A lengthy list of weekend events

This weekend is loaded with activities, running the gamut from a tattoo convention, a daylong drone workshop and a Taylor Swift tribute extravaganza to the premiere of three new plays, Lugnuts games, a 5K and the Library of Michigan’s annual Night for Notables celebration, plus much, much more.

For Friday evening’s live music, we have folk musicians Cheryl Wheeler and Kenny White at East Lansing’s University Lutheran Church and variety cover band Last One Out at Holt’s Summerlands Brewing Co., both at 7:30; singer-songwriter Ben Awrey at the Peanut Barrel at 8; ‘80s cover band Miranda & the M80s at the Green Door at 8:30; and pop/funk/R&B band Love Effect at Mash Bar at 9:30. Saturday afternoon, Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience will perform at the Wharton Center at both 1:30 and 4. In the evening, we have newgrass band Debutants with jazzy indie-folk band The Dangling Participles at UrbanBeat at 7; rock cover group Black Barn Band at the Irish Pub and the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra and choirs’ “Songs of Love and Destiny” concert at the Wharton Center, both at 8; and emo/pop-punk cover band PTxD at the Green Door at 8:30. Ending the weekend on Sunday is Kanin Wren’s Taylor Swift Experience at Grewal Hall at 2 p.m., the MSU Symphony Band and Spartan Youth Wind Symphony at the Wharton Center at 3 p.m., ‘70s rock/blues cover group Sandra Faye Band at UrbanBeat at 6 p.m. and country group Matthew James Adkins Band at the Avenue at 7:30 p.m.

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; mixed-media artist Steph Joy Hogan’s “Scrapscapes” exhibit at the Nelson Gallery in downtown Lansing, which is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday; oil, acrylic and mixed-media works by local artist Maureen Ryan at the Haslett Library’s Bookend Gallery, which is open noon to 4 p.m. Friday and noon to 2 p.m. Saturday; “Vanitas: Archive of Arrested Decay,” “Farmland: Food, Justice and Sovereignty,” “Seeing in 360 Degrees: The Zaha Hadid Design Collection,” “Echoes of War” and the 2025 Master of Fine Arts Exhibition at the MSU Broad Art Museum, which is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; a collective exhibit focusing on patterns found in nature at the Okemos Library, which is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; and the public art installation “Where the Light Gets In,” which is on view daily from dusk to dawn at the northeast corner of Trowbridge and Harrison roads on the MSU campus.

If you’d like to make some art of your own, Paint Your Poison will offer an opportunity to paint a large, pre-traced butterfly design on a tote bag with step-by-step instruction 2 p.m. Sunday at Mahabir Wellness in Haslett. The owner of the venue, Gita Mahabir, a licensed professional counselor and esthetician, will teach attendees about mindful mental health practices and the natural skincare services she offers. Guests will receive a $50 credit to use toward skincare services at Mahabir Wellness. 

Williamston Theatre will offer preview performances of “Baba,” a father-daughter tale starring actress Sarab Kamoo in both roles, 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Additionally, two other shows debut this weekend: All-of-Us Express Children’s Theatre’s “Holes,” with performances 7 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at East Lansing’s Hannah Community Center, and Peppermint Creek Theatre Co.’s “On the Exhale,” with performances 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Stage One at Sycamore Creek Eastwood.

If that’s not enough theater, a new improv troupe, Bare Bones Improv, will perform 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Riverwalk Theatre. Audience members will be tasked with suggesting topics for the improvisers to act out. 

For those who would prefer to be on the stage, Lansing Community College will hold auditions for its summer production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at its Black Box Theatre. Those auditioning should prepare a short monologue from one of Shakespeare’s plays.

Events for the kids include Charlotte Community Library’s monthly Craft Club 4 p.m. Friday, in which fourth- through 12th-graders can create animal portraits out of egg cartons, and a salamander survey 6 p.m. Saturday at Lincoln Brick Park in Grand Ledge, in which attendees will embark on a guided walk to search for salamanders and other amphibians while learning more about them from local naturalists.

The Lugnuts are back in town this weekend to take on the Fort Wayne TinCaps, with games 6:05 p.m. Friday and 1:05 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Jackson Field.

The Lansing Tattoo Convention, running 2 to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Lansing Center, will offer more than just an opportunity to get a new tattoo or piercing but also tattoo and piercing contests, a pin-up contest, a beauty pageant, a showdown between tattoo apprentices, a beard and mustache competition, seminars on different tattoo styles, live music and more.

The MSU Science Festival wraps up with a Science in the Gardens event noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the school’s Horticulture Gardens, featuring hands-on activities and demonstrations for all ages exploring elements of the natural world, from butterflies to flood prevention.

Delta Township will host a jigsaw puzzle competition 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Delta Enrichment Center, in which teams of up to five people will work together to complete as much of a 500-piece puzzle as they can within 75 minutes. The two teams with the most complete puzzle will receive gift certificates.

The biweekly TGIF dance party begins 8 p.m. Friday at Bath’s Hawk Hollow Banquet Center, with an optional “cowboi boogie” line dance lesson at 7:15 p.m. A complimentary dinner buffet and cash bar will be available to attendees.

On Saturday, Lansing-area residents can safely dispose of hard-to-recycle items such as appliances, bicycles, paint and scrap metal from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot between Okemos’ Marketplace on the Green and High Caliber Karting or 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Ingham County Health Department.

Catholic Charities of Ingham, Eaton and Clinton Counties’ annual Run for Giving 5K kicks off 9 a.m. Saturday at Potter Park Zoo. Participants are invited to run, walk or roll along the Lansing River Trail to raise funds for Catholic Charities’ basic needs programming, including its community kitchen, food pantry, personal needs pantry and clothing closet.

Lansing Community College’s Drone Day, running 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the school’s West Campus, invites drone enthusiasts of all ages to expand their knowledge and skills with hands-on safety and piloting activities led by industry experts and LCC drone program staff, followed by an afternoon of flying. 

Village Crafters will hold a craft supply sale 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Mason’s Masonic lodge, offering new and gently used supplies as well as lunch for purchase. The group will also collect items for the Ingham County Animal Shelter.

Lansing’s Light House Chapel invites those looking to relax, rebalance, align and activate their energy fields to its sound bath workshop 2 p.m. Saturday.

Local advocacy group Lansing for Palestine will host a screening of the film “Lyd,” about a once-Palestinian city that’s now part of Israel, 2 p.m. Saturday at the Allen Neighborhood Center. There will also be vendors selling food, art, T-shirts and more. Proceeds will be donated to Dahnoun Mutual Aid and the Gaza Infant Nutrition Alliance.

The Lansing Liederkranz Club will host a German dinner 5 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, with live music by the Meridian Polka Band and dancing to follow.

Perhaps due to popularity of past events, the Dark Art of Michigan will offer two open-stage drag and burlesque shows Saturday evening at the Avenue. Sign-ups begin at 8 p.m., and shows begin at 9 and 11 p.m.

Visit Okemos’ Harris Nature Center 1 p.m. Sunday for a guided walk along the trails to view all the spring wildflowers in bloom, such as spring beauty, bloodroot, trillium and jack-in-the-pulpit.

Finally, Joyce Benvenuto and Jan Shoemaker will be the featured performers at the Lansing Poetry Club’s April Copper Chimney Lounge Poetry Series event, beginning 4 p.m. Sunday at East Lansing’s University United Methodist Church. Their readings will be followed by a break for pie and coffee and an open mic in which attendees are invited to share a poem.

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.)