Everybody is talking about bucket lists, so here are our suggestions for the 12 months of 2014.
JANUARY Stieglitz Collection
Crystal Bridges Museum
Alfred Stieglitz first earned fame as a photographer. He later gained acclaim as a gallery owner and proponent for the budding modern art movement in America. He was also famous for being husband to Georgia O’Keeffe, one of this country’s most iconic artists.
The 101-piece “The Artists’ Eye: Georgia O’Keeffe and the Alfred Stieglitz Collection” remains on display through Feb. 3 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, making its Arkansas debut after years of legal debate. It’s a big deal - and a great chance to visit Crystal Bridges if you haven’t.
INFO - crystalbridges.org FEBRUARY ‘Les Miserables’ Rogers Little Theater
You might wonder at a community theater attempting something like “Les Mis,” but Rogers Little Theater has also done “Evita,” “Jekyll & Hyde” and “Chicago.” Mark your calendar for Feb. 14-March 2, when RLT presents the world’s longest-running musical.
With a subscription base of more than 375 members and funding support from some of the area’s most prominent businesses, foundations and community groups, RLT, now in its 28th year, also boasts more than 20,000 audience members in the pasttwo seasons and more than 700 volunteers, including approximately 150 volunteer actors.
INFO - 631-8988 or
rogerslittletheater.org MARCH Ghost Hunt Belvoir Winery
Go ghost hunting - with Amy Bruni, Britt Griffith, Adam Berry, Kris Williams and special guest Chip Coffey - at Belvoir Winery in Liberty, Mo.
The Belvoir Winery is built within an orphanage constructed by the Odd Fellows organization in the early 1900s. The orphanage building as well as an adjacentnursing home, retirement home and hospital all operated during this time in conjunction with one another.
The complex saw its share of happy times, but it also saw its share of death and tragedy. Before the current owners took over the property and began renovations, the buildings stood empty for more than 20 years.
The dates are March 21-22, and an event pass is $199.
INFO - beyondrealityevents.com APRIL ‘Hamlet’ TheatreSquared
The king is dead - poisoned by his own brother, who has claimed the throne and the widowed queen. The world goes on … but the prince cannot. This is not “Sons of Anarchy,” but Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy is equal parts ghost story, political intrigue, doomed romance and murdermystery, driven by one of literature’s most intriguing, enigmatic and controversial characters. “Hamlet” will be presented by Fayetteville’s professional acting company, TheatreSquared, April 10-May 4 at the Walton Arts Center’s Nadine Baum Studios.
INFO - theatre2.org MAY Renaissance Festival Castle of Muskogee
You don’t have to know what 1066 means - the Battle of Hastings, a decisive Norman victory during the Norman conquest of England - to enjoy the Middle Ages.
The 19th annual Oklahoma Renaissance Festival, Saturdays and Sundays May 3-June 1 at the Castle of Muskogee, means turkey legs and fair maidens, music and comedy, the Queen’s Tea, the Royal Luncheon and the King’s Smoker.
INFO - okcastle.com JUNE ‘Roads of Arabia’
Nelson-Atkins Museum
If you’ve never been to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., you’ve missed a huge treat.
A museum it haseverything from ancient Egyptian shabti to a 14th century French cloister to works by some of the artists you’ve come to know at Crystal Bridges.
From April 25 to July 6, the museum will host “Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” a landmark exhibition of more than 7,000 years of largely unknown cultural history of the Arabian Peninsula.
Museum staff promises “Roads of Arabia” is an “unprecedented assembly” of more than 200 recently excavated objects, none of which had been seen outside of Saudi Arabia until 2010.
INFO - nelson-atkins.org JULY Opera in the Ozarks Eureka Springs
In its 64th season, Opera in the Ozarks runs June 20 through July 18 at Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony near Eureka Springs. Bringing together up-and-coming young artists from around the country and across the sea, this year the summer workshop will present Mozart’s “Così fan tutte,” Puccini’s “Suor Angelica”and “Gianni Schicchi” and Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.”
INFO - opera.org AUGUST Yard Sales
Eureka Springs/U.S. 64
If you’re a picker - or just a people watcher - pack your ice water and your billfold and check out the 20th annual citywide Yards & Yards of Yard Sales Aug. 1-2 in Eureka Springs or Bargains Galore on 64 from Alma to Paris Aug. 7-9.
INFO - eurekaspringschamber.com/ bargainsgaloreon64.com SEPTEMBER
Old Time Fiddle Weekend Mountain View
If you’ve never been to Mountain View or the Ozark Folk Center, the Old Time Fiddle Weekend Sept. 19-20 is a good excuse. It’s all fiddle all the time that weekend, with nightly concerts and instruction featuring some of the premier players as wellas a good ol’ fashioned fiddle contest.
INFO - ozarkfolkcenter.
com OCTOBER Harvest Music Festival Mulberry Mountain
Thunder on the Mountain is still finding its footing, and Wakarusa is a wild animal.
But Yonder Mountain String Band’s Harvest Music Festival is the most accessible of the festivals at Mulberry Mountain, says What’s Up!
music expert Kevin Kinder.
It has the smallest crowd size, usually happens in great weather and features easy-todigest music.
To paraphrase the festival director, Harvest Fest is a big backyard cookout with great music, and Wakarusa is Mardi Gras.
Dates have not been announced, but look for it to take place in October.
INFO - yonderharvestfestival.comNOVEMBER Excursion Train A&M Railroad
Watch the leaves change on a daylong journey from Springdale to Van Buren aboard the A&M Railroad’s excursion train.
The diesel locomotives are modern, but all of the coaches have a history. No.
106, “Mountain View,” was built in 1926 for the Central Railroad of New Jersey and most recently worked on a commuter line. Also running this day are No. 104, named “Biloxi Blues” because it was used in the 1988 film version of Neil Simon’s play; the “Explorer,” a 1950s vintage parlor car; the Silver Feather, a California Zephyr with a vista dome; and the 1940s B&O cupola caboose.
The journey takes a couple of hours each way, with a three-hour layover in historic 1831 Van Buren, where passengers can fill the three- to four-hour layover with shopping for antiques, visiting the Drennen-Scott Historic Site - the formerhome of pioneer John Drennen, Indian agent and co-founder of Van Buren - eating fudge and marveling at the ornate Victorian architecture of the Crawford County Bank Building, the Crawford County Courthouse and the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company.
INFO - amrailroad.com DECEMBER Eagle Watch Tour Beaver Lake
Each winter sees 200-300 eagles wintering on Beaver Lake, and you can see them too, on an Eagle Watch Tour hosted by Hobbs State Park.
According to Becky Moore, park interpreter, “In addition to possibly seeing mature and immature eagles on our tours, we might see other wildlife such as a migrating osprey, great blue heron, king fisher, white-tailed deer, or red-tailed hawk.
Tours depart Rocky Branch Marina. And they’re under way right now if you don’t want to wait.
INFO - 789-5000
Whats Up, Pages 16 on 01/03/2014