All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

Fair warning: You may have trouble selecting what to do from this weekend's menu. It's packed with music, fairs, festivals, and performances.

We've harvested a bunch of items we thought might interest you. You'll find them below. Select a few and get our and enjoy the last weekend of the summer.

Doing something that didn't make our list? Share it in the comments so the rest of us can see. And whatever you're up to, have a fantastic weekend!

Festivals

The Enchanted City Steampunk Faire
Saturday: The Enchanted City Steampunk Faire returns to downtown Troy. The city will host with steampunk inventors, vendors, games, food, demonstrations and more. (A steampunk pirate party on the Hudson following the festival is sold out.) Saturday 11 am-5 pm -- free admission

Five Rivers Fall Festival
Saturday: Five Rivers hosts its annual fall festival with hands-on educational activities, interactive exhibits , walks, animals, music and more. Saturday noon-4 pm -- free admission.

Saratoga Art In The Park
Saturday: Art in the Park is a one-day art show and sale in Saratoga's Congress Park. Fine art, jewelry, photography, ceramics, music, food and more. Saturday 10 am-4 pm -- free admission

Irish 2000 Music and Arts Festival
Saturday: The Saratoga County Fairgrounds hosts Irish 2000, a festival of Irish music, from Celtic punk and jam to traditional. Saturday 11 am-10 pm -- tickets $16 advance / $20 at the gate.

Capital Region Apple & Wine Festival
Saturday-Sunday: The Capital Region Apple & Wine Festival returns to the Altamont Fairgrounds. There's a craft fair, kids activities, music, food, a car show and wine tasting. Saturday 10 am-6 pm, Sunday 10 am-5 pm -- $8 / free for children under 15 accompanied by an adult

Clifton Park Farm Fest
Saturday-Sunday: Farms around Clifton Park will participate in the annual Farm Fest celebration. It's a self-driving tour with events at Bowman Orchards, Riverview Orchards, and Shepherd's Hey Farm, and additional activities at other town locations. Saturday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm -- free admission

Hilltown Farms & Artisans Tour
Saturday-Sunday: Take a self-guided driving tour of the farms, markets, restaurants, artisan studios and other interesting places in the Albany County hill towns. Saturday-Sunday 10 am-4 pm --free admission

Plein Air Festival in Historic Round Lake Village
Saturday: Round Lake village hosts a Plein Air Arts Festival with a tour of the historic village, and a day of master artist workshops and an art sale. Saturday 9 am-8 pm -- $20 to $45

Apple and Honey Festival
Sunday: The Albany Schenectady JCC hosts an Apple & Honey Festival with kids activities, pony rides, a petting zoo, challah making, apple tasting, and more. Sunday 2-4 pm -- free admission

Food and beer

Troy Restaurant and Craft Beer Week
Friday-Sunday: Troy Restaurant and Craft Beer Week wraps up this weekend. Restaurants around downtown Troy will be offering specials and there will be beer-focused events at many places.

Collar City Beer Invitational
Friday: The Takk House hosts the Collar City Beer Invitational. Sample from more than 30 local, national and international brews. Friday 7-10 pm -- tickets start at $65

Troy on Tap
Saturday: The Troy on Tap Beer Festival returns. It's at a field along the river on the south side of downtown Troy. More than 65 craft breweries are scheduled to participate. Saturday 2-5 pm -- $40 and up

A Seat at the Table with Beekman 1802 at Proctors
Sunday: Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge -- "the fabulous Beekman Boys" -- will be at Proctors for a talk about their new cookbook, A seat at the Table. VIP tickets include cocktails and dinner with recipes from the new book. Sunday 4 pm -- $20 and up

Music festivals

Pearl Palooza
Saturday: Pearl Palooza -- the annual day of music on Pearl Street in downtown Albany organized by WEQX -- returns. This year's headliner is K.Flay. Rubblebucket, Arkells, Colony House, and Kimono Dragons fill out the lineup. (Here are samples of each act.) Saturday 1-8 pm -- free admission

Basilica Soundscape
Friday-Sunday: Basilica Hudson again hosts Basilica Soundscape, a music and art festival, with a brunch and marketplace on Sunday. This year's music lineup includes Bing & Ruth, Blanck Mass, Emel Mathlouthi, Jlin, John Maus, Moor Mother, Priests, Protomartyr, serpentwithfeet, Thou, Vivien Goldman, Yellow Eyes, Yves Tumor, Yvette, and Zola Jesus. Friday-Sunday various times -- $40 day music pass / $75 weekend pass

Fresh Grass
Friday-Sunday: The alt-country/folk/bluegrass festival Fresh Grass is back at MASS MoCA. This year's lineup includes Brandi Carlile, Railroad Earth, The Del Mccoury Band with Special Guest David Grisman, Shovels & Rope, Del & Dawg, Bill Frisell: Harmony Featuring Petra Haden, Hank Roberts & Luke Bergman, The Wood Brothers, Crooked Still, and Sarah Jarosz. Friday-Sunday various times -- adults day passes $46 and up /adult festival passes $110

Music

Friday: Hurray For The Riff Raff at The Egg
Folk/rock/blues. With: Xenia Rubinos, Carrie Rodriguez. 8 pm -- $29.50

Friday: The Garcia Project at Cohoes Music Hall
"The Garcia Project's performances are based on actual set lists performed by The Jerry Garcia Band." With: Acoustically Speaking. 8 pm -- $22 and up

Friday: Hasty Page at The Low Beat
Alt rock. With: The Steadfast Son, The Dalton Deschain. 8 pm

Friday: Garage Bands at Albany Public Library Washington Ave branch
The kid-friendly series has Blind Crow and Henry's Rifle this week. 6 pm -- free

Saturday: Randy Newman at Troy Music Hall
Revered songwriter and composer of film scores. 8 pm -- $49 and up

Saturday: Well-Strung at Proctors
"The group plays universally recognized classical pieces while singing pop music hits from the likes of Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, and other pop stars for a uniquely engaging experience." 8 pm -- $20 and up

Saturday: ALFIO in Concert: Elvis, Sinatra, Bocelli at The Egg
As seen on PBS. 7 pm -- $38 and up

Saturday: Weakened Friends at The Low Beat
Noise rock. With: Bruiser and Bicycle, Kino Kimono. 8 pm -- $10

Saturday: Blind Crow at Caffe Lena
Album release show for the progressive string quartet. 8 pm -- $14

Sunday: David Wax Museum at Caffe Lena
Folk rock. With: Ciaran Lavery. 7 pm -- $22

Sunday: Second Death + Kaonashi
Metal. With: Invoke Thy Wrath, Breathe the Skyline. 7 pm

Stage

iLuminate
Friday: A touring stage show called Illuminate will be at Proctors. "With a mash-up of dazzling wizardry, spectacular dance moves, high-tech effects, and original music, iLuminate is a unique in-the-dark event not to be missed." Friday 8 pm -- $20 and up

Peter and the Starcatcher
Friday-Sunday: Albany Civic Theater presents Peter and the Starcatcher, the beautifully written back story to Peter Pan. Friday and Saturday 7:30 pm, Sunday 3 pm -- $18 / $10 students with ID

Lost in Yonkers
Friday-Sunday: Curtain Call Theater presents Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers. Friday and Saturday 8 pm , Sunday 3 pm -- $20

Comedy

Alf Pacino and Friends /Pilates for Infidels
Friday: MopCo presents long form improv by Alf Pacino, with special improv guests, Pilates for Infidels. It's an evening of improv songs and stories based on audience suggestion. Friday 8 pm -- $10, $6 for students and seniors

Spontaneous Broadway
Saturday: MopCo Improv Theatre opens its season of Spontaneous Broadway. Act one is a mock backers audition, in which the company invents songs based on audience suggestions. The audience votes on a favorite, and in act two, the company makes up the full musical, including costumes, sets and a reprise of the first act song. Friday 8 pm -- $10 / $6 for students and seniors

Film

A Bridge Too Far
Friday: The NYS Writers Institute Classic Film Series is screening A Bridget too Far. The 1977 film by Richard Attenborough stars Sean Connery and Gene Hackman, and tells the story of the Allies' attempt to drive the German army out of occupied Belgium. The film explains the genesis of Albany's relationship to its sister city of Nijmegen, Holland. Friday 7 pm, Page Hall on the UAlbany Downtown Campus -- free

Free Movies Under the Stars
Friday: The free Movies Under the Stars series wraps up with a screening of The Secret Life of Pets on the Sage College Albany Campus. Friday 7:30 pm -- free admission

The Big Lebowski
Saturday: It Came From Schenectady presents a screening of The Big Lebowski at Proctors. Prizes, surprises, white Russians, comfy couches, and more. Saturday 7 pm -- $9 / $6 for students

The Madison
This weekend at The Madison: Goldfinger, Matilda, and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

Drive-ins
Drive-in season continues:
+ Malta:Screen 1: It, and Annabell Creation | Screen 2: Home Again and The Big Sick
+ Jericho: It, and Annabelle Creation
+ Hollywood: It, and Annabelle Creation

Museums/galleries

State Museum
The State Museum opens the first phase of its new Enterprising Waters: New York's Erie Canal exhibit on Saturday.

Albany Institute
The Albany Institute recently opened an exhibit that looks at the anti-suffrage movement in Albany. As part of that exhibit, this Sunday there will be a talk by SUNY Oneonta history professor Susan Goodier on political cartoons used in the suffrage and anti-suffrage moments. Sunday 2 pm

Also on display at the Albany Institute an exhibit of their Hudson River School works -- more than 80 pieces, almost the entire collection. And it has a new exhibit about the anti-suffrage movement in Albany.

MASS MoCA
Multimedia artist Laurie Anderson's exhibit at MASS MoCA invites viewers to explore a multi-functional constellation of galleries and installations including a working studio, audio archive, exhibition venue, and a virtual reality environment that highlights her creative process and some of her best known works. (On view through 2018)

Design@Work: The Karene Faul Alumni Invitational Exhibition
The College of Saint Rose hosts an exhibit featuring printed media, web and video works by 14 alumni of its graphic design program.
 
Other Side: Art, Object, Self
The Tang Museum at Skidmore College recently opened a new exhibit called Other Side: Art, Object, Self. This group show features contemporary art that examines ways in which artists use materials, found objects, or even their own bodies to explore questions of national, cultural, and self-identity. (Through December 30)

The Clark
The Clark has an exhibit of work by Helen Frankenthaler (through October 9).

Hyde Collection
The Hyde Collection recently opened its new Feibes & Schmitt Gallery. It includes 40 works of modern art donated by Schenectady residents Werner Feibes and the late James Schmitt. The exhibit includes works by Josef Albers, Jean (Hans) Arp, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Louise Nevelson, George Rickey, Bridget Riley, and Andy Warhol.

UAlbany Art Museum
The University Art Museum has Abstracts, "a large-scaled landscape exhibit where the paintings represent the relationship between communities and reality," and Gloves Off, "a video, photography and sculpture to create an kaleidoscopic view of contemporary culture." (On display until September 29)

USS Slater
The USS Slater, the destroyer escort historical museum in Albany, is open for tours. Wednesday-Sunday 10 am-4 pm -- $9 / $8 for seniors / $7 for kids 6 to 14 / free for kids 5 and under

Berkshire Botanical Garden
The Berkshire Botanical Gardens in Stockbridge are open for the season. every day from 9 am-4 pm -- $15 / $14 seniors / $12 students / kids under 12 are admitted free

Alternative Transportation Fest -- International Park(ing) Day
The Collar City Ramble alternative transportation festival returns to Troy next weekend, but things will get started this weekend. On Friday Troy celebrates International Park(ing) Day with parking spaces being taken over with art. There are three locations in Troy this year:
+ Broadway off Monument Square in front of Pecks Arcade
+ 4th street in front of Scarlet 7 Gallery and The Shop
+ Ferry Street in front of Sunhees Farm and Kitchen.
They'll be up through the end of the month.

Frear Park
Saturday: Also as part of the Ramble, there's a guided hike of Frear Park. "This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the park. To celebrate, we will hike along the old Troy water reservoirs, pass by a beaver dam and pond, and the Piscawen creek and waterfalls. Enjoy the view over the Hudson Valley; on a clear day you can clearly see downtown Albany and the Catskills from the top of the trails." Saturday 3 pm -- free

Bike the Branches
Saturday: The Albany Bicycle Coalition is hosting Bike the Branches, a all-ages cycling event from the Delaware Public Library to the Pine Hills branch. Saturday 10 am-noon -- free

Saratoga Showcase Of Homes Weekend 1
Saturday-Sunday: This is the first of three weekends for the Saratoga Showcase of Homes, a builder showcase of 18 new homes in Saratoga County. Saturday-Sunday 11 am-5 pm -- $20

Farmers' markets
+ Troy Waterfront Farmers Market is on River Street around Monument Square. Saturday 9 am-2 pm
+ The Delmar Farmers Market is Bethlehem Central Middle School (332 Kenwood Ave). Saturday 9 am-1 pm
+ The Saratoga Farmers' Market is outdoors at High Rock Park Saturday 9 am-1 pm
+ The Schenectady Greenmarket is at its outdoor location around city hall. Sunday 10 am-2 pm
+ The Spa City Farmers' Market is on the lawn of the the Lincoln Baths. Sunday 10 am-3 pm.

Troy Makers Market
Saturday: Local craft vendors will display and sell wares at the Troy Makers Market in conjunction with the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market. Saturday 9 am to noon

Day trips
Explore New Paltz, head for The Berkshires, the Catskills, or Columbia County.

The Albany Institute, Troy Music Hall, APL, and the Mop & Bucket Company advertise on AOA.