By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
It's a crazy-busy weekend! From the new Create! downtown festival to BeerFest to cutting horses to comics — and don't forget "The Full Monty"! — this weekend has it all.
Create! Downtown Arts Festival
Create! is the new brainchild of Center City of Amarillo, replacing the traditional Center City Block Party. It's scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday in the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Buchanan St., and the Amarillo Public Library downtown branch, 413 S.E. Fourth Ave., as well as on the grounds around both buildings and the stretch of Fourth Avenue between them.
Admission for the family festival is free.
The festival kicks off with a VIP preview party from 6:30 to 11 p.m. Friday in the Globe-News Center. Admission is $75. Nationally touring Amarillo band Strangetowne will perform (check out my radio interview with them). Katie Eddins will provide karaoke, allowing visitors to sing from the center's stage, and visitors can paint in the Education Room with Burn Studios. Food and beverages will be provided. Artists Marsha Clements, David Corbin, Luz Angela Crawford, Ann Crouch, Ralph Duke, Kent Harris, Melynn Huntley, Kyle Singleton, Mary Solomon and Gary Ward will display their works in an art show and sale.
Tickets are available at the Center City office, 1000 S. Polk St.
On Saturday, an outdoor concert stage will feature Andy Chase, The DustJackets, Mike Fuller and Noah Jenda.
Inside the Globe-News Center, Center City will provide free screenings of Finding Nemo, The Goonies and Jaws, as well as original short films from the Amarillo 48-Hour Film Project. Eddins will run karaoke, and artists will display their works.
Panhandle PBS will screen about 20 short films on a 40-minute loop inside the library. Elsewhere, the festival will feature food booths, arts and crafts, and children's activities. Participating groups include the Amarillo Art Institute, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Extreme Martial Arts, the Amarillo College Youth Conservatory Theater, Home Depot, Civic Amarillo, High Plains Public Radio, Amarillo Parks and Recreation Department, CareNet, Family Support Services and Parties, Picnics and Promotions.
The festival puts a spotlight on visual and performing arts as Center City is spearheading a drive to have portions of Amarillo designated as acultural district with the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Call 806-372-6744.
Texas Panhandle Craft BeerFest
Samples of dozens of craft beers from several distributors will be available Saturday at the annual Texas Panhandle Craft BeerFest.
The party runs from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Amarillo Civic Center Complex North Exhibit Hall, 401 S. Buchanan St. Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 day of; VIP tickets are $100, including a catered meal, VIP-only beers, souviners and more..
More than 125 craft beers — from Abita to Uinta — will be served in a souvenir glass. Other vendors, including restaurants, also will be on hand.
Lubbock band The Local Nobodys will perform.
A portion of proceeds will benefit Hands On Amarillo, an online service that connects volunteers with agencies in need.
For information, call 806-355-9777.
The Full Monty
Amarillo Little Theatre will open its 90th season with The Full Monty, a musical adaptation of the popular 1997 British comedy.
In the show, a group of unemployed steel workers try to get back on their feet by staging a one-night-only strip show. Stars include Brandon Bellar as Jerry, Austin Harleson as Dave, Steve Parker as Malcolm, Paul Carter as Harold, Chad Promise as Horse and Ryan Sustaita as Ethan.
The show will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Aug. 25, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Aug. 26 and 27, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and Aug. 28, with a special "ladies night" performance at 11 p.m. Aug. 26, all in the ALT Adventure Space, 2751 Civic Circle.
Tickets — now available online — are $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and students and $18 for children Fridays and Saturdays, and $22 for adults, $19 for seniors and students and $16 for children Thursdays and Sundays. Performances tonight through Saturday are sold out, and limited seats are available Sunday.
Call 806-355-9991 for phone sales or information.
Texas
The outdoor musical Texas will close its 51st season with performances tonight through Saturday.
Performances will be staged at 8:30 p.m. through Saturday in the Pioneer Amphitheater in Palo Duro Canyon State Park; dinner from Feldman's Wrongway Diner will be served between 6 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $16.95 to $30.95 for adults and $12.95 to $26.95 for children. Meals are an additional $16 for adults and $9 for children.
Call 806-655-2181 or visit www.texas-show.com.
World Series of Cutting
Some of the top cutting horses in the country, regardless of age, will compete through Saturday in Amarillo.
The Mercuria National Cutting Horse Association World Series of Cutting finals begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Amarillo National Center on the Tri-State Fairgrounds, 3301 S.E. 10th Ave. Qualifying rounds will be held today and Friday. Admission is free, but tickets are available at Cavender's, CoolHorse, Quarter Horse Outfitters and West Texas Western Store.
The sport is based on traditional ranch work in which cowboys would "cut," or separate, a cow from the herd for branding and other work.
"It became a contest event in 1946," explained cutter Chubby Turner. "It's not the same as being out in the big, wide, open spaces, but we try to make it feel like it."
The finals were scheduled to be in Las Vegas but were relocated to Amarillo. They are being held during the previously scheduled West Texas Futurity.
Call 806-376-7767.
Side by Side: Larry Bell and Gabriel Dawe reception
Artists Larry Bell and Gabriel Dawe will speak about their unusual manner of sculpting during a reception at 7 p.m. Friday at Amarillo Museum of Art.
The artists are featured in a Side by Side exhibition on view through Oct. 16 at the museum, 2200 S. Van Buren St.
Bell sculpts with light, coating glass and other materials with thin metallic films, then letting them reflect the ambient light in a room. The sculpture, then, is more than just the Mylar ribbons hanging in the air — it's the play of the light on the wall and anything else in the gallery.
Dawe, meanwhile, came to Amarillo for more than a week to install his Plexus No. 33, a floor-to-ceiling work in AMoA's 30-foot-plus-high central atrium space. He and assistants stretched about 35 miles of individual, colored thread strands, "overlapping, intertwining, and providing a unique sensory experience and visual perception of light, space, form, and architecture," according to the museum.
Summer Camp
Equality Texas will hold a grown-up Summer Camp party Saturday.
The party runs from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at 2407 S. Bowie St. Tickets are $35 and available at www.equalitytexas.org.
Festivities include outdoor games, swimming and cocktails.
Equality Texas is the largest advocacy organization in Texas working to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Texans.
Standup comedians
Comedy fans have two chances to see standup shows this weekend.
Julio Gonzalez will perform at Friday at Bodegas, 711 S. Polk St. Opening act is Flo Hernandez, and doors open at 7:30 p.m.
The club didn't post a cover charge in their Facebook promotions for the show and didn't respond to a message — bring some cash, just in case.
And Sunday, Nashville comics Mary Jay Berger and Chad Riden will perform together for the Comedy Night with Shea White series at 8 p.m. Sunday at No Dogs Allowed, 700 S.W. 10th Ave. Cover is $7 or $10 per couple. Here's my interview with Berger and Riden.
Other activities and events
Amarillo Community Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday around the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce, 1000 S. Polk St. ... Amarillo filmmakers who took part in this weekend's 48 Hour Film Project will screen their works at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Patterson Auditorium at Happy State Bank, 701 S. Taylor St. Tickets ar $7. ... Outdoor activities include regular hours at Amarillo Zoo, Wonderland Park and Sports World, as well as at parks across town.
Chip Chandler is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. He can be contacted at Chip.Chandler@actx.edu, at @chipchandler1 on Twitter and at www.facebook.com/chipchandlerwriter on Facebook.
