All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

Last call for summer.

Monday is the first day of autumn, and while that brings with it a crisp, apple-flavored, pumpkin-spiced deliciousness of its own, it can be hard to say goodbye to summer upstate.

This weekend there is more than enough fun of both the summer and fall variety -- from music and apple festivals to theater, comedy, and gallery openings.

After the jump, we've pulled together a few ideas for your weekend. Got something planned that you don't see here? Drop it in the comments so we can all see.

And whatever you're up to in these final days of summer, have a fantastic weekend.

Festivals
It's a big weekend for festivals.

LarkFEST
Saturday: Lark Street is closed to traffic on Saturday for the annual LarkFEST. Music, crafts and other fun stuff. Stages will be set up at Washington and Madison Avenues. Bands this year include Stellar Young, Probing Digit, Candy Ambulance, and The End Men. Saturday 10am to 5:30pm - free admission

Adirondack Balloon Festival
Friday-Sunday: The Adirondack Hot Air Balloon Festival is already underway in Queensbury. Hundreds of hot air balloons will take off in the early morning and evening hours. If you're going up to Floyd Bennett Memorial Field to watch the morning launches, leave very early -- it gets packed. Friday-Sunday various times and venues

Lake George Jazz Festival
Saturday-Sunday: The Lake George Jazz Festival is in Shepard Park in Lake George -- something fun to do between the balloons at this weekend's Balloon Festival. Saturday and Sunday - free admission

Clifton Park Farm Fest
Saturday-Sunday: Farms, orchards, and nature preserves in Clifton Park are open this weekend with tours, food and special events during the annual Clifton Park Farm Fest, a drive-yourself tour. Here's the brochure with participating locations. Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm - free admission

Capital Region Apple & Wine Festival
Saturday-Sunday: The Altamont Fairgrounds hosts the annual Capital Region Apple & Wine Festival this weekend. Food, family-friendly fun, crafts, wine tastings, and a marketplace. Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Sunday 10 am to 5 pm - $8 / under age 15 free.

Irish 2000
Friday-Saturday: The Saratoga County Fairgrounds hosts the annual Irish 2000 Festival, featuring Irish music from the traditional to Celtic punk and jam. Friday 5-11 pm / Saturday 10 am to 11 pm - $20 / $16 in advance, 2-day pass $29 / $18 in advance

Mississippi Day
Saturday: The annual Mississippi Day is in Albany's Lincoln Park. The day celebrates of the heritage of the many Albany families that trace their roots to Mississippi. (Many African-American families moved to the area from Mississippi starting in the 1920s and settled in places such as what's now the Rapp Road Community Historic District.) Saturday 11 am-7:30 pm - free admission

Upper Madison Street Fair
Sunday: The annual Upper Madison Street Fair returns on the block of Madison Ave in Albany at the convergence with Western Ave. Music, crafts, art, food and children's activities. Sunday from noon to 5pm - free admission

Henry Street Harvest Festival
Sunday: Saratoga Spring's annual Henry Street Harvest Festival includes music, dancing, art demonstrations, pumpkin painting, balloon art and other family friendly activities on Henry Street downtown. Sunday noon to 4 pm - free admission

Troy Restaurant Week / Craft Beer Week
Troy Restaurant Week and Craft Beer Week continue this weekend. Restaurant week includes a bunch of restaurants offering prix fixe menus at $5 (lunch), $10, $20, and $30. It also marks the temporary return of the Tavern Noodle pop-up in the Peck's Arcade space. And there will be a pop-up preview Friday of the Harrison's Corner Market near the The Shop.

Troy Craft Beer Week wraps up with an America on Tap beer festival in Riverfront Park on Saturday (tickets are $35).

Fresh Grass Festival
Friday-Sunday: The Fresh Grass Festival returns to MASS MoCA. Headliners for the bluegrass music festival include Dwight Yoakam, The Punch Brothers, the Del McCoury Band, Leftover Salmon, and Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O'Donovan. Friday-Sunday - adult day passes start at $38

Stage

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
Saturday-Sunday: Proctors launches the national tour of the Broadway musical <A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, with a full week of performances. The show opens on Saturday and runs through September 26. various times and prices

Death of a Salesman
Friday-Sunday: Classic Theater Guild opens a new production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Friday & Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 2 pm

The Commons of Pensacola
Friday-Sunday: Curtain Call Theater presents The Commons of Pensacola. The play, by actress Amanda Peet, is based on the wife of notorious Wall Street scam artist Bernie Madoff. Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm - $24

Comedy

Theatresports!
Friday: Think Whose Line is it Anyway? The Mop & Bucket Company returns to Proctors Underground to compete in improv games, creating scenes and songs based on audience suggestions. Friday 8 pm - $14 / $6 students and seniors.

Saturday: MopCo's monthly improv jam is a sing-a-long this month, with MopCo music director Mark Merritt on the keys. Come with requests. Friday 8 pm - $5 or something delicious to share

Bombers Belly Laughs
Friday: Jaye McBride headlines at Bombers Belly Laughs, a night of local stand up at the Troy Bombers Burrito Bar. Friday 8-1 0pm - $10

Local history game jam
Tech Valley Game Space is hosting a public game jam with a local history theme this weekend at the Arts Center of the Capital Region. The jam is described as "a weekend "hackathon" dedicated to creating games and interactive prototypes inspired by the history of Rensselaer County."

Saturday noon to 9pm, Sunday 9am to 4pm - free but you need to register.

Capital District Printathalon
Friday-Sunday: This weekend at the SUNY Poly CSNE, 3D printing companies, university 3D printing departments and local organizations who do 3D printing will join up for the Capital District Printahalon. The event bills itself as a "premiere 3D printing showcase," and includes talks, demonstrations and a 24-hour 3D Printing Challenge. Friday talks from 5-8 pm, Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Sunday 10 am to 2 pm - $10 for adults, free for kids under 18

Saratoga Showcase Of Homes
Saturday-Sunday: This is the first weekend for the Saratoga Showcase of Homes. It's a self-guided tour of homes around Saratoga County. A new addition to the tour this year: food trucks at some of the stops. Saturday and Sunday 11 am-5 pm - $20 (tickets available at any showcase home)

Downtown Albany yard sale
Saturday: The Albany Center Gallery and Historic Albany will host a yard sale in Albany's Tricentennial Park. The sale includes a wide variety of old and new items -- clothing, jewelry, art, and more -- donated by museum supporters. Saturday 8 am to 3 pm

Saratoga Savoy Diamond Dance
Friday: NitroJIVE headlines this month's Saratoga Savoy swing dance at the Saratoga Music Hall (top floor of city hall). Friday: 7:30pm to 11pm -- $15

Museums/Galleries

The Capital Region in 50 Objects
Friday: The Albany Institute of History and Art opens its new exhibit, The Capital Region in 50 Objects, with a reception Friday evening. The show, open through April, is a look at 400 years of Capital Region history through 50 objects, selected with the input of Capital Region residents. Each item is paired with a background image that helps to tell its story. Among the objects included are William Kennedy's Typewriter, the Hoffman's Playland ticket booth, a bust of Henry Johnson, Arrow collars, cannons and Erastus Corning's desk. Here's a preview.

Also at the Albany Institute:
Seeing Double, an exhibit with anaglyphs -- stereoscopic images that appear to be 3D when viewed through special glasses.

"Local Eats: What Does Your Food Say About You?"
The Schenectady County Historical Society is opening a new exhibit called Local Eats: What Does your Food Say About You? It examines how the food we eat relates to politics, technology, and where you come from. $5. free for students and members of the Schenectady County Historical Society.

International Observe the Moon Night at miSci
Saturday: miSci is observing International Observe the Moon night with an astronomy program at the Dudley Observatory. Saturday 7-9 pm - free with museum admission

Whistler
There are a few weekends left to see Whistler's Mother: Grey, Black, and White at The Clark. It's on display through September 27.

The Late Drawings of Andy Warhol
The Hyde Collection's exhibit featuring some of Andy Warhol's drawings created between 1973 to 1987, one of Warhol's most prolific periods, closes in a couple of weeks. Many of the drawings are on view to the public for the first time. (On display through through September 27.)

#schenectadydoesntsuck
Mabee Farm Historic Site just opened a new exhibit called #schenectadydoesntsuck, featuring a look at the Electric City through the lens of the popular local Instagram account #schenectadydoesntsuck.

Air, Fat, Sugar & CO2 Exhibition
The Arts Center of the Capital Region is hosting an exhibit by Greg Skochko titled Air, Fat, Sugar & CO2 -- an interactive art show. Blurbage: "Part circus act, part self-deprecating stand-up routine and science experiment, Greg Skochko constructs sculptures that function as fantastic mechanical objects, fused with plausible scenarios and characters of his conjuring. Encouraging viewers to participate in the performance spectacle, he collides a child-like playfulness with serious cultural issues such as American Capitalism, classism, and over-consumption." The show runs through October 10.

Music

Friday: Lucius at The Tang. Brooklyn based indie band Lucius plays a free show on the lawn at Skidmore's Tang Museum. Pavo Pavo opens. Friday at 8pm - free

Friday: Antje Duvekot at The Linda
Folk pop. With: Chuck Cannon. 8 pm - $18

Friday: Joan and Joni at Caffe Lena
"This is an unusual concert for Caffe Lena. It's a tribute show--to two of the most glorious singers in all of Folkdom, Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell." 8 pm - $18

Saturday: Symphony X & Overkill at Upstate Concert Hall
Metal. With: Within The Fire. 8 pm - $25 ahead / $30 day of

Movies

Bow Tie
The Bow Tie Saratoga's Saturday/Sunday morning Movies and Mimosa film The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, featuring Carey Grant and a teenage Shirley Temple.
This weekends Friday and Saturday Insomnia Theater films is Clue.

El Duderino
Saturday: It Came From Schenectady is showing The Big Lebowski at the GE Theater at Proctors. White Russians, games, prizes, free stuff and big comfy couches. Saturday 7pm -$9 / $6 students

Drive-ins
There's still time to squeeze in a drive in before the end of summer.
+ Jericho: The Transporter Refueled / No Escape
+ Malta: Screen 1: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials / Paper Towns | Screen 2: The Transporter Refueled / No Escape

Festival of Meats and Celebration of Bacon
Saturday: The ASAP -- the people who bring you the Santa Speedo Sprint -- will host its 7th annual Festival of Meats and Celebration of Bacon at the Albany Elks Clubs on South Allen Street. There's a whole pig, pit beef, bacon surprises and a wide array of meaty deliciousness. Saturday, bar at 4 pm, dinner at 6 pm - tickets are $25

Hudson River Valley Ramble
September weekends are filled with events celebrating the Hudson River Valley as part of the Hudson River Valley Ramble. You can search for events near you here.

Steal a summer day
Last chance of the season. Steal a day outside, enjoying summer food, or just wandering.

You could also spend 12 hours in The Berkshires, The Catskills or visit one of the many state parks in the Capital Region.

Troy Flea
Sunday: Troy Flea has a craft market every Sunday through October 4 in Riverfront Park. Sunday 11 am to 4 pm - free admission

Farmers' markets
It's one of the best times of year to visit the farmers' markets:
+ The Troy Waterfront Farmers Market will be on River Street Saturday from 9 am-2 pm.
+ The Saratoga Farmers' Market will be in High Rock Park. Saturday from 9 am-1 pm
+ The Delmar Farmers Market is open for the season at Bethlehem Central Middle School. Saturday 9 am-1 pm
+ The Colonie Farmers Market is at the Crossings. Saturday from 9 am-1 pm
+ The Schenectady Greenmarket will be around Schenectady City Hall. Sunday from 10 am-2 pm.
+ The Spa City Farmers' Market will be outside the Lincoln Baths Sunday from 10 am-3 pm

Helsinki Hudson, Albany Institute, The Mop & Bucket Company, and The Hudson River Valley Ramble advertise on AOA. AOA is a media sponsor for Albany Society for the Advancement of Philanthropy and the Upper Madison Street Fair.

photo: Brantley Gutierrez