( LCD Soundsystem / Courtesy)What do you get when you combine a motorcycle rally, a music festival, a Tinkerfest, comedy shows, the symphony orchestra, two car shows, sports, and more all in one region during the same weekend?
Well, we’re about to find out.
All of these things, and more are happening in and around Fayetteville during this weekend. It’s gonna be nuts.
Let’s start on Thursday, where the book launch we mentioned earlier this week featuring Jill Rohrbach’s new book “100 Things to do in Fayetteville, Arkansas Before You Die” will kick off the weekend at 6:30 p.m. at Pearl’s Books. Also Thursday night, Walton Arts Center’s comedy series kicks off with a performance by Shaun Jones, and Nate Hancock & The Declaration are playing at Kingfish.
There are a couple major festivals happening in Benton County this weekend, and they’ll both be up and running on Thursday. Bikes, Blues & BBQ has moved to Rogers and Eureka Springs, and there will be live music, demo rides, food and other vendors, and more happening in both locales all weekend long. Here’s the music schedule.
Also up north, Format Festival is happening at The Momentary featuring headliners such as LCD Soundsystem, Alanis Morissette, Modest Mouse, Leon Bridges, and more. The full stage schedule is here, and the Saturday show is sold out but you may be able to score some tickets to the other shows. Details are here.
Speaking of music, you’ll find plenty in Fayetteville as well. George’s will kick off their weekend with local super group Divas on Fire for happy hour on Friday early, followed by Jason Boland and the Stragglers on Friday night. On Saturday, they’ll host a four band bill with Cosmic Cream, The Odyssey, Big Sad, and Mr. Orange.
There’s a free show in the lower ramble on Friday night. Local folk favs Smokey and the Mirror will play the city’s Weekend Starts event on Friday night from 5-7 p.m. This sentence was also included in a Facebook post about the event, “Artist Galen Harp will create a massive 300-pound sand painting through juggling.” We’re having a hard time getting our mind around that, but it sounds crazy.
Also in tunes, Walton Arts Center has guitarist and songwriter Monte Montgomery performing as part of their West Street Live Performance Series on Friday Night, and they’ll host SoNA for their new show, Great Romantics, on Saturday. For laughs, in addition to the show Shaun Jones show we mentioned previously happening on Thursday, touring comedy improv troupe Whose Live Anyway will perform on Sunday.
The Razorback Football team is away for the next month or so, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other sports to check out this weekend. The soccer team will host a home game versus Alabama at Razorback Field on Thursday night, and the volleyball team will take on Texas A&M at Barnhill on Sunday.
If you’re into cars, there are a few car-related events happening in town. There’s a car show called TougeCon happening at Fayetteville Town Center on Saturday, and out a Drake Field, there are autocross races called AutoX happening Saturday morning, and the same folks will host a draift event called Drift NWA on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, the annual NWA Hispanic Heritage Festival is taking place at the NWA Mall. The event will include music, a health far, car show, food, children’s activities, and more.
There’s even more below. Have as much fun as you can.
