Weekend Guide: Downtown Lawrence Olympic Shot Put; Cinema a Go Go; Earth Day Parade and Celebration; Day of Creativity; ‘Doctor Who’ tea party

photo by: Nick Krug

Weekend Guide truly out-randoms itself in this week's installment. Among our eclectic mix of picks: KU's Day of Creativity, the annual Downtown Lawrence Olympic Shot Put, a creepy-crawly double feature at Liberty Hall (not pictured), Earth Day festivities and a Doctor

Weekend Guide truly out-randoms itself in this week’s installment. Among our eclectic mix of picks: KU’s Day of Creativity, the annual Downtown Lawrence Olympic Shot Put, a creepy-crawly double feature at Liberty Hall, Earth Day festivities and a “Doctor Who” tea party.

Downtown Lawrence Olympic Shot Put

6 p.m. Friday, Eighth Street between Massachusetts and New Hampshire streets

photo by: Nick Krug

Spectators watch with anticipation as Christian Cantwell throws during the Downtown Olympic Shot Put event on Friday, April 17, 2015 at the intersection of Eighth and New Hampshire streets.

Six of the top 10-ranked throwers in the world are scheduled to make an appearance at Friday’s fifth annual Olympic shot put event, hosted by eXplore Lawrence in conjunction with the 89th Kansas Relays, also in town this week.

The contest is free for spectators, so this one usually ends up attracting quite a crowd. Other amusements (besides watching beefy dudes hurl 16-pound lead balls into the air) include live music by The Brody Buster Band, inflatable play areas for the kids and the chance to win prizes.

Food and drinks will also be for sale during the event.

Column by Tom Keegan

? Ten shot putters ready for show


Cinema a Go Go

7 p.m. Friday, Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts St.

Presented by Kansas Public Radio’s Retro Cocktail Hour, this weekend’s installment of Cinema a Go Go features everything from giant tentacled eyeballs to headless corpses and oozy slime trails in a double feature of kitschy sci-fi flicks.

Friday’s selections: 1958’s “The Crawling Eye,” about a remote mountain resort in Switzerland that is invaded by aliens with a fondness for decapitating humans, and 1955’s “The Creeping Unknown,” which follows a British scientist as he attempts to save planet Earth from an alien mutant.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and tickets cost $8 at the door.


Earth Day Parade and Celebration

11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, downtown Lawrence

This year’s Earth Day festivities kick off with a parade, hosted by KU Environs, at 11 a.m., with the procession traveling from Buford Watson Park to South Park along Massachusetts Street.

The 16th annual celebration at Watson Park, hosted by the city of Lawrence’s solid waste management division, is once again a family-friendly affair. Attractions include live music, food, vendors and exhibitors, and plenty of kids’ activities — among them face painting, a bouncy house and Richard Renner’s wacky, environmentally friendly contraption, the ReCycle Cycle.

In the spirit of Earth Day, the Lawrence Transit System is offering free bus rides all day, and those who bike down to South Park for the celebrations will be treated to a free “bike valet” courtesy of the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department.

Check out www.lawrenceks.org for details.


Day of Creativity

Noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, KU Natural History Museum, 1345 Jayhawk Blvd.

“Reimagine the known and pursue the unknown” at KU’s second annual Day of Creativity, brought to you by The Commons, the Spencer Museum of Art and the Natural History Museum.

More than 20 demonstrations, hands-on activities and performances inspired by the arts, sciences and humanities are on the roster this year, including timber milling, how to dry and press plants and a theater prop photo booth. (The item labeled “rubber chicken science” is certainly intriguing.)

Researchers will also be on hand with specimens from the Natural History Museum collections, as will food trucks and the KU pep band.

Festivities will take place throughout the museum, on the lawn near Dyche and Spooner halls, and in The Commons, located across the street from the museum at 1340 Jayhawk Blvd.


“Doctor Who” theme tea

2 p.m. Sunday, the Castle Tea Room, 1307 Massachusetts St.

Hop in your TARDIS and journey through space and time to the Castle Tea Room this weekend, where the Daughters of the British Empire’s Lawrence-Topeka chapter is hosting its annual tea fundraiser. The theme this year is “Doctor Who,” and costumes are encouraged.

Menu selections include sweets and savories (like scones and finger sandwiches), along with “generous lashings of tea.” Apparently, “lashings” is British speak for “a copious amount of something.” The more you know, as they say.

Proceeds benefit The British Home (the DBE-founded Brookfield, Ill., retirement community provides not-for-profit services to seniors) and local women’s charities. Tickets cost $16 for children up to 12, or $25 for adults. Get yourself one — or a lashing — at www.showclix.com.