By Chip Chandler — Digital Content Producer
Your weekend activity options run the gamut from mad scientists and marching bands to shooting cowboys and spooky houses. Read on for more details on all the fun.
Fundraisers
- Amberley Snyder, a former rodeo athlete who was paralyzed in a car accident but still rides horses, will speak at the Dove Creek Ranch and Equine Sanctuary Barbecue and Barn Dance at 6 p.m Saturday at the ranch, 16201 Gordon Cummings Road. The event will feature the Texas Blues Rangers and Blues Boy Willie. Tickets are $50 or $500 for a table of eight. Call 877-322-5622.
- Get your science-geek chic on at the annual Mad Scientist Ball, set for 7 p.m. to midnight Saturday at Don Harrington Discovery Center, 1200 Streit Drive. The Space Rockers will perform, and attendees wil enjoy spy-themed cuisine and drinks, science activities and experiments, and more. (Here's my preview.) Tickets are $125. Call 806-355-9547.
- DJs from KGNC (FM and AM) and 100.9 The Eagle will host a "St. Jude's Fun Raiser" from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Sam Houston Park, Line Avenue and Western Street. Activities include criss-cross racing, hula hoops, football toss, corn hole and more, plus food trucks from Cowboy Gelato and The Pit Stop and music from Tate Allred and Mason Jar & The Shine Brothers. Donations benefit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Call 806-355-9801.
Arts
- Amarillo Symphony will feature clarinet soloist Anthony McGill in its October concerts, set for 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Buchanan St. McGill will perform Claude Debussy's Premiere Rhapsody for Clarinet and a new clarinet concerto by Chris Rogerson, the Symphony's composer-in-residence. The concert also features Aaron Copland's Rodeo Suite and Morton Gould's Latin American Symphonette and American Salute. Tickets are $16 to $52, plus fees. Read my preview for more information.
- Amarillo Little Theatre Academy will stage Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the ALT Mainstage, 2019 Civic Circle. Tickets are $12 for ages 12 and older and $10 for ages 11 and younger. "I hope the message of the show, which is beyond race, is that friendship will prevail," said Tevae Shoels, who stars as the escaped slave Jim. Call 806-355-9991.
- Amarillo acting troupe Merely Players will revive its Say What? improv show for performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Experimental Theatre on the Amarillo College Washington Street campus. Performers include Cindi Bulla, Monty Downs, Robin Downs, Bo Kemp, Michael Newman, Michael Pelfrey, Sandra Pelfrey, Stacy Yates and Dean Yates. Admission is $10 for adults or $7 for students and AC faculty and staf. Call 806-358-6214.
- Amarillo artist Ken Tackett's Shimmer, featuring works he calls "beautiful and grotesque," will be on view in a one-night-only pop-up exhibition from 6 to 10:30 p.m. Friday in R Gallery inside the Galleries at Sunset Center, 3701 Plains Blvd.
- Violinist Rachel Barton Pine will perform for the Friends of Aeolian-Skinner, Opus 1024 concert series at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 1601 S. Georgia St. Tickets are $30 or $10 for students. Check out my interview with Pine about her historic instrument, and you can also watch her talking about her childhood and escape from poverty on PBS NewsHour.
For the family
- Nearly 30 high schools will compete Saturday in the High Plains Marching Festival, kicking off at 9 a.m. Saturday at Dick Bivins Stadium, 800 S. Marrs St. (It's a perfect day: You don't have to sit through any football to get to the good stuff.) Finals begin at 7 p.m. It's a warm-up for UIL marching competition on Oct. 22. Admission is $5 for prelims and $5 for finals. Call 806-326-1329.
- The fall's family-friendly farms continue through the weekend. Maxwell's Country Family Fun & Maze is located at 12908 S. Bell St. and is open 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 9 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 30. It features more than 80 acres of mazes, games, hayrides and more. Tickets are $14.95 (plus tax) including unlimited rides on the ziplines or $11.95 (plus tax) without. Call 806-373-9600. Gee Family Farm, located at Loop 335 and South Whitaker Road, offers a family-friendly maze, a special trail for families with young children, farm-related activities, a hay slide, a zipline and more. The farm will donate $3 to High Plains Food Bank for every admission purchased between Oct. 14 and 16. Admission is $10 (plus tax). Hours are 2 to 7 p.m. Fridays and Sundays, and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays. Call 806-346-5677.
- Amarillo Botanical Gardens will hold its PumpkinFest from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the gardens, 1400 Streit Drive. Activities include face painting, a bean bag toss, a scavenger hunt, a scarecrow contest and more, and costumes are encouraged. Mike Fuller will perform, as well. The event is in conjunction with Texas Parks and Wildlife's Pollinator Blitz, an effort to get Texans to go outdoors to find pollinators and nectar-producing plance. Admission is $10 for nonmembers or $5 for members. Call 806-352-6513.
- And for more fall fun, head to Canadian on Saturday and Sunday for the annual Fall Foliage Festival. Activities include an arts and crafts show, a car show, shoping, nature tours, art projects and more. For a full rundown, click the link above.
- The Kwahadi Indians will conclude its Indian Summer performances at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Kwahadi Museum of the American Indian, 9151 E. Interstate 40. Tickets are $5, including museum admission. Call 806-335-3175.
- The 20th annual Fannin History Festival is set for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Fannin Middle School, 4627 S. Rusk St. Students and volunteers have developed exhibits ranging from primitive man to modern-day soldiers. The Plum Creek Brigade will demonstrate how mountain men lived in the 1800s, and other re-enactors will replicate soldiers from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and World War II. Students will hold a mock election, as well. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for students. Cal 806-326-3514.
- Discovery Center's Top Secret: License to Spy continues its focus on the science and technology of spying and espionage through Jan. 8. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays (and Mondays during Amarillo Independent School District holidays) and noon to 4:30 p.m. Sundays. Admission is is $11 for adults or $8 for children 8 to 12, students age 13 to 22, military and seniors. Call 806-355-9547.
Haunts
Amarillo's four haunted houses continue their reigns of terror:
- Amarillo Scaregrounds, which boasts five different haunts at 2736 S.W. 10th Ave., will be open from 7 p.m. to midnight Friday through Sunday, then Oct. 21-22 and 28-31. The haunts include Terror ($15 admission), Insanitarium ($15 admission), The Basement ($20 admission), a blackout maze ($5 admission) and the Zombie Apocalypse Training Center ($5 admission). Admission is $35 for all or $50 for an all-night pass.
- Chainsaw Massacre, 12851 Interstate 27, is open 8 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays throughout October, plus Oct. 30 and 31. Admission is $20 or $25 for a fast pass.
- 6th Street Massacre, 3015 S.W. Sixth Ave., is from 7 p.m. to midnight every Friday and Saturday in October, plus Oct. 31. Admission is $20 or $25 for a fast pass.
- Van Buren Frightmare, 816 S. Van Buren St., is open 7 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays in October, plus Oct. 30 and 31. Admission is $20.
Sports
- Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association continues its world championship competition through Saturday in the Amarillo National Center on the Tri-State Fairgrounds. Admission is free. The event features cowboys riding in a timed event using two .45 caliber single-action revolvers, each loaded with five rounds of specially prepared blank ammunition that can pop the balloons they’re aiming for from up to about 15 feet away. Call 806-376-7767.
- The Amarillo Bulls face off against the Lone Star Brahmas in a three-game home stand at 7:05 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Amarillo Civic Center Complex Coliseum, 401 S. Buchanan St. Single tickets range from $13 to $23, or $9 for children ages 2 to 12. Call 806-242-1122.
Other activities
- Wildcat Bluff Nature Center kicks off its fall learning series on various potions at 10 a.m. Saturday at the center, 2301 N. Soncy Road. The first workshop will focus on cleaning products for the home. November's workshop will focus on homemade soap, lotion and lip balm, followd by herb mixes for the kitchen in December. Classes are $25 each or $75 for the series; preregistration is requested. Call 806-352-6007.
- Author Linda Broday will sign copies of her new Western romance, To Love a Texas Ranger, from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Urbana Coffee Works, 5215 S. Coulter St., Suite 100. Broday is an Amarillo author whose works are New York Times bestsellers.
- A bingo party will help raise funds for the 6th Street Creepy Crawl and its chosen charity, the ACTS Community Center. The party begins at 6 p.m. Sunday at Golden Light Cantina, 2908 S.W. Sixth Ave. Bingo cards are two for $5 or five for $10. The bands Shandy Bandits, Mount Ivy and Playa Lake will perform.
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.
