Blend all three funs at the Missouri Historical Society's annual International Funfest from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (August 6 and 7) at the Missouri History Museum (Lindell Boulevard and DeBaliviere Avenue). Latin-fusion music masters ERV get the party started at noon on Saturday, and the international dancing fun continues with the Soorya Performing Arts troupe's traditional Indian dancing (at 1:30 p.m.) and with traditional Greek dancing from the Kyklos-Hellenic Folkloric Ensemble (at 3 p.m.). If you can't get enough (and you know you can't), on Sunday check out Bosansko Kolo's Bosnian dancing at noon, the Korean Culture and Resources Center Performers at 1:30 p.m., and the Hawaiian Polynesian Revue at 3 p.m.
Is dancing not enough to excite you? Then watch magician Terry Richison's baffling illusions or visit any of the friendly face-painters or balloon-animal sculptors. Fun, indeed -- and all for free. If you'd like more information on these three types of fun, call 314-746-4599 or visit www.mohistory.org. -- Mark Dischinger
Space Out
Into the great wide open
In a world of right angles, concrete and the all-subsuming metallica of cars and trucks, consider the landscape: denuded, paved, built-over. The representation of landscape and the rescuing of it from passive background to perception's living foreground has always been the landscape artist's mission. And Art St. Louis (917 Locust Street, Suite 300; 314-241-4810) proves this with its current multimedia exhibit, Open Space: Art of the Landscape. Forty-six Missouri and Illinois artists show their works (that's Greg Barth's Under the Overpass pictured), which were juried by the esteemed photographer Michael Eastman. Open Space is free and remains up through August 25; the gallery is open Monday through Saturday (check www.artstlouis.org for times), or see the show from 6 to 9 p.m. during the First Friday Gallery Walk on August 5. -- Alex Weir
Chefs Here, There
Chefs everywhere!
Back in the day, if one went in search of a chef, such an individual could most certainly be found in a nice restaurant's kitchen -- and only in a kitchen. Nowadays, you can find chefs on TV, but not merely on the Food Network -- some chefs are on in prime time! And in case you haven't noticed, for the past six years, chefs have visited our beloved Soulard Market Park (South Eighth Street and Lafayette Avenue; 314-622-4180), and they're at it again this year. Starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 6, and continuing every Saturday through September 10, chefs and food experts from all kinds of St. Louis establishments (like Tanner B's and Juniper Grill) are demonstrating delicious recipes and cooking tips at the free "Chefs at the Market" events. Lucky us! This week, learn a little something from Christopher Lee, the executive chef at multicultural Mélange. And in the weeks to come, look forward to tips about spices, eggs, fish and more. My, are these chefs busy! -- Alison Sieloff
PSAs ASAP
SAT 8/6
Those public-service-announcement films you sat through in high school were cheesy because they were made by adults looking back on their high school years. The teenagers who attended the KDHX (88.1 FM) Summer Media Institute are the target audience for most PSAs, so you have to believe the cheese factor in their PSAs is almost nonexistent. Find out at 10 a.m. at the Chase Park Plaza Cinema (212 North Kingshighway Boulevard; 314-367-0101), when a documentary about the program and the shorts the kids made screens. A donation of $5 is suggested, and the money goes to the students. -- Paul Friswold
