Square dancing, spoken word and St. Paddy’s Day

This weekend’s busy schedule offers events for dancers, art enthusiasts, runners, poets, gardeners, theater buffs, early St. Patrick’s Day celebrators and even stoners. If you don’t belong to any of those categories, there’s also tons of live music, a comedy show, a boozy evening in nature, a travelogue presentation on Italy and much more.

For Friday evening’s live music, we have jazz vocalist Tiffany Gridiron at UrbanBeat at 7; pop/rock cover band Capital Sundogs at Holt’s Summerlands Brewing Co. and bluegrass band Henhouse Prowlers at East Lansing’s University Lutheran Church, both at 7:30; singer-songwriter Gwen Doerfler at the Peanut Barrel at 8; funk band Summer of Sol at the Green Door at 8:30; rock bands Hardigrade, Leisure and Bimbo at Mac’s Bar at 9; and rock/pop/hip-hop cover group Rick Deez Band at Mash Bar at 9:30. On Saturday, we have folk-pop duo The Swift Brothers at the Irish Pub at 4 p.m.; folk bands TopHouse and The Wildwoods at Grewal Hall, horrorcore rap group Simken Heights at Mac’s Bar and party band Smokey Bear at the Irish Pub, all at 8 p.m.; and jukebox-rock/power-pop band The Louderthans at the Avenue at 9 p.m. Ending the weekend on Sunday is a recital by MSU organ instructor Hae Won Jang at the school’s Alumni Memorial Chapel at 3 p.m.; hip-hop artist MC Lyte at Grewal Hall at 6:30 p.m.; and an evening of acoustic punk, Americana and folk music with Jeremy Porter, Deer & Elk and the Wild Honey Collective at the Avenue at 7 p.m.

Maeve Bassett, education program director at MSU’s Beal Botanical Garden, will lead a tour of the MSU Broad Art Museum’s CORE collection 1 p.m. Sunday, part of a series of tours co-hosted by the Broad and Beal seeking to unearth what can art tell us about the relationship between plants and humans. If you can’t make it to the tour but still want to check out all the exhibits on display at the Broad, including “Farmland: Food, Justice and Sovereignty,” “Freedom in the Automation Age,” “Seeing in 360 Degrees: The Zaha Hadid Design Collection,” “Echoes of War” and the 2025 Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, the museum will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Other art displays on view this weekend include work in a variety of media by members of the Mid-Michigan Art Guild at Bestsellers Books & Coffee Co. in Mason, which is open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, and a collective exhibit focusing on patterns found in nature 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.

Theater fans can look forward to a heaping helping of shows this weekend, including “A Case for the Existence of God” 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Williamston Theatre; Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Riverwalk Theatre; the Broadway tour of “Life of Pi” 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at the Wharton Center’s Cobb Great Hall; the interactive comedy “Late Night Catechism” 7 p.m. Saturday at the Wharton Center’s Pasant Theatre; and “The Heart Within,” a series of plays, mime scenes and monologues about love and friendship, 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday at Waverly Middle School.

With St. Patrick’s Day coming up on Monday, Haslett’s McCartney Irish Dance Studio has a busy weekend ahead, performing at East Lansing’s Hannah Community Center 11 a.m. Saturday, Lansing band Time2Play’s annual St. Patrick’s Day rock concert 6:30 p.m. Saturday at UrbanBeat and Woldumar Nature Center’s St. Patrick’s Day folk jam 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, which will also include live Irish, Celtic and Scottish music.

Additional St. Patty’s festivities this weekend include Grand Ledge’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade along Bridge Street, which kicks off 2 p.m. Saturday; performances by the Hubbardston Irish Dance Troupe and the Glen Erin Pipe Band 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Grand Ledge’s Sun Theatre; an Irish stew cookoff 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Grand Ledge’s American Legion Post 48; a bar crawl through downtown Lansing beginning 4 p.m. Saturday at Lansing Brewing Co.; a St. Patrick’s Day party 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Green Door, featuring karaoke, music bingo and a “sexy leprechaun” costume contest; and a St. Patrick’s-themed drag show 8 p.m. Sunday at Mac’s Bar.

The annual Lansing Home & Garden Show runs 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at MSU’s Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education, offering the chance to view several feature gardens, attend seminars at three different stages and shop from hundreds of local vendors.

Those looking for a fried fish dinner Friday evening can visit Grand Ledge’s Wacousta-DeWitt Masonic Lodge from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Lansing’s VFW Post 701 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. or Okemos’ St. Martha Catholic Church from 5 to 7 p.m.

The Allen Neighborhood Center will team up with Sleepwalker Spirits & Ale for a fundraising dinner 6 p.m. Friday, featuring a multi-course tasting menu of dishes prepared by incubator program chefs, which will be paired with beers from Sleepwalker.

At Lansing Parks and Recreation’s penultimate travelogue presentation of the year, beginning 7 p.m. Friday at Foster Community Center, Becky and John Grocki will share photos and stories of their trips to Italy, focusing on Rome, Amalfi, Florence and Sicily.

Grewal Hall will host a K-pop dance party 8 p.m. Friday, featuring music by groups like BTS, BLACKPINK, EXO, TWICE and more.

The Pi Day 5K and 10K fun runs, beginning 9 a.m. Saturday at Hawk Island Park, aim to raise money for Impression 5 Science Center’s scholarship program. All participants receive a T-shirt, medal and free slice of pie after the race.

Mango Cannabis, a new dispensary on Lansing’s south side, will celebrate its grand opening 10 a.m. to noon Saturday with a free event featuring live music, food trucks, vendor pop-ups, exclusive deals and free goodie bags for the first 200 customers.

Van Atta’s Greenhouse will host two workshops on Saturday, offering a chance to plant your own bulb garden at 11 a.m. or create a foliage-focused floral arrangement at 1 p.m.

Ruelaine Stokes, Shelia Burks and Lisa Sarno, members of the Lansing spoken-word group Voices of the Revolution, will visit Charlotte Community Library 1 p.m. Saturday to share poems, songs and historical narratives celebrating the progress women in the U.S. have made toward achieving equality while also examining how we can continue the fight today.

Weavers of the Web will host its monthly game night 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday. Attendees are invited to bring their favorite games or browse the available collection. Unity Spiritual Center of Lansing will also host its monthly euchre and board game meetup noon to 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Ten Pound Fiddle’s biweekly contra and square dance runs 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday at Central United Methodist Church, with an optional contra dance lesson at 6:30 p.m. The caller will be Laurie Pietravalle, and Banjo Tramps will provide the music.

Poets from MSU and the Greater Lansing community will write and perform original works inspired by techno music at a poetry slam hosted by the MSU Museum, beginning 7 p.m. Saturday at 311 Abbot Road in East Lansing. The top three performers of the evening, selected by community judges from the audience, will earn cash prizes. A DJ set by Detroit techno artist Adriel will follow the slam.

Adults 21 and older can bring their favorite alcoholic beverages to Okemos’ Harris Nature Center 7 p.m. Saturday for a Wine in the Woods event, featuring a guided walk led by a naturalist and gourmet s’mores around a campfire.

Dimondale’s Country Creek Reception Hall will host a stand-up show 8 p.m. Saturday, featuring performances by 10 Michigan comedians. The bar will offer drink specials for attendees 21 and older, and food will be available for purchase from PJ’s Catering.

Capital Pro Wrestling will return to the Fledge for a series of matches beginning 3 p.m. Sunday.

Finally, Lansing poets Mary Fox and Laurie Hollinger will share their work at the Lansing Poetry Club’s March Copper Chimney Poetry Lounge event, running 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday at East Lansing’s University United Methodist Church. An open mic will follow the featured readings.

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.)