-9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6 Riverview Church parking lot 1115 S. Washington Ave., Lansing reotownartattack.com

THURSDAY, SEPT. 4 >> MADE IN LANSING: HISTORIAN CONVERSATION

Lansing author Liz Homer and the Historical Society of Greater Lansing’s president, Valerie Marvin, take the stage at the Capital Area District Library to discuss about political and social issues once important to the Turner and Dodge families of Lansing. Homer was once curator of the Turner-Dodge House and the Michigan Women’s Historical Center and Hall of Fame. She is also author of “Pioneers, Reformers, and Millionaires,” a historical account of the Turner family’s influence on Lansing. The conversation is an extension of the Historical Society’s “Made in Lansing” exhibit, a look at over 150 years of manufacturing and innovation in the Lansing area. 7 p.m. Capital Area District Library, 401 S. Capital Ave., Lansing. lansinghistory.blogspot.com.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 4 >> SPARTAN REMIX/CULTURAL TRANSITIONS STUDENTS WELCOME RECEPTION

Michigan State University is an institution that celebrates its diversity, reporting enrollment of about 7,000 international students in fall 2013. That number is expected to grow this year, and that’s not accounting for members of all the other cultural communities that attend MSU. To welcome students from all walks of life, several student organizations hosts Spartan Remix, featuring free food, live music, body painting, street art and several other activities to help students feel at home among their peers. 6-9 p.m. FREE. Auditorium Field, MSU campus, 542 Auditorium Road., East Lansing. fallwelcome.msu.edu.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 5-14 >> ‘THE ADDAMS FAMILY’ AT THE LEBOWSKY CENTER

The Owosso Community Players tap into TV’s first family of weird to lend a disembodied hand and open its 2014-15 season. “The Addams Family,” the community theater version of the national touring musical, stars WLNS’ Evan Pinsonnault as the suave, swashbuckling Gomez Addams. When daughter Wednesday finds love with a respectable young suitor, she confides in her father, Gomez, to keep their romance from the rest of the family, including matriarch Morticia. Things get interesting when Wednesday plans a dinner with her cooky family and her boyfriend’s “normal” one. The show will be in the newly restored historic Lebowsky Center. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday. $20/$18 students and seniors/$10 ages 13 and under. The Lebowsky Center, 122 E. Main St., Owosso. (989) 723-4003, owossoplayers.com. (Continues Sept. 12-14)

SATURDAY, SEPT. 6 >> OPEN HOUSE AT SPARTAN FIT CENTER

Spartan Fit Center celebrates its one-year anniversary with a free open house. You can meet all the instructors, buy discounted merchandise or take a free circuit, strength and tone or Zumba class. There will also be 15-minute demonstrations from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. of turbo kick classes, Spartan strength classes and more. 9 a.m. FREE. Spartan Dance and Fit Center, 3498 Lake Lansing Road, East Lansing. (517) 999-5415, spartanfitcenter.com.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 7 >> ALEX LEVINE QUARTET AT (SCENE) METROSPACE