A vibrant and varied weekend

From comics and E-sports to tacos and tequila, plus fairy tales and eco-friendly art, this weekend’s festivals cover a wide range of interests, offering something for everyone. You can also head to Charlotte for the Eaton County fair, check out a variety of art exhibits, learn how to create linocut prints and more. 

For Friday evening’s live music, we have JP Peters of pop band JP & the Energy at Mash Bar, variety cover band Time2Play at UrbanBeat and Irish night with the Glen Erin Pipe Band and Leprecons at Lake Lansing Park South, all at 7; live-looping musician Mark Collins at the Peanut Barrel and “grungy” band Wolf Bite with alt-rock bands Faceless and Rosary at Mac’s Bar, both at 8; and R&B, jazz and hip-hop cover group the Corzo Effect at Mash Bar at 10. Saturday evening, we have variety cover duo Shelby & Jake at Lansing Brewing Co. at 7; the Tomás Esparza Blues Band at UrbanBeat and singer-songwriter Matthew Shannon at Holt’s new Summerlands Brewing Co., both at 8; variety cover band Geech at the Green Door at 8:30; and rock and Americana group J.H. Patton & the Good Companions at Mash Bar at 9. Ending the weekend on Sunday is Michigan State University vocal duo Grace Gits and Gabe Lockheimer at Beal Botanical Garden at 2 p.m., a Bastille Day concert featuring French opera music at Grace United Methodist Church at 2:30 p.m., Lansing Community College’s final “La Batterie” percussion concert at Dart Auditorium at 3 p.m., Red Cedar Spirits’ weekly Sunday Jazz show at 6 p.m., rock bands Powerman 5000, Sponge, Tantric and CloZure at Grewal Hall at 224 at 6:30 p.m. and an indie-rock show with Mistic Mountian and a duo of members from A Rueful Noise at the Avenue at 7 p.m.

Art displays on view this weekend include “Foreign Bodies” and “Always Different, Always the Same” at the Lansing Art Gallery, which is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday; “Eye Witness,” “Seeing in 360 Degrees: The Zaha Hadid Design Collection,” “DOOMSCROLLING” and the 2024 Art, Art History, and Design Faculty Triennial at the Broad, which is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday; “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; and "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About,” an exhibition of photography and paintings by local artists Doug and Susan Smith, 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.

If you’d like to create some art of your own, the Lansing Art Gallery will host a beginners’ linocut printmakingclass 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The class will be divided into two sessions, with a lunch break from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

If you haven’t had the chance to see it yet, Williamston Theatre continues its run of “Predictor” 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Kids can visit the Playground of Dreams in Eaton Rapids 10 a.m. Friday to make and play with boba slime. 

Capital City Comic Con runs 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Lansing Center, featuring more than 200 vendor booths, panel discussions, tabletop gaming, E-sports, cosplay contests, a kids’ activity area and more. There will also be afterparties at Lansing Shuffle 8 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

The Eaton County Fair wraps up 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to midnight Saturday at the Eaton County Fairgrounds in Charlotte. Grandstand events include a truck and tractor pull 7 p.m. Friday, an antique tractor pull 9:30 a.m. Saturday and a street diesel and semi-truck pull 7 p.m. Saturday. For a complete schedule of events and attractions, visit the website.

ScrapFest, an annual art festival focusing on upcycled and repurposed artwork, returns to Turner Street in Old Town 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, featuring scrap metal sculpture displays, live music, eco-art vendors, educational booths, food trucks, family activities and more. There will also be a Refashion Show 7 p.m. Friday, a kids’ half-mile fun run 8:30 a.m. Saturday and an 8K run/walk 9 a.m. Saturday.

Visit the Turner-Dodge House noon to 6 p.m. Saturday for its rescheduled Fairytale Festival, featuring fairytale characters, arts & crafts, vendors, children’s activities and live performances. Festivities on the lawn are free, and entry into the house is $5 for ages 5 and up.

The second annual Lansing Taco and Tequila Fest runs 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Adado Riverfront Park, offering more than 100 tequilas to sample, plus beer, sangria and margaritas. There will also be food trucks, vendors and live music by the Corzo Effect.

Maeve Bassett, education program director at MSU’s Beal Botanical Garden, will lead a garden tour in collaboration with the Broad Art Museum 1 p.m. Sunday.

Finally, Capital Pro Wrestling will host a series of matches at the Fledge beginning 3 p.m. Sunday.

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.)