Pumpkins, plays and a pageant

This weekend will get a bit spooky with the start of Charlotte's monthlong Shadow Season celebration, opportunities to decorate sugar skulls at a local art gallery and a couple of gothic concerts. There's also a Muslim cultural festival, fall activities at Uncle John's Cider Mill, new theater productions, a Michigan State University football game and more.

For Friday evening’s live music, we have father-daughter duo Anara Pearl and Austin Kaufmann at Harrison Roadhouse at 6; one-man band Mark Collins at Lansing Shuffle at 7; Frog and Koop of blues-rock band Frog & the Beeftones at the Peanut Barrel and MSU's Symphony Orchestra at the Wharton Center’s Cobb Great Hall, both at 8; R&B/pop/funk band Love Effect at the Green Door at 8:30; and country musician Keegan Jacko at Mash Bar at 9. Saturday evening, we have folk musician Ben Traverse at Lansing Brewing Co. at 7; “satanic doo-wop” duo Twin Temple at Grewal Hall at 224 at 7:30; goth-folk duo Charming Disaster at the Robin Theatre and improvisational rock group Pajamas at Mac’s Bar, both at 8; and rock/funk/R&B band Global Village at the Green Door at 8:30. Ending the weekend on Sunday is MSU piano Professor Young Hyun Cho performing four of Beethoven’s piano sonatas at the Music Building’s Cook Recital Hall at 3 p.m.; Red Cedar Spirits’ weekly Sunday Jazz show at 6 p.m.; an acoustic set by “punk ‘n’ roll” band The Plurals at the Avenue at 7 p.m.; Canadian singer-songwriter Ruth Moody at Grewal Hall at 224 at 8; and Mac’s Bar’s weekly Harmony Sundays DJ show at 9 p.m.

Art displays on view this weekend include nature photography by local artist Diane Sanderson at the Haslett Library’s Bookend Gallery, which is open noon to 4 p.m. Friday and noon to 2 p.m. Saturday; an exhibition by local painter Joel Ellis 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; “Complex Dreams,” “Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People,” “Eye Witness” and “Seeing in 360 Degrees: The Zaha Hadid Design Collection” at the MSU Broad Art Museum, which is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday; and “Extinct: An Artistic Study of Animals Loved and Lost” 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.

If you’d like to make some art of your own, Casa De Rosado Galeria and Cultural Center continues its series of drop-in sugar-skull-decorating workshops 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 

Riverwalk Theatre begins its production of “Pickleball” this weekend, though tickets are only available for the show 8 p.m. Saturday. Additionally, “Thirst” continues at Williamston Theatre 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and the MSU Department of Theatre will stage “P/A,” a work of devised theater inspired by the fight for women's suffrage, 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the school’s Studio 60 Theatre.

Events for the kids include a story reading and parkour workshop 10 a.m. Friday at AL!VE health park in Charlotte, a yarn chandelier craft 4 p.m. Friday at the Charlotte Community Library and a campfire science night 6 p.m. Saturday at Grand Ledge’s Lincoln Brick Park, featuring story readings, nature hikes, hands-on science activities and s’mores.

Charlotte will kick off its monthlong Shadow Season celebration 6:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Courthouse Square with the unveiling of a series of gargoyles decorated by local artists, which will be hidden around town for a scavenger hunt beginning Monday. Establishments in the town’s social district will offer special deals during the event.

Cafecito Caliente will host its second annual awards ceremony honoring mid-Michigan’s Hispanic and Latino communities 5 p.m. Saturday at the Cadillac Room in REO Town. The event will offer dinner, live entertainment and a cash bar.

MSU football will take on Ohio State University 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Spartan Stadium.

The Michigan Cinderella Scholarship Pageant will hold a preliminary pageant beginning 2 p.m. Sunday at East Lansing’s Hannah Community Center. The competition is open to girls and women ages 0 through 29, though winners must be able to attend the final pageant in May.

Residents of southwest Lansing can visit Risdale Park 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday for the Southwest Action Group’s SW Fest, featuring live music, inflatables, games, a video game truck, community resources and more.

The annual Salaam Peace Festival, a celebration of Muslim culture and global cuisine, runs 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Islamic Center of East Lansing. For a deeper look at the event, check out Chelsea Lake Roberts’ interview with two organizers.

The Lansing Poetry Club will host readings by local poets Janine Certo and Chad Sanders 4 p.m. Sunday at East Lansing’s University United Methodist Church, with an open mic to follow.

Finally, Uncle John’s Cider Mill will open its pumpkin patch and “Peanuts”-themed corn maze this weekend, and it’s celebrating with a slew of activities 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, including live music, wagon and train rides, kids’ entertainment like a jumping pillow and pedal tractors, a pumpkin scavenger hunt, food trucks and more.

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.)