GR|MAG’s Top Weekend Picks

If you are sticking around Grand Rapids this weekend we’ve got a handful of fun activities to keep you busy.

Art Bash for Creston
(Thursday)

Stop by Creston Brewery’s new event space and catch artists in action. Art Bash for Creston (formerly known as Art Battle) brings together local artists who create a piece on the spot. Completed works are then auctioned off to the highest bidder, all to benefit the Creston Neighborhood Association.

The night will also include a silent auction of items donated by Creston neighborhood businesses and Taste of Creston with restaurants Creston Brewery, Citizen, Graydon’s Crossing, Main Street BBQ Express, and Frosty Boy participating.

Art Bash takes place on Thursday night from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. Cash bar.

HopCat Beer Me! 5K
(Sunday)

Collect a new t-shirt, beer glass and complimentary beer when you cross the finish line on Sunday. HopCat is partnering with Odd Side Ales for HopCat Beer Me!, a 5K race being held downtown. A “hoppin” after party at HopCat will follow.

This event takes place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., but get there at 2 p.m. to fuel up on crack fries. Runners are able to register in person or online until 20 minutes before the race begins. Individual registration is $42. Find out more at the HopCat Beer Me! event page.

Made in Michigan Pop Up Market
(Saturday)

More than 50 vendors will be selling their wares at the season’s first Made in MI Pop-Up Marketplace at the Downtown Market under the Market Shed. Vendors will offer everything from home décor, jewelry, clothing and art as well as food items and plants.

The Made in MI Pop-Up Marketplace continues on the fourth Saturday of every month through September and will have a rotating selection of vendors each month. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

See “The Flick” from Actors’ Theatre
(Thursday – Saturday)

Performances of Actors’ Theatre’s final production of the season, “The Flick,” continue this weekend.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “The Flick”, is set in a rundown movie palace in Worcester, Massachusetts and follows three underpaid movie ushers who do the humdrum and tedious labor necessary for keeping it running, including toiling to clean spilled soda from the floors. The show is a comedy of the mundane. Their tiny battles and not-so-tiny heartbreaks play out in the empty aisles, becoming more gripping than the lackluster, second-run movies on screen.

Performances take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., at 160 Fountain St. NE. Before you go, check out GR|MAG theater writer Kerri VanderHoff’s review.