Weekend Pick: Spring, Ostara & Easter

This Sunday (March 23, 2008) is Easter. Dahl’s will be closed and I suspect, but have not confirmed, that other grocery stores will also be closed for the day. In addition, there will be no Botanical Blues concert this weekend although the Botanical Center should be open. The Science Center of Iowa will be closed on Easter, however.

The calendar of events for the State Historical Museum indicates it is open from 12:00 to 4:30 p.m. The calendar also reports that the goldfinch became the state bird on March 22, 1933. Perhaps it would be a good weekend to stay inside and build a birdhouse. Besides, the ground is too soggy to play golf..

Thursday (March 20th) is the vernal equinox and thus the celebration of Ostara, a Celtic holiday. Bunnies are used as symbols of both Easter and Ostara so do not hesitate to check out the bunny-shaped chocolates at Suzettes and at Stam. The chocolate stores are on opposite sides of Ingersoll, just west of 28th Street. There are other locations for each store, too.

Now that the snow is mostly melted, I’m looking forward to being able to make it to Great Harvest again, on 28th just north of Ingersoll. Unfortunately, I have not been able to check out the bakery’s Easter bread schedule.

This has been a hard winter on bodies, as well as on cars. Imagine how your car handles after a week of skirting around and diving into potholes. Then, imagine if you were the car and you had spent the past few months being bumped around by oddly-shaped ice and tossed across snow piles. While I avoided falling this past season, my leg has been protesting one particular maneuver over a hill of snow that required a stretch across a patch of ice.

I missed several art openings in the past few weeks and was not able to work later visits into my schedule. My ticket is already reserved for the Des Moines Playhouse’s performance of Sarah, Plain and Tall, next weekend and I am eagerly looking forward to Valley Junction’s April 11th Gallery Night.

Drake University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy will start its spring series of public presentations about the night sky on Friday, March 21st. The events include viewing objects through telescopes and are held regardless of weather conditions. The series runs through May 9th and is free to attend. Presentations begin at 8:00 p.m. and are held at the Drake Municipal Observatory in Waveland Park. If I recall correctly, there is a parking lot off of Observatory Lane (or something like that) which is between University and I-235 near to 42nd Street. Alternatively, it is a few blocks from the #3 bus route on University.

If you are downtown on Saturday, from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m., stop in at Vaudeville Mews and the 4th Street Theater. It is Craft Saturday. Several vendors will be selling various products they have made or designed.

M.R. Field encourages organizations and performers to send news about their upcoming events to events@AroundDesMoines.com.