Mardi Gras Celebrations: Fat Tuesday is just ahead — Feb. 28 is the actual date — but spots around the region will don the traditional purple, yellow, and green hues and shimmy to the sounds of zydeco throughout the weekend. The Original Farmers Market at Third & Fairfax is holding its brassy bead bash, complete with beignets from The Gumbo Pot, on Feb. 25 and 26 (and again on Feb. 28), while a Mardi Gras parade will wend at Long Beach'sShoreline Villageon Saturday, Feb. 25. Other spots, like Sassafras in Hollywood, will party on Fat Tuesday proper, so check in with your favorite local NOLA-cool tavern.
LA Art Book Fair: If your coffee table, and nightstand, and the floor next to your nightstand, and, for that matter, part of your bed are all piled high with tomes celebrating your favorite illustrator, painter, visionary, and/or all of the above, this free-to-attend mega fair is your jam. Make for The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA to peruse stacks upon tables of "...artists' books, art catalogs, monographs, periodicals, and zines..." from hundreds of book makers, international presses, and other art outfits. Dates? Feb. 24 through 26, 2017.
The Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942: The historical event is marking its 75th anniversary on Feb. 24 and 25, and, to commemorate it, the Fort MacArthur Museum in San Pedro will stage "an exciting recreation." Period music from Dean Mora and the Fort MacArthur Officers Orchestra, eats, beverages, and more are part of the history-filled afternoon-into-evening. Be there at 3 o'clock on Saturday, Feb. 25, in your vintage wear, if you have it.
Bob Baker Days: Did you grow up spending Saturdays in gales at certain marionette-merry landmark near downtown? Many Southern Californians did, and many will still gather to remember the gleeful greatness of marionette master Bob Baker. Expect puppets, ice cream, a parade, a silent auction and other effervescent doings throughout the weekend. Just peruse the Feb. 25 and 26 schedule to make sure you're there at the perfect moment for marionette-style sweetness.
Dog Kissing Booth: If you call upon Malibu Country Mart on Saturday, Feb. 25, around 11 a.m. to 2, you'll likely spy The League of Extraordinary Mutts, and a caboodle of adoptable, four-paw'd cuties. One of the highlights of the visit, beyond the adoptions? A kissing, er, licking booth. Note that the event was slated for Feb. 26, but, due to weather concerns, the pups'll be out on Feb. 25.
