A packed Pride weekend

The third annual Lansing Pride Festival will take over Old Town on Saturday, but beyond that, there will be a bar crawl, drag shows and more this weekend to celebrate the area’s LGBTQ+ community. There’s also the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival, Grand Ledge’s Yankee Doodle Day, Unity Spiritual Center of Lansing’s Passion of the Creative Mind celebration and much more.

For Friday evening’s live music, we have indie-folk and Americana band the Dangling Participles at Harrison Roadhouse at 6; singer-songwriter Darin Larner Jr. at Mash Bar, rock musician Mark Grinnell at Lansing Shuffle, variety cover duo Shelby & Jake at Lansing Brewing Co. and variety cover band Last One Out at Lake Lansing Park South, all at 7; folk duo the Rusty Snails at the Peanut Barrel and alternative-pop bands Nightlyand JADY with indie-rock band Low Phase at Grewal Hall at 224, both at 8; emo and pop-punk cover band PTxD at the Green Door at 9; and blues, R&B and jazz cover group Mixed Flavors at Mash Bar at 10. Saturday evening, we have variety cover band Geech at the Green Door at 8:30 and experimental music group Atomic Boogaloo at Mash Bar at 9. Ending the weekend on Sunday is a College of Music jazz quartet at Michigan State University’s Beal Botanical Garden at 2 p.m.; Red Cedar Spirits’ weekly Sunday Jazz show and rock/metal bands the Redhearts and Natural Graffiti at UrbanBeat, both at 6; and alt-country musician wormwith pop-punk band Nunya at the Avenue at 7 p.m.

Additionally, East Lansing’s Summer Solstice Jazz Festival runs 5:30 to 10 p.m. Friday and 2:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday on Albert Street between Abbot Road and M.A.C. Avenue. There will be additional performances 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Graduate Rock Bar and 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the East Lansing Farmers Market. For a schedule of performances, visit the website.

Art displays on view this weekend include the Mid-Michigan Art Guild’s spring member show at the Neighborhood Empowerment Center, which is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday; the Mid-Michigan Art Guild’s volunteer art show at the Okemos Library, which is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday; the Mid-Michigan Art Guild’s 12-by-12 show at Framer’s Edge in Okemos, which is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday; a mixed-media exhibition by local artist Juanita Baldwin at the Haslett Library’s Bookend Gallery, which is open noon to 4 p.m. Friday and noon to 2 p.m. Saturday; “Foreign Bodies” and “The LGBTQ+ Artist in Michigan” at the Lansing Art Gallery, which is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; “Seeing in 360 Degrees: The Zaha Hadid Design Collection,” “DOOMSCROLLING” and the 2024 Art, Art History, and Design Faculty Triennial at the MSU Broad Art Museum, which is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday; and “Figuring It All Out: An Artistic Study of the Human Figure” at the Art Williamston gallery, which is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.  

Owosso’s Lebowsky Center for Performing Arts wraps up its two-weekend run of “Next to Normal,” about a mother struggling with bipolar disorder, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Additionally, the Michigan State University Department of Theatre ends its free Summer Circle Theatre series with “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again]” 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday at the Summer Circle Theatre Courtyard.

Kids can visit the Eaton Rapids Area District Library 10 a.m. Friday to make free s’mores. Potter Park Zoo will also offer s’mores at its Twilight Adventures event 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, plus a self-guided scavenger hunt, conservation education stations, games and more.

The East Lansing Public Library will host a teen Pride celebration 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, featuring a photo booth, bingo, snacks and more.

The Lansing Pride celebration will begin with a bar crawl for ages 21 and up 8 p.m. to midnight Friday at Sir Pizza in Old Town, Esquire Bar, UrbanBeat and the Studio at 414. The venues will offer drag performances, DJs and drink specials.

The Lansing Pride Festival runs 1 to 10 p.m. Saturday in Old Town, featuring music and dance performances, drag shows headlined by “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum Loosey LaDuca, vendors, food trucks, a kids’ area and more. For more information on what to expect from the event, check out City Pulse’s preview coverage. 

UrbanBeat will also offer programming during Pride, including drag queen story hours at noon and 3 p.m. and drag shows at 1 and 4 p.m. Its Pride afterglow party for ages 18 and up begins at 9 p.m., featuring more drag shows and music by DJ Lipgloss. Pride weekend with wrap up with a three-course drag brunch noon to 2 p.m. Sunday at UrbanBeat.

Riverwalk Theatre’s Costume Shop will hold a rummage sale 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at the theater, offering costumes and vintage clothing, household goods, toys, games and more.

At Groesbeck Golf Course’s Green & Grains event 5 p.m. Friday, attendees can enjoy nine holes of golf and three beer and food pairings provided by Lansing Brewing Co.

All Saints Episcopal Church will hold its monthly Coffeehouse at All Saints 7:30 p.m. Friday, featuring musical and spoken-word performances by several local artists. Guests are encouraged to bring a snack or drink to share.

Grand Ledge’s annual Yankee Doodle Day runs 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday, featuring kids’ races, a 5K and a parade in the morning; kids’ activities in the afternoon; and a beer tent, live music by Global Village, grill fare provided by the Grand Ledge Masons and a fireworks display in the evening. For a schedule of events and locations, visit the website.

As part of its Weekend of Action, marking the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Indivisible will host an event 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Hooked bookstore in which attendees will write postcards to voters to remind them which candidates on the ballot in November will fight to preserve reproductive freedom.

Author Audrey Farley will visit Charlotte Community Library 11 a.m. Saturday to discuss her Michigan Notable Book, “Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America.”

Nonprofit organization Positive Somebody will host its third annual Family Mental Health Fun Day 11 a.m. to 3 pm. Saturday at Potter Park Zoo, featuring information on a host of local mental health resources and organizations, plus activities like journal and water bottle decorating, painting, a fidget station, a music station and a free book store.

Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer will visit the Downtown Lansing Library at noon Saturday to host a poetry workshop titled, “Ode to Ordinary Things: Taking Time to Celebrate the Mundane,” followed by a poetry reading alongside Lansing Poet Laureate Ruelaine Stokes at 3 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

The Lansing Liederkranz Club will host a German dinner and dance Saturday evening, with dinner served from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and music and dancing to follow.

Capital Pro Wrestling will host a series of matches beginning 3 p.m. Sunday at the Fledge. Tickets are $15 for adults or $5 for attendees 18 and younger.

Finally, Unity Spiritual Center of Lansing’s free Passion of the Creative Mind festival will run 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, 1:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday, featuring a variety of activities and performances in celebration of “our creative minds and the passion that inspires our creativity,” including poetry and short story readings, an open mic, an improv workshop, a theatrical skit showcase, performances by the Capital City Brass Band and Nashville-based singer-songwriter duo StoweGood and more. For a full schedule of events, visit the website.

Whatever you choose to do, I wish you the best of weekends.

(Have an event? Be sure to list it free at lansingcitypulse.com/calendar. Think it’s worth at least a short story? Send a news release to nicole@lansingcitypulse.com for consideration.)