SATURDAY, JULY 31, 2010 >>>

1. How many folks out there knew Tacoma hosts one of the biggest and best rugby 7's tournament in the entire region? For the last 33 years, Tacoma has hosted a summer 7's tournament featuring some of the best male rugby teams in the area. What's especially exciting about this year's event, however, is it will feature women's 7's teams for the very first time, drawing six of the top female rugby teams in the Northwest. The action goes down at the Portland Avenue Play Fields in East Tacoma beginning at 9 a.m.

2. Following the success of last year's inaugural run, the Proctor Farmers' Market Art-A-Thon is back from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., where artists will once again display their work and techniques in hopes you'll be inspired enough to donate - with the money going to F.I.S.H.

3. China Davis, The Lillie Bros, and Stoned Evergreen Traveller perform at the 7 Seas Brewing one-year anniversary party from noon to 8 p.m. at the brewery in Gig Harbor.

4. Art matters. Suckers for a good pun, we mention this in relation to Olympia's most sustainable gallery, Matter, which opened in September 2009 and prides itself on featuring "recycled, reclaimed and responsibly harvested materials." From 4-7 p.m., join Matter for a "Midsummer Gathering," which will reportedly include light refreshments and, more importantly, a chance to mingle with the many artists who make Matter such a sight to see in Olympia. Michael Gray and Vince Brown will provide music.

5. The zombie movie master George Romero is back with a new creative trek into the flesh-eating genre of horror. In Survival of the Dead we are whisked to an island off Delaware that's been spared from the zombie apocalypse. Here we meet two families: the O'Flynns and the Muldoons; one believes in zombie annihilation, while the other stands for zombie rehabilitation, as they wait for a wished-for cure. As both clans spar over their appointed causes, there are lots of shocking scares and inventive zombie killings in this subtle treatise on capital punishment cleverly disguised as a quasi-zombie western. Watch it in all its gory at midnight inside the Capitol Theater in Olympia.

LINK: We listed a couple more ideas in The Weekend Hustle

LINK: Concert go on sale today

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound