Happenings for March 31 to April 6
I hope you’re not suffering from one of the nasty bugs going around the city of late, but instead are experiencing that more pleasant malady known as spring fever. That’s the sort of fever you feed with a walk in a wild garden, followed by treats next to the fire in the visitor’s shelter at Eloise Butler, and strolling from art gallery to open studio on the first Thursday of the month. So what if it’s raining, bring an umbrella, it’ll be picturesque.
Gardening & Nature
It must surely be spring in Minneapolis when the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden opens its gates once again, and hosts its annual open house for both the garden and Martha Crone Visitor’s Shelter, this Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Stroll through the garden in search of the earliest spring wildflowers, enjoy treats indoors by the cozy fire in the visitor’s center, and pick up a schedule to find out which wildflowers to look for when, and learn about guided hikes and tours that take place every week. If it’s too rainy to walk through the garden, the visitor’s shelter is still cozy and inviting, and the wide front porch provides a dry place to watch all the birds that come to visit the feeders. The garden is located one-half mile north of I-394 on Theodore Wirth Parkway, two blocks south of Glenwood Ave. MTC bus 9 stops at Glenwood and Wirth Parkway. 612/370-4903
The Minneapolis Blooms program of the Committee on Urban Environment (CUE) continues its series of workshops on how to create rain gardens using native perennial plants, with grants from the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District available to pay for native perennials. Free. Various dates through June at several Minneapolis parks. 612/673-3014. www.minneapolisblooms.org/workshops.htm
Art Exhibitions & Openings
This weekend, Frank Stone Gallery showcases new and recovered works by 40 artists from the Mississippi Gulf coast who are rebuilding their lives and careers after Hurricane Katrina, brought here by MinnesotaHelpers.org. Opening reception Friday, March 31, 5-9 p.m., with artist Lori Gordon; also open Saturday-Sunday, 12-5 p.m. The show moves to the Northrup King Building later in the month.1224 NE Second St., Minneapolis, 612/617-9965. www.frankstonegallery.com
It’s First Thursday in the Arts District April 6, the monthly open studio evening when artists open their studio doors and galleries offer treats, demonstrations, and conviviality. Visit the Northrup King Building, 1500 Jackson St. NE, where more than 130 artists keep shop amid a bevy of friendly arts-oriented businesses, or check out the stretch of 13th Ave. NE that spans a couple of blocks either side of University, where so many galleries are clustered they have their own gallery guide, which you can pick up while you’re there. Now that the evenings are getting downright balmy, the stroll from businesss to business should be as inviting as what’s inside. www.northrupkingbuilding.com; additional locations and events on the NEMAA Web site, http://nemaa.org/taxonomy/term/51.
Highpoint Center for Printmaking features Contemporary Scottish Prints in a new show opening Friday and running through April 28. Meet the artists Friday during an opening reception Friday night, 6:30-9 p.m. 2638 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis. 612/871-1326. www.highpointprintmaking.org
Coming up at Interact's Inside Out Gallery, Uncommon Senses is a multi-media, multi-sensory visual arts exhibition, created entirely by artists with disabilities. This interactive show drops visitors into the institutionalized mental patient's room, and helps them glimpse the huge effort of walking with muscular degeneration, the panic-ridden social persona of the agoraphobic, and the surreal perceptions of the autistic. Opening reception Friday, March 31, 6-9 p.m. Showing through May 31. Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, 212 N. Third Ave., Suite 140, Minneapolis. 612/339-5145 ext. 13. www.interactcenter.com
Community Events
Mill City Museum hosts a First Thursday event of its own, this month celebrating baseball in Minnesota; Stew Thornley, author of Baseball in Minnesota: The Definitive History, from the Minn. Historical Society Press, will give an illustrated presentation about the national pasttime and sign copies of his book, which are for sale in the museum store. Thursday, April 6, 7 p.m. $8 adults, $6 seniors and college students, $4 ages 6-17, free for ages 5 and under and members. 704 S. Second St., Minneapolis. 612/341-7555. www.millcitymuseum.org
Open Libraries are for Everyone, says The Friends of the Library, who will be hosting a series of discussion forums on the challenges facing the branch libraries. The forums are free, open, and include refreshments; they take place at various branch libraries around the city:
• Weds., April 5, 6:30-8 p.m., at Northeast Library, 2200 Central Ave. NE
• Thu., April 20, 6:30-8 p.m., Linden Hills Library, 2900 W. 43rd St.
• Tue., April 25, 6:30-8 p.m., Nokomis Library, 5100 S. 34th Ave.
Film
Tying the Knot--The Union That’s Dividing America, hosted at Amazon Bookstore by Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC) on Friday, March 31, 7 p.m. This 83-minute film poignantly explores one of today’s hottest issues: the political war between gay people who want to marry and those determined to stop them. If you lost the one you love, how would it feel to have your love placed on trial? After a bank robber’s bullet ends the life of cop Lois Marrero, her wife of 13 years, Mickie, discovers a police department willing to accept the women’s relationship but unwilling to release Lois’s pension. When Oklahoma rancher Sam loses his husband of 25 years, cousins of the deceased spouse challenge his will and move to evict Sam from his home. As Mickie and Sam take up battle stations to defend their lives, Tying the Knot digs deep into the past and present to uncover the meaning of marriage today, focusing on such key issues as rights, privilege and love. 4755 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis. 612/821-9630. www.amazonbookstorecoop.com
Music
Coming up next week, but you may want to get tickets now, the U of M School of Music presents La Boheme, by Giacomo Puccini on April 6, 7, 8, at 7:30 p.m., and April 9, at 1:30 p.m. Director David Walsh will host pre-opera lobby discussions 45 minutes before each performance. $17 general admission, $9 for U of M students with ID. Ted Mann Concert Hall, 2128 Fourth St. S., Minneapolis. 612/624-2345. www.music.umn.edu/events
Talks and Readings
Alas, your Observer events maven tires as the midnight hour approaches, so she’s going to cop out and offer you this link to the Write-On Radio Web site, where they provide a comprehensive calendar of literary events. It’s also a great radio show, Thursdays, 11-noon, KFAI Radio, 90.3 FM. www.kfai.org/programs/write_on/write_on_radio.htm
