Friday
The newly opened Good Citizen Art Gallery (2247 Gravois Avenue) in south St. Louis debuts "Approved," a show featuring nineteen artists who work in a variety of mediums and hail from across the North America. The cost is free for the opening reception, which starts at 6 p.m. For more information, contact Andrew James at 314-348-4587.
Friday
The city of Maplewood is celebrating its 100th Maplewood Christmas with the lighting of the city's Christmas tree on Friday night. The holidays staples -- visits with Santa, hot chocolate, shopping -- will all be available at this event, which runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Maplewood Special Business District. For more information, visit cityofmaplewood.com.
Saturday
Get tattooed, buy a hookah pipe, score some premium sneaks, land tickets to an indie film and order a Po Mo couch. During the Loop Holiday Walk, shoppers can browse the quirky boutiques, along with the more mainstream stores in the Delmar Loop. It's daytime event, so avoid the malls (if you can) and find something original on Delmar, with plenty of time to go out on Saturday night. Many stores are offering free samples, discounts or other sales. The walk lasts from noon to 6 p.m. During this recession, savings may be tough to come by, but there are sure to be a few deals on Delmar. For more information, go to visittheloop.com.
Saturday
The Missouri Tigers face the Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 Conference Championship. While the Sooners are heavily favored to beat Mizzou in a rout, you'll be able to drown your sorrows a little for a special price at the Premium Lounge (4199 Manchester Road.) Drink specials are available for the game. Get there at 7 p.m.
Saturday
A Latin fashion show goes down the runway Saturday at the East Bank building (at 1511 Washington Avenue). The models won't be wearing the designs from Paris or Milan, but from Goodwill. Tickets to the benefit cost $20 for general admission (one free drink included) or $50 for the VIP treatment (featuring an open bar and reserved seating for the runway show.) Proceeds will got to benefit health-care center La Clinica, which focuses on providing services to the refugee and immigrant populations of St. Louis. Alison Sieloff has more details in the RFT Calendar.
Saturday
Practice your best "Ho Ho Ho" if you want to take part in the "Santa Cause" on Saturday night. It's a restaurant/bar hop along Washington Avenue. For $25, your donation goes to help pediatric patients in the St. Louis area, and the Children's Organ Transplant Association. The "Cause" starts at 7 p.m. and runs until midnight. For more information about this event, visit santa-cause.org. You may want to find a Santa costume now (the attire is strongly encouraged!)
Saturday
Let's stay with the theme of drinking-in-a-Santa-suit. If you're feeling up to it, get up at the crack of 9:30 a.m. to join the SantaCon St. Louis 2008. What is SantaCon? Perhaps I'll let the organizers tell you in their own words: "Santacon is when a large group of people get together on a Saturday in December, dressed like Santa of course, and pub crawl while singing naughty Christmas carols!" Forget all about doing that holiday shopping, just get lit on Saturday morning. The pub crawl makes its way through the bars of Soulard, beginning with a breakfast at Hammerstone's at 9:30 a.m. Make sure you bring your Santa costume, and remember, moderation is key to any satisfactory Santa pub crawl. For more information, visit santacon.blogspot.com.
Saturday and Sunday
Ideally, a book fair allows one to slowly peruse through cardboard boxes of novels, non-fiction and yellowed magazines, searching for the right read or the perfect gift. While these days you may have to rub elbows with hawks looking for money in those old pages via eBay, you won't have to worry about that at the Barnes & Noble book fair, which offers only the newer tomes. If you head to a B&N this weekend, make sure it's the one in Ladue (8871 Ladue Road.) There's a book fair supporting the Contemporary Art Museum. For more information, check out CAM.
Sunday
On Sunday night, join Albert and Diedre Pujols at the Chase Park Plaza for the fourth-annual "'O Night Devine" fund-raiser for the Pujols Family Foundation. Guests will enjoy a five-course dinner, live entertainment (not specified) and a silent auction. Tickts are $300 per person. For more information, visit the Pujols Family Foundation and to purchase tickets, call 314-878-2105.
- Nick Lucchesi
