COVINGTON, Ky. – While we can’t guarantee sunny skies and 70-degree temperatures, we can promise worthwhile things to get outside and do in The Cov this weekend.
Pick up a tree seedling to plant on Arbor Day. … Clean up an area of The Cov during the Great American Clean Up (or help the Covington Street Hockey League clean up around its rink). … Make a sustainable flowerpot. … Play with fairies. … Geek out on Darth Vader and Voldemort … and …
If you think “art” is limited to a bunch of Monet reprints or Kentucky Derby posters, then you need to check out Pique, a gallery on Pike Street that touts itself as “an open-ended art experiment” that “seeks to blow your mind.”
Read between the lines, and that means you never know where the imaginations and creators at Pique are going to take you, which is apropos to an exhibition event tonight: “Each to Their Own” will showcase the garment and art explorations of the Art Academy of Cincinnati’s Garment Class.
The exhibit will feature work from about a dozen artists.
Refreshments are provided and masks are suggested but not required at “Each to Their Own”.
Your yard probably needs attention. It’s springtime, after all. But it’ll be more fun to do the same kind of work with friends and neighbors Saturday during the Great American Cleanup.
Hundreds of volunteers in Covington will join in on this nationwide effort towards beautification, tackling tasks like planting flowers and trees, spreading mulch, swiping a paintbrush over graffiti, or getting rid of unsightly litter at a number of sites.
Eight neighborhoods in Covington are registered and are accepting volunteers. For details, see Great American Cleanup.
One of those eight sites has a puck connection (hockey, not Shakespeare), and what could be more fun than working alongside The Bubs of the Covington Street Hockey League?
On Saturday, The Bubs are getting in on the Great American Cleanup by tidying up the park in Latonia where their rink resides, and they’d welcome help. They’ll feed you too.
After cleaning, join in or watch a pick-up hockey game and nosh on hot dogs hot off the grill. Sign up at CSHL at Great American Clean Up.
Covington was recently named a Tree City of the World (it’s a rare status), and the short version of “why?” is that we seriously value trees.
We like trees so much so that we’re going to give them to you to plant. These are babies, a la just little seedlings, of willow oak, river birch, Sweet Bay magnolia, domestic apple, and buttonbush (a flowering shrub). Pick up two per vehicle when you drive through Historic Linden Grove Cemetery & Arboretum on Saturday, aka Arbor Day.
Learn more at Tree Seedling Giveaway.
Do you know who was the first documented female construction worker?
Low. And. Behold. It was Emily Roebling.
Roebling stepped in as the first woman field engineer to see the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge when her husband, Washington, became ill. And we all know that Washington’s father John designed the bridge, just as he did the Roebling Suspension Bridge here in The Cov.
(Angry side note): Inexplicably, sources like Britannica.com describe Roebling as an “American socialite, builder, and businesswoman.” That’s right, history insists that the woman who saw the completion of one of the most famous bridges in the world must first be known for her ascension up the social ladder.
(Will somebody please come here with the “jaws of life” and unclench our jaws?)
Obviously, other women have since built their own doorway into the construction trades, and impressively so, but there needs to be more, so …
SHE Builds Day is a FREE event Saturday at Holmes High School. Girls 12 and up (all women) are invited. SHE Builds is a workforce development initiative from Allied Construction Industries, which is on a mission to increase the number of female youth and adult women interested in a career in construction through meaningful exploration and hands-on programs.
The workshop to make your own eco-friendly wool flowerpot at Purple Paisley, Local Artisan Shop on Saturday kind of marries all the good take-care-of-our planet vibes with National Local Yarn Story Day (oops, more about that below).
On Saturday you’ll learn how to use natural wool, yarns, and decorative fibers to create a wet felted flowerpot, then fill it with a new green friend.
These pots hold in moisture, let air flow, and can be washed and reused as storage spaces. So much to love about felted flowerpots. Details at Felted Flowerpots at Purple Paisley.
Did you know that there is an entire day designated to show love for locally owned yarn shops and small businesses? A day that brings together a unique community of knitters, crocheters, weavers, and spinners to drive awareness and celebrate the fiber crafts?
National Local Yarn Store Day is a real thing, and fortunately The Cov has a gem of a little shop that will be celebrating big-time on Saturday.
Stitch Yarn Shop, where shelves are brimming with bold, beautiful skeins of yarn and a zillion other wonderful things for fiber artists, will be showcasing the products of their fellow local makers, vendors, and hand-dyers who make their shop so unique.
Marvel at new yarns, learn about new classes, and take the first stitch on your next project. See Local Yarn Store Day.
Lightsabers vs. wands. Cloaks of Invisibility vs. Clone Trooper Armor.
On Sunday, at Baker Hunt Art and Cultural Center, you can learn how to create a linocut relief print by creating an initial drawing of an image from Star Wars or Harry Potter, transfer and carve it into a linoleum block, and then roll it with ink and press onto paper for a final print that you can take home with you.
Details at “Printmaking Star Wars vs. Harry Potter”.
On Sunday, a portal from the fairy world opens in MainStrasse Village and that means fairies and other magical beings are coming to play.
The Wee Folk Festival, by Fairy Doors of MainStrasse, takes place at the 6th Street Promenade, and, if you know anything about fairies, you know you should dress accordingly. (Something with gossamer wings, a wreath of fresh flowers, pixie dust, and a wand should work nicely).
If you’re wondering what Fairy Doors of MainStrasse is, here’s what we know: For centuries, fairies traveled between this world and their realm through fairy rings and fairy forts. Lately, however, they prefer to enter through tiny, decorative doors. In days of yore, there were many such doors in MainStrasse but more are needed. Fortunately, those with a direct line to the fairy realm encouraged MainStrasse businesses and residents to place fairy doors in their homes, on their porches, and in their gardens, so fairies can return and mingle with the city’s young at heart.
Young and old are encouraged to join in on the whimsy and magic with details at Wee Folk Festival.
The characters in West Chester, Ohio-based author Carol Kohring’s first children’s book are on a magical, musical journey, flying into the readers hearts and tummies. (Tummies because they are chicken nuggets).
Kohring, a retired public schoolteacher with six grown children and nine grandchildren, knows a thing or two about what kids enjoy. She also knows that writing can be therapeutic and writing about the shenanigans of a bunch of chicken nuggets while battling Stage IV metastatic breast cancer was a much-needed endeavor that resulted in Chicken Nuggets Today.
Meet the author and buy a book to be signed Saturday at Local Studio 325’s Carol Kohring Book Signing.
Tonight: Allison Bishop at Keystone Bar & Grill … Chuck Brisbin Trio at Smoke Justis.
Friday: Pickin’ Pear at Bard’s Burgers & Chili … Tastefull at Madison Live (with Saving Escape, Fat Sal, and Dead Humor) … Linus Tate at Smoke Justis.
Saturday: Spring Grove at Madison Live (with Motel Faces and The Elemental) … Szaba at The Rooftop at The Madison (with Pangeaux, Rhy!, Nico, Santanna, Moss, and T.V. Showez) … The Bluebirds at Smoke Justis … Rick Kinman II at Pandemonium.
Sunday: Rooftop Sessions at Braxton Brewing Co.
And then there’s … Covington Parks & Rec’s Youth Soccer League skills camp Saturday … MainStrasse Village Food Tour on Saturday … “Sonder” art show at The Carnegie on Friday … Cincinnati Trivia at Keystone Bar & Grill on Friday … Covington Farmers Market on Saturday … Kumite III at Madison Theater on Sunday (with Kumite BJJ) … “A Thought is a River” and "The Reds" exhibits Thursday through Saturday at The Carnegie.
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