This month, have some laughs and learn about your neighbors, both now and in the past, all across West Michigan.
Muskegon St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Your family is invited to the annual Muskegon St. Patrick’s Day Parade sponsored by the Greater Muskegon Jaycees. Eat your green eggs and ham early to catch the 11 a.m. start at 4th Street and O'Clay Avenue. Marching east to Jefferson Street, the parade includes families, organizations, fraternal groups, businesses, marching bands, churches and schools tossing Skee-bucks to good little boys and girls. Look for the Jaycees Cart Corp performing along the parade route collecting food donations with their synchronized grocery cart maneuvers. Last year they collected 1,300 pounds of food for the hungry. Want to enter the parade? The only cost is to donate food to the Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry. Send your registration to
4th Street & Clay Ave
March 14, 11 a.m.
Free!
muskegonjaycees.org/parade.html
Recess Monkey
LaughFest gets family friendly with Recess Monkey at Keystone Church-Spaulding Campus. Within seconds of hitting the stage, the high-energy rock band is ready to entertain young and old alike. Three Seattle schoolteachers with more than 30 years in the classroom, Drew Holloway, Korum Bischoff and Jack Forman have even more experience performing in indie rock bands. The music is eclectic, the songs melodic and lyrics chock full of childhood themes that can be enjoyed by everyone. Get ready to sing and dance along to "Duct Tape World" from their new album, Wired:
"We made a duct tape world...
...a duct tape petting zoo
...a pirate ship with a duct tape crew
...unbreakable Christmas ornaments, too
...a duct tape turkey for you
...permanent mummy bandages, too
...a duct tape dancing tutu"
This children's music band ain't just for kids!
Keystone Church - Spaulding Campus
655 Spaulding Ave. SE, Ada
March 14, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
$7, infants free
laughfestgr.org
HONK!
Being bullied because you are different is not a new thing. The musical HONK! is based on the 19th century tale The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson. With music by George Stiles and book and lyrics by Anthony Drewe, HONK! is a fast-paced comedy about learning to embrace differences. In the story, a brood of chicks includes four beautiful, fluffy, bright ducklings and one that that they call UGLY. Only able to HONK!, Ugly is loved by his mother, a hungry tomcat and other barnyard characters who can see the beauty on the inside. Will the ugly duckling become a beautiful swan? Go see HONK! and find out. Master Arts, a family oriented community theater, has no tolerance for bullying and embraces all differences. In fact, most actors are strange “ducks” who become beautiful swans on stage.
Master Arts Theatre
75 77th St. SW, Grand Rapids
March 5-7
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m.
Saturday Matinees at 2 p.m.
Adults $18, seniors and students $16
masterarts.org, (616) 455-1001
Evidence Found: Explorations in Archaeology
Evidence Found: Explorations in Archaeology is a new exhibition focusing on southwest Michigan's "backyard" archaeology projects. The highlight will be the dig at Fort St. Joseph, a French trading post established in 1691 in Niles and occupied for over a century. Professor Michael Nassaney of Western Michigan University has only recently begun unearthing the fort, which had been lost to time. Evidence Found will help visitors learn what's been found -- and found out -- about the evidence left behind by people who lived before us. Some is spectacular, but much is simply trash. In archaeology, trash can tell much about the person who threw it away. What does your trash say about you? Continuing through August, this exhibition will show how archaeology compares with the image of the swashbuckling Dr. Indiana Jones. Don’t forget your leather hat, but leave the bullwhip at home.
Kalamazoo Valley Museum
230 North Rose St., Kalamazoo
Through Aug. 30
Free
kvm.kvcc.edu, (269) 373-7990
