FRIDAY, MAY 16
Tickets go on sale for Dinner on the Farm, Prairie Fruits Farm, noon, $125 per ticket
Tickets for five dinner on the farm events go on sale today at noon. Tickets are $125 per person; it’s a hefty price, but the food will be delicious. The dinner themes and descriptions can be found here; buy your tickets here — there are only 40 seats per dinner and they sell out quickly! (JH)
Roots Walk, Crystal Lake Park, 206 W Park St, Urbana, 6-7:30 p.m., free
Listen to live, local roots, folk and Americana music while strolling past the mature trees of our oldest park. This sunset event brought to you by The Urbana Park District and the C-U Folk and Roots Festival will have a selection of soloists and small combos scattered along the candlelit walks of Crystal Lake Park. Parking is available at the Crystal Lake Park Family Aquatic Center; the musicians will be centered around the North Woods Pavilion.
Scheduled to appear:
The Flower Jax
Justin Rondón
Sam Payne and Friends
Don’t Ask klezmer band
John Elder, blues guitar
Irish music from Monster Buttermilk
Traditional folk tales from storyteller Linda Dust (RP)
Logan Mize + Rod Tuffcurls and The Bench Presses, 9 p.m., Fat City Bar & Grill, 505 S. Chestnut, Champaign, $7 cover
Fat City is a fun place to catch live music, especially blues and country. The opener is a cover band, and at 10 you’ll hear new, gritty country from Logan Mize. (RP)
SATURDAY, MAY 17
22nd annual Kids’ Building Fair, Orpheum Children’s Science Museum parking lot, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., free
This Saturday, the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum will host their 22nd (!) annual installment of their Kids’ Building Fair. If you didn’t do so already, check out Cassidy’s piece on the event from earlier this week, which will provide an idea of what to expect at the event. Kids and parents of Champaign-Urbana — this one is for you. The heart of Downtown Champaign, and kids get to build stuff? Sounds awesome, and I’m an adult. (PS)
Greg Chew memorial and tribute, Urbana High School auditorium, 2:00-5:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 24th
Editor’s Note: The information in this post was changed due to the date being next weekend, not this weekend. We’ll keep the post here anyway — apologies for the misinformation.
Greg Chew, beloved educator, passed away Wednesday after his struggle with lung cancer. Chew has made an invaluable contribution to the Champaign-Urbana community. He was an educator for 35 years, teaching English, Drama, and Speech. He was also the faculty head of the Urbana High School yearbook. He served on the Public Arts Commission for the City of Urbana.
A tribute will be held Saturday, May 24th in the Urbana High School auditorium at 1002 S. Race Street in Urbana at 2-3:30 pm, with a visitation following between 3:30-5:30 p.m. The entire community is encouraged to attend. “All are welcome — you know he would want it that way!”
In lieu of flowers, family and friends are creating the Greg Chew Theatre Scholarship Fund. If so desired, contributions can be made out to Urbana School District #116/Greg Chew Theatre Scholarship, 205 North Race, Urbana IL 61801 (KP)
Coyote Explores the Earth, Sun, & Moon, Staerkel Planetarium, 7 p.m.
Saturdays through May 31st, explore the relationships between the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun with the help of Coyote, an amusing character adapted from Native American oral tradition who has many misconceptions about our neighbors in space. His confusion makes us think about how the Earth, Moon, and Sun work as a system as we distinguish between myth and science. Examine how the Sun rises and sets, how the Sun shines, about craters on the Moon, and lunar phases and eclipses. Lastly, look at past exploration of the Moon. Adults $5; students, seniors, and kids $4, at the door. (MG)
Pelican, Nothing, The Highdive, 7:15 p.m., $15
As I mentioned in this week’s installment of the Overture, this is a must-see this weekend in C-U. It’s not often a couple of outfits that pack this much punch make their way through C-U — let alone on the same bill. Sure, we have bands that come through that are LOUD, but seriously — bring earplugs to this one. Crunchy instrumental/post/prog-rock of Chicago native Pelican, mixed with Nothing’s shoegaze/post-rock riffs might destroy you. Go listen to Pelican’s Forever Becoming here in-full. Go ahead and listen to Nothing’s Guilty of Everything here in-full if you haven’t done so already. You will get the picture very, very quickly. The Pygmalion Festival Summer Show Series keeps rolling, and this might be the best one we’ve seen thus far this year. (PS)
Finer Feelings, Rebecca Rego & The Trainmen, Jared Bartman, Cowboy Monkey, 10 p.m., $5
Locals Finer Feelings have their brand spankin’ new record ready to go for you — and they’re presenting it on Saturday night at Cowboy Monkey. They’re calling it Gemütlichkeit — and you can preview the record by checking out one track on their Bandcamp page. Regardless of the Pelican/Nothing show happening at the Highdive, that show will be long over by the time this one begins. Hop on over to Cowboy — because let’s be real, you’ll still be out. It’s Saturday, and you love live music. And beer. And whatever else you like on a Saturday night in Downtown Champaign. Sounds good to me. (PS)
SUNDAY, MAY 18
Ernest & Celestine, The Art Theater Co-op, 11:30 a.m.
From an Art Theater Co-op press release: “Deep below snowy, cobblestone streets, tucked away in networks of winding subterranean tunnels, lives a civilization of hardworking mice, terrified of the bears who live above ground. Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer — and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for ursine troubadour Ernest, the two form an unlikely bond. But it isn’t long before their friendship is put on trial by their respective bear-fearing and mice-eating communities. Fresh from standing ovations at Cannes and Toronto Ernest & Celestine joyfully leaps across genres and influences to capture the kinetic, limitless possibilities of animated storytelling. Like a gorgeous watercolor painting brought to life, a constantly shifting pastel color palette bursts and drips across the screen, while wonderful storytelling and brilliant comic timing draw up influences as varied as Buster Keaton, Bugs Bunny and the outlaw romanticism of Bonnie and Clyde.” (MG)
Wild Cherry ice cream, Sidney Dairy Barn, 311 W Main Street, Sidney, noon-9 p.m.
It’s time for ice cream. If you’re looking to celebrate a graduation this weekend, or looking to escape graduation traffic and restaurant madness, take a quick ride to Sidney and treat yourself to a cone. Or Barn Buster. Or Tornado. Or whatever other natural disaster your heart desires. Enjoy. (JH)
Graduations and Insane Traffic, all over town, all day
It’s graduation weekend. If you want a brunch that’s worth the wait, hit up Milo’s or Escobar’s. Enjoy cinnamon rolls at Cafe Zojo or coffee at Flying Machine. Have lunch at Crane Alley (try the basil coconut chicken). If you’re going to leave your house and deal with all those out-of-towners, make sure you’re getting something good. And remember: This town is about to feel a lot smaller. Or bigger, depending on how you look at it. (KP)
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All event information is accurate to the best of our abilities, but sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes event information, times, prices, etc., change after we look them up. Whenever possible, we’ve provided a link to the original event page; you should always double-check the source before you make any firm plans. Thanks for your understanding.