THE LOWDOWN ON WHAT'S UP THIS WEEKEND >>>

WEATHER REPORT

Friday: Sunny and clear, hi 88, lo 58

Saturday: Sunny and clear, hi 79, lo 56

Sunday: Party cloudy, hi 76, lo 58

>>> FRIDAY, JULY 9-SUNDAY, JULY 11: PUGET SOUND BEAD FESTIVAL

As a small tiki, Bobble Tiki was fascinated by rocks and beads and all things small and shiny. As a large tiki, Bobble Tiki has outgrown his old habit of filling his pockets with found stones (and tadpoles!) every time he goes for a walk, but Bobble Tiki still finds handmade artisan beads enchanting. If you, too, delight in glass beadwork's minute details, you'll be dazzled by the Puget Sound Bead Festival this weekend inside the Hotel Murano Bicentennial Pavilion, where beads, jewelry and sculpted beadwork will take center stage. Daily demonstrations and more than 70 lectures and workshops are on the docket. 

• Hotel Murano Bicentennial Pavilion, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, $7 good for all three days, 1500 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.572.5529

>>> SATURDAY, JULY 10: BON ODORI JAPANESE FOLK DANCE FESTIVAL

If you like your dance with a trace of the exotic, head for the Tacoma Buddhist Temple, where traditional Bon Odori dancing and taiko drum performances take over Fawcett Street as part of the Bon Odori Japanese Folk Dance Festival Saturday. The highlight is always when paper lanterns are strung across Fawcett for the bon odori, a traditional summer street dance honoring the dead. Hundreds are expected to attend, decked out in elaborate kimonos and hapi coats to dance to traditional Japanese folk songs. Think Japanese line dancing where the older people teach the younger generation the moves. Japanese food will be served inside the Temple.

• Tacoma Buddhist Temple, 5-9 p.m., free admission, 1717 Fawcett, Tacoma, 253.627.1417

>>> SATURDAY, JULY 10: OUT IN THE PARK 2010

Has it already been a year since the last Out in the Park? It seems like only yesterday I nestled down in the grass of sunny Wright Park to watch the performances of several stunning drag queens and kings at Tacoma's annual gay pride event.

This year promises to maintain that fabulousness, followed by after-parties at places like The Mix, Club Silverstone and the Tempest.

I spoke with Marcus Gronzo, interim manager of Rainbow Center and board member of Out in Tacoma, about what we could expect from the festivities this year. Read the full story here.

• Wright Park, noon to 7 p.m., Division and I Street, Tacoma, rainbowcntr.org

>>> SUNDAY, JULY 11: ART ON THE AVE

The Sixth Avenue bonanza known as the Art on the Ave festival returns to Tacoma Sunday, bringing all the corn on a stick, face painting and Solar Richard sightings that come with it. Yes, Sixth Avenue traffic will have to find an alternate route Sunday afternoon as the good times will be rolling all day. Of special note is the Jazzbones outdoor stage, which will host Ben Union and the always-entertaining Vicci Martinez, among other notables. Also, look out for the Save our Sonics guy.

• Sixth Avenue between Cedar and Trafton streets, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., free, Tacoma, artontheave.org]

>>> WHERE OUR STAFF IS GOING

MATT DRISCOLL Editor and member of the Official John Elway Fan Club
We're packing up the family and heading to Portland tomorrow to see firsthand the Food Cart Mecca of the Known World. It's supposed to be even hotter in Portland than Tacoma this weekend, meaning the fair-skinned Driscolls will be a pink, sweaty mess, alternating between eating delicious foods served out of trucks and crowding around air-conditioning units and cursing global warming.

JOE IZENMAN Music/Theater Critic
If I can find a ride who wants this free ticket? Catching the reunion show of Seattle indie birthing ground Carissa's Wierd. Otherwise it's just 40 miles of bike riding, 10 hours of StarCraft and maybe even my first rehearsal with a certain well-loved Tacoma rock band.

NIKKI TALOTTA Feature Writer
Friday I will be mixing refreshing elixirs. Saturday I will be drinking them. We will be celebrating July birthdays, including my own. Both days I hope everyone will be wearing as little as possible.

STEPH DEROSA Columnist
Hell, I'm still reveling in my most awesome Fourth of July weekend and I'm not sure if anything can top that doozy. Although, there's a huge chance Out in the Park and Art on the Ave can provide solid outdoor social entertainment this weekend. In the rare case that those events prove to be uninspiring, I will probably be at home sewing the Lycra part into the crotch of my superhero outfit.

THE REV. ADAM MCKINNEY Feature Writer
I still haven't made it out to the beach, this year. Thinking about putting on some treacherously short shorts, working my way across the sandy dunes with a carafe of whiskey sours, and spending some good quality time with Owen.

KRIS BLONDIN Food/Wine Writer
After heading down to Tumwater on Saturday for an in-law family picnic, I will come to the realization that my home has suffered greatly from neglect. The past few weekends have been filled with too much fun! Walking over to Art of the Ave Sunday, then clean the house, weed the yard and maybe, just maybe, you'll catch me lounging on my back patio with a book in one hand and a Duvel in the other.

ALEC CLAYTON Visual Arts Critic
I'll be searching for art in Olympia (free tours of public art every Saturday morning; call 360.709.2678).

CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL Theater Critic
As "a little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men" – and by me – I'm seeing Capital Playhouse's "Kids Play" production of Willy Wonka.

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