1 GALLERY
Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St., Little Rock, opens its new Arkansas Made Gallery (in the space formerly known as Gallery II) on Friday, in conjunction with downtown Little Rock’s 2nd Friday Art Night, 5-8 p.m. Friday. The rotating exhibits will consist of Arkansas-made material the museum has collected over nearly 30 years. In keeping with the gallery theme, the free admission opening reception will include music by Little Rock-based American-roots group Parkstone. A free shuttle is available to take Art Night patrons to different venues. Call (501) 324-9351 or visit HistoricArkansas.org.
2 GLORIFY
Christian performers TobyMac and Building 429 headline the summer’s first “Celebrate the Word” weekend at Magic Springs Water and Theme Park, U.S. 70 East (Grand Avenue), Hot Springs. Building 429 performs at 8 p.m. Friday and Capital Kings open for TobyMac at 7 p.m. Saturday, all in the park’s Timberwood Amphitheater. Performance artist and speaker Eric Samuel Timm will combine a spiritual message with a dynamic art demonstration at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Friday in the park’s Pinecone Theater. Once you’ve paid to get through the park’s front gate — $44.99 Friday, $54.99 on Saturday — admission to the performances is free. Call (501) 624-0100 or visit MagicSprings.com.
3 GRUEL
Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre’s
seventh season concentrates this, its second weekend, on performances of Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver!, based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist — 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday in Reynolds Performance Hall at the University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway, and William Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Sunday performances at The Village at Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Ave., Conway. Little Rock writer and actor Bill Jones, who plays Mr. Brownlow in Oliver! and an authority on the Classics Illustrated comic book series, will give a preshow talk at 7 p.m. Saturday in advance of the Oliver! performance on the reissued Classics Illustrated graphic-novel adaptation of Oliver Twist, for which he wrote the introduction. Admission to Much Ado is pay what you can; Oliver! tickets are $27. Call (866) 810-0012 or visit arkshakes.com.
4 GATLINS
A carnival, parade, games, music, fireworks and tons of tomatoes take over downtown Warren for the annual Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival, today-Saturday, with most of the activities Friday and Saturday. This year’s headliners are Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers. General admission is free. Call (870) 226-5225 or visit bradleypinktomato.com.
5 GRAMMY
Wal-Mart presents Road to Essence Festival, a free event featuring Grammy-award-nominated artists Maxwell, Estelle, Trey Songz and Hezekiah Walker (lineup subject to change), nearly a month before Essence hosts its annual concert in New Orleans. It starts at 6 p.m. Friday in Orchards Park in Bentonville. Guests are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs and blankets. Call (479) 582-2100 or visit nwacouncil.org.
6 GIZMOS
Test your hands-on skills at the Museum of Discovery’s Tinkerfest, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. The museum will provide the tools and know-how to help visitors dissemble a vehicle, build and launch rockets, crochet, build cardboard cities and take part in water-balloon catapult duels. Museum admission is $10, $8 for children. Call (501) 396-7050 or visit museumofdiscovery.org.
7 GRIEG, GURT, ETC.
It’s the closing weekend of the Hot Springs Music Festival, with the final concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Oaklawn Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School, 301 Oaklawn Blvd., Hot Springs. The program will include Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Michael Gurt as soloist, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and the Overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Forza del Destino. Tickets are $20, $5 for students. Call (501) 623-4763 or visit hotmusic.org.
8GIG
St. Louis Irish Arts once again brings its troupe of youth and professional Irish folk dancers and musicians to the Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View, performing in the Music Auditorium at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $12. Call (870) 269-3851 or visit ozarkfolkcenter.com.
9 GILLS
For Father’s Day, treat “the old man” to a day outdoors. The folks at Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, are opening up Swan Lake for a day of catch-and release fishing, picnics, hiking and lawn games for the celebration, noon-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. Call (501) 821-7275 or visit wildwoodpark.org.
10 GASKETS
Head up the mountain for a weekend of cars and all their parts. The annual Petit Jean Antique Auto Show & Swap Meet is already under way and continues, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. through Saturday on the grounds of The Museum of Automobiles, which is on Petit Jean Mountain near the state park. Admission to the show is free. Call (501) 727-5427 or visit motaa.com.
Weekend, Pages 31 on 06/13/2013